Realme has expanded its P Series in India with the launch of Realme P4R 5G that the company claims is the first phone in the price segment to offer an 8,000mAh battery. Just days ahead of the big launch, Francis Wong, Head of Product Marketing at Realme Global spoke to The Times of India about the company's India portfolio and P4R 5G smartphone. Realme P Series is the company's mid-range series launched in April 2024. Realme also has the Narzo series which enjoys strong brand recall in the segment.
According to Wong, P Series is subsequently positioned largely as a Flipkart-exclusive range, while Narzo remains associated with Amazon. Stressing on what he called the company's "Balanced Channel Strategy" approach, he said that Realme is not limited to an online-first strategy, we are focused on maintaining a healthy balance between both online and mainline. While the P Series continues to be our key online growth engine, the Number Series remains a strong driver of our mainline business.
The comments come as Realme sharpens its focus on affordability and battery life amid rising component costs. Wong said that battery performance will be the company's primary differentiator over the next two years. Wong said, "The P Series was designed specifically for India’s online-first consumers, allowing us to stay closely connected to their evolving needs. Young consumers don't buy smartphones based on specifications alone, they buy devices that solve their everyday needs. From day one, the P Series was built specifically for India's digital-first generation, people who game, stream, create content, learn, and work through their smartphones."
"In 2025 and 2026, the number one buying factor across the Realme portfolio, especially online, will definitely be battery life," he said. "The second is performance and processor capability, particularly gaming performance. The third is design."
Realme believes that its early investment in high-capacity batteries has given it an edge. Wong said that the company secured inventory and supplier partnerships before larger batteries became mainstream, allowing it to bring 7,000mAh and 8,000mAh devices to market ahead of competitors. "Every brand has to choose where it wants to lead. For Realme, that area is battery. Other brands may focus on cameras. This is how we've chosen to compete," he said.
Beyond battery capacity, the company is also increasingly emphasising durability and longevity as smartphone replacement cycles lengthen. Wong said that consumers are now keeping their phones for three to five years, forcing brands to focus on long-term reliability.
"The biggest challenge is making sure consumers trust that the phone can last longer," he said. "Earlier, people bought phones in a rush and only thought about one or two years of usage. Now they want to use their phones for three to four-five years."
Realme is primarily targeting college students and younger consumers, whom Wong described as "heavy users" with its latest smartphone. Realme P4R 5G comes with 'One Tap Cooling' that can be activated during gaming and other high-power consuming tasks. According to the company, in case the phone gets heated in any such task, with 'One Tap Cooling' mode the temperature drops by 1 to 2 degrees in just 2 minutes.
Realme says that the new device -- Realme P4R 5G -- supports 1,600 charging cycles, comes with a 48-month fluency guarantee and is designed to retain up to 80 per cent battery health after seven years. The phone will also receive two Android OS upgrades and three years of security updates.
Wong also warned that smartphone prices are unlikely to ease anytime soon. "Memory costs will keep increasing until the second half of 2027," he said, adding that rising component prices are affecting the entire electronics industry.
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