Realme, the Chinese tech company known for its affordable Android smartphones, has officially left the UK market.
The company confirmed the news in a statement to Tech Advisor, saying that “the sales and marketing of relevant products over Realme UK channels are being put on hold”.
This move has been a long time in the making, given that Realme hasn’t launched a phone in the UK since the GT 2 and GT 2 Pro in March 2022. The Realme GT 3 was shown off at MWC 2023 in Barcelona ahead of an expected European launch, but this was subsequently called off.
This year, there’s no sign of Realme in the official MWC 2024 exhibitor list despite launching recent devices such as the Realme 12 Pro+ and Realme GT5 Pro.
Furthermore, the Realme UK site simply redirects you to the support page, and there have been no posts to the X (formerly Twitter) account since August 2022.
Though devices such as the Realme C31 are still on sale from the likes of Currys, we thought we’d find out once and for all.
A former Oppo sub-brand, Realme officially became an independent company in 2018. It began releasing products in the UK a year later, quickly building up an impressive portfolio of smartphones, accessories and other devices.
Hannah Cowton / Foundry
However, the Apple-Samsung duopoly in the UK has made it difficult for Realme to compete. According to Statcounter, those two companies were responsible for over 80% of the entire UK smartphone market in January 2024.
It doesn’t appear to be related to Realme’s exit from Germany in 2023, which was borne out of a patent dispute between parent company BBK and Nokia. Oppo and OnePlus have also exited the German market as a result, though the latter is still very active in the UK despite a rocky sequence of events with the Nord 3 launch.
The but, though a small one, means there is a glimmer of hope for Realme in the UK.
The company says, “our team is proactively working with relevant parties to resolve the ongoing matter”, adding that “you may look forward to news in the future”.
If you live in the UK and already own a Realme phone, there’s no need to worry. Realme will continue delivering updates to all its devices until official software support ends.