Features

Here’s why OPPO created a new brand called Realme

Will it help them take back the budget segment?

Published

December 9, 2018

Shivam Vahia

2018 has been one of the most intense years for smartphones with brands launching new phones every other month. In developing markets, the budget and midrange segments account for a majority of the sales, and in an attempt to establish supremacy, companies have pumped in all their resources.

The markets have reacted positively and sales are steadily rising thanks to improving standards of living, technological advancements, and aggressive competition among brands. Pricing is always the primary factor of differentiation and companies want to offer as much as they can, this means the profit margin is often meager.

Behemoth companies like Huawei want dominance in the high-end as well as the price-sensitive segment. But, it gets increasingly difficult to establish a brand image when you have products in all price brackets. With rising sales, Huawei could’ve been associated with budget phones, and this would make launching flagship phones a challenge, especially when they demand a premium.

To counter this brand recognition issue, Huawei launched the Honor brand a few years back. Honor is known to make feature-packed phones that belong in the price-sensitive bracket. Now, the Huawei brand targets the upscale flagship segment with the P and Mate series.

OPPO is trying to pursue a similar strategy with the Realme brand. Realme made its debut in May this year and has launched a handful of phones since then. Its marketing efforts purely target the budget and lower-midrange segment, as well as the youth.

Realme launched as a sub-brand of OPPO but has since parted ways from the parent in terms of management, product design, and operations. This means, even though OPPO owns and strategically helps out Realme by leveraging its supply chain and research, the brand takes its own independent decisions. Design elements and ColorOS are a few things that are being shared by the two brands for now.

This division enables OPPO to concentrate on its high-end flagship phones like the Find X and R17 Pro. OPPO has taken a massive beating in terms of brand recognition even after spending millions on marketing. According to IDC, sales in Q3 2018 have slumped by 2.1 percent year over year while Xiaomi and Huawei have clocked a staggering 21 percent and 32 percent growth, respectively.

The dip in sales is because of two reasons. Firstly, OPPO intends to concentrate on the high-end segment and not get their brand value saturated further. Secondly, it has slowly taken a step back from the budget segment and handed over the reins to Realme. Though, this doesn’t mean OPPO is out of the race; it continues to launch new budget phones, but it’s clear no intensive marketing efforts are being taken up.

Realme’s strategy has worked out positively in the short term and the company has registered a nine percent market share in India’s Diwali festive season. Realme has been targeting online-only sales for now and being a smaller company lets it be more dynamic.

The dynamic nature means it can make a wider range of products quickly, even strategically launching them to undermine the competition. While the brand was hastily launched in May, the recent branding change already matured and was built with a long-term plan in mind.

In the beginning, Realme seemed like a knee-jerk reaction to Xiaomi’s increasing dominance. We’ve seen the brand rapidly launch new phones in the last few months and they genuinely pack some unique offerings instead of just trying to undercut the competition based on pricing.

Only time will tell whether the division of segments among the two brands have paid off, but for now, it’s a strategy worth investing in.

Features

GadgetSnaps: Malaysia shot on the Infinix Note 40 Pro+ 5G

Beyond charging tech

Published

April 24, 2024

GadgetMatch

The Infinix Note 40 Pro+ 5G prides itself in its charging technologies. But what about its camera capabilities? Well, here’s a quick round-up of the many photos we took around the time the Note 40 series was launched in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.

The NOTE 40 Series features a 108MP main shooter with 3x Lossless Superzoom. It also has OIS for steadier shots when taking videos.

The edits applied to the photos here only some resizing and cropping to make the page easier to load. Take a look at all these sample shots

Infinix Note 40 Pro series launch day

Kwai Chai Hong/ ‘Little Ghost Lane’

Petaling Street (Chinatown)

In and around Central Market

Bank Negara Malaysia Museum and Art Gallery

Istana Negara entrance

Merdeka Square

Malaysian Bak Kut Teh and more

Petronas Twin Towers at night

Steady shooter

The Infinix Note 40 Pro+ 5G isn’t a stellar shooter. But at its price point, it’s pretty darn decent for capturing different scenarios. Take these photos into some editing software and you can certainly elevate their look.

The NOTE 40 Pro+ 5G is priced at PhP 13,999. It may be purchased through Infinix’s Lazada, Shopee, and TikTok Shop platforms, where customers can get up to PhP 2,000 off. Additionally, the first 100 buyers can get an S1 smartwatch or XE23 earphones. Alternatively, customers may opt for the Shopee-exclusive NOTE 40 Pro (4G variant) for PhP 10,999.

Features

LOQ and LOAD: The Lenovo LOQ 2024 is for gaming and more

Your entry to PC Gaming

Published

April 23, 2024

GadgetMatch

Get your game on with the Lenovo LOQ 2024. This capable laptop is your entry point to PC Gaming and a lot more.

It comes an absolutely affordable price point: PhP 48,995.

You get capable hardware and the hood to support gaming and more. The Lenovo LOQ 15IAX9I runs on the 12th Gen Intel Core i5 processor and Intel Arc Graphics.

Those are key to bringing unreal graphics to this segment. Supporting latest tech like DirectX 12 Ultimate, players are able to enjoy high frame rates on the Lenovo LOQ.

Creating content? It comes with AI Advantage to help boost performance. Engines and accelerators boost the media processing workloads especially for creatives. It also works with Intel’s X Super Machine Learning, Leading to images that are as close to reality.

The laptop supports a configuration of up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD Storage.

As for its display, the device has a large 15.6-inch, Full HD panel that is more than enough for gaming, video editing, content consumption, and whatever else you do on a laptop. This display has 144Hz refresh rate, 300 nits brightness, and anti-glare.

Videos come out clear, crisp, and realistic. Audio is punchy and as loud as it gets. Windows Sonic elevates it more when you use headphones. And it just takes a few minutes to render HD videos on editing software.

As it runs on Windows 11, if you are going to use it for work, you can take advantage of various features. The Lenovo Vantage Widget is there for constant reminders, Copilot will help you organize your tasks, and Microsoft Edge is there for casual browsing.

There is an assortment of ports at the back for easy connectivity. And as this is meant for gaming, we put it to the test. Racing that looks better with high frame rate? Check. Shooting titles that require heavy work? Not a problem. You can play all your favorites and not worry about performance.

Best of all, it takes less than an our to juice up this laptop all the way to 100%.

So, whether you’re looking to get started with PC Gaming, or an upgrade for work and entertainment needs, the Lenovo LOQ has you covered.

This feature is a collaboration between GadgetMatch and Lenovo Philippines.