Our reporter Li Yucheng

　　Trainee reporter Wang Jingru Xie Shihao

　　Huawei and Apple meet again on a narrow road.

In the early morning of September 8, less than two days after Huawei released the Mate 50 series, Apple launched the iPhone 14 series.

The reporter noticed that Apple abandoned the low-end Mini model this time and replaced it with the higher-end iPhone 14 Plus. In addition, it also launched a "satellite SOS emergency contact function" similar to Huawei's "Beidou satellite communication technology".

　　The two major manufacturers have successively released high-end new products. What impact will it have on the current high-end mobile phone market, and will the weak mobile phone consumer market be met with "drinks after a long drought"?

What kind of enlightenment can both parties bring to the mobile phone manufacturers who are in the trough of product innovation by taking "satellite communication" as the focus of propaganda?

Huawei and Apple face off again

　　Guo Tianxiang, a senior analyst at IDC China, told the "Securities Daily" reporter: "The mate 50 series is very popular and pre-orders are also very popular. Huawei's brand power in the high-end market is very strong, especially the previous two generations of Mate users are almost at the replacement cycle. , which may have a certain impact on Apple's dominant position in the high-end market."

　　Huawei's Mate series and P series used to be one of the few products in the mobile phone market that could compete with the iPhone.

Today, Huawei has returned to the main battlefield of high-end mobile phones with the Mate 50 series, which not only brings more options to consumers, but also injects vitality into the mobile phone market.

　　Counterpoint data shows that China's high-end smartphone sales accounted for an increase in the overall market sales in the second quarter of this year, from 31% in the second quarter of 2021 to 33% in the second quarter of 2022.

Among them, the market share of the high-end segment above US$1,000 increased by 110% year-on-year, and the market share of the high-end segment between US$600 and US$799 increased by 10%.

　　Zhang Xiaorong, president of the Deepin Science and Technology Research Institute, told the Securities Daily reporter: "At present, the high-end mobile phone market is still monopolized by Apple. The return of Huawei's Mate 50 series products may lead the innovation direction of high-end mobile phones and lead the industry chain to regain lost market share. Then it becomes a key variable that triggers changes in the high-end market.”

High-end market war rekindles

　　In fact, the reshuffle signal of the high-end mobile phone industry has already appeared.

　　The Counterpoint report shows that in the second quarter of 2022, the top three high-end smartphone shares in China are Apple (46%), vivo (13%), and Huawei (11%).

Among them, vivo sales increased by 91% year-on-year, and its share increased from 6% to 13%, replacing Huawei for the first time in China's high-end market.

According to Sun Yanbiao, founder of Chaodian Think Tank, technological innovation is the most important driving force for vivo to achieve such achievements.

　　In fact, vivo can be regarded as the epitome of domestic leading manufacturers' pursuit of "high-end brand" in terms of grasping the direction of technological innovation, cognition of performance experience, or insight into consumer demand in the high-end market.

　　Since the first half of this year, domestic mobile phone manufacturers have made frequent moves. For example, Honor, vivo, and Huawei have all launched the latest folding screen mobile phones; Xiaomi has launched Surging C1/G1/P1 self-developed chips, and OPPO has launched Mariana X self-developed image chips. OPPO's self-developed chips are also carried on the Find X5 series and the Reno 8 series for large-scale commercial use.

　　Wei Yuhuai, executive president of Zhongcheng Think Tank, believes that the comprehensive strength of domestic mobile phones is constantly improving.

"Domestic mobile phones have significantly increased investment in research and development, and accelerated product technology iteration and underlying innovation. It is expected that domestic brands will launch more new mobile phone products in the second half of the year, further consolidating the layout and competition in the high-end market."

　Mobile phone technology new tricks appear frequently

　　The real establishment of industrial status requires high-end breakthroughs, and 5G chips, folding screens, satellite communications and other factors have increasingly become the key to breaking the game.

IDC data shows that in the context of the overall cold mobile phone consumption, the shipments of folding screen mobile phones in the first half of this year increased by 70% year-on-year, exceeding 1.1 million units, growing against the trend and growing rapidly.

　　In this regard, Guo Tianxiang believes that the folding screen, as a product that can differentiate itself from Apple, is expected to be favored by domestic high-end mobile phone brands.

In the future, if the technology is more mature and the cost is further reduced, it is believed that more consumers will choose folding screens.

At present, the folding screen still has problems such as large weight and thickness of the whole machine, and creases on the screen.

　　In terms of software and hardware, Zhang Xiaorong believes: "5G chips are still the market pass. Android 5G chips are monopolized by Qualcomm, but they have been widely recognized by consumers. Therefore, the mass production and wide application of self-developed chips are more worth looking forward to; satellite communications are actually Edge functions, cost and technical thresholds are not high, and are likely to be introduced by various manufacturers. In addition, more powerful mobile phone image processing systems will also become a new force for manufacturers."

　　"It is expected that in the future, major domestic mobile phone manufacturers will continue to increase their investment in high-end routes, including investment in product strength, services, channels, and their own brand image. In addition, domestic mobile phone manufacturers should also focus on mobile phones and combine other multi-terminal form, deeply bind its own users, and form a brand 'moat'. At the same time, open up a variety of terminals, establish a complete ecological chain, and seek more development in software. Only by accumulating qualitative changes from quantitative changes can we hope to truly stand on the high-end market." Guo Tianxiang If so.

(Securities Daily)