21st Century Business Herald reporters Ni Yuqing and Luo Yiqi Intern Huang Yiding reported from Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Shanghai
"Now the Huawei Mate 60 series is sold at a premium, ranging from hundreds to thousands. For example, the newly launched extraordinary master high-end model currently costs more than 17,000 yuan to buy in the market. Mate60 Pro sells the best, and it is necessary to increase the price of more than 1,000 yuan to get the spot. On October 6, a mobile phone store owner in a third-tier city introduced the latest market of Huawei's mobile phones to the 21st Century Business Herald reporter.
Since the launch of Mate60, "one machine is difficult to find" has become the norm, and new machines continue to sell well during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day Golden Week, and public markups in the market can only get spots. Also popular is Apple's latest iPhone 15 series, the above-mentioned store owner told reporters that to buy the iPhone 15 Pro Max, according to the color of hundreds to thousands of yuan.
On the other hand, in the first-tier city of Shanghai, Huawei and Apple are both the protagonists of the Golden Autumn. The 21st Century Business Herald reporter observed that on October 8 after the holiday, many customers still came to the Huawei authorized experience store in Baoshan Paris Spring to inquire about the new machine and experience various new functions.
According to the staff: "Both the Mate60 and the Mate60 Pro are not in stock and can only be booked in advance. The Mate60 Pro 1TB of memory arrives the fastest, taking about 2 to 3 weeks. The Mate60 Pro 256GB of memory is the slowest to arrive, and it will take at least 1 month to arrive at the fastest from now on. ”
(Photo by intern Huang Yiding)
In the Apple experience store opposite Huawei, the staff said that the iPhone 15 standard version is currently in stock, and the iPhone 15 Plus and Pro Max are no longer in stock in the store, and the reservation is at least 1 month, and the color cannot be guaranteed. Outside the store, scalpers told reporters that as long as the price is increased, you can get the goods first, such as booking the primary titanium iPhone 15 Pro Max, you need to increase the price by 200 to 500 yuan.
Huawei and Apple are hot, and in contrast, the mobile phone market is still at the bottom this year, and the expected big recovery has not yet arrived. As the "ballast stone" in consumer electronics, Apple and Huawei are regarded as industry benchmarks, and the industry also expects leading manufacturers to drive the market up.
Huawei Apple spot premium, supply chain overtime
In the domestic high-end market, the choice of replacement basically points to Huawei and Apple, and in the early stage of sales of new machines, the rush to buy spot goods continues.
"Want to make a reservation? I heard from a friend that there is stock here. On October 8, at the Grandview Huawei Experience Store in Guangzhou, a consumer left disappointed after hearing that new machines generally require a 75-90 day pre-sale period. Due to the long waiting period, "it's all next year", some users choose to leave the store, others choose to go to the next Samsung and other brand stores to experience again.
A salesperson in the store told the 21st Century Economic Herald reporter that if you want to buy spot, you can choose the concentric package, which needs to be matched with the latest released watches and headphones, the Mate60 Pro version is currently in purple and white, if there are other brands of mobile phones can evaluate the trade-in deduction price.
He further introduced that in the concentric package, offline stores can have richer matching options than online. The top package is 2899 (watch) + 2499 (headphones) + 6999 (512G memory Pro version); 1688 (watch) + 999 (headphones) + 6999 (512G memory Pro version) is the lowest configuration, but also a package for more people, only offline can be purchased.
In the Suning store, the clerk told reporters that the current Mate60 Pro version only has a 512G memory white version, which can be booked at an additional price of 1,000 yuan and can be obtained the next day. Judging from the reporter's visit, the high-end models that can be sold at a premium are almost only Apple and Huawei.
In the Guangzhou Tianhuan Square not far away, Apple's flagship store was also crowded, and the reporter found at the scene that the new 15 series of new machines were mostly young people watching, and the previous series were mostly older replacement people inquiring, but gathered more people. Apple's stores in Shanghai also show the same trend, many parents brought their children to buy that day, store staff in the introduction of iPhone 15, Plus and Pro Max new machine mentioned that the main force to buy is mainly young people, junior high school and college students will basically choose iPhone 15.
(Photo by intern Huang Yiding)
If you buy from an official store or official website, consumers must accept the wait. As of press time on October 8, Apple's official website and JD.com's flagship store page show that except for the iPhone 15 standard version, other versions need to wait until the end of the month to ship, while the iPhone 15 Pro Max waiting time is up to a month. Huawei's official website and JD.com's flagship store page show that the Mate60Pro series needs to be booked 75 days in advance.
Therefore, in the open market, it has also become customary to take spot goods at a markup.
