Accelerating the rise of domestic mobile phones
2024-11-13
In recent years, the market share of domestic brand mobile phones has significantly increased, and the process of high-end development has accelerated significantly. Once, the high-end mobile phone market was almost monopolized by international brands such as Apple and Samsung. Now, domestic brands are breaking this situation with product performance and innovation. Industry insiders analyze that Chinese mobile phone brands continuously enhance consumer satisfaction and loyalty to their products through strategies such as technological innovation, quality improvement, high cost-effectiveness, and improved after-sales service systems. In the past five years, the share of domestically produced mobile phones has steadily increased. According to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the total shipment of mobile phones in the domestic market reached 289 million units in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 6.5%. Among them, the cumulative shipment of domestic brand mobile phones reached 231 million units, accounting for 79.9% of the total mobile phone shipments during the same period. From the data of the past five years, although global mobile phone shipments have been declining year by year, the market share of domestic brand mobile phones in the domestic market has shown a steady upward trend. According to statistics from multiple internationally renowned market research institutions, Huawei ranked first in the Chinese market share for the first time in 2020. Due to external factors, its market share declined, but other domestic brands quickly filled the market gap and took turns leading the domestic mobile phone market. In the first half of 2024, vivo ranked first with a market share of 18.5%. Recently, Qi Yingnan, the head of research for Counterpoint China, a market research firm, stated that in the first half of 2024, the top six best-selling smartphones in the Chinese market will be Vivo, Honor, Apple, Huawei, OPPO, and Xiaomi. The high-end market is also quietly undergoing changes. According to market research firm Canalys, Huawei, Xiaomi, and Vivo all maintained high-speed growth in the global high-end mobile phone market ranking (above $600) in the second quarter of 2024, ranking third to fifth respectively. In the second quarter of 2024, Huawei, Xiaomi, Vivo, and Honor ranked second only to Apple in the high-end mobile phone market in China (above $600), ranking second to fifth respectively. Apple, which has long been ranked first in the high-end market, has experienced a decline in growth rate. Nowadays, consumers no longer blindly pursue brand reputation. Changes in mobile phone performance, appearance, and imaging capabilities have become the main reasons for consumers to choose. The mobile phone ecosystem, privacy protection, and other aspects have also become more important. Although there are differences in statistical data from different institutions, consumers are beginning to prefer domestic mobile phone brands based on data from different sources. According to research data from JD.com, multiple factors such as price and service contribute to the increase in sales. The factors that affect consumers' decisions to purchase mobile phones are concentrated in price, brand, phone durability, user evaluation, performance configuration, appearance design, and other aspects. Compared with overseas brands with the same configuration of mobile phones, domestic mobile phones have a significant advantage in price. Li Yang, Secretary General of the China Communications Industry Association, said that price is still the main factor that consumers consider when upgrading. Flagship phones priced over $600 compete against a combination of brand value, innovative technology, and other factors. Some consumers do not agree with the current redundant features and lose their sense of identification with high prices. Li Yang believes that the backend services of mobile phone brands have gradually become a focus of consumer attention. A staff member at a Beijing store said that currently, the number of consumers in offline stores is gradually increasing, and young people are more inclined to make offline purchases. They value the ability to fully experience mobile phones and have professional guides to provide pre-sales assistance, data services, and post repair guidance. The brand's offline stores also provide services such as consumer rest areas and free mobile phone film sticking, and regularly invite professional photographers to explain shooting techniques on site. Embracing innovative cutting-edge technologies In recent years, domestic mobile phones have gained popularity among consumers, which is inseparable from brands actively embracing innovative cutting-edge technologies. Since the first mention of AI big models in mobile applications, Chinese mobile phone manufacturers have shown a faster response speed, and many brands have successively launched adapted big models, bringing a more intelligent and personalized experience to mobile phones. Based on deep learning and big data analysis, mobile phones can better understand users' needs and habits, thereby providing accurate services and recommendations. Guo Tianxiang, China Research Manager at International Data Corporation (IDC), believes that with the development of technological innovation, AI capabilities will further improve in the future and may become a decisive factor for users to switch devices. According to the reporter's understanding, since mid October, flagship phones of various brands have been unveiled one after another, and high-end new products such as vivo and OPPO have launched new functions related to AI technology, such as helping users book restaurants and coffee with just one click through voice. Ms. Chen, a user, said that in daily work, there are many forms and schedules that need to be processed. In the past, it was