realme, a three-year-old brand continues to strengthen its foothold in the Philippine smartphone market as it once again takes the No. 1 spot in the Top smartphone vendors for Q1 2021. The fast-rising tech brand first achieved this position back in Q3 2020, just two years after the brand's entry in the market in late 2018.

Data from several research firms underscore realme's remarkable growth and market leadership during this quarter. Canalys reports a 23% unit share for the brand, driven by a 95 percent annual growth. In addition, realme also takes the no. 1 spot in a separate report by IDC, accounting for 21.3% of total market share. The report notes that this position is highlighted by the opening of new realme stores in the first quarter of 2021 further expanding the brand's channel reach in high growth potential areas outside of Manila.

Despite the challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, realme still showed the highest YoY (year on year) growth during the quarter at +142 percent, according to Counterpoint Research. The brand also leads in the e-commerce space, having the highest proportion in online sales at 34 percent.