"Please show the health code, itinerary code, thank you for your cooperation!"
During the epidemic, no matter where you go, you need to brighten the code first. Every time, the list girl takes out her mobile phone to light up the health code first, and then lights up the itinerary code after giving the "big white" a glance, while operating while spitting: Why can't the two codes be combined?
Until recently, the list girl brushed to such a Weibo:
Image source: Weibo screenshot @ Drive China official
It seems that I am narrow-minded, and what we lack is a two-code method? What is missing is a folding screen mobile phone!
The year 2021, which just passed, is known as the "folding screen first year". Veteran players Samsung and Huawei have launched a variety of models including horizontal folding and vertical folding, and some models have been updated to the 3rd generation; Xiaomi and OPPO have also entered the game, releasing their own first-generation folding screen MIX Fold and OPPO Find N.
With the arrival of 2022, the heat of folding screen mobile phones has not decreased, but has risen, and it seems that there is a trend of burning more and more fiercely. First Glory released its first folding screen mobile phone Magic V in January, and then on April 11, the delayed vivo with vivo X Fold made a high-profile appearance, announcing the opening of the folding screen 2.0 era, the five major domestic smartphone mythical beasts are gathered in the folding screen track, just waiting - summoning the dragon Apple.
According to data released by market analysis agency Omdia, since the birth of folding screen mobile phones in 2019, the cumulative global shipments have reached 11.5 million units by the end of 2021. Among them, the shipment volume in 2021 is as high as 9 million units, an increase of 309% year-on-year.
Feels like a new growth category? However, before Apple entered, folding screen mobile phones did not seem to be considered mainstream models.
Fortunately, this does not prevent other manufacturers from "inventing" this demand and "creating" the consumers of folding screen mobile phones. What the List Girl wants to know is:
If the folding screen is a real requirement,
Which brand will be the first choice for consumers when changing machines?
The "Digital Brand List" takes January 1, 2021 to April 13, 2022 as the data time window, takes the whole network content related to the "folding screen" of each manufacturer as the analysis object, and launches the digital brand value ranking in the field of folding screen mobile phones, in order to let everyone more intuitively understand which brand of folding screen mobile phone has the best grass planting effect, and has become the first choice for purchase in the minds of consumers.
Source: "Digital Brand List" monitoring study
It can be seen from the ranking that Huawei folding screen mobile phone ranks first with the digital brand value of 314, 102, 117DB, reaching a mental share of 27.12% in the industry, the best grass planting effect, the most popular among consumers, and the first choice for domestic consumers to buy and replace folding screen mobile phones. Samsung, which has the largest shipment volume in the global folding screen market, is slightly inferior in the hearts of domestic consumers, ranking second with the digital brand value of 239,065,413DB, whether it is communication, participation, and favorability.
It is worth noting that although Apple has not launched a folding screen mobile phone for a long time, its consumer expectations that are hotly discussed in the field of folding screen are not low, far beyond the Royole and Motorola that released folding screen mobile phones early, and the strength is staged what is called "although the brother is not in the jianghu, but the jianghu still has the legend of the brother".
A little bigger, a little bigger
"Every once in a while there's a revolutionary product that changes everything."
There is no doubt that in the past 15 years, this product is Apple, and its emergence has completely subverted the feature phone market dominated by Nokia and Motorola at that time, bringing people to the era of smart phones.
At the beginning, brands have a lot to innovate and a lot of stories to tell. Whether it is from the system, or the main features of taking pictures or music, or the main long endurance, etc., you can always find your own positioning and selling points. But as there are fewer selling points to tap into, innovation becomes harder and harder to do, and homogenization between smartphones becomes more and more serious, brands are beginning to shift their attention from phone functions to user experience – the screen begins to roll inward.
First of all, the size, the screen size is getting bigger and bigger, 3.5, 4.7, 5.5, 6.1... All the way to the flat. Then there is the screen ratio, the full screen without a border has become a new hot spot, the brands "eight immortals across the sea, each showing magic", iPhone canceled the physical HOME button, "cut" out of the Qi bangs; Sharp, OPPO, Nubia, etc. went further, equipped with "water drop screen" to further improve the screen ratio; "digging screen", the emergence of the camera under the screen is close to 100%.
At this point, the screen seems to have no volume. But people's pursuit of smaller bodies, larger screens will always be there, coupled with the further development of mobile phone screen technology, so that folding screens become a new possibility, but also let brands see a new breakthrough.
