“We sell phones. We don’t sell ads.” Well, Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth made this sly remark against Xiaomi’s MIUI skin at the Realme 3 Pro launch last year. However, if you have been keeping track, you would know that Realme has now itself decided to introduce ads into ColorOS (now rebranded to Realme UI, based on ColorOS) on their smartphones.
Ads in Realme UI are one of the revenue streams that will add to the company’s profits while it continues to offer its smartphone at cut-throat prices. Realme is offering users a “One Tap Solution” to disable ads across the UI and Sheth continues to add that, “If you check and compare, we are very conservative and selective about ads placements. Our margin here is still far below from some other brands.”
Though Realme has backtracked on its previous statement to not introduce ads on its smartphones, it is sort-of unavoidable for these brands due to reduced margins and cut-throat rivalry among budget players in India. I know, we as users will have to suffer the consequences of this move but the task of keeping its ads unintrusive and restricted to a few select locations in the UI falls on the company.
