realme was announced recently as the fastest-growing international smartphone brand in the world for 2020. The major brand has leapfrogged over established industry giants and took 7th position in terms of global market share. Research company Counterpoint has announced this milestone in its latest smartphone report on Q4, as realme grew 65% YoY and shipped 42.4 million smartphones last year.
realme has been a highlight in the smartphone industry, employing innovative methods on both consumer and product aspects to grow its market share aggressively. In an economic environment where nearly all major industry leaders were taking a loss, realme was one of the only two major smartphone brands that registered growth throughout 2020.
The young company started the year by selling only in 35 markets and concluded it with approximately 100% growth, totalling 61 active markets by the end of 2020. realme has also expanded its user base by 100%, from 25 million to now over 50 million strong.
realme’s meteoric rise is not a secret to industry observers who are now used to such impressive numbers expected from this dynamic company. Part of the ethos of the company set by CEO, Sky Li is the ability to flexibly respond to changing market conditions on the ground. realme’s employees and team, as young consumers themselves, deeply understand the changes on the ground and have adapted cohesively.
The results have been shown through the sales and satisfaction reviews of the products, leading to a strong performance underpinned by consumers’ trust and understanding.


“At realme, we live out our philosophy, which is to dare to leap into the forefront of innovation, design and product value, something that young people can identify with,” said Sky Li, realme’s CEO.
Global sectors of youths and young professionals have kept realme going strong, helping the company to be a global mainstream brand. realme has surpassed its 50 million sales milestones in merely nine quarters since its inception, making it the fastest-growing smartphone brand in the world.
In addition, realme has innovated from the ground up, taking the marketing and conversations to the consumers. realme users and employees frequently trade tips about the latest technological trends and sell online through heavy emphasis on e-commerce.
Due to the social distancing guidelines, staff are encouraged to lead their own communities of realme users. “This has created authenticity all the way from the top to the bottom, and this brand value is seen by the consumer first-hand,” said Li.
Li also added, “Our changing environment has allowed realme to live out its values from the plain view of its consumers. Once countries start to limit movement, we upgrade our after-sales services such as warranty extensions, live online support and shorter waiting and delivery times in order to maintain the high quality of service to our users that we have become well-known for”.
realme has generated such impressive growth because they are championed as the global leading popularizer of 5G technology amongst users. realme has consistently led the market by decentralizing and exposing 5G-ready equipment to many groups through great value devices with leap-forward performance, such as the global launch of realme 7 5G which costs less than US$300.
The top tier gadget media, GSM Arena has also rated realme as the No.1 mid-range all-rounder mobile phone for 2020. The young but courageous company has set its sights high in 2021, looking forward to leapfrog its outstanding performance in 2020 through 5G and AIoT products.
Source: Counterpoint Research
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