- Realme’s new initiatives are similar in nature to the ones announced by Xiaomi.
- This is not the first time that a Xiaomi representative has described Realme as a copycat brand.
- Realme CEO Madhav Sheth is believed to have taken an indirect dig at Xiaomi back in 2019 when he said “We don’t sell ads, we sell phones.”
Xiaomi and Realme have an intense rivalry that goes way back, especially when it comes to India. But it seems like Xiaomi has had enough and is now pointing out the things that the brand thinks Realme has copied from its own initiatives. Sneha Tainwala, Director, Redmi Business, tweeted on Wednesday to point out how Realme copied Xiaomi’s Mi Fan Festival idea with its Realme Fan Festival and then announced Realme Entrepreneurship Program, which also seems inspired by Xiaomi India’s Grow with Mi initiative. While the tension between these brands has only grown over the years with competing products in the mid-range category, it seems like the war of words is getting fierce at this point. Have a look at what Tainwala had to say about Realme’s new initiatives yourself.
Tweet on Realme Fan Festival:
Tweet on the entrepreneur program:
In response to Tainwala’s tweet, CMO of Realme India and Europe Francis Wong said, “Sigh. Can’t believe this is coming out from a director of a proper brand. It’s time for everyone to focus on their own business. keep our mouth shut and let products speak.
PS: Comments of that tweet made me understand how users gonna feel if your brand is talking like that.”
Sigh.Can’t believe this is coming out from a director of a proper brand.
— Francis Wong (@FrancisRealme) August 19, 2021
It’s time for everyone to focus on their own business. keep our mouth shut and let products speak.
PS: Comments of that tweet made me understand how users gonna feel if your brand is talking like that. https://t.co/xvuHIcVLjk
As you can see, Tainwala has described Realme as a “copycat” brand. Surprisingly, this is not even the first time that someone from Xiaomi has used this term to describe Realme as Xiaomi Global VP and India MD Manu Jain also used this term back in January last year. Earlier, Realme CEO Madhav Sheth mocked Xiaomi indirectly at the launch event of Realme 3 in 2019 when he said, “We don’t sell ads, we sell phones.” As most of you already know, this statement aged poorly as Realme started serving ads on its phones later that year. While there have been many digs taken from both brands at each other till now, it seems that the mid-range war is far from over and could even turn ugly really soon.
What do you think this war of words and do you think it is right for Xiaomi to point out Realme’s initiatives’ resemblance to its own in this manner? In other words, which side are you on?
