After Xiaomi debuted its most expensive Mi phone yet, the 10th-anniversary Xiaomi Mi 10, another Chinese smartphone maker is upping the prices of its phones. Realme launched its X50 Pro on Monday, making it the brand's second 5G-enabled smartphone -- this time with a price tag of US$640.
But while Xiaomi sold out of the first batch of 5G Mi 10 Pro phones within a minute (in part because of shortages created by the coronavirus outbreak), Reame faces another dilemma. The 2-year-old brand is a hit in India, where it’s the fifth biggest brand by shipments. But India doesn’t have a commercial 5G network yet, and the X50 Pro is equipped with a Qualcomm 5G chip that doesn’t come cheap.
Realme, a sub-brand of Oppo, made waves in 2019 when it launched a line of low-priced and relatively high-quality handsets. After its success in India, Realme indicated that it may soon become an independent brand, according to Digitimes. The brand hopes to double its smartphone shipments in 2020 to 50 million devices. It also announced that it’s saying goodbye to phones without 5G for good in 2020 -- at least in China.