Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Nearly 70% of the world's mobile phones are made in China, but domestic mobile phone brands only own nearly 40% of the global market. This may be the source of complex emotions among domestic mobile phone manufacturers.

In the cycle of the rapid development of smartphones in the past decade, some brands have disappeared and some brands have surpassed. China's mobile phone market has experienced twists and turns, but opportunities continue at the same time.

In 2022, which has been run over by the wheel of history, domestic mobile phone manufacturers have also spent a lifetime to deal with it. After all, the mobile phone industry will be chilly in 2022. According to data from the Information Technology Institute, "23.238 million mobile phones were shipped in the domestic market in November 2022, down 34.1% from the same period last year.

In 2022, although the market is no longer as prosperous as it was then, the domestic smartphone market also shows a new trend, and it is likely to become a new starting point for Chinese mobile phone manufacturers in the future.

Fight for the high end: December, when the price of 4000-5000 is highly competitive, is the peak period for domestic mobile phone manufacturers to release new products. In 2022, the industry held a series of ten press conferences, both the industry and consumers feel overwhelmed.

The layman looks at the hustle and bustle, the expert looks at the way. From the information revealed by the ten press conferences, it is not difficult to see that OPPO, Xiaomi, IQOO, Huawei and other manufacturers have released new phones, high-end models account for relatively high. Among them, 4000-5000 price belt high-end mobile phone track competition is fierce.

For mid-range models, such as vivo's iQOOQ Neo7 racing version, the starting price (8GB+256GB version) is 2799 yuan. Glory 80 GT focuses on game performance, starting at 3299 yuan (12GB+256GB version). The new machine of Xiaomi Group's "four consecutive launches" is also priced at around 3000 yuan.

Competition for high-end models is much fiercer. OPPO released a new generation of folding screen phone Find N2 series, in which the vertical screen version (8GB+256GB version) starts at 5999 yuan; Xiaomi's three-year high-end strategy paper Xiaomi 13 starts at 3999 yuan, and Xiaomi 13 Pro starts at 4999 yuan; iQOO 11 starts at 3799 yuan (8GG+256GB version), and the highest configuration iQOO 11 Pro (16GB+512GB version) costs 5999 yuan

Why is the competition for high-end models so fierce? This is related to the "anxiety" of manufacturers in the past two years.

▲ photo source: domestic mobile phone manufacturers, which ViVO Weibo has managed to extricate itself from the "price war", have fallen into another whirlpool in recent years-- more and more "rolls" in mobile phone hardware, functions, and design. Manufacturers are participating in the market competition through "stacking". As a result, the configuration of mobile phones is getting higher and higher, the cost is getting higher and higher, the price is not as "beautiful" as before, and consumers' willingness to buy is getting lower and lower. But the competitive price belt has also been raised a lot.

The temptation of profit is an important factor. It has long been a consensus in the industry that the profit of high-end phones is much higher than that of middle-and low-end mobile phones. Apple, which has earned more than half or even 80% of the world's mobile phones for a long time, has always been the representative of high profits in the industry. But in China, since Xiaomi, the "price butcher" entered the market, the overall profit margin of domestic mobile phones has been at a low level.

However, since 2018, domestic mobile phone manufacturers have chosen to tear up the "performance-to-price ratio" label and take the high-end route, launching high-end models worth more than 4000 yuan one after another. Even Xiaomi, which grabbed the market with its "low price strategy", began to try to open up the high-end market three years ago. These actions are naturally backed by manufacturers' yearning for high profit margins.

Then there is relatively low-end mobile phones, high-end mobile phones are relatively less affected by the economic cycle. This can be clearly sensed from the sales data for 2022. Even in the "most difficult second quarter" of 2022, when smartphone sales in China fell 14 per cent year-on-year, high-end smartphone sales fell only 10 per cent.

Finally, the chip "neck" incident in 2021 caused Huawei to fall out of the first camp of shipments in the domestic market. The resulting market vacancy allows other domestic mobile phone manufacturers to see new opportunities. According to incomplete statistics, as of the first half of 2022, manufacturers including OPPO, vivo and Xiaomi have released a total of 51 new products, and the starting prices of many flagship stores have exceeded 4000 yuan.

To sum up, it is no accident that high-end computers are valued in 2022, but the inevitable result of the development of the industry to a certain extent. In the future, the focus of major manufacturers will no longer focus on thousands of yuan phones, but on high-end models that can make higher profits.

Folding screen, manufacturers "roll" to a new height

Another type of high-end phone is a folding screen phone. And this is also a rare increase in domestic mobile phone shipments in 2022.

Global shipments of folding screen smartphones rose sharply in the third quarter of 2022, hitting an all-time high again, according to Strategy Analytics. At the same time, China shipped more than 1 million folding screen mobile phones in a single quarter, an increase of 246% over the same period last year, much faster than the market, and set the largest single-quarter shipments in history.

The positive data has boosted some confidence in the depressed mobile phone market. Relevant data show that by 2022, seven mobile phone manufacturers and more than 20 folding screen phones have entered the market. Huawei, Glory, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo and other mobile phone manufacturers often launch new products, which are widely concerned by the industry.

▲ photo source: Huawei mobile Weibo as one of the earliest manufacturers, Huawei has been the main force in the research and development of folding screen technology. Take Mate Xs 2 as an example, its improvements in weight, thickness, crease and fall resistance are mainly due to breakthroughs in a number of key R & D technologies; Glory launched Magic V at the beginning of the year, and then launched new products at the end of the year, which shows the strategic position of folding screen in Glory; let's take a look at OPPO, when the folding screen mobile phone is becoming more and more homogenized, OPPO Find N has won the favor of female users with its special size.

