We have seen how smartphone companies, especially at the lower and budget end, are releasing smartphones after the other at an unbelievable price. Well, everyone says that if there is something for free or cheap then there is always a cost attached to it. Similarly, we see that the features and specifications seen on high-end phones are coming to mid-range phones from the likes of Realme and Xiaomi. The catch, however, is that you need to see advertisements on your phones if you want to use those high-end phones without paying that much. Till now, we were aware that Xiaomi is showing ads inside its phones to the users with its MIUI.
Now, Realme has announced that they too will start showing ads inside ColorOS starting this year. However, the fancy term these companies are using for advertisements is “content recommendations”. Realme says that they want to “continue offering more surprises” by bringing these content recommendations aka ads in their UI. We know that advertisements are a huge source of revenue in all types of businesses found online. However, we have found that the last thing people want to see on their phones are ads.
Regardless, we also understand that companies want to make a revenue stream out of their ads because they are cutting margins in selling their phones. There is also an ongoing debate of whether companies should hike up their prices to show no ads or people are okay with seeing ads. Currently, the only option that people have is not to buy smartphones from Xiaomi and now Realme if they don’t want to see ads. The only option for them, if they also want high-end specifications, are companies such as Asus, OnePlus and others which still offer great value in the upper mid-range segment. Having said that, we know that companies will offer a way to turn off the majority of these “content recommendations” but not entirely.