The decline in mobile phone shipments, the three major market changes are worthy of attention

　　China News Service, December 1st (China News Finance reporter Wu Tao) How long has it been since you bought a new mobile phone?

　　The latest data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology shows that in September 2022, the domestic mobile phone shipments will be 20.922 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 2.4%.

From January to September, shipments were 196 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 21.1%.

Through the data, what changes have taken place in the mobile phone market?

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

Change 1: The mobile phone market may bottom out

　　Regarding the shipment data of the mobile phone market, Fu Liang, an analyst in the telecommunications industry, believes that compared with the previous eight months, the year-on-year data in September has improved significantly. "On the surface, both the mobile phone market and the 5G mobile phone market have basically returned to At the same level as last September." However, Fu Liang also pointed out that the overall mobile phone shipments will continue to grow negatively.

　　According to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, in September 2021, 21.44 million mobile phones will be shipped in the domestic market, and the cumulative shipments in the first three quarters of that year will be 249 million.

　　The decline in mobile phone shipments is not only affected by factors such as the global economic environment and the supply chain, but the reporter noticed that some mobile phone manufacturers have also lowered their pre-production volumes.

For example, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives noted that iPhone production is expected to decline by 5%-10% this quarter.

　　According to IDC's forecast, global smartphone shipments will decrease by 6.5% year-on-year to 1.27 billion units in 2022.

This means that global smartphone shipments will fall back to 2014 levels.

However, IDG also pointed out that the smartphone industry is expected to bottom out in the third and fourth quarters of this year. The worst situation for smartphones may have passed, and the market is expected to return to normal in the second half of next year.

Change 2: Folding screens are selling well, and companies are "overweighting" one after another

　　While mobile phone shipments are declining, folding screen mobile phones are growing against the trend.

CINNO Research data shows that in the third quarter of 2022, sales of folding screen mobile phones in the Chinese market increased by 114% year-on-year, and domestic sales of folding screen mobile phones in the first three quarters were higher than the same period last year.

Folding screen mobile phones bucked the trend and sold well.

Weibo screenshot

　　Some consumers told Zhongxin Finance and Economics, "Mobile phones are very durable now. Although there is no special need for replacement, you can consider changing to a folding screen mobile phone to try something new and use it as a backup machine."

　　At present, folding screens are the "main battlefield" for mobile phone companies to innovate. Except for the iPhone, almost all mainstream mobile phone brands have launched folding screen phones.

Samsung, Xiaomi, Honor, OPPO, etc. have also launched flagship models with folding screens, and both the CPU and the camera lens use the industry's top configuration.

　　Some folding screen mobile phones also integrate many "black technologies" that did not exist before, such as super privacy mode, sleep assistance service, micro-screen interaction similar to "Smart Island", etc. Micro-innovations continue.

Change 3: flagship phones get together, and the price is "high-end"

　　Although mobile phone shipments are sluggish, there are not a lot of "discount promotions" in the market.

On the contrary, after some mobile phone companies announced to take the high-end route, the price of mobile phones has risen.

The iPhone, which was originally complained about as "unaffordable", now appears to be "not that expensive", because the price of flagship models of other mobile phone brands is often 7,000 to 8,000 yuan, and it is not uncommon to exceed 10,000 yuan.

Data map.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Chao

　　For example, according to OPPO’s official website, the starting price of OPPO Find N’s new folding flagship is 7,699 yuan (6,989 yuan in hand), and 8,999 yuan in high configuration (7,989 yuan in hand).

Vivo's official website shows that the starting price of vivo X Fold+, that is, the price of the 12GB+256GB version reaches 9,999 yuan, and the 512GB version reaches 10,999 yuan.

　　Some analysts pointed out that the price of mobile phones has become "high-end". One of the reasons is that mobile phone companies are slowing down the pace of releasing new models, and they are more focused on launching flagship models, and these models are expensive.

　　In addition, in terms of shipments, the proportion of shipments of 4G mobile phones or other non-smart models has dropped significantly, while more expensive 5G models have shipped more.

Taking September data as an example, 5G mobile phones accounted for 72.2% of mobile phone shipments in the same period; from January to September it accounted for 78.2%.

(Finish)