realme, the Chinese smartphone startup, has become a Top 6 smartphone vendor in the global rankings, according to the latest market insights conducted by Counterpoint Research.
realme took the sixth spot with 15 million shipments and 135.1 percent YoY growth in Q2 2021, just three years after it was founded.
Founder and CEO Sky Li in his open letter, said realme has surpassed all industry and customer expectations, expanding to over 61 markets worldwide and ranking as a Top 5 brand in over 18 of these markets, claiming the first place in Philippines and Bangladesh, third in Russia,fourth in India, and fifth in the Europe region in Q2 2021.
Last month, realme became the fastest brand ever to ship 100 million smartphones, as data shown from research firm Strategy Analytics 2021 Q2.
Echoing the brand’s “Dare to Leap” spirit, realme has taken bold moves in its business strategy choices such as globalization from the start , keeping ears close to the ground and listening to consumer demands, and integrating advanced technologies in beautifully designed and user-friendly products. realme phones were the first in segment with a pop-up camera, the first in Android with magnetic wireless charging tech, and one of the first with 64 MP camera.
Those types of trendsetting innovations at those price points have appealed to a young and tech-savvy audience who quickly became passionate supporters of the brand.
realme is also prioritizing 5G products. realme’s 5G share in emerging market smartphone shipments went up from 8.8% in Q1 to 15.9% in Q2, ranking the 3rd , according to the counterpoint market monitor service data Q2 2021 .
Sky said realme’s next goal is to achieve a dual-100 million target – shipping another 100 million handsets by the end of 2022 and completing the same milestone within the 2023 calendar year.
As for its product strategy, realme will streamline its multiple product lines and optimize its technological offerings. The GT series will become its only premium product line to explore cutting-edge technology and disrupt the high-end segment.
Recently, – realme introduced the realme GT Neo2 in Mainland China starting at 2,499 RMB (USD 388 approx). And realme GT Neo2 will be available in three storage variants: 8GB+128GB, 8GB+256GB, and 12GB+256GB, priced at 2,499 RMB (USD 388 approx), 2,699 RMB (USD 420 approx) and 2,999 RMB (USD 465 approx) respectively. As the latest iteration of the popular flagship killer realme GT lineup, the realme GT Neo2 is a neo flagship killer born for everyday heavy users, coming with technology innovation and aesthetic design.
The realme GT Neo2 is powered by the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 870 5G mobile platform. This chipset is famous for its balanced performance, providing powerful performance and a stable experience.
The realme GT Neo2 initially adopts diamond thermal gel as a cooling material, constructing an 8-layer three-dimensional heat dissipation structure with a stainless-steel vapor cooling area of 4129mm2, the largest cooling area in realme history. As a result, it is undoubtedly exceptional for users engaging in any mainstream heavy games.
It is the first time that realme packs a 5000mAh massive battery in its realme GT lineup. With a large capacity battery that supports 65W SuperDart charging, the realme GT Neo2 provides full-day battery life for heavy users without any pressure.
In terms of the display, realme GT Neo2 also surprises users with the first Samsung E4 Display in the segment, creating the best display ever of realme’s smartphones, featuring a peak brightness of 1300 nit and a color contrast ratio of up to 5,000,000:1..
Global Smartphone Market Share: By Quarter
Source: Market Monitor Service
Global Smartphone Quarterly Market Data (2018Q3 – 2021Q2)
| Global Smartphone Shipments Market Share (%) | ||||||||||||
| Brands | 2018 Q3 |
2018 Q4 |
2019 Q1 |
2019 Q2 |
2019 Q3 |
2019 Q4 |
2020 Q1 |
2020 Q2 |
2020 Q3 |
2020 Q4 |
2021 Q1 |
2021 Q2 |
| Samsung | 19% | 18% | 21% | 21% | 21% | 18% | 20% | 20% | 22% | 16% | 22% | 18% |
| Xiaomi | 9% | 6% | 8% | 9% | 8% | 8% | 10% | 10% | 13% | 11% | 14% | 16% |
| Apple | 12% | 17% | 12% | 10% | 12% | 18% | 14% | 14% | 11% | 21% | 17% | 15% |
| OPPO | 9% | 8% | 8% | 9% | 9% | 8% | 8% | 9% | 8% | 9% | 11% | 10% |
| vivo | 8% | 7% | 7% | 8% | 8% | 8% | 7% | 8% | 8% | 8% | 10% | 10% |
| Others | 43% | 44% | 44% | 43% | 42% | 40% | 41% | 39% | 38% | 35% | 26% | 31% |
| Global Smartphone Shipments (in Mn) | ||||||||||||
| Brands | 2018 Q3 |
2018 Q4 |
2019 Q1 |
2019 Q2 |
2019 Q3 |
2019 Q4 |
2020 Q1 |
2020 Q2 |
2020 Q3 |
2020 Q4 |
2021 Q1 |
2021 Q2 |
| Samsung | 72.3 | 69.8 | 72.0 | 76.3 | 78.2 | 70.4 | 58.6 | 54.2 | 80.4 | 62.5 | 76.6 | 57.9 |
| Apple | 46.9 | 65.9 | 42.0 | 36.5 | 44.8 | 72.3 | 40.0 | 37.5 | 41.7 | 81.9 | 59.5 | 48.9 |
| Xiaomi | 33.3 | 25.6 | 27.8 | 32.3 | 31.7 | 32.9 | 29.7 | 26.5 | 46.2 | 43.0 | 48.5 | 52.5 |
| OPPO | 33.9 | 31.3 | 25.7 | 30.6 | 32.3 | 31.4 | 22.3 | 24.5 | 31.0 | 34.0 | 38.0 | 33.6 |
| vivo | 30.5 | 26.5 | 23.9 | 27.0 | 31.3 | 31.5 | 21.6 | 22.5 | 31.0 | 33.4 | 35.5 | 32.5 |
| Others | 162.9 | 175.5 | 149.6 | 154.4 | 161.7 | 162.6 | 122.8 | 110.9 | 135.3 | 139.8 | 96.8 | 97.7 |
| Total Market | 379.8 | 394.6 | 341.0 | 357.1 | 380.0 | 401.1 | 295.0 | 276.1 | 365.6 | 394.6 | 354.9 | 323.1 |
*Ranking is according to the latest quarter.
Highlights:
• Global smartphone market grew 19% YoY but declined by 7% QoQ as 323 million units were shipped, led by Samsung.
• Xiaomi eclipses 52 million smartphones, becoming the world’s second-largest smartphone brand for the first time ever.
• Samsung retained the number one spot with shipments reaching 58 million units in Q2 2021, however, its market share declined to 18% as compared to 22% in Q1 2021 as its shipments declined by 24% QoQ.
• realme grew by 135% YoY and 17% QoQ, crossing cumulative shipments of 100 million smartphones since its entry into the smartphone market.
• Global smartphone shipment revenues grew by 25% YoY to $96 billion in Q2 2021 setting a second-quarter record.
For our detailed research on the global smartphone market in Q2 2021, click here.