The Warring States Period of the Mobile Phone Market

Although Apple CEO Cook has repeatedly stated that the Chinese market is very important to Apple, data from a third party shows that Apple mobile phones have been squeezed out of the top five in the Chinese market.

Apple is no longer a standout

Data company Canalys shows that in the second quarter of this year, smartphone shipments in the Chinese market increased by 108% year-on-year to 88.1 million units, still the world's largest smartphone market, with shipments accounting for 88.1 million units. The global market share is 20%, and the growth rate ranks second in the world. China's local mobile phone makers have seen a surge in sales over the past year. Yulong, Lenovo, Huawei, ZTE and Xiaomi already account for 20% of the global branded smartphone market. Shipments from Chinese manufacturers rose 108 percent over the same period last year, the report said.

Canalys data shows that in the second quarter of this year, the top five manufacturers in the Chinese smartphone market were Samsung, Lenovo, Yulong, Huawei, ZTE and Xiaomi. Apple was squeezed out of the top five. Analysts at Canalys said that the current growth point of China's smartphone market is mainly smartphones below 1,000 yuan, which is what Apple currently lacks.

Canalys vice president and chief analyst believes that the high-end smartphone market will continue to grow, but the explosive growth will occur in the low-end smartphone market. Apple has to respond to this trend, and older iPhones performed well in the second quarter after lowering prices, proving that there is real demand for a new generation of cheaper iPhones. "The challenge for Apple now is how to maintain high profit margins on the iPhone."

The strength of the operator channel

This ranking first tells everyone that it is actually the strength of the operator channel. Many people are surprised that Yulong's listing is mainly due to the separation of Yulong and Coolpad. If you write about Coolpad, everyone will be less surprised. China Cool Alliance, everyone has heard that none of the four major families does not rely heavily on operator channels. For operators, these four are also their important contract partners. Under the strong channel capabilities and subsidy policies of operators, the sales volume of contract machines is amazing.

In the foreseeable future, operators will remain the most important sales channels in the global mobile phone industry, no one. As powerful as the iPhone, it still chooses to cooperate with operators all over the world. In addition, people in the industry know it, but there are still many ordinary users who have not yet understood that the operator channel is not to help mobile phone companies to increase a lot of stores and sales outlets, but the operator's strong financial strength and customization and underwriting. This policy can help mobile phone companies to avoid inventory risks and forecast production capacity more reasonably.

A few days ago, many people discussed why Xiaomi released Redmi mobile phones, and one of the most important reasons was because Xiaomi understood that it is good to have a cool back against a big tree. And China Mobile is an unparalleled towering tree in the domestic mobile phone industry in a short period of time.

First in sales or traffic?

At the same time, Apple's halo bonus is gradually weakening and is gradually returning to normal retail product patterns. In almost all retail industries, product sales and product pricing are an inverse function. The so-called pyramid structure. The higher the price, the lower the sales volume; the lower the price, the larger the sales volume, both at home and abroad. But the emergence of the iPhone and the quality of Apple's products, as well as the divine aura of Apple and Steve Jobs, have allowed the iPhone to create an amazing miracle in the past 5 years. This expensive mobile phone has achieved amazing global sales. It has brought unprecedented profits and social influence to Apple.

But with the rise of the entire industry driven by Apple and the catching up of competitors, Apple's sacred halo bonus effect is gradually decreasing. Of course, the maturity of the market makes it more difficult for Apple to continue to launch products that make users scream, and the mobile phone industry is gradually moving closer to the traditional retail laws. The rise of China Kulianmi in China represents the return of the sales volume to the pyramid structure.

Of course, the quality of users is not the same. The figures of many third-party statistical agencies in the past few months show that the number one terminal from mobile Internet traffic is still the iPhone, followed by Samsung, and third by Xiaomi. China Cool Alliance is almost nowhere on the list. That is to say, China Cool Union basically only took away the sales volume of mobile phone terminals. The value of the high-end user quality of the iPhone is still unrivaled in the era of mobile Internet.

What deserves more attention is the changes and development trends of the entire large mobile phone market. The market for mid-range, low-end and ultra-low-end phones is being consolidated. The decline in the proportion of iPhone sales is not due to the decline in the absolute value of its sales like Nokia, but due to the substantial increase in sales of China Kulianmi and Samsung. In addition to Samsung's head-to-head competition with the iPhone in the high-end market, what China Coollianmi has basically done is to suppress the mid-end, low-end and ultra-low-end mobile phone markets. In the past, the low-end, low-end, ultra-low-end markets were divided by complicated brands and copycats in China. However, with the arrival of the new era, brand operation has been brought back to the forefront. The scenery is gone, it no longer works. The huge low-end and ultra-low-end mobile phone market is gradually blank, leaving China Kulianmi with great room for sales growth.

Of course, what China Cool Union has harvested is only the terminal sales figures. Behind these figures, there is neither the sales profits of iPhone and Samsung, nor the Internet value of iPhone, Samsung and Xiaomi. However, sales are not meaningless, and mid- and low-end sales are not meaningless. In addition, among China Kulian Mi, Xiaomi with the lowest sales volume can surpass China Kulian in the value of Internet traffic and become the third brand after iPhone and Samsung, which also shows the value of MIUI. At this point, it is possible for Huawei to make a difference, with quantity, capability and direction.

Unique positioning enables domestic mobile phones to gain a firm foothold

According to relevant practitioners, the competition in the mobile phone industry has just begun. It is different from the rise of Chinese brand OEM feature phones ten years ago. At that time, the so-called domestic mobile phone was a full-scale copycat international manufacturer, relying on OEM and channels to compete with international giants in an all-round way, with little differentiation, so it broke out rapidly in the mobile phone market. In the 1990s, the international brands that were dominant in all aspects were finally completely defeated. But now the production and operation mode of domestic mobile phones are not the same. China Cool Link Mi has its own unique positioning and advantages that are different from international mobile phone manufacturers. Whether it is low-end or diaosi, the possibility of a full-scale defeat like Kejian and Bird will be very low.

Harvesting the low-end market is "suppressing bandits" and establishing their own rural bases. With a stable site, stable sales, and a certain profit support, China Cool Lianmi has the opportunity to develop upwards. Of course, just because there is a chance doesn't mean it will be done. However, from this perspective, the competition between these domestic mobile phone companies and international giants in the Chinese market has just begun.