“The recent rollout of 5G services in India will act as a catalyst to the increase in the uptake of smartphones in the coming year. We are at the helm of democratising 5G by collaborating with industry peers, ensuring delivery of the best 5G experience, creating bundle offers with the telecom partners to popularize the technology; and focusing over 90 per cent of our R&D budgets on research and development efforts of 5G technologies and devices,” Sheth said in an email interview to indianexpress.com

He stressed that the Indian market remains a priority for the brand as they remain “optimistic about the India growth story.”Sheth’s also pointed out that the company has made over 23 5G-enabled devices available in the market and also offers the only 5G-ready tablet in India.

“We are working towards bringing more 5G smartphones in the Rs 10,000 – 12,000 price segment and are working with telecoms to offer bundle solutions to the users for faster adoption,” he added.

Realme is now launching its Realme 10 Pro+ 5G capable device along with the Realme 10 Pro as well. “With the current series, realme 10 Pro series brings the best-curved display in the segment. Our number series is designed to offer a premium experience and we understand that for many users a truly premium experience is incomplete without a spectacular display. With realme 10 we are breaking that norm and making this curved display screen available at an accessible price point, enabling the youth to enjoy a quality experience,” Sheth added.

But does Sheth see any challenges in 2023, even if he is confident that the market will bounce back? According to him, the chip shortage could remain an issue for the industry at large, even in the coming year.

“As an agile brand, we have already managed the situation to a large extent and have aligned our operations accordingly. We were aware of the transition for some time and had begun finding strategies to deal with it positively and in advance. Even today we are actively and closely working with mainstream chipset makers to ensure that our user demands are met without compromising on quality,” he said.