Therefore, in October 2018, Royole Technology took the lead in releasing the world's first foldable flexible screen mobile phone - Roupai FlexPai, which fired the first shot of the smartphone folding screen war; in 2019, Samsung, Huawei, and Motorola respectively launched their first generation of folding screen mobile phones - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold, Huawei Mate X and Motorola Razr, competing to enter the game; and then, domestic mobile phone giants - Xiaomi, OPPO, Glory, vivo can not be stable, You chase me and rush into the folding screen field.
Image source: Weibo @DTCHAT
Muscles still have to show off
For brands, what does it mean to fold screen phones?
Is it the unlimited money brought about by the high sales of one hand? At the moment, it certainly isn't. According to Canalys' report, global shipments of foldable smartphones reached 8.9 million units in 2021 and are expected to exceed 30 million units by 2024, with the foldable screen product market growing by 148% year-on-year in the case of only 7% growth in the overall smartphone market. In this way, folding screen mobile phones seem to have a great future. But the reality that cannot be ignored is that compared with the global shipments of 1.3548 billion smartphones in 2021, millions of folding screen mobile phones, and even tens of millions of shipments in the future are really nothing, and they cannot become the main force of brand profitability.
Since it is impossible to make money on it, why does the brand invest huge manpower and material resources to launch its own folding screen mobile phone? There are two reasons for this:
On the one hand, the smartphone market where Jiang Lang is exhausted is in urgent need of new stories to awaken consumers' expectations and enthusiasm. The development of smart phones to the present, can toss have been tossed, new products round after round of release, but also the old rice new to eat, change the soup does not change the medicine, there is no surprise at all. The direct consequence is that consumers do not want to change the new mobile phone so much, the mobile phone that was originally changed once a year, now want to use two years or even longer. Also, the new machine and there is no special expectation of the selling point, the function is OK in the case of what mobile phone, money to save to do something else is not fragrant? Therefore, in the face of more and more calm consumers, brands urgently need a product that is novel enough and subversive enough to arouse consumers' enthusiasm for changing machines - folding screen mobile phones are such a product.
Facts have proved that although the launch of folding screen mobile phones can not convince more consumers to change the machine, it does give consumers new expectations for smart phones, but most people are still waiting and seeing. According to the data monitoring of the "Digital Brand List", when the brand releases a new folding screen mobile phone, the digital brand value in the field of folding screen will always increase significantly in the period of time, which shows that consumers are still quite concerned about the folding screen mobile phone released by the brand. The following figure is the digital brand value trend chart before and after the release of the vivo X Fold folding screen mobile phone, it can be seen that from March 25, vivo officially announced the folding screen mobile phone conference, its digital value trend began to rise sharply.
Source: "Digital Brand List" monitoring study
On the other hand, since the advent of the iPhone 3, Apple has been an insurmountable gap on the way for domestic mobile phones to enter the high-end market. But in the performance of the folding screen, Apple, which has always dared to be the first, seems to be one step late, which allows brands to see a shortcut to high-end, cornering overtaking.
Folding screen, does it sound very high-end, very sci-fi, very future? Indeed, the current folding screen mobile phone, not only high-end technology, the price is also very high-end, the previous few years often tens of thousands, these two years with more and more brands, has been reduced a lot, but the minimum also has to be six or seven thousand. I still remember when the list girl went to school, Rongmi Ov was almost the standard of most student parties, which was synonymous with good quality and high cost performance, and did not want to hitch a ride on the folding screen, but sprinted to the 10,000 yuan mark. Just ask you high-end or not high-end?
Perhaps, at this stage, for domestic brands, the strategic significance of folding screen mobile phones far exceeds its practical significance. Therefore, whether the sales volume is good or not is not so important, one person buys, many people watch, a wave of operations, consumers always feel: this brand is powerful, strong technology capabilities! This brand is high-end, and there are tens of thousands of mobile phones!
The list girl feels that if you look at it from this point of view, it is no wonder that Apple is not in a hurry: people's high-end people have been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and there is no doubt about their scientific and technological capabilities, so there is no need to worry. While watching the outlet while polishing the product, if necessary, the new product surprises everyone, as long as the product is too hard, and then catch up, the headwind is only a matter of minutes.
True demand OR pseudo demand?
Mr. Lu Xun said: The joys and sorrows of human beings are not the same. The same goes for brands. Although the folding screen field is now in full swing, a blossoming flower, brands are gearing up and preparing to do a big job. But the bustle is someone else's, and for Royole, it has reached the point of exhaustion and self-care.
