Behind the "30 units" war of words: Xiaomi should not be complacent as it grows up

Recently, the news that Xiaomi was fined NT$600,000 (about RMB 124,000) by Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission for falsely reporting the number of products when it held a Redmi mobile phone online rush purchase event in Taiwan last December has caused a strong response in the industry. Some people believe that Xiaomi was fined because it issued an F code after announcing the rush purchase information, resulting in the number of mobile phones in the rush purchase pool not matching the publicity. However, Xiaomi's official apology statement stated that the real reason was that the total sales volume was only 30 units less than the number announced... This article will not discuss the war of words in public relations, but just look at how much weight Xiaomi has in the international mobile phone market.

At the same time that Xiaomi was fined yesterday, data provided by data analysis company Strategy Analytics showed that in the past quarter, Xiaomi accounted for 5% of the global smartphone market share, with as many as 15.1 million mobile phones sold in a single quarter. Compared with last year's 1.8% market share, Xiaomi's current share of the mobile phone market has reached 5.1%. This market share is only 0.3 percentage points less than Lenovo, which ranks fourth, and 1.7 percentage points less than Huawei, which ranks in the top three. For Xiaomi, which has only been established for 4 years and is involved in such a fiercely competitive industry, it is not easy to achieve today's results.

We think so not only because Xiaomi has been growing up amid controversy and even abuse since its inception, but more importantly, Xiaomi has already grown up. Of course, we are not just referring to market share and shipments (after all, in this regard, the "China Cool Alliance", especially Huawei and Lenovo, are still ahead of Xiaomi), but Xiaomi is already on par with Huawei, Lenovo and other companies in terms of brand loyalty, ecosystem, profit margin and other indicators that are related to whether it can have sustainable development momentum in the future, and has even surpassed them in some aspects.

According to the latest survey by Flurry, a mobile analytics company, in the past six years, the average time spent by each iPhone user on apps is much longer than that of Android users. However, in a random sampling of 23,000 cases conducted in January 2014 (in the Chinese market), it was found that Xiaomi was ahead of Apple and other Android devices. That is, if the iPhone is used as a benchmark (100%), the average app time of Xiaomi users is 7 percentage points higher than that of the former. The time spent on apps by Samsung and HTC users is 14% and 27% less than that of iPhone users, respectively. It is a well-known fact that the time spent by users on apps is an important indicator to measure the stickiness of the brand's mobile phone users and the attractiveness of the ecosystem.

In addition, in the first quarter of the past, Kantar conducted continuous research and analysis on 15,000 individuals, showing that about 5% of new Xiaomi users were converted from iPhone users; 17% of new Xiaomi users were previously Samsung users, 21% of new Xiaomi users were previously Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, and Coolpad users, and 18% of new Xiaomi users were previously Nokia users. I don’t know what the industry thinks or what conclusions they draw when they see this analysis. We believe that it is most appropriate to describe Xiaomi as conquering the Chinese market. In addition, some analysts say that although Huawei and Lenovo lead Xiaomi in shipments and market share, Xiaomi has the highest profit margin. In the survey of related brand loyalty, Xiaomi also ranks among the top. Of course, the advantages of Xiaomi mentioned above are limited to the Chinese market, which is also the main reason why industry insiders believe that Xiaomi is likely to win the title of the Chinese smartphone market in the near future.

But one thing to note is that although the Chinese market is still the largest and fastest growing market for smartphones in the world, it is also the most competitive market. China Mobile's recent launch of 500 yuan 4G phones, and the efforts of Coolpad, ZTE and other companies to launch 1,000 yuan 4G phones, all indicate that the fierce competition in China's smartphone market will only intensify. The result of this competition will put pressure on the profitability of various mobile phone manufacturers. This is also the main reason why mainstream Chinese mobile phone manufacturers have entered overseas markets (mainly emerging markets) this year.

According to statistics from IDC on global smartphones in the second quarter of this year, Huawei's Y series of cheap phones outside the Chinese market are also growing rapidly in many regions, and it has continued to expand its global market. The results of the second quarter prove that Huawei is in a strong momentum. At the same time, although Lenovo's smartphone shipments in overseas markets are less than 5%, this proportion has tripled in the second quarter of this year, especially in the BRICS markets, where its shipments have increased significantly. It is not difficult to see that in addition to the Chinese market, Huawei and Lenovo have already launched an offensive in overseas markets and have made some gains. In comparison, Xiaomi can only be regarded as just starting to make a layout. What's more important is that compared with Huawei and Lenovo, Xiaomi obviously lacks experience in developing overseas markets, especially in understanding and responding to the rules of the game in overseas markets. It should be noted that Huawei (telecommunication equipment, feature phones) and Lenovo (PC) have been working hard in overseas markets for many years with their corresponding products, and have accumulated many successful experiences and lessons from failures during this period. These need to be studied and learned by Xiaomi, who is also entering and entering the overseas market for the first time.

It is undeniable that today's Xiaomi has grown from the Xiaomi when it was first established, and has even achieved success in the Chinese market. However, as it moves into overseas markets, the rules of the game and the model that previously achieved success in the Chinese market have also changed. If Xiaomi fails to judge the situation and act accordingly, the effect of its development model in the Chinese market will inevitably be diluted. If handled improperly, negative market effects are not impossible.

As the saying goes: nip a small problem in the bud. With Xiaomi's success in the Chinese market, its exposure in overseas media has increased frequently. Such trivial things that may seem insignificant to us can cause unnecessary negative impacts and even ruin the company's success. Therefore, we remind Xiaomi to take a more serious attitude and even correct its mistakes when going global, so that it can continue to succeed.

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.