Economic Observation Network Cao Yan / Text “Due to the peak of mobile phone ownership and the prolonged replacement cycle, it is difficult for the domestic market to see the rapid growth of previous years.” On October 28, Guo Tianxiang, a senior analyst at IDC China, spoke at IDC China Intelligence Mobile phone market dynamic media communication meeting.
According to IDC statistics, in the third quarter of 2022, China’s smartphone market shipped about 71.13 million units, down 11.9% year-on-year, continuing the downturn in the first half of the year. However, thanks to the early release of the iPhone 14 series and the return of the Huawei Mate50 series, the domestic smartphone market achieved a quarter-on-quarter growth of 6.0% in the third quarter.
Guo Tianxiang pointed out that in the face of difficulties, industry participants are adopting a more pragmatic and prudent strategy, and at the same time increasing the high-end market layout represented by folding screens, and striving to create distinctive and differentiated products.
Apple is the only manufacturer with positive shipment growth
IDC data shows that vivo returned to the first place with 14.2 million shipments, with a market share of 20.0%; Honor occupied 17.9% of the market with 12.7 million shipments; OPPO ranked third with 11.6 million shipments and a market share of 16.3%; Apple and Xiaomi ranked fourth and fifth respectively.
IDC: Shipment of China’s top five smartphone manufacturers in 2022Q3
Among them, Apple is the only brand among the top manufacturers to maintain year-on-year growth. Guo Tianxiang said that the iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Plus, which will be officially shipped in October, are less upgraded than the previous generation products, and their appeal to consumers is limited; while the iPhone 14 pro and iPhone 13 series are favored by consumers.
Guo Tianxiang believes that although the sales of the iPhone 14 series is not as good as that of the iPhone 13 series, from the perspective of the entire product cycle, as the 13 series completes the inventory clearance, the 14 series still has a lot of room for growth. In addition, Apple also carried out certain profit-making activities during the Double 11, which is expected to further boost sales.
Looking at the global market, the hot sales of the iPhone series drove Apple’s quarterly revenue to a new high. Apple’s financial report released on October 27, local time, showed that as of September 24, the company’s revenue reached $90.146 billion, a year-on-year increase of 8.1%. Among them, iPhone revenue was 42.63 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 9.67%.
Guo Tianxiang said that, on the one hand, Apple has more clearly differentiated pricing for the iPhone 14 series – the price gap between different versions and different configurations of products is significant. Since Apple’s target audience is high-end users, the high-priced pro version is more popular in the market, and the buying boom has led to the growth.
On the other hand, the high-end mobile phone market in which Apple is located has shown an overall growth against the trend. According to IDC statistics, the high-end market above US$600 was less affected, with an overall share of 22.4%, a year-on-year increase of 1.9% and a month-on-month increase of 2.3%.
However, as Android manufacturers add to the high-end market, Guo Tianxiang believes that Apple’s “outstanding” situation is expected to be broken. “The hot sales of the Mate50 series shows Huawei’s strong competitiveness in the high-end market. At present, Huawei has plans to expand the productivity of the Mate50. , which may significantly increase its Q4 shipments.”
Folding screen mobile phone hits the largest single-quarter shipment
Folding screen mobile phones are representative products of the high-end market. At present, mainstream manufacturers such as Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, and vivo have all entered the field of folding screens, becoming an important “chip” for Android manufacturers to “fight” Apple. “Folding screen phones are expected to bring differentiated advantages to Android manufacturers and compress Apple’s share in the high-end market.” Guo Tianxiang said.
According to IDC data, in the third quarter, China’s single-quarter shipments of folding screen products exceeded 1 million, a year-on-year increase of about 246%, the largest single-quarter shipment in history. Guo Tianxiang predicts that in the whole year of 2022, the domestic folding screen market shipments should reach the order of 2.8 million.
Among the major manufacturers, Huawei occupies the first place in the domestic folding screen market with nearly half (44.9%) share; Samsung ZFold4 and Z Flip4 two new products sell better than the previous generation, driving Samsung’s market share in the folding screen to 22.2%; X The Fold+ series helps vivo occupy 11.9% of the market share; the fourth and fifth are Xiaomi and Honor respectively.
IDC: China’s folding screen mobile phone shipments in 2022Q3
Compared with the initial price (2019) of more than 10,000 yuan, the price of folding screen mobile phones has gradually dropped since the end of last year, such as Huawei P50 pockt starting at 8,988 yuan, Samsung Flip4 starting at 7,499 yuan, and OPPO Find N starting at 6,999 yuan , have controlled the price line at around 8,000 yuan.
Guo Tianxiang said that in the folding screen market, products with a price range of less than $800 already occupy a 3% share. With technological breakthroughs and the maturity of the supply chain, the pricing of folding screen products will continue to drop, which is more conducive to consumer choice and market popularization. In the future, horizontal folding mobile phones will still maintain a high-end image, while vertical folding products may reduce the price even lower.
IDC predicts that China’s smartphone market shipments will be about 288 million in 2022, a year-on-year decrease of 12.4%. Guo Tianxiang believes that the domestic market is still full of difficulties and the prospects are not optimistic. All Android manufacturers adhere to the “high-end” route. While accumulating their own product strength, they also give consumers a full process of understanding, contact, familiarity, and final acceptance, so that they are expected to gain a firm foothold in the high-end market.