According to the data monitoring of the "Digital Brand List", last year, Royole's digital brand value continued to decrease, until December last year, plummeted to negative value, and in March this year, the digital brand value plummeted again, hitting a record low. The list girl found that the two digital brand value plummets were caused by its capital chain crisis: in December last year, some netizens pointed out that Royole Technology owed the company security and cleaning nearly a thousand salaries for half a year; in these two days, Royole Technology's salary arrears were fermented again, and the company fell into the "darkest moment".
Source: "Digital Brand List" monitoring study
As the first "folding screen originator" to launch a folding screen mobile phone, Royole Technology was once the darling of capital, and since its establishment in 2012, it has carried out 13 financings. What is lamentable is that the former "king" has reached a situation where even employees cannot afford to pay their wages.
Perhaps, from Royole, we can see more clearly what is the status of the folding screen mobile phone after removing the strategic significance of "high-end positioning"? After all, unlike brands with mature mobile phone businesses such as Huawei, Samsung, and Rongmi Ov, Royole specializes in flexible screens.
You can take a look at its products: the name tag of the curved display, the coat and hat of the curved display, the women's bag with the curved display, the wine bottle with the curved display... These things look cool, but the list girl thinks that the vast majority of people should not buy it, right? Because in addition to being addicted, I really can't find practical application scenarios!
Image source: Screenshot of Royole's official website
Photo caption: National Cellar Wine Packaging Display with Flexible Screen
Folding screen mobile phones, like these flexible screen products, are also caught in the controversy of whether they are real or fake needs for consumers. At present, the main application scenarios of folding screen mobile phones are nothing more than the following:
The screen is larger
This is mainly aimed at horizontal folding screen mobile phones, when the office can have a larger screen experience when watching charts or watching videos. But the problem faced by consumers is that there is no applicable App, take the video, the current mainstream video size is mostly 16:9 or 9:16, and the size of the folding screen mobile phone can rarely be adapted, so the movie viewing experience will not be much better than the straight mobile phone.
The fuselage is smaller
This is mainly aimed at vertical folding screen mobile phones. There is no difference between unfolding and normal bar phones, and there will be no problem of App mismatch, but it is only the size of a makeup mirror when folded up, which is very convenient to carry. Therefore, this folding screen mobile phone, such as Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, Huawei P50 Pocket, etc., has considerable sales on the platform.
Multi-screen apps
It is the function of opening multiple apps on the screen at the same time, or opening the two-level menu of an app, such as opening several videos at the same time. But after careful consideration, at present, in addition to opening the health code and the itinerary code at the same time, it is not a very attractive function.
hover
It can be like a notebook, part of the keyboard, part of the screen, or you can watch videos with your own stand. this...... Did you spend ten thousand dollars to buy a phone with its own stand?
Therefore, at present, the biggest constraint of folding screen mobile phones is the lack of "anti-hit" killer applications. For Huawei, Samsung and many other mobile phone brands that pile up folding screens, in addition to how to fold the screen, they need to consider what can be done after the screen is expanded.
Folding era, not necessarily folding
It is undeniable that folding screen mobile phones are still facing various problems.
On the black cat complaint platform, there are more than 600 complaints about folding screen mobile phones, most of which are concentrated on the screen and hinge, of which the problems of "leakage", "crease" and "damage" on the screen cannot be avoided by whether it is Huawei, Samsung, or Xiaomi. It can be seen that the current folding screen mobile phone, whether it is technology, production or application, is still in the most elementary stage, and there are still many problems that need to be solved.
Image source: Screenshot of the black cat complaint
But for the emergence of new things, we may as well be a little more patient and less critical.
Perhaps, the folding screen is now far from our expectations, and the future of the folding screen is not necessarily the form of folding: it can be made into a scroll type like the folding screen concept machine released by Samsung, and the size of the screen can be adjusted at will; it can also be like the "OPPO X 2021 scroll screen concept machine", which automatically becomes flat with one click.
Image source: Network
But in any case, the upgrading of technology is not something that can be done overnight, brands are not fools but may also become fools, wasting manpower and material resources to spend years researching a completely chicken technology.
Because, it's all about the future. In order to please the needs of consumers, the battle of technology/product routes has staged too many successes and failures, just like the TV dispute of LCD VS rear projection, the dispute between Blu-ray and HD DVD standards, the dispute between CCD and CMOS image sensor chip... For manufacturers, in addition to technology and product reserves, planting grass in advance in the minds of consumers is naturally also a reserve for establishing mental cognition, waiting for the folding screen market to suddenly blow up.