The Chinese smartphone vendor Realme said over 30,000 units of its latest smartphone series Realme GT were sold in 10 seconds of the first sale, as local consumers show high enthusiasm for 5G smartphones.

The company said in a post on the social media platform Weibo on Thursday that the sales volume exceeded 100 million yuan ($15.43 million).

Starting at 2,799 yuan in China, the Realme GT 5G is the latest push by the company to expand its presence in the Chinese 5G smartphone market. The devices, unveiled last week, came as the Chinese market rebounded sharply after the COVID-19 pandemic was brought under better control in the nation.

In February, 21.3 million smartphones were shipped out of factories to retailers across China, marking a year-on-year surge of 236.6 percent, according to a report released on Thursday by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a Beijing-based government think tank.

Launched in 2018, Realme is a fast-growing smartphone brand and it chiefly relies on its popularity in e-commerce sales channels and its resonance with young consumers.

Li Bingzhong, CEO of Realme, said earlier that the company will accelerate push to expand its overseas presence this year.

Li said Realme had entered just 35 markets at the start of 2020, but the figure jumped to 61 by year-end as the company fully leveraged its advantages in e-commerce and other marketing resources.