Retailers allege Realme forcing them to sell pre-activated handsets

Chinese smartphone brands such as Xiaomi and Realme have consistently increased their presence in Indian markets despite rising scrutiny from Indian authorities. Realme is one of the leading smartphone sellers in India’s market, with the sale of 20 million devices in 2022 of which 3.2 million were 5G handsets.

But now retailers have alleged that in order to show sales higher than they actually were, Realme has been forcing them to sell pre-activated devices.

What does this mean?
Pre-activated smartphones are handsets that are activated before they are actually sold to consumers.

This involves a seller first inserting a sim and activating a device, so that it gets registered as sold once, and then the same handset is packed again and sold to a customer.

With these devices, consumers lose the benefits of replacing the smartphone and it also restricts retailers from sending the unsold stock back to the firm.

The truth behind record sales
The All India Mobile Retailers Association has written to Realme that the supposed success of their flagship device has left the retail market with a pile of activated unsold devices because of the firm’s practices.

These allegations come after the brand claimed that it has sold a record 2 lakh units of the Realme 11 Pro.

Sellers have also flagged a national security threat that these pre-activated devices pose, since the owner could turn out to be any random buyer and not the registered seller.

On the other hand, Realme has denied that it sells preactivated phones at all, and stated that every device undergoes security checks and certification before being sent to the market. Free Press Journal