5G Mobile Phone "Battle Midfield": Apple Enters The Game, Android System Fights In Disorder

Since the middle of October, the mobile phone industry has ushered in a period of intense preparation for the "double 11": Apple officially entered the 5g market in anticipation of the public, realme released 5g mobile phones within 1000 yuan again, and hovm successively launched new products of subdivision categories - the war during the promotion period began quietly.

The market needs too much new stimulus. According to the statistics of China Academy of communications and communications, since the first nine months of this year, domestic mobile phone shipments only showed a positive growth trend in April, and the rest of the months were in varying degrees of decline. In particular, the year-on-year decline in February was 56%, with a year-on-year decrease of nearly or even more than 35% in January, July and September respectively.

In this context, holidays and promotions are undoubtedly the key nodes that can indirectly promote consumer demand. A number of third-party research institutions told the 21st century economic report that during the National Day holiday, the mobile phone consumption boom has been seen, and the manufacturers' advance preparation has made the shipment volume increase rapidly.

Then, under the accumulation of previous demand, the double 11 period will undoubtedly be another small climax worth looking forward to. Not only in China, but also in India, Europe and the United States and other countries, e-commerce promotion activities will be launched in the fourth quarter. It is undoubtedly very important to stock up the channel and launch suitable products in advance.

With Apple's admission, a larger wave of 5g mobile phones will be launched. Tang Ding, an analyst at counterpoint, told reporters that Apple has a total of about 1 billion users in the world. From the perspective of the Chinese market, the proportion of old models holding iPhone 8 accounts for about 40% of the domestic IOS market. It can be said that there is a huge space for machine replacement.

But new variables are also emerging. Under the unpredictable external environment, Huawei's mobile phone shipment in the domestic market in the third quarter fell for the first time since 2014, and some overseas markets are also watching Huawei's products.

For all mainstream mobile phone manufacturers, these uncertain environments, together with the "shock wave" of promoting the season, are opportunities and tests.

Double eleven

The warm-up of "double 11" began with the "Declaration of war" by manufacturers.

On October 13, Xu Qi, vice president of the company and President of global marketing, repeatedly said at realme's Q2 series new product conference that "it has officially entered the stage of preparing for the double 11".

To this end, realme launched q series products specifically for e-commerce promotion nodes after combing the product line this year. Xu Qi told the 21st century economic reporter that Q series will focus on online channels and focus on the ultimate cost performance. Recently released V series launched the industry's first 5g new machine under 1000 yuan. In contrast, V series pays more attention to Omni channel and focuses on entry-level 5g.

So far, realme is also the first in the industry to launch two 5g new brands in the price range of less than 1000 yuan. During the promotion period, the brand also launched a limited time 50% discount activities, the discount strength can be imagined.

It seems to be very radical, but Xu Qi thinks that it is not radical enough. He told reporters that the competitive environment in the Chinese market is very fierce, and Chinese consumers are also the most picky in terms of product performance, price and design. Therefore, realme needs to fully understand the consumers in order to break through the tight encirclement in such a mature and picky market as China. "It is not so much a radical strategy as a positive response by realme to the nitpicking and changing demands of Chinese consumers."

It is said that during the "double 11" period this year, realme has set a target of hitting top 5 brand sales on e-commerce platforms.

The performance of realme is just a microcosm of many brand manufacturers. Apple is an obvious example, and some brands in hovm have launched micro iteration new product series based on previous generation products, although they have not released completely new products.

In November, the reporter told the reporter that the number of mobile phone manufacturers began to increase in October.

"The demand for replacement in the first few quarters of this year has been accumulated to the end of the year. With the promotion and price reduction, it is easy to attract consumers to swarm." He added that the fourth quarter was a season of strong consumption in the mobile phone industry, and the channels during the promotion period were mostly online, which was more conducive to consumers' choice of replacement.

The consumption heat during the holiday has been gradually rising, which has been confirmed by data before. According to the data provided by Tang Ding to the 21st century economic reporter, according to the weekly domestic market sales data from September to early October this year, the sales volume of the National Day holiday has suddenly increased by nearly 2 million units on a month on month basis, and also increased by 1 million units on a year-on-year basis.

