When will Huawei's mobile phone return to China's first overseas market

Huawei's flagship machines continue to be in short supply.

"The arrival time of the Mate 60 series is uncertain, and there are only a few or a dozen units at a time, and there are more of them in the Le Zhen Edition. "2month6day,The reporter randomly contacted Beijing、Shanghai、Shenzhen、Zhengzhou and other Huawei mobile phone authorized stores,Mate 6 series standard version is still out of stock,Online e-commerce platforms are also out of stock to varying degrees,Shenzhen Huaqiangbei market is the price has been higher than the official 800 yuan or so。

In the first two weeks of 2024, Huawei returned to the top selling volume in the Chinese smartphone market. According to data released by Counterpoint Research, a market research agency, Huawei has returned to the domestic market for the first time since the imposition of US sanctions in 2019.

Ma Jihua, a senior analyst in the communications industry, told reporters that the current supply of Huawei's mobile phones is gradually increasing, the production capacity is improving, and its mobile phone products are still in short supply, so there is still room for further improvement. Ivan La, a senior analyst at Counterpoint, told reporters that Huawei's layout in overseas markets needs to be strengthened. At the same time, the market remains fierce.

The Mate 60 Standard Edition is still tight, and logistics have been suspended a few years ago

The reporter contacted a number of Huawei mobile phone authorized stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Zhengzhou and other places, and many staff members said that there is no Mate 60 standard version in stock in the store, and it still needs to make an appointment and wait at least a week or two. Only the Huawei Mate 60 Pro (priced from 7,899 yuan) bundle with FreeBuds 5 earbuds is in stock.

A staff member of a Huawei authorized experience store in Beijing told reporters that there are more Lezhen versions, less standard versions, and Nova 12 Pro's models are incomplete in color. A number of Huawei stores in Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Zhengzhou also said that there is only the Lezhen version in the store, and the arrival of other models is uncertain, and the transfer of goods is decided by the company.

A Huawei store staff in Shanghai told reporters that Huawei's designated logistics company had stopped shipping a year ago, so it was impossible for the Mate 60 series to arrive a year ago. The Huawei clerk in Zhengzhou mentioned that the two batches of products officially given this month were the Lezhen version, and he did not see any other versions, and he did not know the situation of the next batch of goods.

Online goods are also not plentiful. According to the Huawei Mall, the 512G version of the Mate 60 Pro+ is "temporarily out of stock", and the 1T version of the inkstone black model is also "temporarily out of stock". Huawei's official flagship store on JD.com shows that Huawei Mate 60 and Mate 60 Pro need users to wait for the "arrival notice", while Huawei's official flagship store on the Tmall platform shows that the Mate 60 Pro's 256G (6499 yuan) and 512G (6999 yuan) are "temporarily out of stock".

The reporter also contacted a number of stores in the Huaqiangbei mobile phone market in Shenzhen, and learned that the price of Mate 60 in the local market is still about 800 yuan higher than the official. A dealer told reporters that since the Huawei Mate 60 series went on sale, Huaqiangbei has always been at this price and has not been lowered. Another dealer also told reporters that this series of products in Huaqiangbei market will not be cheaper than the official, "because the official has been out of stock." ”

There is still room for improvement in the domestic market, and the overseas market needs to be strengthened

Why has Huawei been able to continue to grow steadily, and even reach the top of the domestic market?

Ivan Lam, a senior analyst at Counterpoint, told reporters that first of all, there are a large number of users who need to upgrade their mobile phones at this stage, including users of the old Mate and P series 5G products (released before sanctions) and some Nova users are looking forward to the Mate 60 series. Secondly, Huawei enjoys a good reputation among Chinese consumers, especially among the post-70s and post-80s generations, and its brand image is deeply rooted in the high-end field, and Huawei can continue to innovate products under the constraints of hardware conditions, and these market forces and product brand power have promoted the sales of its high-end products.

The report also points out that the Mate 60 series, powered by its self-developed Kirin 9000S chip, is a key driver of Huawei's recent success. In addition, it has strong brand loyalty and the successful launch of the HarmonyOS operating system. As of last month, HarmonyOS ecological devices have grown to 800 million. More than 200 leading applications have accelerated the native development of HarmonyOS.

