Huawei Apple's "Double Hero Competition", Industry Chain Recruitment Sets Off a "Grabbing War"

An Yufei Wu Xian/Photo by Zhou Jingyu/Cartography

At 7 a.m. on September 22, there was a long queue at the door of Apple's official direct store in Shenzhen Yitian Holiday Square, just waiting for the store to open at 8 o'clock to snap up the iPhone 15 series of new machines, which is also the first day of offline sales of the iPhone 15 series.

This rush to buy is inevitably reminiscent of the scene of queuing during the pre-sale of Huawei Mate 60 series mobile phones. In September this year, with the release of new machines from Huawei and Apple, a "double competition" for high-end mobile phones has begun.

In order to pass through the surface phenomenon of queuing in stores and see through the recruitment heat of the mobile phone industry chain behind it, the Securities Times reporter visited the Longhua Recruitment and Training Center of Foxconn Technology Group and other places, and learned that the salary of the FIH department that worked as a temporary worker in Longhua Foxconn to Huawei mobile phone OEM once reached 26 yuan / hour, which greatly exceeded the IDPBG department that made mobile phones for Apple (21 yuan / hour); Dongguan Songshan Lake Huawei has also recently begun large-scale recruitment in the southern factory, and the comprehensive salary package "far surpasses" Foxconn temporary workers...

Whether the strong return of Huawei mobile phones can impact Apple's position in the high-end market may be perceived from the recruitment market.

"Double heroes compete for hegemony", triggering a recruitment boom

"Guy, did you get a diploma? Follow me to the Huawei factory in Dongguan, you go home and get your academic certificate, we have a car to send you directly to the interview. At the entrance of the Foxconn Longhua Recruitment and Training Center, the recruitment agent Mei Jie pulled the reporter and said.

Although there was a loudspeaker shouting at the entrance of the Foxconn Longhua Recruitment Training Center: "The guard booth is the only recruitment entrance for regular workers, please consult the red and yellow vest staff if you have any questions." But there are still some recruitment agents without vests at the door, "grabbing employees" at the gate of Foxconn, and Sister Mei is one of them.

The intermediary who helped Dongguan Huawei factory recruit workers stood at the door of Foxconn, which mainly works for Apple, to grab people, which also reflects the fierce competition between Huawei and Apple Mobile in the recruitment link of the industrial chain.

According to Sister Mei, "Dongguan Songshan Lake Huawei" has only recently begun large-scale recruitment, this time it is expected to recruit 2,000 to 3,000 people, to help Huawei make mobile phones, welfare benefits are higher than Foxconn, comprehensive salary can reach 9,000 yuan / month.

However, Sister Mei also said: "Huawei's factory acceptance rate is very low, the requirements are much higher than Foxconn, the education must be at least high school, junior college, undergraduate is better, it is best to have three years of experience in making mobile phones." ”

The reporter inquired about some job search websites and found that the "Huawei of Dongguan Songshan Lake" mentioned by Sister Mei may be Huawei's southern factory located in Songshan Lake, Dongguan, and its basic requirements and salary are basically the same as the information given by Sister Mei. It is understood that Huawei's southern factory was officially put into production in 2009, mainly for the production of mobile phone 3C products and optical communication equipment.

On some social media platforms, reporters asked employees who had recently joined Huawei's southern factory for verification, and the recruitment information given by Sister Mei was basically confirmed. An employee told reporters: "The food in the canteen here is very good, and you can also go to the European town (Songshan Lake in Dongguan) on weekends." ”

Standing at the door of Foxconn Longhua Recruitment and Training Center, there are not only intermediaries who help Huawei rob people, but also intermediaries who bring people into Foxconn. Brother Wang, a recruitment agent, told reporters: "Don't go to the booth to register, there is a randomly assigned department, in my case you can choose the department." ”

According to Brother Wang, the highest hourly salary of Foxconn temporary workers is the 3W department (the production of Apple cameras and other products, need to wear dust clothing), 26 yuan / hour, a few days ago Huawei's mobile phone FIH department also reached 26 yuan / hour. But in these days, there are many people, and the wages are also falling, and the average "one piece a day drops".

"Don't think that Foxconn's wages will always be so high, Foxconn's lowest wages in March this year were only 15 yuan per hour, and it didn't include food and accommodation." Because at that time, many people came out to look for jobs, and Foxconn only recruited about 100 people at that time. Recently, the high wages have also recruited many people, and some departments have not recruited workers, and last week Foxconn directly recruited more than 10,000 people in one day. Brother Wang said.

The reporter also saw at the entrance of the Foxconn Longhua Recruitment and Training Center that from time to time there were intermediaries leading a bus of newly recruited employees into Foxconn. The influx of truckloads of employees into Foxconn and Huawei's southern factories means that the "double-strength competition" between Huawei and Apple has profoundly affected the industrial chain recruitment market.

On September 22, the reporter asked Wang Ge Longhua Foxconn again about the recruitment of workers, Wang Ge said that the FIH department that makes mobile phones for Huawei is no longer recruiting, the 3W department with the highest wage is also full, and the IDPBG department that makes Apple mobile phones is still hiring.

