The darkest moment for the iPhone market in China in 2018

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At the Apple autumn conference that ended in the early morning of September 13, three new iPhones were officially unveiled, namely the iPhone XS with a 5.8-inch OLED screen, the iPhone XR with a 6.1-inch LCD screen, and the iPhone XS Max with a 6.5-inch screen. The main difference between these three new iPhones is the display screen. The iPhone XS Max can be called the large-screen version of the iPhone XS, with a 6.5-inch "bangs-style" full-screen, a front 7-megapixel selfie lens and a rear 12-megapixel dual-camera solution, of which the rear lens supports 2x optical zoom and up to 10x digital zoom, equipped with Apple's 7nm process A12 bionic processor, supports FaceID and Qi wireless charging technology. The main difference between the iPhone XS and it is that the display size is 5.8 inches. The iPhone XR is called the cheap version of the iPhone X. The iPhone XR uses a 6.1-inch LCD screen, and the starting price of 6,499 yuan is more than 2,000 yuan lower than the iPhone XS.

This year's Apple conference was the least suspenseful, because earlier information about new features and new models was circulated on the Internet, and this conference may just be to verify the authenticity of the circulated information. Throughout the conference, except for the dual-SIM dual-standby function of the phone, the iPhone XR's several colors that made people shine, the camera's adjustable background blur function, and the improved battery life, there were not many highlights. In short, the conference continued the problem of insufficient innovation that has been complained about since Jobs' death.

Of course, the prices of the three new phones are still as expensive as ever. Last year, the price of iPhone X was close to 10,000 yuan, and many Apple fans said they couldn't stand it, as it was beyond their expectations. Unexpectedly, the price of iPhone X was just a test. The 512G version of iPhone Xs Max with a screen size of 6.5 inches was priced at 12,799 yuan in China, a new peak for iPhone prices. Despite the high prices of the new phones, the capital market did not buy it. This time, the response to Apple was - 1.24%, the largest drop on the first day of a new product launch in three years.

Has the heat of Apple's press conference cooled?

Since some features and models were exposed before, many netizens clearly felt that the popularity of this year's Apple conference has declined. Tianhao also felt the same way. There were fewer people around him who stayed up late to watch the conference, and the circle of friends was not as lively as in previous years. Although according to the foreign video sharing website Pornhub, the average traffic of iOS devices decreased by 7% at the same time as the Apple conference, from other data, it can be clearly felt that the popularity this year is not high.

Tianhao conducted a Baidu search index query and compared the Baidu search index, media index and information index during the launch of iPhone 7, iPhone X and iPhone XS. It showed that the popularity and attention during the iPhone XS launch were not as good as in the past two years. The Apple launch conference, known as the "Spring Festival Gala of the technology industry", is no longer as popular as it used to be.

Tianhao believes that the dual-SIM dual-standby function, the only "highlight" in the Chinese market, is a bad move. The "dual-SIM dual-standby" function featured in the new generation of iPhones is a function that has been promoted by domestic mobile phone manufacturers for many years, and with the many policy adjustments of telecom operators, it has become a sunset function.

Dual SIM dual standby is a relic of the past, and has already shown signs of decline in 2018. Due to the difficulties of porting numbers in China and the high roaming charges, dual SIM dual standby phones have long been popular in China. In the past, when the iPhone did not support dual SIM dual standby, only a small number of Chinese people complained about it. Choosing such a time to "bow down" is both surprising and meaningless.

As early as 2016, Apple applied for two patents in China, namely dual SIM network selection and power consumption reduction technology for dual SIM devices, which paved the way for dual SIM dual standby. Samsung, also a foreign mobile phone manufacturer, has already made adjustments to the localization operation level in China according to the needs of Chinese users and launched the first dual SIM dual standby smartphone in 2014. These five years of missed time are a long period in the field of smartphones.

After the Apple conference, Cook accepted an exclusive interview with iFanr and said that it was from the Chinese market that we realized the importance of dual SIM dual standby, so we introduced it and thought about how to provide it to everyone. The reason why Chinese users like dual SIM dual standby is actually applicable to many other countries, but these consumers are not aware of this.

In fact, in 2018, do Chinese people really need an iPhone with dual SIM cards and dual standby?

From September 1, 2017, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, the three major operators, completely cancelled domestic long-distance charges and roaming charges for mobile phones. From July 1, 2018, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, the three major operators, completely cancelled domestic mobile data "roaming" charges. Mobile phone users' provincial data traffic was upgraded to domestic data traffic (excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan data traffic), and data "roaming" charges became history. The era of switching between two cards to access the Internet has become a thing of the past.

In addition, there is news that China will roll out the number portability function across the country in 2020. At this time, users can flexibly switch networks and no longer rely on a single operator for life. When a mobile phone can be compatible with three networks, the number of users using dual SIM cards will definitely decrease. At present, except for the problem of number portability, other problems have been solved one by one, and even number portability is no longer a distant thing.

