Electronics

Recently, IDC, a world-renowned market research organization, released a detailed report on China's smartphone market in 2022. According to the report, the shipment volume of China's smart phones in 2022 was 286 million units, down 13.2% year on year, a large decline. Among them, VIVO ranked first with 18.6% market share, but fell 25.1% year on year; Glory ranked second with 18.1% share, up 34.4% year on year. The next is OPPO, Apple and Xiaomi, with their share of 16.8%, 16.8% and 13.7% respectively.

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, among the top five mobile phone brands in domestic shipments, the share of four mobile phone brands has declined, indicating that the industry as a whole is in a depressed state. VIVO and OPPO, the two offline giants, both experienced a sharp decline of more than 25%, and even the shipment volume of Apple mobile phones in the domestic market also declined year-on-year. Now this phenomenon shows that people's desire to buy machines is not so strong, and the development of the industry is also entering a cold winter period. So what changes have taken place in the smartphone industry this year? What are the new highlights of the market?

Times change of mobile phone industry

More than ten or twenty years ago, a large number of mobile phone practitioners made their first pot of money due to high profits caused by the lack of information sources for consumers, high product prices, and profit distribution rules for foreign manufacturers. Many owners of the mobile phone industry began to expand, and even many owners in the southeast coast opened their mobile phone stores abroad. Most of the well-known local chain brands began to take root and grow from that time.

With the advent of the era of smart phones, the original "wholesale and retail" traditional retail model has slowly taken on some service colors, and the mobile phone industry has gradually been affected by "industry giants" - communication operators. Mobile phone dealers are no longer just retailers. They take advantage of high-quality opportunities to contact customers and help operators obtain remuneration through number cards, packages and other ancillary services. The fact that they can easily earn more profits is naturally praised by the majority of dealers.

The main business models of communication operators are:

1. Purchase and build base stations, transmission and core networks from communication equipment manufacturers such as Huawei, ZTE, Nokia, Ericsson, etc., and establish a good network foundation;

2. Get your own user through the number card;

3. Users pay fixed telephone charges, call charges, RBT and other functional charges;

4. Maintain and create new networks.

With the gradual reduction of call traffic, operators shift their focus to data traffic. Especially in the process of 4G to 5G transfer, there is no iterative upgrade of terminal equipment, and users have no strong desire to upgrade 5G. The gap in the large amount of network procurement and construction by operators in the early stage can not be filled up, so they can only increase the investment in social channels, and most of these investments are invested in mobile phone dealers. With these "industry giants", the mobile phone industry is gradually divided into two categories: strong retail attribute and strong operator attribute, and Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

Difficulties and opportunities for practitioners

As far as the pure retail of mobile phones is concerned, since the development of the Internet, the physical retail industry represented by the mobile phone industry has suffered a great impact: transparent prices, strict market control of mobile phone manufacturers, and online promotion of low-price sales have greatly restricted the offline sales of mobile phones.

A new generation of young people has gradually become the backbone of social consumption, while the vast majority of people have experienced the era of millet killing all directions. The rise of the mobile internet model has led to the purchase of mobile phones online seems to be a common thing. In addition to the strong rise of live broadcast e-commerce in recent years, the only advantage of offline live experience has been taken away by the anchor's interpretation mode, and the proportion of offline mobile phones has decreased year by year.

According to the observation report of Huacheng Import and Export Data, at the same time, the form of sales stores is also changing. Now, when shopping, people are more likely to go to large comprehensive commercial complexes (MALL). The former mobile phone street is also gradually replaced by dessert stores, gold stores and jewelry stores. With high rent, fewer and fewer consumers and lower average gross profit, a large number of dealers fell on the eve of the end of the epidemic. Forward-looking dealers have already laid out MALL stores in advance and firmly occupied the initiative by signing exclusive agreements with shopping malls, while more ordinary dealers can only close their stores in a voice of lament.

The three-year epidemic has brought endless pain to the mobile phone industry, and the end of the epidemic is a huge opportunity. As early as 2022, many head dealers have begun to deploy new stores in core business districts and core locations by means of loans, financing, and equity. At the same time, they took the opportunity of closing some "old mobile phone stores" to take orders in time, waiting for the arrival of the "bull market" in the mobile phone industry. In short, the mobile phone sales industry has been undergoing a major reshuffle. It is a tragedy or a comedy. We are waiting for the market to give an answer in 2023.

What are the new highlights of the 2023 market?

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, although there are many good products in the mobile phone industry in 2022, there are no special surprises. They just added or optimized things based on the past products. It is difficult to have the excitement of seeing Retina screen or periscope telephoto for the first time.

Of course, we all know that the mobile phone industry has reached the "ceiling", and a breakthrough is urgently needed. In 2023, we hope that the mobile phone industry will have more diverse expressions or updated forms, even when the folding screen is just emerging, it may not be particularly mature. In addition, we hope that the mobile phone industry can expand to other fields more quickly.

From the perspective of the hardware configuration of smart phones, I think the following four aspects deserve attention:

First, the bottom will become more and more standard for flagship aircraft. Sharp R7, Leica LeitzPhone, Xiaomi 12S Ultra and Vivo X90 Pro+all have "1 inch" in 2022. The "full-bottom" rear camera module of the top image flagship model should become the industry consensus.

Second, mobile phones will continue to evolve in the direction of large memory. In 2022, more and more mobile phones will begin to have 16GB+256GB and 16GB+512GB versions, even starting with 12GB+256GB, such as Reno 9pro, One Plus 11, iQOO 11, etc. at the end of 2022.

Third, fast charging will become more and more radical. Previously, mainstream 67W, 80W, 100W or 120W, many brands have 150W and 200W models, and the 240W technology released by Zhenwo will also be carried on the new aircraft. So in 2023, the fast charging field will become more "voluminous", and perhaps 100W will become the basic threshold.

Fourth, the 2K screen will no longer be the feature of the flagship aircraft. Since 2021, the Hongmi K50 has had the experience of using 2K screen in the mid-range aircraft. In 2023, it will be more "voluminous".

We expect high-end flagship mobile phones to be more in line with the tonality of high-end phones in terms of software optimization in addition to the configuration of "Laman", and expect domestic brands to make innovative breakthroughs in the high-end market. At the same time, we also look forward to a better balance in size, weight, power consumption and function of folding mobile phones.

2023 is a very important year for both mobile phone manufacturers and dealers. The market needs to rebuild consumer confidence, manufacturers need to further consolidate their advantages, and offline dealers need to find their own advantages, do well in consumer service and after-sales service, in order to win the recognition of consumers online and under high pressure, Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.