Focus on the mobile phone peripheral products market series report Mobile phone "outerwear" purchase is like seeing flowers in the fog

Source: China Consumer Daily

Figure: On the e-commerce platform, the reporter found that the mobile phone case sales page was marked with a variety of anti-fall functions.

Editor's note In the information society, mobile phones have become an indispensable "organ" for the vast majority of people, and mobile phone chargers, data cables, and even mobile phone cases and mobile phone films have gradually become a must-have for mobile phones to extend out. Recent reporters' investigations have found that although the mobile phone peripheral product market contains great potential, due to factors such as low entry thresholds and lack of corresponding standards, the market is mixed and consumer rights protection cannot be relied upon.

When buying a mobile phone to go home, not only do you have to match the mobile phone case and mobile phone cover, but most people also have to paste a film on the mobile phone. Putting on a "coat" on a mobile phone is not only to protect the phone from harm, but also a way for young people to show themselves. However, the reporter's investigation found that many consumers will also express dissatisfaction with the various effects claimed by the purchased products, and some consumers reflect that the products have a pungent smell.

Supporting small products contain a large market

"I bought a set of 'cultural shirts' for my mobile phone, which I can change as I like." Post-90s consumers "noisy mother" told the "China Consumer Daily" reporter that although the mobile phone itself has been colorful now, but "throughout his life" is still only a look, and easy to wear. Mobile phone cases are varied, and changing them every day is not a problem.

Shenzhen consumer Mr. Lei told the "China Consumer Daily" reporter that he bought the mobile phone case cover mainly to avoid the "internal and external injuries" of the mobile phone, so it is often at the same time as buying the mobile phone, he buys the supporting mobile phone case.

According to data from well-known market research institutes, 75% of smartphone users will choose to install a protective case, and 25% of people have more than one protective case per smartphone. It is expected that by 2022, the demand for smartphone cases will exceed 1.5 billion.

Tmall Digital Xiao'er (artificial customer service) told the "China Consumer Daily" reporter that mobile phone shell products often have very high user stickiness, more than 10 million users will buy more than 12 times a year, the frequency is high, but the customer unit price is often not high.

However, the reporter saw on the e-commerce platform that the price of mobile phone cases actually varies greatly, and the price ranges from a few yuan to several hundred yuan.

"Mobile phone film is also essential." Ms. Zhang, a Beijing consumer, said, "In the past, the streets were full of 10 yuan film, but now you can choose at will on the Internet." Not only are there more and more varieties, but also the shape of the mobile phone screen is becoming more and more suitable. Ms. Zhang said.

According to the data compiled by the Prospective Industry Research Institute, it is expected that by 2026, the conservative estimate of the mainland mobile phone film market will be close to 20 billion yuan; the optimistic estimate is about 64 billion yuan.

The material of the mobile phone case may hide hidden concerns

"Today I used a silicone phone case with an unpleasant pungent smell, and now I am dizzy, what is wrong?" What should I do? When will it be good? On the "People Ask Doctors" platform, a 17-year-old patient asked such a question.

Gao Jian, technical leader of the green environmental protection testing and evaluation laboratory of Saixi Laboratory of China Electronics Technology Standardization Institute, told the "China Consumer Daily" reporter that the pungent smell mentioned by patients is likely to be the smell emitted by toxic and harmful substances contained in the mobile phone case.

In 2018, the Shenzhen Municipal Consumer Commission released the results of a comparative test on mobile phone cases. The comparative test results of 30 mobile phone cases of 28 brands showed that a small number of mobile phone cases detected toxic and harmful substances, which involved polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, plasticizers, lead, benzene, formaldehyde, heavy metals, etc. Among them, the lead content of 1 explosive mobile phone case seriously exceeded the standard.

"Toxic and harmful substances in mobile phone cases may endanger human health through gas volatilization and migration to the user's skin." Gao Jian said that some non-standard manufacturers will use inferior materials, such as inferior silicone materials and adhesives, in order to reduce costs, and use brightly colored decorations to increase the attractiveness of mobile phone cases. These inferior materials and brightly colored decorations may contain toxic and harmful substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, phthalates and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

According to reports, these toxic and harmful substances will have an impact on the health of users, such as lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium and other heavy metal elements harmful substances will affect the human digestive system, central nervous system and so on.

At present, there are no national standards and line standards

"When buying other products, some test certificates are often displayed on the sales page, and the implementation standards will be indicated on the product packaging, but whether it is a mobile phone case or a mobile phone film, it is good to have a regular packaging when received." Mr. Qiu, a consumer in Guangzhou, told the Reporter of China Consumer Daily.

After consulting and consulting with many parties, the reporter found that the China Communications Industry Association issued on March 20, 2019 and began to implement the group standard T/CA105-2019 "General Specification for Mobile Phone Cases" (hereinafter referred to as the "Specification") on April 22, 2019.

