Zhongxin Finance, February 25 (Reporter Wu Tao) In January, domestic mobile phones fell by 17.7% year-on-year.

Originally, January was the peak season for mobile phone sales, but this time the shipments plummeted. What happened?

Domestic mobile phone shipments plummeted

　　According to the latest data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, in January 2022, the shipment of mobile phones in the domestic market was 33.022 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 17.7%.

Among them, 26.324 million 5G mobile phones, a year-on-year decrease of 3.5%, accounted for 79.7% of the mobile phone shipments in the same period.

Domestic mobile phone shipments in January.

Image source: Screenshot of the official website of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology


　　Some analysts pointed out that the decline in mobile phone shipments this time is unusual, because the Spring Festival is approaching in January every year, and according to previous years, it should be the peak sales season.

　　For example, in the same period last year, that is, in January 2021, the domestic mobile phone market shipped 40.12 million units, a year-on-year increase of 92.8%, and 40 new models were launched, a year-on-year increase of 17.6%.

　　In addition, this is also the first decline in domestic mobile phone shipments after three consecutive months of year-on-year increases.

Many analysts pointed out that this situation is indeed rare.

Weak innovation or the main reason

　　Some people point out that the lack of innovation may be the main reason for the decline in mobile phone shipments.

According to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, in January 2022, 30 new mobile phone models were launched in the domestic market, a year-on-year decrease of 43.4%, of which 15 were 5G mobile phones, a year-on-year decrease of 53.1%.

　　In addition, in January, although flagship models such as Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro, IQOO9 Pro, and OnePlus 10 Pro were released, and the processors all use a new generation of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8.

It is claimed that the performance is 400% higher than that of the Snapdragon 888.

However, many analysts believe that the performance of Snapdragon 8 is not as good as expected.

Some mobile phones claim that the performance of the Snapdragon 8 is 400% higher than that of the Snapdragon 888.

screenshot


　　Except for the CPU, many new models have no bright spots. In the promotion, they still emphasize the old-fashioned features such as "long battery life, large battery, fast charging".

　　Communication industry observer Xiang Ligang believes that innovation in the mobile phone industry has entered a bottleneck period, such as mobile phone pixels, after breaking the 100 million mark, it will become stable and balanced for a period of time.

At present, the pixels of mobile phone flagship models are generally around 50 million.

　　Regarding the sharp drop in mobile phone shipments, a recent research report released by CITIC Securities pointed out that the future performance of the mobile phone market still needs to be observed.

　　However, it is worth noting that after several years of market education, folding screen mobile phones are now gaining momentum.

Many folding screen mobile phone manufacturers show that they are "out of stock", and there is also news that Apple will launch a folding screen iPhone in 2025.

　　According to IDC data, it is expected that by 2025, the global shipments of folding screen mobile phones will reach 27.6 million units, with an average annual growth rate of 69.9%.

There are other agencies predicting that by 2025, the shipment of folding screen mobile phones will exceed 50 million.

The lack of core, the epidemic and other reasons are superimposed

　　Qi Yingnan, deputy director and senior analyst of the consulting agency Counterpoint, believes that the Chinese mobile phone market is affected by the epidemic, and the seasonal cycle of smartphones is further prolonged.

Data map.

Photo by Yin Liqin

　　"The problem of semiconductor shortages has continued to ferment. In 2021, we will see that due to the shortage of semiconductors, the prices of many components have caused the cost of smartphones to rise, which will have a more serious impact on low-end products and further compress This reduces the profit margins of low-end products, which makes more manufacturers have to raise the prices of new products to offset the impact of rising costs." Qi Yingnan said.

　　However, Qi Yingnan believes that global smartphone shipments will still maintain a positive growth in 2022, and it is expected to increase by more than 7%.

(over)