Realme and Xiaomi Seem to be Turning Focus Towards IoT

• Xiaomi and Realme are counted among the top smartphone players in India and many other countries
• Xiaomi has already been following an AIoT (AI+IoT) approach in many of its market
• IoT features, in layman language, are referred to as smart features

The market for IoT aka smart devices is on a rise in India. Events like iotshow.in are further making adoption of IoT faster and simpler. It is quite evident now that a lot of new and existing consumer electronics brands would like to foray into this arena. In fact, a lot of the launches in the ACE (Appliances and consumer electronics) sector recently, have focussed on the IoT embedded features.

Now Xiaomi, in an interaction with IANS, has shed light on the brand’s plans to introduce more internet of things products here. Realme had also recently noted that it was aiming to become a tech-lifestyle company in 2020. The smart home market, as per a research by Markets and Markets, is expected to grow from $76.6 billion in 2018 to $151.4 billion by 2024.

“The opportunity related to the IoT enabled devices is big. As you get a taste of smart devices, you want to experience more. Then you want all your devices to be connected to each other. But the catch would be the first experience and how brands and channels deliver it,”Rahul Puri, ex-Apple and LG national sales head, had noted in an recent conversation with EFY Group.

Xiaomi already has its smartphone + AIoT strategy

China-based Xiaomi, had earlier, this year noted that the first quarter of 2019 was also the first quarter after the launch of its dual-engine strategy of smartphone + AIoT. Xiaomi’s official statement for the first quarter read, “Leveraging the effective implementation of its “Smartphone + AIoT” dual-engine strategy, the Group recorded revenue of approximately RMB 43.8 billion (approx $6.3 billion), representing a year-on-year increase of 27.2 per cent.”

As a matter of fact, during the first quarter of 2019, revenue of the IoT and lifestyle products segment rose by 56.5 per cent to RMB 12.0 billion (approx $1.74 billion) over the corresponding period of 2018. As of March 31, 2019, the number of connected IoT devices (excluding smartphones and laptops) on Xiaomi’s IoT platform, as per the company, reached approximately 171 million units.

“Looking ahead, we will be investing RMB10 billion in the development of ‘All in AIoT’ in the next 5 years, to capture the development opportunities in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) and IoT, thus laying a solid foundation for Xiaomi’s development in the next five to 10 years. We will replicate our success in the enhancement and adjustment of business strategies in the domestic market to our international markets,” Xiaomi founder, chairman and CEO, Lei Jun, had noted earlier this year.

Realme walking towards being a lifestyle products firm

Madhav Sheth, CEO, Realme, in a conversation with Livemint, had also noted about Realme’s focus towards being a tech-lifestyle brand in 2020. It is to be noted here that Realme has introduced Buds Air wireless headphones and neckbands in India already.

It is to be noted here that Realme works under the umbrella of BBK Group. This group also operates Oneplus, Vivo and Oppo brands. Additionally, Oppo has also revealed its plans of introducing smart products in many of its markets.

Oppo had recently said that it will invest $7 billion in developing core technologies in hardware, software and systems along with 5G/6G, AI, AR, big data and other frontier technologies over the next three years. The company is also planning to launch smart watches, smart TVs and robots in 2020.

“The penetration level of IoT embedded consumer electronics is very small when compared to international markets. This simply means that the market of IoT embedded consumer electronics has huge potential in the country. I see a good volume of IoT enabled consumer electronics driving into the country,” noted Rohit Singh, secretary general, CEAMA, in a recent conversation with EFY Group.