Realme, the Chinese tech company known for its affordable Android smartphones, has officially left the UK market.
The company confirmed the news in a statement to Tech Advisor, saying that “sales and marketing of affected products on Realme UK channels are suspended.”
This decision has been a long time coming, given that Realme hasn’t launched a phone in the UK since the GT 2 and GT 2 Pro in March 2022. The Realme GT 3 was shown off at MWC 2023 in Barcelona ahead of a European launch expected, but it was later canceled.
This year, there is no sign of Realme in the official MWC 2024 exhibitor list despite the launch of recent devices such as the Realme 12 Pro+ and Realme GT5 Pro.
Additionally, the Realme UK site simply redirects you to the support page, and no posts have been made on the site. Account X (formerly Twitter) since August 2022.
Although devices like the Realme C31 are still on sale at Currys, we thought we’d check it out once and for all.
A former sub-brand of Oppo, Realme officially became an independent company in 2018. It began selling products in the UK a year later, quickly building an impressive portfolio of smartphones, accessories and other devices .
Hannah Cowton / Foundry
However, the Apple-Samsung duopoly in the UK has made it difficult for Realme to compete. According to Statcounter, these two companies accounted for more than 80% of the entire UK smartphone market as of January 2024.
This does not appear to be related to Realme’s exit from Germany in 2023, which stems from a patent dispute between parent company BBK and Nokia. As a result, Oppo and OnePlus have also left the German market, although the latter is still very active in the UK despite a turbulent sequence of events with the Nord 3 launch.
The but, while small, means there is a glimmer of hope for Realme in the UK.
The company says, “our team is proactively working with affected parties to resolve the ongoing issue,” adding that “you can expect news in the future.”
If you live in the UK and already own a Realme phone, don’t worry. Realme will continue to provide updates on all its devices until official software support ends.