In 2017, it was the year of the collective price increase of domestic mobile phones. Even though the price of tens of thousands of yuan appeared to be 'of course' driven by the concept of consumption upgrade, the mobile phone camp of Qianyuan Group generally marched towards the high-end stalls of 3,000 yuan.
In the author's opinion, the reasons behind the price increase of mobile phones last year are twofold. On the one hand, the premium space for domestic mobile phones under consumer upgrades has become larger. On the other hand, the rising cost of component procurement and the impact of exchange rate fluctuations have also made mobile phones. Manufacturers are not willing to 'handle' in the low-end market. At that time, the ultra-low-end mobile phone market became the most unwilling market for mobile phone manufacturers.
But the cakes in the mid-to-high end market are so big. In the case that everyone wants to grab, this year's smart phone market has rapidly divided into the '28' formation, including domestic mobile phones such as Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo. Manufacturers firmly occupy the market of more than 2,000 yuan, and in a variety of analysis and prediction, the head-to-head mobile phone companies will make the market more solid in the second half, leaving space for the second and third line manufacturers will be smaller.
It can be seen that according to the data statistics report of Sanofi, starting from Meizu who ranked seventh in the first quarter, smart phone Q1 shipments including Jinli and Xiaochi are all in the millions, and they are ranked tenth away. Manufacturers shipped less than 400,000 each month.
Continue to venture into the mid-to-high-end market, or return to the mass market for survival, becoming a practical issue for every small and medium-sized brand of mobile phone manufacturers to consider first.
In fact, the functional machine market is not that unsatisfying. The functional machines we send to Africa each month are still growing at a high rate in terms of sales volume, and we have a tendency to stop falling in domestic markets. Ultra-low-end mobile phones still have a relatively large market. Space. 'The person in charge of a domestic mobile phone told the author.
This trend can also be seen in the “Analysis Report on the Operation of the Domestic Mobile Phone Market in April 2018” released by the China Institute of Information and Communication Technology. From January to April, shipments of 2G handsets totaled 6.961 million, down 11.1% year-on-year; 3G handsets Shipments of 28,000 units were down 93.2% year-on-year, and shipments of 4G handsets were 115 million units, down 24.2% year-on-year. In other words, the deceleration of the functional machine camp represented by 2G gradually narrowed, and shipments remained Maintain a certain high position.
In the case of stagnant domestic smart phone market, small and medium-sized domestic mobile phone brands may wish to tap this part of the low-end mobile phone users.
One case came from Nokia. Nokia, which re-entered the mobile phone market last year, focused on feature phones. In 2017, shipments reached 70 million units, of which smart phone shipments were only 10 million. For many users, due to lack of high The quality of entry-level smart phones, so that high-quality features still have a high market demand.
Of course, in addition to the functional machine, providing a lower-priced 4G mobile phone is another way to survive.
In the Chinese market, nearly 400 million users still use 2G mobile phones among the three major operators. In the general view, this group of people belongs to low-end users. Their per capita ARPU is lower, and their mobile phones are also lagging behind. The price is the main reason that this part of the users did not switch to 4G smart phones. If the threshold for 4G is further reduced, the market space in this area will become a 'safe haven zone' for many small and medium-sized brand manufacturers in the Red Sea competition.
Li Kaixin, the person in charge of the 360 mobile phone, once told the writer that the market with a price of RMB 999 has not disappeared. Instead, it has been divided. The price increase of components has driven some manufacturers to go upwards, but there is also room to go downwards. Concerned about the replacement users and the elderly. Market, this strategy is the most secure direction for the development of 360 mobile phones.
Like Red Rice, Charm Blue also put more market targets on the young people and students market, such as Charm Blue's 6T set the starting price at 799 yuan, and this strategy has promoted the Charm Blue mobile phone in the past three years. The total sales volume exceeded 50 million, and the red rice breaks through the sales bottleneck of tens of millions of dollars, and has made outstanding contributions to Xiaomi’s overall sales volume.
The huge space in the ultra-low-end mobile phone market is also attracting more head companies' U-turns. It is reported that Huawei has released an ultra-low-cost smart phone in the African market, starting at only US$80. Perhaps it represents Huawei's formal entry into the ultra-low-end handset market, which is currently trying to gain more market share.
In any case, finding the market space and living in the most secure manner are the best choices faced by small and medium-sized mobile phone manufacturers after the current mobile phone market enters the Red Sea market. Perhaps this is the only option.