Chinese smartphone maker Realme apologised to consumers for possible delays of its latest handset because the devices were stolen while in transit to Spain just a few weeks ahead of the product launch.
A shipment of Realme’s GT6 smartphones, which has a launch event in Italy set for Thursday, was stolen on its way to Spain “for reasons beyond our control”, the company said in a statement on Friday published to its Spanish account on X, formerly Twitter. Spanish tech media Zonamovilidad.es reported on Friday that the robbery occurred in late May when the vehicle carrying the devices was robbed “at gunpoint”. The theft is causing delays in both Spanish and Portuguese stores, according to the report.
“We haven’t been able to get them back despite doing everything we can, so we won’t be able to ensure the in-store experience we would like during the launch week,” the company said, adding that it “sincerely apologises” for the situation.
Neither the number of handsets stolen nor their value has been disclosed. Realme did not respond to a request for comment.
The incident deals a blow to Shenzhen-based Realme, which spun out of Oppo in 2019, as it tries to compete in Europe, one of its key markets. Its market share in the region was flat at 4 per cent between 2022 and 2023, according to Counterpoint Research, but shipments in the first quarter surged 59 per cent year on year, driven by growth in Western Europe and a sharp rebound in some key markets such as Italy and Spain.
The launch of the GT series handsets in 2021 was meant to position the company to “compete in mature markets such as Western Europe and China”, the company wrote in a promotional Wall Street Journal article that year.
Realme has advertised the GT6 as its latest “flagship killer”, a common moniker from Chinese brands selling smartphones with high-end hardware at relatively budget prices. The GT6 runs on Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, according to Chinese media reports, and will have artificial intelligence functions. The company has yet to reveal more details about the highly anticipated product.
Chinese smartphone brands have been doubling down on overseas expansion in recent years, and Realme is one of the fastest-growing brands.
Realme was originally incubated by Oppo, which along with Vivo was started by Chinese consumer hardware giant BBK Electronics. The company said it has shipped more than 200 million handsets as of last November, five years after its founding, with most sales coming from outside China.
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