Dual SIM dual standby is not very practical anymore. Except for the rare phenomenon of marketing and public relations circles where multiple SIM cards are needed, the complete withdrawal of dual SIM cards from the stage of history may have entered the countdown. In the past few years when it should have catered to the Chinese market the most, Apple did not "compromise" with the Chinese market. Now it has "inexplicably" begun to cater to Chinese users. On the one hand, it is necessary to affirm that the significance of the Chinese market to Apple is increasing. On the other hand, it must be pointed out that this "innovation" is really stupid.

Why Apple Brand Started the Road of Compromise

For Apple users, there are many reasons to choose iPhone. On the one hand, the products launched by the "historical" Apple company are indeed far superior to those of contemporary mobile phone manufacturers in terms of hardware performance and software ecology. The system is smooth and does not jam, the appearance design is exquisite, and the performance is super powerful. A mobile phone can be used for several years without any accidents, which is incomparable to domestic mobile phones.

Of course, the reason why Apple products are so popular is that people choose iPhone because of the brand premium brought by the personal halo of Steve Jobs, the legendary founder of Apple who created miracles many times. The combination of the above two advantages makes the brand loyalty of Apple users far exceed the industry average.

With the catch-up in hardware performance and the evolution of the Android system itself, the "disruptive surpassing" of the iPhone's software and hardware has gradually been reduced. Fortunately, the premium ability of the brand itself still maintains the undefeated history of the Apple empire.

Looking back at Apple's history in recent years, it is not difficult to find that even in the most difficult times, Apple has never let go of its "noble posture" and has never compromised on products and prices. However, now Apple has lowered its posture for the huge Chinese market and launched the dual-SIM dual-standby function for Chinese users. It has integrated the "dual-SIM dual-standby" "selling point" that is almost swept into the history pile into the iPhone, which not only fails to make people feel more "approachable", but has the opposite effect.

Tianhao believes that Apple's current wishful thinking is wrong. If Apple had followed the user's wishes and launched a dual-SIM dual-standby mobile phone a few years ago when dual-SIM dual-standby mobile phones were still popular, users might have bought it.

Apple's road to compromise began as early as when Cook took over the Apple empire. As we all know, Apple has always pursued a single product strategy. The product logic of the Jobs era was not to let users pick and choose. Whether it is Mac, iPad, or iPhone, they all pursue a single product strategy, that is, each segmented product only has one model. For Apple, it only provides users with the best single product, leaving users with no more choices. However, Cook is constantly breaking Apple's single product strategy, doing his best to find a perfect entry point in maintaining the attractiveness and commercialization of Apple products, and has been very successful. But you can't have your cake and eat it too. Even if he is a business genius, Cook still can't escape this curse.

The Darkest Moment of Tim Cook's Mediocre Era

Jobs made the world remember the iPhone, and his influence is so great that it is difficult for newcomers to catch up. Since taking over Apple from Jobs, Cook has not had an easy time in recent years. From the initial doubts, he has proven himself with the rising global sales of iPhone in the past few years. If Jobs was a great tyrant, Cook, who took over Jobs's mantle, is a shrewd businessman.

Apple in the post-Cook era has been compromising with the market. Jobs once said at a press conference that "no one will buy a large-screen phone. 3.5 inches is the most suitable screen for humans." He introduced 5.5-inch and even larger screens, which "hurt" many of Jobs' loyal followers, but satisfied another group of users who pursue practicality. As a result, the iPhone has become a more popular product. Apple's first large-screen iPhone 6 has sold 220 million units, becoming the best-selling Apple phone in history and the best-selling phone in the world.

Of course, compromise is not always a good thing. The iPhone SE, which was launched at the same time, had to be discontinued due to low sales. However, after the continuous success of the large-screen iPhone, the failure of the iPhone SE was not noticed. Since then, strategies such as gold and rose gold are all the products of the iPhone's compromise with the market in the Cook era.

Although the iPhone is still the most user-friendly mobile phone in the world and has become more flexible and down-to-earth than in the Steve Jobs era, overall, after the first generation of large-screen iPhones reached a peak in sales, it has gradually gone downhill. In 2014, iPhone sales in the Chinese market accounted for as high as 35%, but fell to 11% in 2017. With the rise of domestic mobile phones, Apple's sales in China have shown a trend of weak growth.

If we say that the iPhone X last year, with its innovative Face ID, helped Apple regain some of its "innovative" image in the Cook era, especially as domestic mobile phones followed suit, it seemed as if Steve Jobs had returned to the era of "leading" the development of global smartphones. However, the bad move of dual-SIM dual-standby completely destroyed that reputation for innovation. Moreover, I don't know whether it is because of the decline in sales and the need to increase prices to maintain revenue, or because they want to use "price" to stir up the Chinese people's desire to compare, but this year's new iPhone prices have once again reached a peak. It has become uncool and more expensive. Perhaps the darkest moment for the iPhone in the Chinese market is really coming.