Despite being a lesser-known smartphone brand in its home market in China, Realme is on course to becoming a big name in Southeast Asia.

For the first time, Realme, the budget sub-brand of Chinese smartphone maker Oppo, gained a position among the five biggest smartphone brands in all eight key Southeast Asian markets including Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam in the second quarter of 2020, according to a report by market research firm Counterpoint Research looking at total shipments.

The strong performance came as quarterly smartphone shipments in Southeast Asia saw a year-on-year decline of 19% due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Of the eight major markets, Realme performed best in the Philippines in the second quarter, where it grew its shipments 7400% year-on-year and 97% quarter-on-quarter, surpassing Oppo, Xiaomi and Samsung to claim the second spot with a market share of 21%. In the previous quarter, Realme ranked fifth.

During the period between April and June, Realme outshone Apple, Xiaomi and Oppo in terms of volume to become the third-biggest smartphone seller in Malaysia with a market share of 15%. The Chinese brand, for the first time, made it onto the top five list in Singapore in the second quarter after increasing its smartphone shipments 300% year-on-year and 100% quarter-on-quarter, giving it a market share of 4%.

Realme took the fourth spot in Thailand and Cambodia with respective market shares of 12% and 8%, while it ranked fifth in Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar with respective market shares of 12%, 9% and 6%.

Overall, Realme continued to be the fastest-growing smartphone brand in the whole Southeast Asia region, growing its shipments 141% year-on-year and 64% quarter-on-quarter to capture a market share of 13%, Counterpoint said, attributing the growth to the company’s strong online sales presence, low-price strategy, word-of-mouth marketing and social media campaigns.

The research firm also talked up Realme’s efforts to implement a 5G-focused strategy, which helped it take the top spot in 5G-enabled smartphone shipments in Thailand in the second quarter, with a market share of 43%.

Contact reporter Ding Yi (yiding@caixin.com)

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