From Huawei to Gionee, why are domestic high-end phones always embarrassing?

According to Taiwan Economic Daily, the world's first deca-core processor MediaTek X20 is in a bad situation. As MediaTek's X20 processor, which is expected to compete with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8XX series, there are millions of units that have not yet been shipped, which puts MediaTek under great pressure to clear the inventory. Although MediaTek has repeatedly denied this, it seems to be an indisputable fact. The reason why there is a large backlog of flagship processors is directly related to the lack of strength of domestic mobile phone manufacturers in the high-end mobile phone market segment.

Although Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8XX series is very good and powerful, it is in high demand. Therefore, domestic mobile phone manufacturers in the high-end mobile phone market either use MediaTek's flagship processors - which are still somewhat weak in performance, or develop their own high-end processors - which are difficult to meet demand. From Huawei to Gionee, domestic high-end mobile phones have repeatedly encountered the embarrassment of low sales.

The embarrassment of "getting involved but not taking root" in domestic high-end machines

The low-price competition tactics that domestic mobile phone manufacturers used previously have achieved unprecedented success in the thousand-yuan phone market, occupying most of the domestic mobile phone market. However, due to the weakness of domestic mobile phone manufacturers in the supply chain, the costs remain high, and they are increasingly forced to make profits by rushing to sell more. The reality of low profits forces them to continuously launch attacks on the high-end market with higher profits.

Especially since last year, domestic mobile phone manufacturers have significantly slowed down the frequency of updating thousand-yuan phones, and have focused their R&D, production, and marketing on high-end models. Huawei, OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi, Meizu, Gionee, etc., based on their own brand premium capabilities, hardware configurations, systems, etc., have launched domestic high-end phones ranging from 2,500 yuan to 4,500 yuan. In other words, getting involved in the high-end mobile phone market is what almost all domestic mobile phone manufacturers are doing their best.

But unfortunately, getting involved does not mean getting a foothold. Although there are many domestic high-end models, it is still difficult to achieve a substantial breakthrough in market share. According to the latest data from market research firm Counterpoint, the growth rate of China's smartphone market in the first quarter was only 4%, and the growth was mainly driven by smartphones priced at US$100-199 (about RMB 690-1372) and US$300-399 (about RMB 2069-2751). Apple still has a terrifying share of nearly 80% in the high-end market, and iPhone occupies five places in the top ten sales models. Huawei's three Mate 9 models account for 12.2% of the market share, and Vivo's Xplay6 accounts for 4.2% of the market share. Apart from them, no domestic high-end mobile phones have made the list.

Top 10 high-end smartphone sales in the first quarter

Why are the sales of domestic high-end phones not increasing despite their good materials and user experience?

To be honest, the gap between domestic high-end phones and Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy series is no longer a world of difference. In terms of materials, domestic high-end phones basically use the current top materials, with ergonomics, etc., and have first-class appearance and feel; in terms of configuration, although there are models using MediaTek flagship processors, many also use Qualcomm Snapdragon 8XX series, and there are also great improvements in RAM. Many domestic high-end phones start with 6GB RAM; in terms of experience, domestic mobile phone manufacturers have their own optimized systems and functions that are more in line with Chinese people's usage habits, all of which bring a good experience...

But even though domestic high-end phones have made such great progress, sales have never increased. Putting aside the so-called brand, the key reason why domestic high-end phones are difficult to increase sales is that they have not solved the pain point of the real purpose of "high-end configuration". For a long time, domestic high-end phones have been playing the role of followers, more like a combination of high-end configurations, and have not really clearly extended the purpose of "high-end configuration" for the sake of innovation.

Apple iPhone introduced fingerprint recognition to expand into the payment field, 3D Touch is to strengthen the connection between applications and hardware; Samsung Galaxy expanded storage space to accommodate photos and videos taken by high-definition cameras to occupy more and more space... However, in these application-level expansions, domestic high-end phones are just blindly following, without bringing real innovation, and thus cannot really win the favor of consumers. After all, consumers are becoming more rational, and what they pay high prices for is not just the gimmick of "high configuration".

High-end phones need to fundamentally distance themselves from low-end phones and expand their “application areas” more aggressively

The full explosion of domestic thousand-yuan phones is that they allow consumers to get a smooth smartphone experience at a relatively low price, meeting basic mobile communication, social, entertainment, work and other needs. In other words, thousand-yuan phones actually have almost all the mainstream qualities of smartphones. The reason why high-end phones still have a market is that consumers are eager to taste a different experience from high-end phones.

In addition to the attributes brought by the brand, consumers' requirements for high-end phones have shifted from high configuration to diversified applications. To this end, high-end phones must essentially widen the gap with low-end phones. Not only must they achieve crushing in terms of hardware, materials, and appearance, but they must also expand more radically in the "application field". If consumers can feel that spending 4,000 yuan to buy a domestic high-end phone is also worth the money, then domestic mobile phone manufacturers will not be far from dominating the market.

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.