Current situation of second-hand mobile phone market: Apple still dominates, Huawei 5G has obvious advantages

Due to factors such as the epidemic, most mobile phone manufacturers did not have an easy time in the domestic market last year. Under the influence of the basic market, they had to slow down the pace of new phone launches.

However, the beginning of 2021 saw a reversal. The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology's analysis report on the operation of the domestic mobile phone market in February 2021 showed that the total shipments of the domestic mobile phone market in February were 21.759 million units, and the number in January-February could reach 61.879 million units, achieving considerable year-on-year growth of 240.9% and 127.5%, respectively. At the same time, the development situation of 5G mobile phones has gradually become clear. In the first two months of this year, the domestic market shipped 42.349 million 5G mobile phones and launched 48 new models, accounting for 68.4% and 59.3% respectively.

The new phone market is booming, and the second-hand phone market is also sending positive signals...

The popularity of second-hand mobile phones has also increased, and the price has also increased?

Mobile phone manufacturers generally do not track their own second-hand models, but with second-hand platforms such as Zhuan Zhuan, we can still get a glimpse of the current situation of the entire second-hand mobile phone market.

Recently, Zhuanzhuan Group released the "Mobile Phone Market Report for the First Quarter of 2021". The report pointed out that the domestic smartphone market showed a clear recovery trend in the first quarter of 2021. Affected by the increase in shipments of new phones and the price increase of some popular models, the transaction heat of the second-hand mobile phone market continued to rise in the first quarter.

The month-on-month growth rate of second-hand mobile phone sales in Q1 2021 (Source: Zhuanzhuan)

As shown in the figure, the overall transaction volume of several major brands in the domestic market has increased significantly. Among them, Apple's transaction volume increased by 19.88% month-on-month, followed by OPPO, whose sales increased by 19.83% month-on-month. Vivo and Xiaomi are also becoming more popular in the second-hand market, with transaction volumes increasing by 12.94% and 10.43% month-on-month respectively.

However, due to various reasons, Huawei and Honor, which have been in a slight decline in the new phone market, have also seen a decline in their share of transactions in the second-hand market. Huawei's mobile phone transactions accounted for 11.56% of the second-hand market, falling from second place in Q4 2020 to third place, with a month-on-month decrease in transaction volume of 17.32%; Honor's mobile phone transactions accounted for 6.66%, and the transaction volume decreased by 6.77% month-on-month. Previously, someone exposed Honor's product plan for 2021. With the entry of a large number of new phones, especially the high-end digital series and the new Magic flagship, Honor is expected to return to the center of the stage soon.

Looking back at the domestic mobile phone market this year, it is not difficult to find that the manufacturers' desire for competition is constantly increasing. Data show that in the first quarter of this year, a new mobile phone was released in the domestic market every two days on average, and a new phone launch conference was held every 6 days. Take Xiaomi as an example. It released a large number of new products at the just-concluded spring new product launch conference. There were four mobile phones alone, including Xiaomi 11 Youth Edition, Xiaomi 11 Pro, Xiaomi 11 Ultra and its first folding screen mass-produced machine MIX FOLD. Led by Xiaomi, vivo and other manufacturers, the Snapdragon 888 flagship price war, the battle for the first launch rights of Snapdragon and MediaTek flagship chips, etc. took turns.

After Xiaomi entrusted the burden of cost-effectiveness to Redmi, high-end became the main theme of this year's products, and the price was "not inferior" to other similar models. The starting price of Xiaomi 11 Pro reached 4999 yuan, and the Xiaomi 11 Ultra, known as the "Light of Android", was sold at a maximum of 6999 yuan. The definition of "price war" seems to have been turned upside down. Not only Xiaomi, but also flagship phones such as Meizu, OPPO and OnePlus are also hitting new heights.

The frequent release of new phones and the increase in average prices have stirred up the already restless new phone market and caused fluctuations in second-hand phone prices. The above market report clearly pointed out that some second-hand models such as iPhone 11 and Huawei P40 5G have seen a slight price increase.

Second-hand iPhones are still popular, vivo is eye-catching

Apple's position in the domestic new phone market is not commensurate with its position in the second-hand phone market. For many consumers, the first reason to choose a second-hand iPhone is that the system does not lag. A stable and smooth system means that even a second-hand phone can "last for another three years."

Looking at the entire second-hand mobile phone market, Apple is the most popular mobile phone brand, with iPhone transactions accounting for 38.60% in the first quarter, and transaction volume increased by 19.88% month-on-month. Apple has been hanging this title for many years, and no matter how Android mobile phone manufacturers try to catch up, it seems that they cannot shake the status of second-hand iPhone.

