On the surface it appears that a single Chinese smartphone powerhouse is out to push Apple off the top-five list in China by creating four independent brands Vivo, Oppo, OnePlus and now realme. Within a year realme is likely to push Apple off the top vendor list in China which is a psychological victory for China's smartphone industry.

The mastermind behind this strategy is BBK Electronics who also lists iQOO as an independent brand though it currently is under the Vivo brand but could be spun off to form their fifth smartphone company.

A new report from Counterpoint points out that realme, a company that opened its doors in May 2018, was in 47^th position globally in the in Q3 2018 and in one year grew 800% to put them 8^th place globally. They could easily leap into the top five in China by this time next year (or sooner), knocking Apple off the top list in China.  

Overall the market size for smartphones has been shrinking for 7 consecutive quarters. Most of the brands have also been experiencing negative growth. However, Counterpoint states that there are a handful of brands showing positive growth but one stood out most: realme.

Realme has become the fastest growing smartphone brand. It registered over 800% annual growth in Q3 2019. Counterpoint thinks it shipped over 10 million smartphones and came in 7th place in the global smartphone market for the first time.

India and Indonesia are the most important markets for realme, contributing to more than 80% of its shipments.

Realme's core brand strength, according to Counterpoint, lies in its fast execution. Realme has been quick to bring premium features to the budget segment and mass market. For instance, it was among the first few brands to bring features such as quad-cam, 64MP rear camera, water-drop design and pop-up selfie camera within the $100-$250 price band. This has resonated well especially among young consumers seeking value for money.

Above are the specs for their higher end realme X no notch smartphone. It's sold through the Oppo brand in the U.S. via Amazon for $499.

In September Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple may be planning to introduce a new iPhone Model Aimed at Mid-Tier & Emerging Markets next Spring." Rumor sites like MacRumors are reporting today that Apple's economical iPhone will go into production as early as January.

While Apple's key iPhones will always remain premium smartphones like the iPhone 11 Pro, in emerging markets like India, Apple will have to play in the mid-market sector in a much bigger way in order to build their brand to a wider audience and hopefully make up on price with subscription services.

Samsung realized this hard market shift to mid-tier smartphones earlier than Apple in order to play hardball in China and India with BK Electronics. They introduced a new A-Series of smartphones that accounted for 56% of their Q2 sales.

It was reported on today that by The Korea Times that in order to sell the lower cost A-Series phones at a profit, Samsung had to outsource manufacturing to a Chinese ODM. An ODM refers to a company that designs and manufactures a product, to be rebranded and sold by another company.

It's clear that Chinese Smartphone Company BK Electronics is out to remove Apple from China's top five smartphone list and now with realme, BK Electronics will likely be able to achieve their goal in China by 2020.

If BBK Electronics was under a single smartphone brand, they would be number one, followed by Huawei and then Apple and Xiaomi battling it out for third place. But by spinning off new brands as they've done, it pushes Apple off their Country's top vendor list and that's not by accident that they've done it this way.

BBK is now using realme to win over India and to ensure that Apple's brand remains nothing more than a tiny niche.   

On the flip side, Apple is expanding their manufacturing base in India this year, introducing a new mid-tier iPhone in H1 2019 and opening new Flagship stores in large cities in the not too-distant future.

It's clear that Apple is finally planning to take on the Indian market in a serious way while keeping their eye on remaining the most profitable smartphone company on the planet.  

While it'll be a psychological win for China's smartphone vendors to sell against Apple locally, consumers in general focus on other things than sheer volume as a meaningful claim to fame. It's about overall value, design, a solid operating system, services and yes, privacy (especially in Hong Kong and most of China).

Not being on a top five-list isn't really that big a deal. Look at the list of top cars listed below. Owners of Nissan and other quality brands like Mazda, Mercedes, BMW, Porsche and Audi really couldn't care less if their choice of car didn't make that list which is based on the basics of volume.

So when the press, critics and Wall Street analysts play up Apple's decline from the top-five smartphone list in the next year or two, just laugh it off. Apple has their priorities in order and playing the "Volume" game has never been one of them.