Chinese smartphone manufacturer Realme started its journey in India in mid-2018 as a sub-brand of Oppo, but has since been spun off into an independent company. In less than two years, the company has become one of the leading smartphone makers in the country, giving tough competition to segment leader Xiaomi. Realme is expected to take Xiaomi on in one more segment starting this year – televisions. An announcement on this is expected at MWC 2020, according to Realme India’s CMO.
Francis Wang, Chief Marketing Officer for Realme India tweeted that the company will announce “something exciting abt [sic] TV” at MWC, in a reply to a user query. Coming from a senior figure in Realme India’s management team, this information is extremely credible, and suggests that Realme is indeed planning to reveal details about its upcoming television at the trade fair in Barcelona later this month.
The Realme TV has been rumoured for some time now, and has been expected to be launched this year. The company entered the audio segment in 2019, and is also said to be working on a fitness tracker. Not much else is known about the Realme TV for now; but we can surmise that it will be an affordable smart TV.
With its expected entry into the television segment, Realme is looking to match its bitter rival Xiaomi every step of the way. The well-publicised rivalry is the subject of some hilarious and somewhat childish exchanges on social media, which are only expected to increase with Realme following Xiaomi into yet another product segment.
MWC takes place in Barcelona in February every year, and is scheduled for February 24 to 27 this year. Other big announcements could come from major brands such as Samsung and Vivo, which have traditionally used the event to announce their flagship devices for the year.