Realme aims to sell 1 million smart TVs by December in India

Smartphone maker Realme on Monday forayed into the Indian smart TV market, and said it aims to sell about 1 million units by December this year.

The move will see the company compete against not only giants like Samsung, LG and Sony but also rivals from smartphone segment like Xiaomi, Motorola and OnePlus.

"India has always been a top priority market for Realme. We aim to launch multiple IoT (Internet of Things) products this year around the 'personal, home, and travel' experience along with smartphones. Our line of smart TVs feature MediaTek chipsets and Dolby Audio quad speakers, offering the best sound and picture quality at their prices," Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth told PTI.

He added that the company is hopeful of selling 1 million units by end of the year.

While the TVs will be initially imported, the company is working on manufacturing them locally in the coming months.

"We are committed to the 'Make in India' programme. We have been working on the plan to manufacture TVs in India as well. We will have all the functions, including SMT and panels being made here. The lockdown has delayed the plans. While I cannot comment on the timeline for this, but we will make TVs here," he said.

The company has introduced smart TVs in two screen sizes -- 32-inch display (Rs 12,999) and 43-inch display (Rs 21,999).

Realme will also introduce a 55-inch version in the coming months.

A number of smartphone players such as Xiaomi, Samsung, LG, Micromax and Motorola also have smart TVs in their product portfolio.

Realme is starting sales of its smart TVs through online channels, and will gradually expand them to offline retail as well, Sheth said.

According to Counterpoint Research, shipments of TVs in India grew 15 percent annually to reach the highest-ever 15 million units in 2019, and the growth was mainly driven by budget smart TVs, with 32-inch TVs the leading segment.

The report had noted that smart TV was the fastest-growing segment, growing 25 percent year-on-year. The smart TV market in India was mostly driven by brands like Xiaomi, Samsung, and emerging tail brands such as TCL, Vu and others, which are leveraging their growing channel presence both online and offline to target new users and upgrade users, it had added.

Asked if there could be a slump in demand after nearly two months of lockdown, Sheth said there is pent up demand in the market.

"There will be two kinds of buyers - utility and lifestyle. While utility buying will continue to happen, people buying for lifestyle may postpone their purchases for some time. There is pent up demand, but supply-demand remains a challenge not only for us but also the industry," he said.

After nearly two months of lockdown on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, factories are resuming work in a staggered manner. Given that these units are working with limited manpower, production volumes are not at full capacity.

Realme's smartphone business too has been affected by the pandemic and the lockdown. Its factory in Greater Noida, which is a shared facility with Oppo, was shut down just days after resuming work post easing of lockdown restrictions.

Operations were suspended after six employees of Oppo were reportedly found COVID-19 positive.

Sheth declined to comment on the current status of Realme's manufacturing operations.

Realme has also unveiled a smart watch. Priced at Rs 3,999, the device features a large display of 1.4-inch colour touchscreen display and a battery life that lasts up to 9 days.

It comes with comprehensive health functions including blood-oxygen level (spO2) and PPG heart rate sensor.

It also unveiled 'Buds Air Neo' in the true wireless (TWS) audio category, priced at Rs 2,999 as well as a 10,000 mAh power bank (Rs 999).