In the past three years, Apple’s share has fallen from 86%, while Huawei’s share has jumped from 5%, and the winner and loser are already divided; now, 44.1% is more than 44%, and there are still many variables.

High-end mobile phone users care more about brand than 5G. Even with major innovations like 5G, the high-end efforts of major Chinese mobile phone manufacturers such as Xiaomi have had little effect.

After Apple launched its first 5G mobile phone, the competition in the high-end mobile phone market will return to a two-man game between Huawei and Apple – the two companies eat up 90% of China’s high-end market, and other companies will continue to upgrade their brands. , waiting for new opportunities.

Recently, according to the data released by IDC in the first half of 2020, in China’s high-end mobile phone market data above US$600, Huawei accounted for 44.1%, ranking first, and Apple accounted for 44%. It seems that the gap is between a millimeter, but looking back on the past three years, Huawei has only 3% of the share, and has been catching up all the way up to now. Apple, on the other hand, has fallen from 86% of the market share.

A year behind, 5G is still a big opportunity for Apple to reverse the decline in the Chinese market

The Wall Street Journal bluntly stated that Apple’s performance in China’s high-end market is worrying.

Other manufacturers such as Xiaomi, Samsung and OPPO have no big gap in their share, and their market share has increased slightly, but the gap is still large. “The Wall Street Journal” quoted Canalys analysts as saying: In China’s high-end machine market, there are only two manufacturers: Apple and Huawei.

Less than a month apart, the two major manufacturers released the mate 40 and iPhone 12 series respectively. Mars hit the earth, and each has a strong sense of fighting – Huawei’s reputation is growing, and Apple is expecting to reverse the decline with its first series of 5G mobile phones.

Mate 40 VS iPhone 12, Huawei’s head-to-head battle with Apple

For any mobile phone manufacturer, the importance of the Chinese market is self-evident, so Apple’s current focus is to “recover” its second largest market with the new 5G mobile phone iPhone 12.

The latest data from The Economist pointed out that in the first half of the year, China’s 5G smartphone market share exceeded 50%, far exceeding that of other countries and regions.

However, the data also shows that in the Chinese market, Huawei’s 5G smartphone share has formed a crushing trend. Therefore, unlike in the early years, in this upcoming contest with Huawei, Apple no longer has an absolute advantage.

Huawei has taken the lead, other manufacturers are catching up, and Apple is fighting hard in the high-end market

The Wall Street Journal pointed out that Apple’s iPhone 12 is its struggle to reverse its domestic decline. The data just past shows that Chinese users still love Apple deeply, and the sales of iPhone in the first half of the year are rapid.

Objective analysis shows that in the 5G mobile phone market, Apple is a latecomer and has no previous market accumulation, so it is not dominant. In comparison, Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO and other mobile phone manufacturers have their own models that focus on the high-end market. In addition, in the domestic high-end market, the user group of Huawei smartphones has been formed. On the basis that there is no huge difference in products, it is not easy for Apple to break through.

According to recent news, Huawei Mate 40’s 5nm chip Kirin 9000, the latest EMUI 11 system, dual-card dual 5G simultaneous online, ceramic backplane, and the “mystery” left by the official camera are all hinting at Huawei Mate 40 Even with the iPhone 12.

The battle for the high-end market, or not only the chip

Occupying the high-end market brings huge profits to mobile phone manufacturers. The comparison data of the profits contributed by Apple’s various products in the first half of 2020 given by The Economist shows that mobile phones are the single product that contributes the highest profit, far higher than other services and products, and nearly 7 times the profit of computers.

Therefore, not only Apple and Huawei attach importance to the high-end smartphone market, but also Xiaomi and OPPO, which have been deeply involved in the mid-to-low-end market, are also eyeing the high-end market. Especially in the past two years, the overall market size has continued to decline, and the mid-to-high-end smartphone segment of smartphones has begun to show a trend of reverse growth.

In order to enter the high-end machine, mobile phone manufacturers such as Xiaomi have made a lot of moves in the past two years. For example, Xiaomi continued to serve the existing low-end users by establishing the Redmi sub-brand, while its own Xiaomi brand shifted to high-end and quality. Lei Jun even invested heavily in building a smart factory, just to improve Xiaomi’s supply chain capabilities.

Can the troubled Huawei stand up to Apple’s competition?

OPPO, which has always been positioned at the mid-range, has strengthened and innovated in functions such as cameras and fast charging, trying to find a breakthrough.

Especially this year, Huawei was forced to significantly reduce its mobile phone business, leaving a large “market vacancy”, which has stimulated various mobile phone manufacturers to aggressively enter the high-end market. At the beginning of the year, Xiaomi Mi 10 was raised by 700 yuan, and then the OPPO Find X high-end version directly approached 10,000 yuan.

However, as shown by the data in the first half of the opening chapter, there is still a gap between Xiaomi and other mobile phone manufacturers in terms of market performance, Huawei and Apple. This means that the gap between them and Huawei is not only “one chip”, and entering the high-end market is not only about stockpiling, camera strengthening, etc., it must also involve many factors, such as the optimization of overall supply chain capabilities, chip and Software integration ability, brand influence, etc.