If these are all "superficial kung fu", then hiding the 95% underwater is the real "inner roll" direction of the major manufacturers.

When the folding screen phone was born in 2019, the price once exceeded 20000 yuan. For a long time, "changing the screen 3500, the meat hurts" once let the folding screen taste the torment.

How to get the price down is a breakthrough that mobile phone manufacturers have been looking for in the past three years. In early November, Huawei launched the Pocket S, a folding screen phone known as "price is close to the people". The "128GB price of 5988 yuan" triggered an industry "earthquake". You know, the first folding screen phone launched by Huawei sells for 18000 yuan. Even Huawei's five previously launched folding screen phones cost as little as 8988 yuan.

From 18000 yuan to less than 6000 yuan, the price of folding screen phones represented by Huawei has dropped obviously.

Li Zegang, chief analyst at Omdia, said that the price of small screen folding products began to fall, and there will be more products with new low prices in 2023. Folding products will officially enter the upper price range, leading to an increase in market penetration.

In addition to the "volume" at the price level, at the technical level, the efforts of mobile phone manufacturers are obvious to all. Among them, the screen and hinge are not only the two major technical difficulties of the folding screen, but also the most important link to enhance the value.

Take the hinge as an example. Glory spent a year self-developing ultra-thin suspended water drop hinge technology, launched Glory Magic V, the thinnest horizontal internal folding machine in the industry at that time, and used a new self-developed "Luban 0 gear hinge" on the latest generation of folding flagship glory Magic Vs. OPPO uses mortise and tenon technology and slide rail links to replace the previous rivet structure, so that the number of parts used in the hinge is greatly reduced.

Lower prices and greater technical strength are backed by the input of manufacturers regardless of cost. For manufacturers, only after the formation of economies of scale, this part of the investment is possible to see a return.

The feedback from the market did not disappoint the manufacturers. According to Counterpoint's forecast for the global folding screen smartphone market in the third quarter of 2022, global shipments of folding screen smartphones in fiscal year 2023 are expected to grow 52% year-on-year to 22.7 million units. In fiscal year 2022, global shipments of folding screen phones will reach 14.9 million.

With constantly improving data, it is no wonder that mobile phone manufacturers will bet heavily on folding screens.

Is it the ultimate form of competition for mobile phone manufacturers to fight for higher-end models and the innovative experience of selling prices and folding screens in the ecological struggle with the operating system as the core? The answer is no.

"if the folding screen phone is at a low price, it is possible to enter it." "there is actually no strong demand for mobile phones," said Xiao Liu, who has just entered the workplace. "it doesn't make a big difference between a straight screen and a folding screen, and it's certainly an addition to improve work efficiency, as long as it's easy to use."

"easy to use" is becoming the simplest demand for mobile phones for consumers. And want to achieve "easy to use", but also involves the lowest operating system. On the mobile operating system, the closeness originally set by iOS allows Apple products to interconnect with each other; Android is more open, but at the same time, the system is slower and slower and becomes a common slot for consumers.

Although each has its own advantages and disadvantages, the two have maintained a dichotomy trend for many years. This situation was not broken until the launch of Huawei Hongmeng system in 2021. Although more and more people in the market believe that the launch of Hongmeng is a last resort for Huawei to deal with the "sticking neck", facts have proved that since Hongmeng's launch, domestic mobile phone manufacturers have paid more and more attention to the operating system.

▲ Photo Source: OPPO Mobile Weibo OPPO launched the ColorOS operating system as early as 2013, but it has not been widely recognized due to the industry's lack of attention to the operating system. The smart cross-end system Pantanal launched last year shows the industry the strength of OPPO at the operating system level.

Also landing on the operating system is Glory. Last year, the Honor MagicOS operating system was officially launched, with "one button and three connections" cross-screen and cross-service, making the operating system look cool. The latest folding screen phone launched at the end of the year is equipped with this new system, so that consumers have a deeper perception and evaluation of the operating system.

Although they are both operating systems, the positioning of Rong Yong and OPPO is not the same. The former is cross-terminal and cross-service, and the goal is to "tie" users to their own ecology, while Pantanal is a sub-operating system of ColorOS, whose goal is to serve ColorOS well. No matter how the operating system is laid out, their ultimate goal is "ecology".

In terms of mobile phone ecology, like high profit margins, Apple ecology brings inestimable value to Apple, based on which domestic mobile phone manufacturers began to invest heavily. Over time, their operating system may become a new hope for the domestic mobile phone industry.

In addition, in the current surging era of the Internet of things in China, mobile phone terminals have long been a very important entrance. The Internet of things can be widely connected to all kinds of devices and used in a variety of scenarios, whether it is car, home, daily office, etc., once connected, it represents a greater possibility of mobile phone ecology.

This also means that the major mobile phone manufacturers want to obtain ecological value, then the operating system of this "ticket" has become a rigid demand.

Conclusion: in 2022, the domestic mobile phone industry has already rolled out a new realm, this kind of competition has been separated from the initial price and sinking of the industry, but the comprehensive strength competition of research and development, technology, ecology, strategy and so on.

As the "fruit" of comprehensive strength, the major manufacturers are bound to be released one after another in 2023. It may be more desirable to look forward to examining the mobile phone market in 2023 from this perspective.

Reference:

① computer News: annual inventory of the mobile phone market in 2022: cold wind, dark fragrance to the nostrils

② Ray Technology: in 2022, mobile phone manufacturers will fight in the Red Sea.

③ ZOL Zhongguancun online: 2022 Mobile ZDC report: consumption degradation and high-end rise coexist, folding screen may become the biggest opportunity

④ China Information and Communication Institute CAICT: China Information Communication Institute released an analysis report on the operation of the domestic mobile phone market in November 2022.

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: ID:manfangsd, author: Qi Qi

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