By David Kirton

SHENZHEN (China) – China’s Realme will be entering Europe’s top-end handset market with its most expensive ever smartphone next month, according to its CEO. This is as the company aims to go beyond just its affordable offerings and increase its global sales by 50% this year.

After increased U.S. sanctions hampered the supply chain of Huawei Technologies and caused it to withdraw, Shenzhen’s-based firm is one of many Chinese handset companies that are aggressively attempting to take global market share.

Sky Li, the CEO and founder of Realme said that Realme will start selling its GT 2 Pro smartphone in Europe from February. It costs 700-800 Euros ($792-$905).

The GT Master Edition’s suggested retail price is $349. It’s roughly twice as high as the current $299 GT Master Edition.

Li explained that the market is very important for phones with high-end specs.

The pandemic is having an impact on economic conditions. Smartphone demand has slowed and people are taking longer to get new smartphones. But Realme, the fastest-growing smartphone company in the world, can change that trend. Li said.

Counterpoint Research has estimated that Europe’s smartphone market earned $80.65 million in revenues during the first eleven months of 2021. Of this, high-end products accounted $55.56 billion.

Yang Wang, a senior Counterpoint analyst said “Almost all growth is driven through the high-end,” pointing out that this can be attributed mainly to Samsung’s successful premium model.

Apple was Europe’s top-selling company last quarter. Prices for the iPhone 13 begin at about $850. Next came Samsung and Xiaomi (OTC), whose phones cost around $900 to $700, respectively.

According to IDC data, the European market was similar to the United States during the three-quarters of 2021 when it comes smartphones revenues but trailed China.

‘NO DISTRACTIONS’

Realme, a Chinese smartphone manufacturer, was able to take over Oppo’s smartphone business in 2018. Counterpoint reported that Realme was the sixth largest smartphone seller in the world as of September 2018, with strong sales in India and Southeast Asia.

Realme, Oppo, and their rivals Vivo, Oneplus, all trace their roots back to BBK Electronics (a Shenzhen-based conglomerate).

Li indicated that the G2 Pro will appeal to European customers as the phone is the first to feature Qualcomm (NASDAQ)’s latest flagship Snapdragon 8gen1 chip, promising higher speeds and greater power efficiency.

Realme had sold 60 million phones in 2021 worldwide. Li indicated that the company aims at selling 90 million units this year as well as more than 100million in 2023.

Although the semiconductor shortages have been a problem for the company over the last year like many others, Li indicated that they could improve in the second half.

Oppo and Vivo are doing research into electric cars. Realme, however, will remain focused on smartphones, Li stated.

He said, “It is not easy to survive within an industry full of experts. So we mustn’t do anything beyond our capabilities.”

($1 = 0.8837 euros)