The proportion of second-hand mobile phone transactions in Q1 2021 (Source: Zhuanzhuan Note: The Honor and Xiaomi logos in the picture are incorrect)

However, Apple mainly relies on old iPhone models to maintain the popularity of the second-hand mobile phone market. The Zhuanzhuan report pointed out that the popularity of the latest iPhone 12 series has declined in the second-hand market, and the overall price has also shown a downward trend. On the other hand, the performance of old iPhone models is very eye-catching. For example, some models of the iPhone 11 series have seen a slight increase in price. In addition, on the second-hand market mobile phone search volume and transaction volume list in January, Apple's old iPhone models almost dominated the list, and the only Android model that made it into the list was Xiaomi 8.

From these data, we can discover two underlying logics: First, new models often need a period of time to settle in the second-hand market before they can have considerable transaction volume, which is closely related to market sales, and applies to both Apple and Android; second, the prosperity of the 5G new machine market is only an illusion in the used machine market, and 4G mobile phone transactions still dominate the second-hand market. 4G mobile phones such as Honor 9X, Xiaomi 8 and OPPO A5 are best-selling models in the second-hand market.

However, it is foreseeable that with the popularization of 5G mobile phones, the pattern of the second-hand mobile phone market will also change. Although Apple's leadership is difficult to shake, the transaction share of domestic mobile phones in the second-hand market has changed significantly. The Zhuanzhuan report shows that vivo has continued its strong growth momentum since Q4 2020 and has become the domestic mobile phone brand with the highest transaction volume in the second-hand market in Q1 this year, followed by Huawei, Xiaomi and OPPO.

Judging from the transaction volume of second-hand mobile phones, the gap between vivo, Huawei, Xiaomi and OPPO is not big, and they can be said to be chasing each other. This is somewhat similar to their competition in the new phone market. According to the global mobile phone brand sales data for February 2021 released by the well-known statistics agency Counterpoint, Samsung is still the big brother in the smartphone industry, and Apple ranks second with a market share of 17%. The competition among the top five domestic mobile phone brands is also quite fierce. Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo all have market shares of more than 10%, followed by Huawei and Honor.

Global mobile phone brand market rankings in February 2021

If the competitive landscape of the new phone market continues to evolve, the second-hand phone market will also follow suit after the sedimentation effect.

Huawei still has to rely on 5G, but its competitors are also busy

Judging from the current environment, we may have to question the future of Huawei mobile phones. However, relying on its strong 5G technology strength and the large number of 5G models previously launched to the market, Huawei's appeal in the field of 5G mobile phones cannot be underestimated. At the end of last year, Huishoubao announced the "2020 5G Mobile Phone Value Retention List". The list shows that Huawei brand occupies 4 of the top 10 5G mobile phones, and as many as 7 of the top 20. The main reference data here, "value retention index", is a comprehensive consideration of the sale price of a new mobile phone and the actual selling price of an 80% new product in the market 6 months after its release. Therefore, Huawei's dominance of the list can fully illustrate consumers' trust and favor for Huawei's 5G mobile phones.

The data in the Zhuanzhuan report can also present the same conclusion. In the second-hand 5G mobile phone market, Huawei's mobile phone leading advantage is very obvious, occupying half of the Top 10 second-hand 5G mobile phone sales list in Q1. As shown in the figure, Huawei Mate30 Pro 5G won the first place in the second-hand 5G mobile phone sales list in the first quarter of this year. There are a total of 5 Huawei mobile phones in the entire Top 10 list. The iPhone 12, which won the championship in Q4 last year, slipped to fourth place on the list in the first quarter of this year, and other models in the series did not make the list. The report also pointed out that Huawei Mate30 Pro 5G and Huawei Mate40 series, as new models released in Q4 2020, have a high value retention rate, far exceeding the iPhone 12 series released in the same period.

Top 10 second-hand 5G mobile phone sales in Q1 2021 (Source: Zhuanzhuan)

It is worth noting that Huawei's old rival Xiaomi (including Redmi) also performed well in the second-hand 5G market, occupying three seats in the Top 10 list. Moreover, both the K30 series and the Xiaomi 10 are high-end products of the Xiaomi series, which can also indirectly show that Xiaomi's high-end road has achieved initial success.

If we compare the ranking of second-hand 5G mobile phone transaction volume in Q1 2020, we can find that Huawei has changed from "four in the top ten" to "half in the top ten", while Xiaomi has also added a model on the list, and Samsung has gone from two models to "disappearing". It is not difficult to see that with the popularity of 5G mobile phones and the surge in shipments, mobile phone manufacturers are also waging a war without gunpowder. Huawei needs to find ways to consolidate its strong position in 5G, and other brands such as Xiaomi are also eyeing it and seeking a bigger stage. Samsung's star in China seems to be a little dim...