How long will 5G mobile phones be popularized
——Research on the recent sales and consumption experience of mobile phone market
Economic Daily · China Economic Net reporter Huang Xin
With the new crown pneumonia epidemic gradually controlled, the sales of consumer electronics products represented by mobile phones have picked up rapidly. Especially the large-scale listing of high-quality and cheap 5G mobile phones has caused many consumers to change their minds.
How about 5G mobile phone sales? What kind of 5G mobile phones do consumers prefer? Is there any room for price reduction in the market outlook for 5G mobile phone and network packages? What about 5G mobile phone signal coverage? Regarding these issues, a reporter from Economic Daily recently interviewed relevant operators, business halls, mobile phone manufacturers and consumers.
At present, with the acceleration of 5G network popularization and the enrichment of 5G terminal packages, consumers' interest in 5G mobile phones is also increasing. As of the end of May this year, the cumulative shipment of 5G mobile phones in China was 59.85 million units, and the share of 5G mobile phones in terminal sales continued to increase.
Consumer enthusiasm continues to heat up
Recently, a reporter from the Economic Daily came to the China Mobile Business Office located on Beijing Financial Street to learn about the sales of 5G mobile phones. As soon as I entered the door, I saw two rows of 5G mobile phones placed in the most conspicuous booth for consumers to try.
"Of course young people have to keep up with the trend. In October last year, I bought the newly released Huawei mate30 pro 5G mobile phone in Joy City, Xidan, Beijing. When I plugged in the card, I found the 5G signal." Consumer Luan He told reporters that the current 5G signals have become more popular in Beijing. There are 5G signals from Wufu Linglongju in Haidian District to Financial Street, and the download speed is quite fast.
Consumer Wu Wei did not plan to replace the 5G mobile phone so early, but with the persuasion of his colleague Luan He, he was also very tempted by the 5G mobile phone. "After the outbreak, many things have to be done online, such as video meetings, teaching children, shopping for food, and shopping. Then I feel that 4G is not fast enough."
"5G mobile phones are the general trend. Family members have to change their mobile phones recently. I think it is better to go to the business hall today and try the new 5G mobile phones recently." Consumer Zhang Dong asked the staff about the price of 5G mobile phones while watching .
In the just-finished e-commerce "618" event, 5G mobile phones are highly sought after. Major mobile phone manufacturers and e-commerce platforms have launched various preferential activities, and 5G mobile phone sales have strong growth momentum. According to data released by JD.com, 5G mobile phone sales broke 10,000 units in less than 1 minute on June 18. Huawei’s 5G single products include Huawei P40, Huawei P40 Pro, Huawei nova7 SE and Huawei nova7, etc., occupying the top 10 of the 5G mobile phone sales list. Bit.
During the "618" shopping festival of e-commerce, Xiaomi brought 5G mobile phones through star participation in live broadcasting. Redmi 10X mobile phones sold more than 10,000 units in the live broadcasting room alone. Xiaomi's home physical store offline, 5G mobile phones at different prices are on sale, covering almost all grades of 5G mobile phones.
Thanks to the prevention and control of the epidemic and the accelerated recovery of economic and social order, the offline channels of 5G mobile phones have also shown good growth. Zhao Ming, president of Honor, said that since 2020, 5G mobile phone sales have been steadily increasing in monthly mobile phone sales. By strengthening online and offline operations, Honor's mobile phone market sales have recovered rapidly after the peak of the epidemic. , The proportion of offline sales has gradually surpassed online.
Vivo Zhejiang Jinhua Regional General Manager Zhendong Jun told reporters that consumers' enthusiasm for 5G mobile phones exceeded expectations. At present, mobile phones like S6 with strong camera functions and prices ranging from 2,000 yuan to 3,000 yuan are more popular with consumers.
Performance price advantage is obvious
Since the beginning of this year, major mobile phone manufacturers have regarded 5G mobile phones as the "highlight" of product development and promotion, and the 5G mobile phone market has become increasingly fierce.
According to statistics, as of the end of May, the cumulative domestic shipments of 5G mobile phones were 59.85 million units, and the share of 5G mobile phones in the terminal sales ratio continued to increase. At present, Huawei, vivo, Xiaomi, Realme and other brands have launched 5G mobile phones at various price points. The 5G mobile phone market has begun to take shape. From high-end flagship phones to low-end and mid-range models, consumers have more diversified choices.
Take vivo as an example. Since this year, 9 5G mobile phones have been released, and the 5G mobile phone products released last year have achieved relatively comprehensive price coverage. Starting from mid-to-late March 2020, the daily capacity of vivo 5G mobile phones has exceeded 100,000 units.
The relevant person in charge of vivo said that despite the impact of the new coronary pneumonia epidemic in the mobile phone industry, the sales volume of all vivo 5G products still exceeded expectations. According to the latest report released by IDC, in the first quarter of 2020, vivo ranked second in the domestic 5G mobile phone market with a market share of 14.4%; from the perspective of the global market, according to the statistics of the third-party agency SA, in the first quarter of this year, vivo The 12% share ranks third in the global 5G smartphone market.