Behind the snapping up of Huawei and Apple, the domestic supply chain is also working overtime. Although the stocking season has passed, from the perspective of Foxconn and other mobile phone manufacturers, overtime on National Day is still the norm. Of course, the operation of Foxconn's various factories and production lines in the factory area is different, some busy and some idle.
During the National Day, a manpower company told the 21st Century Economic Herald reporter that Kunshan Foxconn has more orders, and has continued to recruit recently, with an hourly wage of 36 yuan, a monthly comprehensive income of about 8,000 yuan, and a daily wage of 290 yuan for 20-day short-term workers.
At the same time, there is also a lot of short-term demand in the manufacturing base, and the price fluctuates with the monthly supply and demand and working patterns. For example, starting from October 9, the latest short-term hourly recruitment policy of Foxconn iDPBG in Zhengzhou Port District is that the work dispatch cycle is until November 15, with an hourly wage of 24-25 yuan. On September 27, before the holiday, Foxconn iDPBG in Hong Kong also carried out a wave of price increases, with the highest hourly wage of 28 yuan per hour and the maximum rebate of 9,000 yuan.
The high-end market struggle continues, and the industry still needs to recover
With the return of Huawei mobile phones and the "raid" of sales, the focus of the market has been focused on Huawei and Apple, especially in the high-end field, and the competition between the two sides has started again. Huawei's appeal in China needless to say, Apple is also increasing marketing efforts in the Chinese market.
Guo Tianxiang, senior analyst at IDC China, told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter that Huawei has been in short supply. Apple, according to the data before the November holiday, the sales of the first sales week of the iPhone 15 series were lower than the first sales week of the iPhone 14 series last year.
He further noted; Among them, the sales gap between iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 14 Plus is not large, iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro demand is lower than iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max demand is better, but due to supply restrictions, except for the blue version, other color versions are in short supply. Apple's share of China's high-end mobile phone market is expected to reach 33.4% in the fourth quarter of this year, compared with 29.5% in the same period last year. ”
In addition to the boom set off by Huawei and Apple's new machines, OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi, Honor and other head manufacturers have also launched an offensive. For example, OPPO vertical small folding sales have grown rapidly this year; The employee of the vivo official experience store told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter that the small folding screen vivo X Flip is the choice of most consumers, and the sales were quite good during the holiday, and the vivo S17 series began to be promoted offline after the holiday; Xiaomi Home Jing'an Da Rong City offline staff introduced more about MIX Fold 3 and Xiaomi's latest Leica Image Competition.
(Photo by intern Huang Yiding)
It can be seen that the domestic Android mobile phone camp is constantly sprinting to the high-end, especially in the first- and second-tier markets, folding screens have become the main model of push. However, in the third and fourth tier cities, the overall price of folding screens is still high, in the market above 5,000 yuan, straight plate machines are still more favored, many store owners told reporters: "Overall, the mid-end price is still the main force of mobile phone sales, especially OPPO and vivo in the price range of 2000-3000 yuan is quite a bestseller, more than 5000 yuan of high-end mobile phones, the first choice is Huawei and Apple, both of which have high user stickiness, and the number of folding machine buyers is small." ”
From the perspective of visiting the market, on the one hand, it still takes time for domestic Android mobile phones to establish a high-end brand image, and high-end façade folding screens also need to be further popularized.
On the other hand, the overall mobile phone market is still sluggish, for example, in third- and fourth-tier cities, even in peak seasons such as National Day and summer, the number of buyers is decreasing. When asked about the profit situation of mobile phones this year, the aforementioned store owner sighed to reporters: "Profit? Don't talk about profit, it's good to be alive in the mobile phone industry now. Specialty stores of mobile phone brands can still make money, selling completely at the original price, and are not subject to market fluctuations. The mobile phone store where our store is located has shrunk by half and half. In 2015 and 2016, a mobile phone could have a profit of 500 yuan or 700 yuan, and now business is difficult. ”
The owner of the third-tier city is also a microcosm of the mobile phone channel, in recent years, under the influence of multiple factors, many stores have closed, and some chain dealers have also been hit hard, especially in the past three years in the Huawei mobile phone project losses, it is not easy to keep the store. Some dealers even bluntly said that after three years of suppression, they are looking forward to Huawei's return to drive the domestic market, and they are currently rushing to finish as soon as they arrive, optimistic about Huawei's strength.
Guo Tianxiang pointed out that with the launch of new products, it is hoped that the Chinese smartphone market can enter a clear recovery trend in the fourth quarter, but the rebound may also be lower than previously expected, and the overall Chinese smartphone market is still full of uncertainty.
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