Realme co-founder and CEO on the smartphone market and future plans

Madhav Sheth, co-founder and CEO of Realme

Q1: How do you see this market panning out? In terms of Realme you have broken various barriers while taking care of the quality, so, where do you think this 5G mobile device space would go for you?
Ans:
>Realme is the first brand to launch 5G smartphones in India
>5G will give consumers a reason to upgrade their handsets
>Tech industry going through acute shortage of chipsets
>All R&Ds are happening on 5G chipsets now
>More brands turning to 5G tech will bring down prices
 
 
Q2: When do you expect to reach the Rs 10,000 price level for 5G devices?
Ans:
>Companies can have an estimate of bringing down prices when supply of chipsets becomes consistent
 
 
Q3: You talked about chip shortage. Do you see some easing out happening? When do you think that this problem from a user side will get resolved for you?
Ans:
>Supply of chipsets expected to get normalised by early 2023
>4G chipsets will continue to be in short supply
>Realme invested more than $300 million on 5G tech and device aesthetics 
 
 
Q4: What are the key things that have happened in India and dramatically changed the scenario is the PLI scheme of the government. That has pushed manufacturing of mobile handsets into India. How do you leverage this and what are the challenges you have faced in terms of components and how are you helping in the process of getting in vendors etc to resolve this issue. 
Ans:
>Govt’s Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme is largely targeted at exports
>Realme aims to develop the manufacturing supply chain  
>70% of components are manufactured and 100% assembled in India


Q5: If you look at Realme’s total sales, what is the kind of per cent share you have for India, Europe and other countries? And what sales figures are you looking in the next two years?
Ans:
>India is a 150 million handset market
>Realme aspires to be No 1 in India by 2022
>India contributes to 30% of global sales
>Expects to sell 30-40 million units in India in 2022
>Grown 20% in lndia last year 
 

Q6: If you reach 40 million, you become No 1?
Ans: Probably yes. 

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