As one of the drafters of the standard, Gao Jian said that before the release and implementation of the "Specification", there was no relevant implementation standard for mobile phone shell products in China, and there was a lack of measurement standards in the process manufacturing of products. In addition, with the deepening of consumers' awareness of mobile phone accessories, the phenomenon of only paying attention to the appearance and practicality of accessories in the past has changed greatly, and the environmental protection and stability of accessories have also become an important factor in consumer choice.

According to reports, in response to some problems in the mobile phone case, the "Specification" puts forward corresponding requirements, such as standardizing the limit values of toxic and harmful substances; in terms of protective functions, from the four aspects of anti-drop, waterproof, flame retardant and environmental adaptability, the protective functions of mobile phone case sleeves are standardized, and at the same time, with reference to the corresponding national standards, the protection index values and test verification methods in the above four aspects are standardized. However, the reporter asked a number of mobile phone shell sales stores on the e-commerce platform, and most of the customer service said that they did not understand this standard, nor did they know what the implementation standard of the product was.

In addition, in 2017, Weikai Detection Technology Co., Ltd. also worked with Alibaba Suning Emerging Commodity Industry Standard Alliance to formulate the "Alibaba Mobile Phone Protective Film Technical Specifications", which evaluates products from the aspects of product identification, appearance, hardness, wear resistance, impact resistance, residual glue, light transmittance, anti-UV aging, and harmful substance limits.

Inferior "outerwear" wears out mobile phones

The reporter's investigation found that whether it is to put a mobile phone shell on the mobile phone or to paste the mobile phone screen, the main purpose of people is to protect the mobile phone. Therefore, in the sales process of the product, anti-fall and anti-scratch is an important selling point of the product.

On the e-commerce platform, the reporter found that the sales page of some mobile phone cases was marked with a variety of anti-fall functions, such as AIRS airbag anti-fall, military-grade anti-fall, airbag anti-fall, etc.; and the mobile phone film was often marked with anti-fall, explosion-proof, anti-peeping and other functions.

Ms. He, a Beijing consumer, told the China Consumer Daily reporter that her mobile phone often falls due to various reasons, so when she buys a mobile phone case and a film, the most important thing while taking into account the beauty is to see the anti-drop performance of the product. "However, I don't know if these features really work or how much they can be used." Ms. Ho said.

"At present, some products on the market not only do not play a role in protecting mobile phones, but also may have the problem of easy wear and tear of mobile phones due to non-compliance with quality specifications, and may even cause damage in other aspects." For example, Gao Jian said that the requirements for the safety of mobile phone cases mainly consider the flame retardancy of their materials, that is, after preventing accidental fire in mobile phone batteries, the mobile phone case covers will not ignite. However, some inferior products do not consider this problem at all in the production process, and some products use inferior materials in the production process, and when the product use environment changes, it may have a negative impact on the appearance or mechanical properties of the mobile phone.

Product quality cannot be ignored

"Due to the lack of corresponding standards, if consumers want to complain about quality problems, they can only mediate with the merchant according to the losses suffered by consumers in the process of use." Gao Jian believes that this not only affects the consumer experience of consumers, but also is not conducive to the improvement of such product quality.

"Without special product standards, it does not mean that enterprises can do whatever they want in the process of production and sales." Lu Yun, director of the Consumer Rights and Interests Legal Committee of the Beijing Lawyers Association, pointed out that the production of products should first comply with the requirements of the Product Quality Law. Article 26 of the Product Quality Law stipulates that producers shall be responsible for the quality of the products they produce. Product quality should not be unreasonable risks that endanger the safety of people and property. At the same time, the product specifications, grades, the names and contents of the main ingredients contained should be indicated. The Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law also stipulates that consumers have the right to know. Producers or operators should carry out corresponding labeling on the outer packaging of the product, and cannot be sent out in a plastic bag at will. Lu Yun said.

In addition, Lu Yun pointed out that in the sales process of products, their publicity should also follow the requirements of the Advertising Law. False and misleading propaganda cannot be done. Otherwise, it may not only be suspected of defrauding consumers, but also bear the civil compensation liability of one refund and three compensation.

"However, for these small items of low value, most consumers will often take a throwaway approach even if they feel that there is a problem with the quality of the product." In addition, it is difficult for consumers to identify toxic and harmful problems. Lu Yun believes that because peripheral products such as mobile phone case mobile phone membranes and consumers may accompany them day and night, they must not relax their quality control. On the one hand, relevant standards should be formulated and introduced, and on the other hand, the implementation of standards should be promoted by strengthening supervision.

Gao Jian believes that in view of the way such products are dominated by "online" sales, each e-commerce platform should formulate corresponding management requirements and carry out special governance work to ensure the quality of mobile phone shell products settled on the platform, take the current environmental protection and health issues concerned by the industry as a breakthrough, and establish reliable consumer guidance.