Weak rupee impact: Realme may hike its phone prices, says CEO Madhav Sheth

According to Seth, the company has been operating on low margins and the weak rupee valuation could lead to a price revision after Diwali

Chinese smartphone brand Realme, known for its value-for-money offerings, might be forced to revise its smartphones price, thanks to the rupee's depreciation against the dollar in the past month or so, suggests a tweet by the company’s chief executive, Madhav Sheth. According to Seth, the company has been operating on low margins and the weak rupee might lead to a price revision after Diwali.

“The rupee rates are falling and as a brand we actually work on low margins. It indicates that we might have to upgrade the pricing, just to make sure that we continue to give you the best technology in our upcoming offerings. We are trying to figure out a solution post Diwali,” he said in a tweet.

Realme forayed into India’s price-conscious smartphone market earlier this year as a sub-brand of Chinese smartphone manufacturer Oppo. The company’s first smartphone -- Realme 1 – received positive response from consumers and critics for its feature-rich device in the budget segment at a hard-to-beat price. Later, the company came out of the shadow of its parent company Oppo to establish itself as a separate brand. After breaking ties with Oppo, the company launched the Realme 2, Realme 2 Pro and Realme C1, which were all received well by users, especially for their design and performance.

 

The rupee rates are falling and as a brand we actually work on low margins. It indicates that we might have to upgrade the pricing, just to make sure that we continue to give you the best technology in our upcoming offerings. We are trying to figure out a solution post Diwali.

— Madhav Sheth (@MadhavSheth1) November 2, 2018

This is not the first time that a smartphone manufacturer has decided to revise its mobile phone prices due to a weaker rupee. Earlier this year, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi had also hiked the price of its midrange smartphone Redmi Note 5 Pro, citing a depreciating rupee as one of the reasons. Recently, Cupertino, US-based technology giant Apple’s CEO Tim Cook also blamed a weak currency for high prices of the iPhone and other Apple devices in India.