In 2020, which has experienced changes and is likely to become a landmark turning point in human history, the domestic mobile phone market in 2021 is increasingly showing a market pattern of "how strong and strong are competing". In this competition in the mobile phone market, a local company from Guangdong, China, Vivo, currently ranks first in the domestic mobile phone market with a market share of 23%.
Vivo, a mobile phone brand that understands consumers better, ranked first in the domestic market for three consecutive quarters
According to the data released by Counterpoint, an internationally renowned market research institute, vivo occupied the first place in the domestic market share with a market share of 23% in the first quarter of 2021. In the foreseeable future, Vivo will also continue to maintain a leading edge in market share in the domestic market.
Domestic mobile phone market 2021Q3 market share
Many people will attribute the reason why vivo can obtain the first position in the domestic market share, simply attributed to the fact that vivo has a strong channel advantage, advertising and publicity "overwhelming" and other factors. However, in the eyes of insiders, the main factors for vivo's success are not these points, after all, as long as enough time and energy can be invested, major mobile phone manufacturers can build strong channels and set off a wave of advertising.
Compared with some competing brands with strong brand influence or technical advantages, the real secret of Vivo's ability to get the first place in the market and continue to maintain sales growth lies in its "better understanding of consumers". A closer look shows that after last year's readjustment, the current vivo product line is very clear.
Vivo mobile phone product line
In the high-end mobile phone market, Vivo has NEX and X series that position high-end flagships and image flagships respectively; in the mid-range market, the S series is mainly for young trendy user groups, while the newly launched T series is aimed at young consumers who pay attention to cost performance and performance experience; the entry-level market is composed of a variety of models of the Y series, which has achieved 5G popularization in the entry market. In addition, Vivo also has a series of models of the iQOO brand to meet the needs of users and "hardcore" players in the online market.
iQOO brand
Through a clear and clear product line division, every consumer in the domestic market can find a suitable smartphone product in vivo's mobile phone product matrix. For example, vivo X70 Pro+ can meet the strict requirements of professional users and high-end user groups for mobile phone image capabilities and mobile phone quality; vivo S10 Pro is more suitable for young users' pursuit of mobile phone "appearance" and selfie experience; vivo Y70t 5G can allow consumers to buy a 5G mobile phone at a lower price.
vivo X70 Pro+
Vivo not only pays attention to different consumer groups in the division of product lines, but also its product characteristics can accurately grasp the pain points of consumer demand. For example, the vivo X70 series models aim at the needs of users who like to use ultra-wide-angle lenses to shoot video content, and the vivo X70 Pro series models are equipped with ultra-wide-angle lenses composed of main camera sensors + micro-gimbals, which can better meet the pain points of users' needs for handheld smart phone shooting.
ZEISS Professional Imaging
In addition, the vivo S12 Pro's front-mounted fill light and iQOO 8 series of independent display chips, multi-model 120W flash charge and other unique configurations reflect vivo's expectation from a practical point of view, truly help consumers solve the pain points in use, so as to prompt consumers to choose vivo mobile phones.
Vivo S12 Pro front fill light
In vivo, with its emphasis on consumer demand, it has to face a very real problem while consolidating its market position: it is difficult to further expand its market share and the overall shipment volume of the declining market.
Through the observation of data, it can be found that Vivo's market share in the first three quarters of 2021 is 23%, and it has more than 270 million active users on the internet in China, which means that vivo has been difficult to further obtain a larger market space. At the same time, according to the third quarter China smartphone market report released by market research institute Counterpoint Research, the total shipments in the third quarter were 76.5 million units, down 9% year-on-year.
That is to say, in the case of the overall shrinkage of market space, if vivo wants to further expand its own shipments, it needs to further break the current market pattern and obtain new market space. Considering the current situation of the domestic smartphone market, vivo has been difficult to further expand its market share in the entry-level and mid-end markets of "the battle situation is very sticky", and the high-end mobile phone market with larger profit margins and insufficient competition will obviously become the direction of vivo's further progress in the future.
Chip self-research to lay a good foundation for development in the short term to achieve "curve overtaking" with cooperation
"How easy is it to enter the high-end market?" This is the first reaction of many people in the mobile phone industry when they hear a mobile phone manufacturer entering the high-end mobile phone market. Compared with many netizens' cognition that high-end smartphones only have high pricing, the real high-end mobile phones need to reach the top level in the industry in terms of software and hardware.
