The following is from Counterpoint Research:
The European smartphone market is slowly recovering. Despite the new problems posed by the shortage of spare parts, the smartphone market reversed the 7% decline in shipments in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic gradually improved, reaching an annual growth rate of 1% in shipments in 2021.
While this slow growth is a positive sign, it's also important to note that the smartphone market in Europe has not yet recovered to its optimal levels, with shipments still well below 2019 levels. Still, the past year is worth celebrating for some phone makers.
Jan Stryjak, associate director of Counterpoint Research, said: "Considering the supply and demand dilemmas faced by mobile phone manufacturers in 2020, it is not surprising that most suppliers will be able to achieve good growth in Europe by 2021. Realme is the brightest brand, with 2021 being the best performing year since it entered Europe and the fastest-growing mobile phone brand in Europe last year. Realme continues to grow in Europe. It entered the market in June 2019 and quickly gained consumer favor by offering high-configuration products at competitive prices, dubbed the 'flagship killer'."
Compared to 2019, realme shipments increased sixfold in 2020. With its favorable prices, it successfully laid its foundation in the European market, especially in Eastern Europe (especially Poland and the Czech Republic) and price-sensitive Western Europe, such as Italy, Greece and Spain.
The success of the realme GT series and number series has helped realme achieve new high shipments in Europe. It will become the fastest growing smartphone brand in Europe with an annual growth rate of 280% in 2021, surpassing OPPO (70% annual growth in 2021), Xiaomi (43%), Apple (10%) and Samsung (2%).
Last year's growth means realme has become one of europe's top five mobile phone brands, moving up five positions in 2021, surpassing Wiko, Motorola, Alcatel, Honor and Huawei. Realme's situation is likely to get even better: realme shipments in Europe increased significantly in the fourth quarter of 2021, accounting for nearly 6% of total smartphone shipments in the region (up from 2.5% in Q3 2021). So this growth trend is promising for realme.
Commenting on Realme's short-term strategy, Harmeet Singh Walia, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research, said: "After establishing itself as a major affordable brand in Europe, realme's next goal is to improve profit margins by further launching high-end products. The upcoming GT2 series at MWC22 is a manifestation of this strategy. GT2 helps increase realme's differentiation, brand value, and aura effects to attract users who want to upgrade to a high-end or entry-end phone. The challenge for realme will be how to convince customers who are accustomed to buying well-known brands that realme is a good choice, and Europe is a difficult highland to conquer in this regard. Realme competes not only with Apple and Samsung, but also with Chinese brands like Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo that want a bigger share of the European market. ”