Realme 8 series, that made its global debut in India on Wednesday, will soon have two more models. In the days to come, Realme plans to launch Realme 8 5G version and entry-level Realme 8i, Vice President and CEO Realme India and Europe, Madhav Sheth, told Financial Express Online on the sidelines of Realme 8 series launch.
“We will have a Realme 8 5G version soon (but not so early),” Sheth said without reveling a tentative timeframe. He did however state the obvious, which is, “we have to understand that adding 5G with these features will incur additional costs.” While the Realme 8 starts at Rs 14,999, the Realme 8 Pro starts at Rs 17,999. Ideally, the 5G variant should slot somewhere between the two – but that’s all speculation for now.
The 8 Pro India pricing is fascinating since Realme has launched it lower than the 7 Pro – it came in at Rs 19,999. One would assume this is so Realme could undercut the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro Max. But Realme also has sibling rivalry to contend with.
“The reason why the Realme 8 Pro costs lower than the Realme 7 Pro is only because we have the X7 series at Rs 19,999 now. We don’t want to cannibalize our own sales,” Sheth said adding that the 7 Pro will be discontinued now.
Realme has some big plans for India – you can read more about them here – but the TL;DR version is, the Oppo spin-off brand is looking to increase its market share in the Rs 10,000-Rs 20,000 mid-range 4G market segment to 10-15 percent with the launch of the 8 series. Going forward, it is looking to sell 25-30 million smartphones in 2021 and opening its first flagship store in Gujarat even as it eyes to enter the elite league of top 3 smartphone players in the world’s second largest smartphone market.
Coming back to product roadmap, Sheth said the brand is currently evaluating the release of its high-end flagship Realme GT phone in India.
“Realme GT is a very special high-end smartphone, a state-of-the-art tech piece from Realme. Given the specifications of the device, this is an expensive one and we are evaluating the release of this product in India.”
