Reporter Qin Xiao reported from Beijing
PC tracks are getting more crowded.
In addition to the traditional PC manufacturers (personal computers), these working days at the end of May, Huawei, Honor, Redmi and other mobile phone manufacturers have also released their own laptops, quite a "you sing me on the stage" feeling, and just like the rise of smart phones when the lively.
A number of industry insiders said in an interview with the "China Business Daily" reporter that the mobile phone market is sluggish, the performance of manufacturers is under pressure, and it is necessary to find new growth points. Due to the great demand for mobile office and online courses caused by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the notebook computer market has grown, so mobile phone manufacturers have cut into the field of notebook computers to seek new development. Compared with traditional PC manufacturers, mobile phone manufacturers have advantages at the marketing level and have strong online promotion capabilities. However, the disadvantages of mobile phone manufacturers are that the after-sales service of laptops is weak, the offline coverage is small, the product structure is weak, and the lack of high-end products.
Menacing
The mobile phone market seems to be bidding farewell to the boom era. Canalys' report shows that since the first decline in China's mobile phone shipments in 2017, China's mobile phone shipments have fallen for four consecutive years, falling by 4%, 14%, 7% and 11% from 2017 to 2020, respectively, and shipments in 2021 have increased slightly by 1%, which is the only time that domestic mobile phone market shipments have risen in the past five years.
However, this trace growth did not last long. On May 25, market research institute CINNO Research released a report showing that in April 2022, the sales of smartphones in the domestic market were 17.6 million units, down 21.6% year-on-year and 12.2% month-on-month. Single-month sales recorded the second worst single-month performance since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, only higher than the level in February 2020.
In the face of an increasingly "depressed" market, the major manufacturers that once called the wind and rain in the mobile phone field had to jump out of their comfort zones and seek new growth points. Several head mobile phone manufacturers have invariably extended their tentacles to the field of notebook computers.
Zhang Xiaorong, president of the DeepIn Science and Technology Research Institute, analyzed to reporters that the mobile phone market is sluggish, and the performance pressure of manufacturers is very large, and it is necessary to find new performance growth points. Due to the great demand for mobile office and online courses caused by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the notebook computer market has grown, so mobile phone manufacturers have turned to the notebook computer field to seek new development.
Sankei observer, Nail Technology founder Ding Shao general also believes that the smart phone market is currently encountering a bottleneck in development, whether from the Chinese market or the global market, the overall downward trend is obvious; mobile phone users and PC users show a high degree of overlap, mobile phone companies brand accumulation and channel capabilities can be reused, so the threshold for entering the PC market is not high, and can bring new increments.
Xiang Ligang, an observer of the communications industry, analyzed that first of all, the computer market is a huge market and the profits are considerable. For mobile phone manufacturers, it is normal to compete for this market as much as possible and make themselves more powerful; secondly, after a long period of development of the computer market, many traditional companies have been defeated, leaving only Lenovo, HP, Dell, etc., the market share is relatively concentrated, and the competitive pressure is relatively small.
"The development of technology has allowed mobile phones to catch up with or surpass laptops in terms of functionality and performance. From the price point of view, the price of high-end mobile phones has long exceeded the price of laptops - which means that there are not too many barriers to technology, performance and functionality that have previously hindered mobile phone manufacturers from entering the notebook market. Coupled with the high degree of overlap between mobile phone customers and laptop customers, it can be considered that the synergy between the two is quite large. It is also reasonable for mobile phone manufacturers to lay out the notebook computer market. An Guangyong, an expert of the Credit Management Committee of the All-Union Mergers and Acquisitions Association, believes.
In fact, as early as 2016, when the iterative innovation of laptop technology was silent, Huawei and Xiaomi began to lay out the notebook computer field early. In the first half of 2020, Huawei's market share in the domestic notebook market once reached 16.9%, ranking second only to Lenovo. Xiaomi notebooks also earned enough market eyeballs in the early stage.
Yu Chengdong, then CEO of Huawei's consumer business, said that Huawei's entry into the PC industry was to play the "catfish effect" to inject new vitality into the PC market that has been insufficient in innovation for many years, indirectly stimulating innovation in the PC industry and providing users with a better experience.
However, both are restricted by many factors such as operating system, product supply chain integration and market downturn, and Xiaomi has suspended PC product line updates for up to four years.
However, in the past two years, global PC sales have continued to grow, which has also rekindled the enthusiasm of mobile phone manufacturers such as Huawei, Xiaomi, and Honor for PC products. The data shows that PC shipments in 2019 were 173 million units, an increase of 28.3% in 2020 to 222 million units, and a further 18% increase in 2021 to reach 262 million units, setting a new historical record.
JW Insights believes that although the notebook computer market expectation in 2022 is not optimistic, it has declined compared with 2021, but there is still a significant increase compared with 2019 before the new crown pneumonia epidemic, which can be seen that the new crown pneumonia epidemic has made the mixed office and teaching combined online and offline become the norm, and people's demand for laptops has increased significantly, so that the scale of the notebook computer market after 2020 has remained at the level of more than 200 million units. The laptop market may also fluctuate in the next two or three years, but it will hover between 200 million and 260 million units.
