Realme to offer 700m yuan in subsidies for 618 festival

Chinese smartphone vendor Realme said it will offer 700 million yuan ($109.2 million) as subsidies to consumers during the upcoming June 18 online shopping carnival in China, and it aims to sell more than 1 million smartphones over the period.

The move came after the company became the fastest-growing major smartphone brand in China in the first quarter of this year, according to the market research company Counterpoint.

Xu Qi, vice-president of Realme, said as the world's fastest-growing major smartphone brand, Realme maintains its growth momentum.

In April, the company's monthly sales volume of smartphones in China already exceeded 1 million units.

For the upcoming June 18 online shopping carnival, Realme unveiled three major new handsets that cover the price band from below 1,500 yuan up to 2,500 yuan on Tuesday.

From January to March, Realme's sales in China increased by 82 percent quarter-on-quarter and 451 percent year-on-year, making it the seventh biggest smartphone brand in the country, according to Counterpoint.

Yang Wang, senior analyst at Counterpoint, said, "Realme grew at the fastest clip among major brands. Its distinctive yet effective marketing strategy appealed to budget-sensitive Generation Z audiences, who tend to look for premium features that support a digital lifestyle driven by social media, photography and gaming. At the same time, the brand's product portfolio kept pace with bigger established incumbents, in terms of product launches and key premium specs. At extremely competitive prices, the Realme brand stood out among peers."