Users who have a deep understanding of the current top flagship mobile phone market know that the current best-selling top flagship mobile phones have experience advantages that far exceed other models in many fields such as systems, chips, screens, and images.
The importance of chips to smart phones is no less important than the heart to the human body, so vivo wants to further expand its high-end market share, and it must work chips. But conquering chip technology itself may be even more difficult than becoming the number one in the mobile phone market share.
chip
Previously, there have been industry giants who have invested nearly 10 years of massive resources to achieve chip design close to the international leading level; at the same time, there are mobile phone manufacturers who have invested huge amounts of money after the chip tape-out failed, and finally temporarily abandoned the research and development plan; in recent years, the new mobile phone manufacturers who have entered the self-developed chip have also called the difficulty of self-developed chips as difficult as exploring the world's deepest trench.
In the face of such a reality, in terms of chip research and development, vivo has chosen a more realistic and successful way: joint research and development. In November 2020, the Exynos 1080 flagship chip jointly developed by Vivo and Samsung was launched, which is one of the few flagship chip products in the market that uses the 5nm process process.
Vivo and Samsung jointly developed Exynos 1080
There is a lot of discussion in the industry about the joint research and development method, but for vivo, this method is more realistic than the independent research and development method that waits for a long time and the feasibility is difficult to predict, and it can also transform vivo's technical strength and understanding of user needs into actual products faster, and enhance the market competitiveness of vivo mobile phones.
While enhancing its own technical strength through joint research and development, vivo also continuously strengthens its own research and development strength. According to domestic media reports, Vivo has recently expanded its chip self-research team and applied for the "vivo SOC" and "vivo chip" trademarks, laying the foundation for the future launch of self-developed chips.
In the time of waiting for vivo self-developed processor chip, vivo first launched the first self-developed professional imaging chip "V1" this year, it is understood that vivo V1 can be matched with different main chips and displays, which plays a role in expanding the ISP high-speed imaging computing power and releasing the main chip ISP load.
vivo V1
In addition to investing in chip research and development, vivo also attaches great importance to the "image track". In the context of high-quality image content dissemination being regarded as a killer application in the 5G era, major video platforms have opened an "inner volume competition" around the quality of video content. In the short video era, the iPhone is relying on its own image strength to create its own high-end mobile phone image, in 2021, vivo also launched its own mobile phone "image ceiling" model - vivo X70 Pro+.
As a model developed in deep cooperation between vivo and ZEISS, vivo X70 Pro+ not only truly surpasses competitors in terms of still images, but also greatly enhances its strength in the field of moving images through the application of many exclusive new technologies such as micro-PTZ stabilization and horizon stabilization. With such a product strategy, Vivo achieved the top three high-end mobile phone market shares of more than 4,000+ in the third quarter of 2021.
More than 4000+ high-end mobile phone market share TOP3
Whether through independent research and development or joint research and development, the technical content of vivo's flagship new machine is steadily improving, and the application of these new technologies can also effectively improve the consumer experience, which in turn helps vivo to occupy an advantage in the increasingly fierce market competition.
Empowering industry partners and end users to foster an infinitely positive digital world
As we all know, human society is now moving towards the era of the Internet of Everything. For the era of the Internet of Everything, everyone has their own ideas and opinions, but it is undeniable that the digital world of the future will be a "positive infinity" state that contains everything. For the future of the digital world, many people and organizations have put forward their own ideas, but few can implement the ideas to the actual technical level, and vivo is one of these few activists.
The infinite digital world
At this year's vivo developer conference, vivo announced its latest digital technology achievements and opened these technical capabilities to the majority of industry users to help them quickly enter the new digital world; at the same time, vivo used its leading edge in the field of intelligent terminals to empower every user who uses vivo terminals through the practical application of cloud technology, so that it can enter the new digital world with a very low threshold, so that technological progress can benefit the public.
Let scientific and technological innovation benefit the public
Mutual trust and win-win with industry partners and mutual achievements are a kind of business philosophy that goes deep into the vivo gene. Therefore, vivo does not apply its own technical capabilities only to its own platform, but opens it to industry partners, actively invests in industry construction, and contributes its own technology and resources to the industry ecology.