In the face of a blue ocean in front of them, Huawei, Xiaomi, Honor and other mobile phone manufacturers have also frequently made efforts, successively released the latest PC products, and the cutting-edge mobile phone manufacturer Realme has also entered the notebook computer market.
The emphasis is on interaction
Different from the slightly tedious hardware stacking of traditional PC manufacturers, as a "catfish" mobile phone manufacturer, in addition to improving processor performance, display effect, thinness and other aspects, the increasingly mature technology in the field of mobile phones and communications is grafted into the PC, and more emphasis is placed on the integration and interaction between devices, especially between mobile terminals and computer terminals.
Major General Ding said that under the background of the homogenization of upstream core devices and systems, mobile phone manufacturers have new experience advantages such as multi-scenario access and data circulation based on mobile phones.
On May 16, Honor released its second independent notebook product, the MagicBook 14, online. Honor introduced Magic OS for Windows to PCs for the first time, allowing Windows to be tuned at the bottom like Android.
Before Glory, Huawei also enabled laptops to interconnect with mobile phones, tablets, monitors, and even smart screens through the Hongmeng system through the Super Terminal function; and the mobile application engine optimized at the operating system level allowed the Computer Huawei Application Market to have the experience of the mobile application zone, opening up the two ecosystems of HarmonyOS and Windows.
On May 23, Huawei also released a series of new PC products, including the MateBook 16s i9 version, MateBook D 16, MateBook 14, MateBook D 14 four laptops.
It is worth noting that this time Huawei MateBook 16s not only supports hyperterminals, but also further advanced, multi-device interconnection at the same time, open up the function of Windows PC and mobile device ecology, so that the two terminal systems are unimpeded, changing the separation of mobile phone and PC application services. PC-enjoy mobile apps are disruptive to productivity gains for office/study.
Zhao Ming, CEO of Glory, said: "For Glory, it is both an opportunity and a challenge. On the one hand, this is a market that Honor can participate in, and the space is expanding, and the next few years are at least large enough in China, which is a significant incremental market for Honor; on the other hand, in today's laptop market, unlike Honor in the Chinese mobile phone market, it already has a certain market share, so it is also full of challenges. However, relying only on simple hardware stacking will not change the status quo of stock market competition, only by digging deep into the underlying tuning capabilities, combining OS intelligence, cross-platform collaboration, and ecological construction, providing users with products with a better comprehensive experience, is the key to winning the market competition, and in the future we will also introduce more technologies and innovations in mobile phones into laptops. ”
The "moat" of traditional manufacturers
Although the mobile phone manufacturer layout laptop is in full swing, it is undeniable that the market share is still controlled by traditional PC manufacturers, Strategy Analytics research report shows that in the global laptop market in 2021, the top five shipments are Lenovo, HP, Dell, Apple and Acer, and the five together occupy about 79% of the market share.
Major General Ding said that compared with traditional PC manufacturers, mobile phone manufacturers will be relatively insufficient due to the small scale of early shipments, and the procurement cost will be relatively higher. In addition, brand recognition is relatively weaker.
Zhang Xiaorong believes that the disadvantages of mobile phone manufacturers are weak after-sales service of notebook computers, small offline coverage, weak product structure, and lack of high-end products.
Not only that, in the face of menacing new forces, traditional PC manufacturers such as Lenovo, HP, and Dell are also widening their "moats" and seeking breakthroughs in the direction of strong performance, display quality, keyboard feel, etc.
For example, on May 24, Lenovo released dozens of new products in succession, and there are more than 30 subdivided models of new laptops alone, including Lenovo YOGA, Lenovo Xiaoxin, Lenovo Savior and other brands.
However, traditional PC manufacturers have to maintain their advantages, and they cannot rely solely on quantity and hardware to win.
In this regard, Major General Ding suggested that traditional PC enterprises should still give full play to the advantages of supply chain and the advantages of full-life cycle services, ensure a leading position in product quality, price, SKU (minimum stock unit) richness, channels, etc., and strengthen product innovation and experience innovation for vertical populations and vertical application scenarios, and refresh the brand image according to the situation. In addition, it is necessary to consolidate and develop the B-end market through high-reliability products and competitive prices.
At the same time, he said that mobile phone manufacturers should not be greedy for more and more, but can strengthen product layout in individual vertical groups, markets and scenarios, and concentrate on research and development, channels, marketing, supply chains and other resources to achieve point-by-point development. In terms of product innovation, it is still necessary to highlight the advantages of scene and ecological linkage, from the appearance design to the software system, there is room for continuous optimization and innovation, and a new competitive barrier of intelligence and personalization is established.
An Guangyong told reporters that whether it is the attacker (mobile phone manufacturers) or the defender (laptop manufacturers), it is necessary to use its strengths to avoid weaknesses and give full play to its own advantages, and what must be avoided is to fight a price war, because the price war means a lose-lose situation.
(Editor: Wu Qing Proofreader: Yan Yuxia)