"The second quarter of 2020 is a period of accelerated development of 5G. Glory focuses on launching five competitive 5G mobile phones at various price points, and there are corresponding 5G products in the research and development sequence in the second half of the year." Zhao Ming said on July 2 Honor released the X10 Max and Honor 30 Youth Edition. This is the iconic product that penetrates the market segment after Honor completes the full price segment coverage of 5G mobile phones. This also means that the competition of various manufacturers in the 5G mobile phone market segment will be more intense.
In order to further boost mobile phone consumption, low-cost 5G mobile phones have become a hot spot for recent manufacturers. Combined with a series of recent promotional activities, the threshold for 5G mobile phone purchases has been significantly reduced. It is understood that Xiaomi's Redmi 10X has lowered the lowest price 5G mobile phone to 1,500 yuan. Lu Weibing, vice president of the Xiaomi Group, president of China, and general manager of the Redmi brand, said that Xiaomi tried to accelerate the popularization of 5G mobile phones, forcing the supply chain to reduce costs, actively participating in chip research and development, and restructuring the industrial chain to make prices more close to the people.
The relevant person in charge of vivo also said that the current 5G mobile phone brand has reached the maturity of 4G mobile phones in terms of cost control, manufacturing, and functional experience. With the rapid popularization of 5G mobile phones and the rapid maturity of the industrial chain, cost control can be better.
In this regard, Zhang Yang, a senior analyst at Zhongcheng Think Tank, said that at present, the functions and experience of smartphones have encountered bottlenecks, and the rhythm of major manufacturers is "first stacking materials, and then reducing prices." The recent wave of price cuts is the normal rhythm of 5G mobile phone price trends. Due to the higher average pricing of 5G mobile phones before, this price cut has received special attention. At the same time, affected by the epidemic, manufacturers urgently need to boost sales performance, so intensively released low-cost 5G mobile phones. As far as the current situation of the mobile phone market is concerned, 4G mobile phones not only do not have a functional advantage over 5G mobile phones, but also basically lose their price advantage. In the future, 5G mobile phones will become more mainstream.
It is worth noting that low price does not mean low performance. With the continuous updating of processors and mobile phone software, the maturity of 5G mobile phones in terms of cost control, manufacturing, and functional experience continues to increase, and some high-end technology applications have gradually appeared on low-end 5G mobile phones, which will give consumers Bringing a better user experience will also further accelerate the popularity of 5G mobile phones.
Internet tariff discount
Whether there is 5G network signal coverage, this is an important factor affecting consumers to replace 5G mobile phones. Since the beginning of this year, the construction of 5G networks has been accelerated, the coverage of 5G networks has been continuously improved, and the user experience of using 5G mobile phones has been continuously improved, driving the growth of 5G mobile phone sales. According to statistics, basic telecommunications companies have built more than 250,000 5G base stations. By the end of this year, there will be more than 600,000 5G base stations, covering all prefecture-level cities across the country.
Major operators have also increased their efforts to promote 5G mobile phones. Ren Rongrong, the manager of the business hall of China Mobile Financial Street, told reporters that in the past few years, most customers came to the store to look at Apple mobile phones, and now almost all look at domestic mobile phones. Most of the recent purchases of mobile phones are 5G mobile phones. There are three issues that consumers are most concerned about with 5G mobile phones, namely price, signal coverage and 5G applications.
"The cheapest 5G mobile phone in the store is more than 1,000 yuan, and now the 5G signal in Beijing has covered the fifth ring and the city's sub-center, which can basically meet the needs of use. 5G tariff packages are now also discounted, and the discounted price is the same as the previous 4G The package is almost the same." Ren Rongrong said.
At the end of October last year, when major operators released 5G packages, they introduced corresponding preferential policies for new and old users. The discounted 5G packages have a relatively strong price advantage.
"The 5G package I use is 198 yuan, which is equivalent to 138 yuan after a 30% discount in the first 6 months. Each month has 1000 minutes of talk time and 60G traffic, and the cost performance is acceptable." Luan He told reporters.
Around this year's e-commerce "618" shopping festival, major operators have launched new promotional policies. The discounted 5G tariff package can be reduced to less than 100 yuan, which greatly reduces consumer spending and also means 5G network package tariffs. There is still room for decline.
The reporter saw on the China Mobile client that through the credit card discount activity, the original price of 128 yuan 5G enjoy the package, the price after deduction is equivalent to 88 yuan per month. Checking the China Telecom service website shows that before June 30, by participating in the "Preferential Activities for Purchasing Machines", the original 5G tariff package of 129 yuan was actually 103 yuan. In general, the package price has certain discounts.
However, the reporter also noted that the current 5G package tariff reduction is a discount promotion. However, I believe that with the increase of 5G mobile phone users, once the scale effect is formed, the reduction of 5G network tariffs will still be the general trend, and the penetration rate of 5G mobile phones will be further improved.