Not long ago, "why young people are reluctant to change their mobile phones", rushed to the hot search.
Here, first do a survey, how long have you not changed your phone? Or, when are you going to replace the phone you're using right now?
I also looked at our office friends, most of whom were still using the previous two generations of mobile phone products.
Due to work reasons, in the past few years, there will often be many friends around to ask what mobile phone to buy, but in the past two years, fewer and fewer people have asked this question. Even the articles written in the public account about mobile phone information are becoming less and less people watching.
Around 2014- around 2018, consumers changed on average once a year or every two years. But according to data released by Counterpoint, the average replacement cycle of users is currently 31 months, which is more than two and a half years. According to the data of the Chinese Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the overall shipment of mobile phones in the domestic market in the 7 years from 2014 to 2020 is not difficult to find that after 2016, it has declined year by year.
450 million units in 2014, 520 million units in 2015, 560 million units in 2016, 490 million units in 2017, 410 million units in 2018, 390 million units in 2019 and 310 million units in 2020.
Looking at the number of new models on the market, from 2014 to 2020, it has also fallen all the way, from the initial 2081 directly to 462 in 2020.
So, whether it is from the data point of view, or the phenomenon around them, the sales of mobile phones in these years are indeed getting worse and worse.
Mobile phones are getting more expensive
The average selling price of mobile phones in the Chinese market has also increased from 1500 yuan to 2000 yuan in the past to 2700 yuan to 3000 yuan.
Nowadays, we want to buy flagship models or high-end versions, and we can't get them without spending thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan.
On the other hand, this year is already the third year, and the income of many young people has also been affected, which has made everyone have a certain sense of crisis, and leaving cash in hand is king.
Even if there is extra money, young people may choose to make some investments, such as the number of people discussing fund stocks on the Internet and WeChat groups now, far more than in previous years.
Perhaps for young people, the money that changes their mobile phones frequently is not as practical as that of savings or investment.
And in the past few years, we have developed the habit of using Huabei and borrowing, and with the exposure of negative news about various online loans, everyone has begun to become more and more cautious in advance consumption.
Interestingly, although young people do not change their mobile phones, they have begun to change mobile phone cases frequently.
Mobile phone cases have become the third important accessory for girls in addition to lipstick and necklaces, and even before going out, they need to choose different mobile phone cases according to different outfits and moods.
Moreover, some companies rely on selling mobile phone cases (Gemmet), which are now listed companies.
There is no transformative innovation
From Android to Apple, most of the new mobile phone products are still stuck in the processor, battery life, hardware optimization and other toothpaste upgrades, which is why I personally have no interest in mobile phone products.
Taking processor performance as an example, Qualcomm launched two flagship chips last year, Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 888, and these two chips are still released this year after selling them for a year;
For example, the Xiaomi Mi 12X (Qualcomm 870) and oppo Find X5 (Qualcomm 888) show that the performance of the old processor is still excessive this year.
And it is not difficult to find that almost all mainstream mobile phones in the past two years have been rolled on the "image".
As for upgrading your pixels from 100 million to 200 million, is it really that important to the average consumer?
For example, the Find X2Pro two years ago, 2K, 120Hz screen, five times the optical variable lens, IMX586 ultra-wide angle, is also the top stream today.
For example, two years ago, the iQOO 5 Pro, GN1 five times the optical change, 120W fast charge can also be played today, so there is no desire to change the machine.
Huawei Mate 40 Pro is also a model released two years ago, but it is still a sought-after commodity, especially the 5G version is still difficult to find, and the Mate 40 Pro 5G version can now enjoy a premium of several hundred yuan.
Of course, there is a problem with chip supply behind it, on the other hand, it also shows that the changes and innovations in mobile phones are very small now.
For example, the screen is resized, the CPU is increased a little, the pixel is higher, and you are given a few more cameras, whether it is useful or not, more looks cool. If you are not satisfied, add a few more shell colors.
No more, just make a joint version, in short, a variety of "patching" improvements, it is not as attractive as adding a 3.5nm headphone hole. People say, isn't it?
I remember the era of functional machines, the shape of mobile phones are various, whether it is the screen or keyboard have their own characteristics, to meet the personalized needs of young people, and now the mobile phone shape is somewhat the same, "a big screen" has become the mainstream, homogenization is too serious.
No killer apps
Although the current mobile phones have supported 5G, this does not affect our use of 4G mobile phones at all, and even many people will turn off the 5G function on the mobile phone in order to reduce power consumption.
It comes down to the fact that there are no killer apps that only 5G can play.
If there is a meta-universe game that can only be played happily in the 5G network environment in the future, I believe it will cause a large number of young people to change machines.
Moreover, all our information and data are on mobile phones.
Your albums, videos, contacts, files, WeChat chat history, etc., how to quickly change to a new mobile phone, for people who do not know much about mobile phone settings, it is really a headache.
Although there are some "mobile phone move" applications, it is still quite cumbersome and time-consuming to transfer these contents between different systems.
In addition, you have to reset the configuration on some application data such as bus cards, WiFi, alarm clocks, and account passwords. Some people compare changing mobile phones to "moving", which is really not exaggerated at all.
The longer the phone is used, the higher the cost of switching.
This series of troublesome operations has also dissuaded many people from the idea of changing mobile phones. If you can use it, use it.
Manufacturers make precise efforts
Now many people think that mobile phones have become a necessity, as long as they can meet the needs of daily calls, WeChat, taking photos, etc.
Moreover, mobile phones also bring a rare sense of equality.
Whether you use more than 10,000 yuan of iPhone 13 Pro MAX 1TB Yuanfeng Blue Edition, or more than a thousand redmi mobile phones, you are now watching the same video, using it to play the same game and WeChat, looking at the same hot search, there will not be much experience gap.
Science and technology should not have a noble distinction, but shared by human beings.
Finally, I think that young people do not change mobile phones, and the biggest impact is still those mobile phone manufacturers.
For mobile phone manufacturers, we must launch innovative products that make consumers feel excited. Instead of blind marketing, stacking, price increases, and rushing to the high end.
From the phenomenon that all manufacturers are rushing to the high-end, we find that mainstream manufacturers have gradually abandoned the refined cultivation of the low-end market.
In fact, low-end mobile phones are most of your users!
In the case that the mobile phone hardware has been piled up to the explosion, the differentiated experience is where mobile phone manufacturers need to exert their strength.
For example, the aforementioned replacement migration cost is high, very troublesome, comparable to moving, so can the mobile phone manufacturer allow ordinary users to reduce the migration cost?
For example, now that mobile phones are flooded with advertising, can mobile phone manufacturers optimize in the underlying technology to make it less advertised?
For example, if you do a good job of aging, can there be a better solution to prevent teenagers from overplaying mobile phones? More from the user's point of view than self-interest.