At present, the common mobile phone brands on the market are nothing more than iPhone, Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, honor, followed by OnePlus, Redmi, IQOO, Meizu and other brands. By nationality, the United States is the iPhone, South Korea is Samsung, and Chinese mobile phone brands account for the majority. But a recent set of data is a bit glaring.
According to data released by market research agency Counter Point, the global smartphone market fell by 19% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2022. However, Apple's iPhone 14 series bucked the trend, with shipments increasing by 42%. This is a very glaring number, because it shows that Apple's position in the smartphone market has become stronger.
Apple's growth has been largely driven by its latest iPhone 14 series. In this series of products, the performance of the iPhone 14 Pro Max is particularly outstanding, it not only has improved the technical level, but also in the appearance and design is more outstanding. These advantages make the iPhone 14 Pro Max one of the most attractive smartphones on the market.
Samsung, on the other hand, has suffered some setbacks. While Samsung's sales are still high, it has lost out to Apple in terms of market share. This may be due to some issues with Samsung in recent years, such as the Galaxy Note 7 explosion and some flaws in the Galaxy Fold.
If a single quarter can't tell a lot about it, let's take a look at the data comparison for the whole year of 2022.
According to the same market research agency Counterpoint, the global smartphone market in 2022 fell by 12% year-on-year. But sales of high-end phones priced above $600 (4,000 yuan) rose 1 percent. This shows that there is still a lot of room for development in the high-end smartphone market.
In this high-end market, apples are still fragrant. According to the report, Apple's iPhone series of mobile phones accounted for 75% of the market share in the high-end market, an increase of 3 percentage points from 72% in 2021. This is a very staggering number and shows that Apple's position in the high-end smartphone market is already very solid.
On the other hand, Apple's sales in the high-end market increased by 6% year-on-year, and the proportion of sales also reached 75%. This shows that Apple's high-end smartphone products are very popular in the market.
No matter how some people disparage the iPhone, Apple's iPhone series has always been a representative product of the high-end market, with each generation of products with more advanced technology and better performance. The data is the best illustration that some media cannons are useless, and consumers will only make choices with actual actions.
Domestic mobile phone brands, who can really have the strength to challenge Apple? Maybe it's really just Huawei. This is not to say that the price of Huawei mobile phones is generally high, but the hard power is there. Except, of course, the 5G capabilities that cannot be used due to sanctions.
Huawei launched a new P60 series flagship machine and Mate X3 folding machine at the recent 2023 spring new product conference. The launch of these products marks the strong return of Huawei terminal BG in the high-end smartphone market.
He Gang, chief operating officer of Huawei Terminal BG, said at the press conference that Huawei once competed fiercely with Apple and Samsung in the high-end market, and once surpassed them to become the world's first.
But then, Huawei suffered sanctions, from SoC to 5G to various component supplies were struggling, but Huawei never gave up. After overcoming many difficulties, constraints, sanctions and challenges, Huawei has returned to the normal rhythm of new flagship mobile phone releases this year.
Huawei's breakthrough and return is undoubtedly very good news. As a representative of Chinese smartphone brands, Huawei has always performed well in the smartphone market, especially in the high-end market. Huawei's products are excellent in terms of technical level, design and quality, and are deeply loved by consumers.
He Gang said that Apple lost a lot of shares in the past, and Huawei lost less after being sanctioned, but when the Mate 50 series was released, you can still see Huawei's share rise, and the share of others is declining. This shows that Huawei's competitiveness in the high-end market is very strong, and it can compete with international giants such as Apple.
However, Huawei still faces some challenges. Although Huawei's product quality and brand image are still very good, it is still subject to some cruel restrictions due to some political and geopolitical factors. Huawei must continue to redouble its efforts and innovation to maintain its competitiveness in the market.
So, the question is, putting aside emotional personal brand preferences and rationally looking at challenging Apple's strong market position, can it really only rely on the return of the king of Huawei mobile phones?