Following televisions, mobile phones are also experiencing a surge in price. Is the worst really over?

"The main theme of the mobile phone industry in 2017 is price increases."

On the day when Xiaomi announced the price increase of the Redmi 4 series, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau also spoke out on Weibo, predicting the mobile phone industry in 2017.

This year, the price increase of mobile phones has become a foregone conclusion.

The era of losing money to gain publicity is over

Just after the Lunar New Year, Xiaomi, which has always boasted of its products' "value for money", announced that its mobile phones would increase in price. The reason was very direct: "Affected by the rising procurement costs of components and exchange rate fluctuations, the costs of Redmi 4 and 4A have skyrocketed, and the previously set retail prices are seriously lower than the product costs. In order to ensure normal supply, the company decided to increase the price of the Redmi 4 series by 100 yuan." In this way, Xiaomi mobile phones ushered in the first price increase since its birth.

"Making a loss all the time to gain publicity is definitely not a long-term solution. There will always be a day when you can no longer sustain it." Regarding the protracted price war in domestic mobile phones, most industry insiders believe that this era should come to an end.

In fact, long before Xiaomi's price increase, other competing products had already adjusted their prices. For example, just after New Year's Day this year, Meizu officially announced that it would increase the price of the 16GB/32GB versions of the Meizu Blue Note5 by 100 yuan, less than a month after the Meizu Blue Note5 was released.

Different from the TV price increase at the end of 2016, when the prices of some TV models were raised due to insufficient panels in the upstream supply chain and the continued rise in panel prices, Xiaomi immediately said: "Xiaomi TVs will not increase in price, we will bear the pressure."

Xiaomi failed to hold out this time, and its mobile phone prices followed Meizu's rise. In addition to these two companies, 360's N4S Snapdragon version also adjusted its price on January 9 this year. It is understood that the price of Huawei P9 Plus increased by 50 yuan, and the price of Huawei P9 full network version increased by 100 yuan; LeTV pro 3 regular version 4+64G increased by 80 yuan, and Le Max2 top version increased by 280 yuan. According to Liu Zuohu's statement, we predict that the prices of OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T may also increase this year.

Since the second half of last year, essential components such as mobile phone screens, processors, memory, flash memory, cameras, and fingerprint recognition modules have either increased in price or been out of stock. The increase in the price of mobile phone raw materials has become the last straw that broke the camel's back in the battle for cost-effectiveness.

When costs can no longer be reduced, price increases become inevitable

Often, the winter and summer holidays are the peak seasons for mobile phone sales. The major manufacturers have accumulated inventory for several months, but they raise prices during the peak season? You may think they are crazy, but maybe they are driven crazy.

The era of cost-effectiveness has ushered in its biggest challenge - cost increase.

Lu Weibing, president of Gionee Group, once said, "From 2016 to 2017, manufacturers faced two pressures. The first was that the prices of components were actually rising. The other was the exchange rate fluctuations, which caused costs to rise."

With Trump's election as the US president, the exchange rate has fluctuated greatly. Mobile phone accessories such as screens, memory chips, motherboards, sensors, etc. all need to be purchased in US dollars. This has become a major test for domestic manufacturers. When costs can no longer be compressed, price increases have become an inevitable choice.

Moreover, mobile phones are not like televisions. After a TV is sold, you can make money from subsequent operations. However, the sale of mobile phones is mostly a one-time deal, and the money earned is from the hardware.

It is undeniable that the golden age of mobile phones has begun to end. The shift from incremental market to stock market is a reality that manufacturers have to face. According to the latest data from IDC's global mobile phone tracking quarterly report, global smartphone shipments reached 1.45 billion units in 2016, a year-on-year increase of only 0.6%, while the shipment growth rate in 2015 was still 10.4%. After the price war, the survivors will reach a tacit agreement that is to increase prices. In the future, more domestic mobile phone manufacturers may join the ranks of price increases.

In addition to low-end phones, mid-to-high-end phones may not be guaranteed not to increase in price this year. For example, rumors that Apple will launch a new model of mobile phone with OLED screen material have also exacerbated the tension in the mobile phone supply chain.

Once the price goes up, it is difficult to lower it. After all, the hard days of relying on piling up mobile phone sales to make profits are too hard to endure.

Lei Jun said in his internal speech at the end of 2016: The worst is over.

However, only the "machine makers" themselves know best whether this era is good or bad.

In fact, if you think about it carefully, after the Chinese New Year, in addition to mobile phones, computer accessories such as memory, SSD, CPU, etc. are also increasing in price. The prices of televisions, cameras and even Teslas have also increased.

You will find that many things are increasing in price.

For example, online car-hailing, food delivery, logistics, and the headache of rent and house prices. As consumers, we don’t want to see the price of products that have been released increase, but the market is so ruthless that someone has to pay the bill.

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.