Calcutta was his playground for a few years during childhood. “I had this Atari set. I think I have destroyed 10-15 joysticks. This was an amazing time. As I grew up, I started reading about how some people have used tech to change the world. This still excites me,” Madhav Sheth has earlier told The Telegraph. From leading Realme in India, the man was recently elevated to head the company’s operations in the European region. With the arrival of the much-awaited Realme 7 and 7 Pro, he took time to chat with The Telegraph. Here’s more from Madhav Sheth, vice-president, Realme, and chief executive officer, Realme India and Europe
You now have a new mandate — being the CEO of Realme Europe. What are the areas you intend to focus on?
As part of the new mandate, I will focus on building brand presence and business operations in the Europe region. We will begin with Spain, France, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic and then spread to other countries. Our vision is to emerge as the leading tech-lifestyle brand in the European market, and be among the top five smartphones brands by the end of 2021. We will introduce our entire product portfolio in the market — smartphones and AIoT (artificial intelligence of everything). Europe is also one of the early markets to adopt 5G, so we intend to bank on that opportunity and introduce an entire 5G portfolio in the market.
Western Europe has a lot of privacy policies that affect tech companies. How differently would you operate in Europe compared to, say, in India? It’s a market that doesn’t like bloatware.
There are not many policies that affect now in Europe. We have not faced much issue on this point. We will always be a focused brand and would get everything possible that our users want. We have removed various things, like hot apps and games, and brought in the Google dialer with Google apps. All of these have contributed to a more user-friendly and closer to stock Android experience. Realme places a high premium on quality and will continue to focus on improving the ownership experience of the smartphone user.
Coming to Realme 7 series, what are the big areas the new phones are focussed on?
Realme 7 series continues the product positioning of Realme’s number and Pro series, which is the youth flagship. We studied the demand of our target audience and focused on four key areas...
- Camera: Realme brought India’s first 64MP camera on Realme XT and got instant popularity. So this time, we have introduced the second generation 64MP camera.
- Charging: From 30W to 65W, we have been holding the title of India’s fastest-charging phone for a long time. We have brought 30W and 65W on Realme 7 and 7 Pro respectively.
- Processor: We have introduced the world’s first Helio G95 processor.
- Super AMOLED: Internally we had a debate on whether to go with a 120Hz IPS display or 60hz Amoled display. I even asked users for an option. Of the 20k users who voted on my Twitter account, more than 80 per cent opted for Super Amoled. So I said, why not, let’s try it on Realme 7 Pro.
Mid-range phones now look all the same. How is Realme trying to get out of this design block?
We are perhaps the most design-oriented smartphone brand in India. Even for the sub-10k range where brands don’t normally put design in the spotlight, we launched Realme C11 with eye-catching aesthetic. On high-end phones, like the Realme X series, we always try to work with renowned designers for master editions. We take inspiration from regular life. For example, the design for Realme 7 series is inspired by ‘mirror’ space in nature. We have also used the popular AG processing technique which is usually applied on premium models, along with classic CD textures, which collectively give these smartphones a premium look.
What’s on the map besides smartphones?
We will soon introduce more cool products in our smart speaker category, along with more stylish smartwatches, high-end TVs and various accessories, ranging from in-car chargers, backpacks to stylish luggage cases, and smart home gadgets. In the coming months, we plan to launch the 55-inch Realme smart TV in the premium range as we have started 100 per cent TV production at our Greater Noida facility. This year, we aim to launch over 50 AIoT products covering the four smart hubs, and will launch more than 100 AIoT products next year. For our next milestone, we aim to reach 100m annual shipment of smartphones in the next two-three years.