"Huawei's return to number one is not a flash in the pan. Ma Bo, an analyst in the global communications industry, told reporters that the recovery of Huawei's status is the result of continuous efforts in user experience, technological innovation, channel layout and brand influence. Over the past decade, Huawei has invested more than RMB 977.3 billion in R&D. "It is precisely because of Huawei's technical strength and innovation capabilities that it has the absolute confidence to return to the first place. ”

It is worth noting that the current data period released by Counterpoint is only Huawei's sales in the first two weeks of 2024, and it is unknown how its sales performance will be, and whether it can continue to maintain its leading position and market share will be tested by time. Ma Jihua analyzed that the current supply of Huawei's mobile phones is gradually increasing, its production capacity is improving, and its mobile phone products are still in short supply, so there is still room for further improvement.

Ivan Lam pointed out that Huawei, which has made a strong comeback, also faces serious challenges: the domestic market is fiercely competitive, and how to maintain their market share is still a serious challenge for Apple, Huawei and other Chinese manufacturers. At the same time, Huawei's overseas market layout also needs to be strengthened. "Huawei has never given up on overseas markets, but this year, in terms of mobile phone products, Huawei is still mainly in the domestic market, and investment in overseas markets is limited. In the future, Huawei will need to increase investment in overseas markets to reshape its global influence. ”

From the perspective of the global smartphone market, Huawei still has a long way to go. According to the report released by IDC, in 2023, in the global smartphone market, Apple ranks first with a market share of 20.1%, Samsung follows with a share of 19.4%, Xiaomi has a market share of 12.5%, OPPO ranks fourth with a market share of 8.8%, and Transsion mobile phones ranks fifth with a market share of 8.1%, and Huawei still belongs to the ranks of "other" manufacturers.

Chinese brands will continue to make efforts in the high-end market

In 2023, China's high-end smartphone market grew by 27%. According to the report, Apple maintained its market leadership position with its strong performance in the first half of 2023. However, starting in the third quarter of 2023, Apple's market share began to be eaten away by Huawei and other Chinese brands. It is expected that Chinese brands will continue to develop in the high-end market.

Ma Bo told reporters that "Apple will get 50% of the industry's revenue with a market share of 20% in 2023, and more than 90% of the profits of the smartphone industry will also be bagged by Apple." Ma Jihua also mentioned that mobile phone manufacturers can not only improve product profits, but also enable enterprises to do more R&D investment and improve technological innovation capabilities, and at the same time, they can also improve their own brand image, so as to develop related ecological products.

It is worth noting that despite Huawei's strong comeback, the market competition is still fierce. Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, OPPO, and vivo are also constantly launching new models in the high-end market, challenging international giants such as Apple and Samsung. In terms of the overall trend outlook, Counterpoint pointed out that the global average selling price of smartphones is expected to continue to rise, with suppliers, operators and retailers more inclined to sell high-end models.

Ma Jihua told reporters that the current change in the share of various manufacturers is not particularly obvious, indicating that the leading manufacturers have entered a basic stable state. If there is no particularly outstanding innovation, it is difficult to have a big change in the current market model, "With the return of Huawei mobile phones, there will be some restructuring of market share, but the possibility of other manufacturers advancing and retreating at the same time will be relatively large." ”

In 2023, the competition between mobile phone manufacturers will mainly focus on folding screen mobile phones and photo capabilities, while in 2024, the innovation point of the industry will focus on the implementation of artificial intelligence on mobile phones. In Ma Jihua's view, "the folding screen has a certain role for users to change their phones, but it is difficult to have a large market because the price is too high." At present, one of the main reasons why users do not change their phones is that mobile phones are more expensive, and there are no particularly prominent applications to attract users, if AI lands on mobile phones, if there is a qualitative improvement in mobile phone traffic consumption, network speed requirements and requirements for chip capabilities, it may drive the arrival of the market replacement tide, which is also good for mobile phone manufacturers. ”

"Intensive cultivation is the only way to win. In 2024, mobile phone manufacturers need to do more outstanding than their competitors in terms of product layout, pricing, promotion and channel distribution, and invest more resources to stabilize their market share and even eat away at the market share of other brands. Any operational lapse can lead to a loss that the brand cannot afford to lose. Ivan Lam concluded.

Beijing News Shell Financial Reporter Sun Wenxuan

Edited by Xu Chao

Proofread by Lucy