After collective self-excitement, we look back at the four major thresholds of high-end mobile phones

This year's Double 11 once again made domestic mobile phone manufacturers collectively happy, especially some second-tier mobile phone brands that once topped the list with their "sales volume" advantage. Looking back, the models leading the list are all priced at 1,000 yuan. The seemingly lively Double 11 promotion has also made some domestic mobile phone brands move away from the high-end market.

It is true that under the pressure of sales, many mobile phone brands have given up the sprint to the high-end market, and even lost their price bottom line again and again. However, some brands have raised their product prices by taking advantage of their hardware configuration, but the four thresholds of high-end mobile phones have made many brands unable to cross them. Let's briefly analyze some of these barriers.

Design: Differentiation is not just about being different

In recent years, many brands have been pursuing so-called differentiation, and even made great efforts in product appearance, and even sacrificed the public's aesthetic standards to attract attention. In a word, differentiation is not just being different. Many mobile phone brands have two misunderstandings on the differentiation route.

First, differentiation is often used as a hype, but product positioning is rarely considered.

A common phenomenon is that in order to create a unique product appearance, a lot of attention is paid to the camera, screen, battery capacity, etc., but the product's audience is gradually narrowed. There are many cases of dual cameras on the back and 10 million pixels on the front. Even the YotaPhone, which actually has unsatisfactory sales, is regarded as a benchmark by many manufacturers. Samsung and Apple , which are the best in differentiation , have shown different ideas. For example, Apple Pencil and Spen are not over-hyped, but solve the pain points of using large-screen mobile phones, which further expands the product's audience.

Second, sacrifice user experience for differentiation.

The slogan of "experience is king, users are supreme" has been shouted countless times, but few mobile phone manufacturers follow it. One of the most common examples is piling up hardware, the highest-performance processor + the highest-pixel camera + the largest-resolution screen + the fanciest interactive interface, and so on. To this day, many mobile phone manufacturers have failed to change the idea that high-end equals high price, and eventually marked the price to the threshold of high-end phones, but in reality they are operating bleakly. This also explains why some second-tier brands often release regular and high-end versions at the same time. To put it bluntly, they compete for face with the high-end version, and then use the regular version to create a price advantage to compete for sales. Differentiation exists in name only.

The ones that can truly achieve differentiation are often those that see the big picture from the small, such as the Samsung Note 5's screen-off quick write feature and the iPhone 6S's live photo feature. This is closely related to the reason why Samsung and Apple have been able to divide the high-end market for many years.

Function: Solving pain points is the only real need

The design differentiation mentioned above is only a feature of high-end products. With the prevalence of "copycats" and "tributes", almost all the design highlights of high-end products from Apple to Samsung have been copied, but the functional optimization has not been able to be imitated. The core is that only functions that solve user pain points are called rigid needs.

One fact that needs to be clarified here is that some low-end and mid-range products have done well in some user pain points and have been made into product selling points, while Apple seems a bit "non-mainstream", such as automatic beauty, dual SIM dual standby, expandable memory, etc. From another perspective, the technical threshold of these functions is already too low, and high-end products still need to have some features that others do not have, and can also meet user needs to a greater extent. For this point, the author appreciates Samsung's concept. Let's take the Spen of Note 5 as an example. Since the beginning, there are many products equipped with stylus. Samsung has used this "accessory" to the fullest extent. For example, with the help of Spen, scrolling screenshots are no longer limited to the size of the mobile phone screen. Using Spen to make PDF notes not only meets business needs but also makes it more fun.

A question that stands in the way of all mobile phone manufacturers is how much protection patents can provide. The function of Apple's 3D Touch was "perfectly copied" by domestic manufacturers before users had iPhone 6S. We often hear news about a mobile phone manufacturer making a breakthrough in the number of patents, but to truly gain a foothold in the high-end market, it needs to come up with some "hard goods" on the basis of meeting rigid demand.

Price: It is not about chasing brand premium

Is price a sign of whether a product is high-end or not? The answer is obviously not. A living proof is that OPPO and vivo have made great achievements in the market above 2,000 yuan due to their channel advantages. Even the price of their flagship products is often above 3,500 yuan. OPPO and vivo enjoy brand premium but have never become high-end brands.

According to ZDC's survey data, compared with 2014, the attention to the 3,000-5,000 yuan mobile phone market in the first half of 2015 has obviously declined, while the attention to the 5,000 yuan and above market has increased significantly. The reason behind this is that Samsung and Apple have monopolized the 5,000 yuan and above mobile phone products, and the focus of other manufacturers is precisely the 3,000-5,000 yuan market. The decline in attention is a direct manifestation of users' unwillingness to buy. From the sales data of Double Eleven, all the popular products are priced below 2,000 yuan, and the highest sales are still the 1,000 yuan phones. This is a wake-up call for many mobile phone manufacturers. On the one hand, they are fighting with competitors in the low-end market, and on the other hand, they are desperately creating high-priced "high-end products" to gain brand premiums, but in the end, they lose more than they gain.

In the Android phone camp, almost no brand is willing to give up the low-end and mid-range market, even Samsung, which is the only one in the high-end Android market. However, the biggest difference between Samsung and other brands is that Samsung has always regarded the GALAXY Note series and GALAXY S series as its main products, and has relied on brand effects and channel advantages for the low-end and mid-range products, which ensures the high-end attributes of the brand while maintaining the global leading position in sales and market share. This may be a place where other Android brands should learn from.

Concept: The difference between consumers and users

It is meaningless to talk about innovation in the development of smartphones today. In essence, whether it is design, function or pricing strategy, its value will be reflected in service. In terms of service concept, the essential difference between high-end brands and mid- and low-end products is whether the buyers of the products are users or consumers.

I have previously explained in an article that whether mobile phone manufacturers are trying to please consumers or to please the supply chain. The former reduces production costs, spare parts costs and channel costs to the greatest extent possible, thereby creating enough attractiveness in terms of price to make consumers "look back"; the latter increases the product price as much as possible, and by optimizing the experience and brand effect, makes users consciously pay for the product.

Samsung and Apple are undoubtedly typical representatives of pleasing the supply chain, but they are somewhat different. Apple is the best advocate of pleasing the supply chain. Downstream companies are also proud to be Apple suppliers, and even become the benchmark of the industry. This is also the official reason why the prices of Apple products remain high. Samsung itself is a supply chain company. After the sales volume of its products is enough to subsidize the R&D costs, the prices of Samsung products tend to fall slightly. On the one hand, it is a better reward for loyal users, and on the other hand, it is also an effective means to cope with the fierce competition in the Android market. The service and experience can appropriately make up for the psychological gap of early consumers in price. It can be said that Samsung is the best example of pleasing users.

Compared with the fan economy, mobile phone manufacturers should perhaps follow the user logic. Instead of using price advantages and marketing methods to make consumers become "fans" of the brand, it is better to work hard to improve product experience and services, so that users like specific products and thus recognize the value of the brand in their minds. This is the difference between consumers and users.

Having said so much, I just want to make a point that after the hustle and bustle of Double Eleven, the smartphone market is still in a mess. Mobile phone manufacturers should return to rationality. For many brands, it is time to rethink the value and significance of high-end products.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.