We recently reported that Realme is planning to increase the price of its products after Diwali. However, in a surprising move, the company has now increased pricing of Realme 2 and Realme C1 smartphones on Flipkart just after the Big Diwali Sale ended on the e-commerce platform.
The company has increased the pricing of Realme C1 by Rs. 1,000 (approximately $14) while the pricing hike for the base model of Realme 2 is Rs. 500 (approx. $7). The Realme C1, which was launched for Rs. 6,999 will now be available for Rs. 7,999 while the Realme 2 will now cost Rs. 9,499 (approximately $130) for the 3GB RAM model.
The 4GB RAM model of the Realme 2 is still available at its original price of Rs. 10,990 (approximately $151). It’s not yet confirmed if the 4GB RAM model will get a price hike or not. On the other hand, the Realme 2 Pro is still available at its original price but we expect that it will too get a price hike after the Diwali festival.
Realme managed to grab an impressive market share in India’s budget smartphone segment, despite being a very young brand. This is quite impressive given the competition in the world’s one of the largest smartphone market. One of the reasons for the brand’s success is its highly competitive pricing. While the brand has hiked the pricing, the Realme phones still remain among the best options in their segment.
The company decided to take the route of price hike because of the tumbling rupee since the beginning of the year. Considering that most components are bought in US dollars from other countries and the import duties, the company’s margins take a hit, which probably is pretty low in such a competitive market.
While Realme has already increased the pricing of its products in India, Xiaomi is planning to do so. During Redmi 6 lineup launch in India a couple of months ago, Xiaomi hinted towards price hike and said that it’ll wait for a few months to see how INR performs against USD before taking such a move. Given that the Rupee is still falling, it seems that Xiaomi will soon increase the price of its products.
Meanwhile, there are reports about Realme planning to use Oppo’s VOOC fast charging technology in its upcoming phones. Given that Madhav Sheth, CEO of Realme India has already confirmed two or three Realme phones in India by March 2019, it’s speculated that the Realme 3 or 3 Pro could feature VOOC fast charging. It is also working on a first smartphone to be powered by MediaTek Helio P70 octa-core processor.