Win-win with industry partners
Therefore, at this vivo developer conference, vivo launched a real-time two-way service of push platform to help operation with technology, and vivo also independently developed a one-stop intelligent storage platform covering the operation and maintenance of general storage products and research and development needs. In terms of product tools to improve efficiency, vivo has brought four platform tools, namely the 360-degree product display platform, the Marco code coverage platform, the traffic recording playback platform and the vivo live broadcast, to help developers iterate more stably and efficiently.
The vivo open platform has also brought a number of major upgrades, providing developers with more capabilities through cloud test upgrades, minimum compatible versions, multi-package uploads, fully open API interfaces, pre-download of game resource packages, comment reply capabilities, and data openness. The vivo service platform also improves the five major services of audit timeliness, work order system, compliance guidance, package transfer experience, and full-scenario notification, aiming to help developers improve efficiency in the whole process of planning, building, development, debugging, testing, release, and operation.
Video games are a form of digital application that has emerged since the birth of computer technology and has developed in parallel with computer technology for a long time, and even drives technological progress. In today's mobile content market demand for mobile games, how to provide a good game platform for players and developers has become a technical problem that tests terminal manufacturers.
After years of development and exploration, vivo game platform has realized a one-stop service for developers to provide full-link, full-cycle and global. And for the testing period, launch period and promotion period of game operation, Vivo has also launched new functions and services for developers.
Full-cycle service for game developers
Facing the IoT open ecosystem, vivo, based on the product concept of "intelligent connection of all things that can bring better experience", provides four major capabilities for the intelligent vehicle ecology: driver interconnection, car key, travel service center and car home interconnection; the intelligent life field has created a set of intelligent interconnection technology solutions based on the four major scenarios of home, audio and video, office and travel, which can help industry partners realize the real-time connection between intelligent products and users through vivo's technology platform.
Intelligent vehicle ecology
In order to better realize technology sharing, overcome artificially created communication obstacles. In recent years, vivo has led or participated in the construction of a series of industry alliances, such as the mutual transmission alliance, the fast application alliance, and the gold label alliance. In addition to opening up its technical capabilities to industry users, vivo is also actively empowering users with technology to help achieve a better digital life experience.
Especially in the face of users who are "disconnected" from the digital age due to practical difficulties, Vivo proposes to "use technology to erase differences and cross the digital divide". To this end, vivo actively participates in the information accessibility public welfare plan, and has reached a long-term cooperation with the China Hearing Medicine Development Foundation to use vivo's AI ability to help the hearing impaired group "see the sound"; for the visually impaired group, comprehensively optimize the reading screen to help the visually impaired group better listen to the use of mobile phones; for the elderly population, vivo has set up a special project for aging, so that more parents and grandparents can use mobile phones smoothly, and these are only part of vivo's involvement in corporate social services.
Technology smooths out differences and bridges the digital divide
With the deepening of digital technology for people's lives, digital security issues have also become a major element that digital platform providers cannot ignore. At the vivo developer conference, vivo elaborated on vivo's security and privacy strategy; emphasized that transparency and controllability, privacy side processing and data minimization are the three basic principles of vivo's privacy protection; launched a thousand mirror security architecture to enhance Android ecological privacy protection; proposed privacy protection, which should be transformed from more technological protection to more humanistic security protection, so that each user can more simply and elegantly protect their privacy.
Thousand mirror safety architecture
Investment in the development of ecological and technological capabilities may not bring immediate results, but it has a very important role in promoting the development of the entire digital industry. Therefore, vivo does not limit the results of technological progress to the platform, but actively invests in industry construction and contributes its own technology and resources to the industry ecology.
summary
"Rome is not built in a day", the expansion of the market share of domestic mobile phone brands in high-end flagship mobile phones is obviously not dependent on the rise of the moment to complete the catch-up, but to rely on long-term technology accumulation, as well as the focus on the real experience of users to achieve. As the mobile phone manufacturer with the largest domestic market share, Vivo needs to find its own way forward in the future, and also shoulders the mission of leading domestic brands to achieve a comprehensive breakthrough in the high-end mobile phone market.