Tete-a-tete with Jadon Niu – CEO realme Pakistan

CEO Jadon Niu shares his insights on what makes realme the fastest-growing smartphone brand in Pakistan

At the launch of the realme 8 Series, Express Tribune got candid with Mr Jadon Niu, the CEO of realme Pakistan and spoke to him about the company’s vision for Pakistan.

Jadon Niu’s association with the brand dates back to a few years, of which three years he’s served as the CEO for realme Pakistan. He has a diverse background in the field of Information Technology, and drives the overall business strategy for realme’s business in Pakistan. Throughout the world, it's no secret that realme is touted as the fastest growing smartphone brand; thus we were honoured to be presented with an opportunity to discuss this stellar brand’s impact in Pakistan.

How do you define the overall enterprising philosophy of realme?

Our philosophy resonates with a daring spirit which we have envisaged in our slogan 'Dare to Leap'. We are committed to bringing more trendsetting products and events for young people around the world, and becoming a leader amongst Gen-Z for their trendy lifestyles.

This reflects on our product philosophy as well. We always dare to apply cutting-edge technology to a lower price point, popularise the latest technology, and bring technology closer to the users. With the "Smartphone + AIoT" strategy, we quickly achieved a breakthrough and by developing a mature AIoT system, we have most importantly covered the three major application scenarios of individuals, family, and travel.

From the marketing strategy side, we dare to be the first brand to introduce trend culture into the technology industry via crossovers with brands and leaders from music, sports, video, e-sports industries, etc. Besides, if you take a look at our global footprint, realme is the seventh top smartphone brand in the world and was recognised as one of the mainstream smartphone brands according to Counterpoint’s statistics of global smartphone shipments in Q3 2020.

In 2019, realme’s global smartphone shipments reached 25 million with a YoY growth rate of 808%, making realme the fastest-growing smartphone brand in the world for four consecutive quarters from 2019 to Q2 2020. realme has entered 61 markets worldwide, including China, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Europe, Russia, Australia, the Middle East, Africa with a global user base of over 70 million.

With the launch of the realme 8 Series, we are bringing yet another edition of the realme number series to Pakistan.

Our number series have done phenomenally well here and across the world as we have sold more than 30 million devices worldwide. In Pakistan too, our realme 7 Series clinched a 592% more sales volume over the realme 6 Series on the first day of sales.

So, these numbers are a testimony to the interest that people have in realme devices, and we believe that with the realme 8 Series, this interest would go even higher.

 

What is realme Pakistan’s vision for its consumers?

Our vision resonates with the essence of youth in Pakistan. We caption it with the phrase ‘Dare to Leap’ – which demonstrates the bravado with which the brand is going forward in the market.

Last year, Counterpoint crowned realme with the ‘fastest 50 million sale’ and Fast Company listed us among ‘China’s 50 Most Innovative Companies’.

It has been a great journey for us as we became the trendsetters in design and aesthetics for our products. We are taking our fans from Pakistan along with us on this innovative journey, so that they can also enjoy the trendsetting technology that we have brought forth in this market.

We are the democratisers of technology – as is reminiscent in the realme number Series. We brought the flagship technology of 30W Dart Charge in the realme 3 Pro, and the Quad Camera in the realme 5 Series. The realme 6 Series debuted 90Hz High Fresh Rate Display while the realme 7 Series featured our collaboration with SONY through the SONY 64MP camera.

Likewise, we have also created a massive realme Community in Pakistan, where we engage in exciting initiatives for our realme Fans such as the shotonrealme_pakistan where people who use realme smartphones can submit their photographic content for the world to see. With the new realme 8 Series, we are popularising flagship technology features such as a 108MP Ultra Quad Camera and 50W SuperDart Charge for the mass market. Therefore, our consumers can truly enjoy top-notch premium features in a price band that is in sync with their pockets.

What should the customers be expecting from the realme 8 series?

As I mentioned, the realme 8 Series will be setting a lot of trends when it debuts in the market. It will bring a 108MP Ultra Quad Camera, a 50W SuperDart Charge, a MediaTek Helio G95 gaming processor and 5,000 mAh battery. All these features along with a host of other remarkable traits are brought forth in line with our innovation-first approach and a keen eye on what the consumers come to expect from realme. The G95 is the best MediaTek 4G Chipset that gives a seamless 4G performance on the smartphone.

Both the variants of the realme 8 Series – the realme 8 Pro and the realme 8 have something special for the youth. The realme 8 Pro is a spectacular camera smartphone while the realme 8 will entice all the gamers out there.

 

How do you integrate the brand to be youth-centric?

realme is the ‘youth brand’ that has been working majorly for the young people. We believe that smartphones not only bring a technology upgrade to your life, but they incorporate a lifestyle with its design and performance. Keeping youth in mind, we brought the realme 8 Series with features focused only on the younger generation.

We worked on the camera features, providing professional camera features in a smartphone and a chic body design to suit their taste. We bring industry-leading technology at competitive prices. We are the populariser of pop culture in the tech industry, thereby disrupting trends by setting new ones as we go.

 

How do you rate the design prowess of these new phones?

Both phones, realme 8 Pro and realme 8 are designed with a bold and dreamy enterprise combining hip street elements known as the 'Infinite Bold Design'. This Infinite Bold Design gives the devices the dazzling dreamlike look that is both chic and right according to the youth's taste.

In fact, both phones are equipped with a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED fullscreen display that is brighter and better at colour reproduction, higher contrast, and a more realistic display as compared with LCD screens. It also supports a fast-unlocking light-sensitive in-display fingerprint sensor and a high sensitivity touch sampling rate for better responsiveness when gaming.

 

What were the biggest challenges for realme in Pakistan? How do you strategise your role for 2021?

We are passing through the most challenging time for humanity due to Covid-19. It has affected people and businesses all across the world with insurmountable challenges. But, despite the tough times, we are going full steam ahead by launching smartphones, AIoT products and other smart accessories. We are setting the bar high, and looking to increase our footprint and our impact further on. We are always bringing something positive and cheerful for people to cherish in these troubled times.

For the future, we would like to work on bringing 5G products to Pakistan, creating bigger opportunities and opening newer horizons for the youth. We’ll be further developing our AIoT ecosystem, creating a chain to grasp the core traffic entrance and accumulate users from the scale effect. We tend to achieve a more interconnected and integrated AIoT ecosystem,