"This shows that the market demand is still there, as long as the manufacturers do a good job in promoting, then the double 11 period will inevitably bring a small climax. Several major mainstream brands are already making efforts, which will be a very fierce competition. " She pointed out.

From a global perspective, major global markets will usher in big promotion nodes by the end of the year, and China is just one of the small cuts.

"Therefore, it is not obvious that the domestic mobile phone is out of stock in the overseas supply chain." Tang Ding told reporters that this caused the demand of overseas market to postpone more obviously than domestic market. For example, although the Indian market has experienced a lot of disturbing emotions, it is still a market with strong demand for domestic brands this year. The demand for Southeast Asian market is also increasing slightly. On the contrary, the European market is still uncertain.

Xu Qi told the 21st century economic reporter that the fourth quarter was very important for realme, with many e-commerce nodes in Southeast Asia and Europe. At present, realme is also actively preparing for war in various markets. At this stage, due to various reasons, the overall market has suffered a certain impact, but realme always regards this difficulty as an opportunity for emerging brands. "Under the epidemic situation, everyone in the market is equal, so how to swim against the current in adversity is also a problem that our team actively considers."

Share fight again

The other side of the fierce competition among brand manufacturers during the promotion period is the change of the flow direction of brand shares under the interference of external environment.

Just as the statistics of canalys mentioned above, based on the future planning of the supply side, some Huawei products have some vacuum in some channels, and some offline channel people have also confirmed this to reporters.

A channel provider in Hunan Province pointed out that Huawei's channel strategy is different from oppo and vivo. The former takes a path that favors big customers. As a result, after the inventory is available, it will be given priority to Huawei's top level agents. Once the agents at the later level can not get Huawei's products, but the main business of selling mobile phones will not change, they will look for products of other brands to sell.

Of course, at present, Huawei's absolute advantage in the domestic market is still difficult to shake. According to canalys, Huawei's market share in China fell to 41.2% in the third quarter from 42.5% in the same period last year and 44.3% in the second quarter. Its share curve is still far higher than that of vivo and oppo in the second and third places.

"Huawei's competitors will try to fill the channel gaps they have set aside in the fourth quarter and scramble to take over Huawei's advertising and retail resources," Jia said. However, with the domestic market continuing to decline and the epidemic is still rampant in the world, radical strategy will also bring higher risks. To be sure, this opportunity is fleeting for Huawei's competitors. "

However, Huawei's problems will also become hidden worries among industries. For the mobile phone industry with complete market-oriented competition, the impact of short-term external interference on Huawei may not be easily accepted, but "fierce competition" is inevitable.

According to a data provided by Jia Mo to the 21st century economic reporter, Huawei's dominant share in Europe has been taken over by Samsung since the beginning of external interference last year. By the second quarter of this year, Huawei's share in Europe was further compressed. However, Samsung did not continue the share advantage it had gained before. Instead, it was taken by Xiaomi, a mature European company.

"Xiaomi's European market share in the second quarter of last year was about 10%, replacing Huawei as the second largest brand in Europe, after Samsung." Jia said that as of the second quarter node, apple and Xiaomi had snatched back some of Huawei's lost shares from Samsung, and the market structure was rapidly changed.

Europe is a precedent. China's market will certainly not be the same as Europe, but similar shocks have appeared in the short term.

"In the future, for large-scale manufacturers, they should be prepared in advance in the supply chain and production end, so as to win the share gap caused by similar impact in the short term, but the uncertainty is still very strong." Jia Mo continued.

Then, for the manufacturers with relatively small brand share, if they want to seize the opportunity, they need to have the response speed of analogy big manufacturers in the supply chain. Otherwise, after the industry returns to the track of normal and complete marketization, everything will be different again.

"The mobile phone market is always changing. During this period, realme also hopes to seize more opportunities to gain more market share, so it has always maintained a high degree of attention to the mobile phone market." Xu Qi pointed out that for realme, it would be an opportunity to bring 5g mobile phones within 1000 yuan, and it would also be a key to seize the young groups.