Huaqiangbei is "ready", and the parts factory is full of firepower

Not only at the door of Foxconn, but also Shenzhen Huaqiangbei, the "first street of Chinese electronics", has long been filled with "gunsmoke".

On September 19, when the Mate 60 series and iPhone 15 series were not yet on sale offline, the reporter saw in the Huaqiangbei market that there were already mobile phone cases and film products for sale of these two mobile phones, and the relevant factories were "full firepower" to stock.

"Of course, we dare not guarantee 100% that the mobile phone case we launched now will be able to perfectly match the new iPhone 15, but it must be the same, there are actually relevant models in the industrial chain, and the factory that supplies us is made according to that ratio, and it will definitely be too late to make the shell when the new machine is officially released." A mobile phone case seller in Huaqiangbei said.

According to the introduction of the above seller, if you want to buy iPhone 15 series phone cases wholesale, the minimum is two dollars, and the expensive 12 yuan. At present, he has a small batch of goods here, but if he needs a large number of wholesale, he can't supply it, mainly because the current factory capacity is "completely saturated".

"I have been ordering since June, and I have ordered the current batch of goods for a month or two to get it, and there are so many machines and manpower in their factory, some of them have 50,000 under a single order, and they can't do it at all." They generally meet the order needs of some foreign big brands first, and then it is our turn. The aforementioned phone case seller said.

In a Huawei mobile phone authorized store in Huaqiangbei, the sales staff told reporters that the Huawei Mate 60 series is not in stock at present, and it is now scheduled to arrive in about 1 to 2 weeks, and the price is consistent with the official website price.

In the scalper market, the Mate 60 series is basically sold at a premium due to the shortage of goods in the market. A scalper in Huaqiangbei said: "My friend received a Mate 60 Pro for 8,200 yuan a day ago, and now the price will change hands for 9,000 yuan." But the specific price is not certain, now Huawei and Apple mobile phone premium depends on the specific situation after the official release, if it is very hot at that time, everyone can not buy, it will definitely have to be higher to change hands. ”

Huawei's sales "Jedi counteroffensive" can shake Apple's status

Whether it is the recruitment enthusiasm of the industrial chain or the advance preparation of mobile phone accessories by Huaqiangbei merchants, it reflects the "double power showdown" pattern of Huawei and Apple in the high-end mobile phone market.

At noon on August 29, Huawei quietly pre-sold the Mate 60 Pro in the form of the "Pioneer Plan", which became the beginning of this "double hero competition" and also announced that Huawei has "reappeared" in the high-end machine market. At 1 a.m. on September 13, Apple brought the world's first mobile phone iPhone 15 Pro series equipped with a 3nm chip, and used the iPhone 15 series to go head-to-head with the Huawei Mate 60 series.

In recent years, with the limited impact of Huawei chips and other factors, Apple has shown a unique situation in the high-end machine market, and the industry also has the saying that "Huawei falls, Apple eats enough". According to Counterpoint data, in the second quarter of 2023, Apple significantly led its peers in global smartphone revenue and operating profit, with revenue and profit shares reaching 45% and 85%, respectively, the highest quarterly record.

A mobile phone company took more than eighty percent of the profits of the global mobile phone market, reflecting Apple's strength. According to IDC data, Huawei mobile phone sales returned to the top five in the Chinese market (tied with Xiaomi) in the second quarter of this year, with a market share of 13%.

In the field of high-end machines, Huawei has never been left behind. IDC data shows that in the first half of 2023, Apple's share of China's mobile phone market of more than 600 US dollars (about 4380 yuan) is 67%, still maintaining an absolute leading position, followed by Huawei, with a market share of 15.6%, and the two together occupy more than 80% of China's high-end machine market.

Can Huawei's strong return shake Apple's position in the high-end machine field? Dong Xinrui, partner of Sorghum Capital, believes that the iPhone 15 series has problems such as insufficient innovation, and the overall response in the Chinese market is average. In the Apple Cook era, in the absence of innovation, it is necessary to find a good market response strategy as soon as possible.

Guo Tianxiang, senior analyst at IDC China, said in an interview with reporters: "With the return of Huawei and other domestic Android manufacturers striving to establish their own high-end product rhythm and high-end brand image, Apple will encounter greater challenges in China's high-end mobile phone market." ”

At present, the cold winter of consumer electronics continues, and high-end machines, as one of the few tracks that can maintain warmth, are becoming a "battleground for soldiers" for major mobile phone manufacturers. IDC data shows that although the overall market of China's smartphones continues to be sluggish, the high-end market above $600 is less affected. In the second quarter, the market share of high-end mobile phones over $600 in China reached 23.1%, an increase of 3.1 percentage points over the same period in 2022.

Zhang Xiaorong, president of Deepin Science and Technology Research Institute, said: "Some consumers have higher requirements for the quality and performance of technology products, and are also willing to pay higher prices for these high-quality products. This demand has been suppressed for nearly three years in a row, and will be released with the opportunity of the September showdown between Huawei and Apple. ”