Xiaomi blamed Realme for holding a “copy-cat brand”
A real innovative brand also market leader won’t perform like that: Sheth
Basic dignity and principles should be maintained, Sheth continued
Choosing on Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi after being named a ‘copy-cat brand’ in the Indian smartphone market, rival Realme’s CEO Madhav Sheth took to Twitter on Tuesday, announcing “a real innovative brand and market leader won’t behave like that”.
Answering an earlier tweet by Manu Kumar Jain,Xiaomi Vice President, and Xiaomi India Managing Director which accused Realme of being a “copy-cat brand,” Sheth tweeted: “A real innovative brand and market leader won’t behave like that. Basic dignity and ethics should be maintained no matter how insecure you are of your competitor’s growth”.
The tug-of-war on Twitter started earlier this month, with Jain tweeting: “Funny! A copy-cat brand mocks us. Later this brand brings ads & some ppl start blaming us. Most brands push ads but only Xiaomi is bashed. Because we’ve been transparent about our business model. If any journalist wants to understand our Internet business, I’m happy to talk!”
When communicated, Sheth told IANS: “It does not suit brands to lower their corporate ethics and get into mud-slinging on social media as it only harms the overall industry sentiments. We are here to provide our users best of the experiences and Realme would rather focus on that,” replied Sheth.
In May last year, both the smartphone administrators took to Twitter, starting with Jain’s Twitter upheaval upon Realme where he hit out at Realme 3 Pro₹ 10,998 that features Qualcomm Snapdragon 710, saying this is older than Snapdragon 675 used in Xiaomi’s latest device Redmi Note 7 Pro.
Sheth answered, telling Xiaomi is “insecure” of its success in the country. “Someone is afraid,” he had tweeted.
For the calendar year 2019, Xiaomi garnered 28 percent market share while Realme – rising at massive 255 per cent – registered 10 percent market share while appearing on the scene in the country hardly over a year ago.
“We will focus on making #realme the best in 2020. Rest is their choice, we don’t bother,” Sheth tweeted.
According to him, Realme’s growth has not decreased in the country.
Interestingly, Xiaomi’s sub-brand POCO is starting its second device as “Poco X2” next month while Realme launched X2 and X2 Pro devices late last year.