Global smartphone shipments in 3Q20 grew by 32% Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ), but declined by 4% year-over-year (YoY) to around 380 million units, according to Counterpoint Research. Top OEMs like Huawei, Apple, OPPO, Vivo, and LG have also experienced YoY declines in Q3, impacted by the lingering COVID-19 pandemic and slowdown in the global economy.

However, there are a handful of brands able to defy the global market trend. Among these brands, the young brand realme stands out with 45% YoY growth and 132% QoQ growth, bouncing back from the COVID-19 gloom with a remarkable show of resilience. As a result, realme has cumulatively shipped over 50 million smartphones by the end of Q3, becoming the world’s fastest brand to hit 50 million shipments since inception. This is especially noteworthy as it surpassed top players such as Samsung, Apple, Huawei, and Xiaomi.

The realme brand was officially established in August 2018. Since its inception, the youngster-focused, online-centric brand grew rapidly around the globe. With the ability to efficiently bring cutting-edge technologies and features to the budget smartphone segment, and the “cool” marketing strategy to influence its target consumer segment, realme has managed to differentiate its value proposition in the intense market competition.

In India, realme grew to become one of the Top-5 smartphone brands in Q1 2019. It entered the South East Asia (SEA) market in Q4 2018 and achieved the top-5 brands ranking in several countries within two quarters after launch; in European countries such as Spain, realme entered the top-5 brands’ list within one month of launching.

realme’s strong growth momentum continued in 2020 against the market headwind. In Q3, it grew over 300% QoQ in the Indian smartphone market grabbing 15% share and getting close to more established brand Vivo. In the SEA region, realme grew by 196% YoY and 47% QoQ, demonstrating clear leadership in key countries including the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam, solidifying its top-5 position in the region.

In Europe, it continued to expand and successfully entered the top-5 brands’ list in Russia. It also became one of the Top-5 brands in several developed markets such as Australia and Singapore. In the world’s most saturated market China, realme registered 90% QoQ growth in Q3 to become the 6th placed brand by shipment volume, and in China’s 5G smartphone segment, realme reached the fifth position, just behind Huawei, OPPO, vivo, and Xiaomi. To date, realme has been winning tens of millions of fans around the globe and has become a leading choice smartphone brand for many younger consumers.