It looks like the holiday spirit of reunions has also reached smartphone brands. realme, a new player in the last decade who had stood toe-to-toe against titans, has moved back to parent company, OPPO.

It has nothing to do with sales performance, but more due to the increasing pressure of today’s economy. Things are painfully expensive. With the RAM shortage issues being one key factor, you can expect things will continue to get more expensive. And so, with this, BBK Electronics, the Chinese conglomerate who runs OPPO, vivo, iQOO, and realme, has decided to do one big restructuring, which involved putting realme in the hands of OPPO and become its sub-brand.

Former OPPO vice president, Sky Li, who left the company in 2018 to establish realme, will lead the new subbrand. The irony isn’t lost as realme has simply spun back in.

So, the question is -now what? What changes are we going to expect?

realme products remain intact. The brand name stays. What changes is how realme operates, supply chains, R&D, and so on. Maybe realme customers can walk into OPPO stores for customer services as well.

While global strategies hit speed bumps at the regional level, the Philippines gets a different kind of twist. According to tech website Revu, realme PH will continue its local independence. Perhaps, for now to ensure not to disrupt retail partners’ operations.

This consolidation is part of a larger pattern. The smartphone market has matured past the point where dozens of brands can thrive simultaneously. Replacement cycles are lengthening. Innovation has plateaued. Profit margins are under pressure.

BBK is doing what makes sense: reducing redundancy while keeping brand equity intact.

For consumers, the short-term impact is minimal. Your next realme phone will likely arrive on schedule, work as expected, and maintain the value proposition that made the brand relevant in the first place.

The longer-term question is whether realme can maintain its distinct identity once it's fully absorbed into OPPO's operational structure, or whether it gradually becomes indistinguishable from its parent brand.

Who knows, maybe once the economy cools off, realme will be able to spin off again.