necessary to input them one by one, which was both time-consuming and prone to errors. However, now through the AI function of mobile terminals, as long as a clear instruction is given to the phone, it can understand the requirements and arrange the forms and schedules in an orderly manner, saving time. Talon Passack, Research Director at Counterpoint, stated that generative artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing smartphones. It provides a personalized experience and allows for more intuitive interaction. According to institutional estimates, by 2024, smartphones with generative artificial intelligence capabilities will account for 18% of overall smartphone shipments. Compared to AI technology, as an innovative form of smartphone, foldable screen phones have brought new vitality to the market. In recent years, domestic brand mobile phones have successively launched foldable screen products, which not only enhance the appearance and sense of grade of mobile phones, but also achieve breakthroughs in practicality. According to the "White Paper on China's High end Smartphone Market" released by Counterpoint, the compound annual growth rate of foldable screen smartphones will reach 114% from 2019 to 2025, and will double from 2022 to reach 55 million units in 2025. Ms. Li, a user, said, "Folding screens have larger screens, making it more convenient to watch TV shows, especially saving space on tablets when going out. In addition, folding screens can be used in split screens, allowing for timely file processing while chatting." Recently, the official public beta of the "Pure Blood" HarmonyOS system opened the prelude to China's self-developed mobile system. Since its release in 2019, HarmonyOS has gone through a process from being compatible with Android to gradually de Android, becoming a pioneer in the development of mobile systems in China. Domestic chip manufacturers such as Huawei have achieved significant results in the underlying logic, launching the Kirin chip. Because the difficulty of developing chips is extremely high, more domestic brands tend to take a different approach by approaching from the perspective of imaging NPU chips, reducing the difficulty of research and development, and to a certain extent achieving self-developed hardware technologies, thereby reducing supply chain costs. In addition to the above-mentioned technologies, domestic mobile phone brands have also launched a series of high-end technologies with independent intellectual property rights. For example, by developing efficient charging solutions, fast charging of mobile phone batteries has been achieved, which, combined with high-capacity batteries, has improved user convenience in terms of battery life; In terms of camera technology, advanced technologies such as high pixel resolution, large aperture, and multiple cameras have been developed to enhance the clarity and color reproduction of mobile phone photography, which has been well received by users. Future opportunities and challenges coexist. In addition to achieving significant results in the domestic market, domestic brand smartphones are also actively implementing overseas strategies to seize overseas markets. According to research firm IDC and Canalys, brands such as Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo have seen continuous growth in their shipments in the global smartphone market, particularly in regions such as India, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America. For example, Xiaomi ranked third in global smartphone shipments in the third quarter of 2024, while OPPO and vivo ranked fourth and fifth with market shares of 9.1% and 8.5%, respectively. The reason why Chinese mobile phone brands are favored in overseas markets is mainly due to their high cost-effectiveness products and flexible market strategies. Chinese mobile phone brands are usually able to provide high-end smartphones at a lower cost, meeting the demand of overseas consumers for cost-effectiveness. Despite the impressive performance of Chinese mobile phone brands in overseas markets, they still face many challenges. Industry experts believe that on the one hand, Chinese mobile phone brands have relatively weak influence in the global high-end market, and compared with international brands such as Samsung and Apple, their brand value and market awareness still need to be improved. On the other hand, with the changing international trade environment and intensified global market competition, Chinese mobile phone brands face many uncertainties in expanding their overseas markets. In addition, the collective price increase of new machines released since October has been attributed by many brands to the rise in supply chain costs. According to sources in the mobile phone supply chain, among the three important components of mobile phones, the price of memory will increase by more than 30% in 2024, and the price of processors will increase by about 10%. Although the cost of screens has been steadily decreasing recently, the increase in both memory and processors ultimately increases the cost, which is reflected in the terminal selling price. For example, the 16GB+1TB version of Xiaomi 15 and OPPO FindX8 is priced at 5499 yuan, which is 500 yuan higher than the previous generation version with the same memory. Industry insiders point out that the weak discourse power in the supply chain of core components for mobile phones is an important challenge faced by domestic mobile phone brands. Chinese mobile phone brands face both opportunities and challenges. Li Yang said, "With the rapid development of technologies such as 5G and AI and the continuous changes in the global market, Chinese mobile phone brands need to maintain keen insight and flexible response capabilities to seize opportunities and respond to challenges
Edit：Yao jue Responsible editor：Xie Tunan
Source：XinhuaNet
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