Huawei's press conference, the biggest protagonist was not there?
@科技新知 Original
Author丨Sakuragi Editor丨Ippah
Every move about Huawei P70 seems to have provoked the attention of the market.
At Huawei's press conference on April 11, the highlight products were unveiled from the Zhijie S7 re-released at a reduced price to the MateBook X Pro notebook, but the longest stay on the hot search is still a variety of information related to P70. Under Yu Chengdong's Weibo about the large-scale delivery of Zhijie S7, the most commented by netizens is not this new car, but the upcoming P70 mobile phone.
Huawei P70 became the most popular protagonist who did not appear that night.
Although there was no clear information at the press conference, the news from the channel side has begun to fly. Huawei's official direct sales or dealer stores in Tianhe District, Yuexiu District, and Haizhu District in Guangzhou, a staff member or store manager revealed that although the current sales time of the P70 series of mobile phones has not yet been determined, if consumers need to, they can first "blind order" to cope with the rising enthusiasm.
The rumors continue, and 4 days have passed, and Huawei P70 has ushered in new news. This time, the official release of the promotional video, officially upgraded the P series and renamed it "Pura".
According to the leaks, there are four models in the Huawei Pura series this time, and they have inherited the naming convention of the P series, namely Pura 70, Pura 70 Pro, Pura 70 Pro+, and Pura 70 Ultra.
Yu Chengdong emphasized in the promotional video that although the name change will still be "continue to invest in image innovation and constantly challenge the limits of mobile imaging". Some insiders said that the positioning of the Pura series within Huawei has surpassed that of the Mate series, shouldering the important task of returning to the TOP of the image. The new triangular lens design also makes consumers think about it.
The first wave of Huawei P70's propaganda offensive kicked off, and the effect was enviable. According to an analysis by industry insiders, Huawei has an exclusive traffic pool in China, which can be activated at any time as long as the brand needs it. However, from a more macro perspective, the challenge of the market is that the mobile phone industry has entered a stage of fierce competition.
First of all, from the perspective of purchase motivation, consumers' enthusiasm for mobile phones is declining. TechInsights, a research firm, predicts that by 2023, the global smartphone replacement cycle will reach the longest in history at 51 months. In the Chinese market, the rate of replacement of consumers has increased but is still more than 40 months. IDC statistics show that China's smartphone market will ship about 271 million units in 2023, a year-on-year decrease of 5.0%, the lowest shipment in nearly 10 years. It is conceivably difficult for Huawei to win the stock competition, and this year, more blockbuster models from competitors are also waiting for Huawei.
Secondly, as perhaps the heaviest evolution direction of mobile phones in the future, AI mobile phones have won a wave of chase in the capital market at the beginning of the year. Although Huawei has the Pangu model in hand and has increased investment in the construction of AI ecosystems such as independent AI chips and AI development architectures, the current demand for AI hardware means that Huawei must once again accelerate the catch-up process of Kirin series chip performance if it wants to win the battle of AI mobile phones.
The good news is that Huawei's market share in China has been rebounding since the launch of the new phone last year. According to the quarterly mobile phone tracking report released by IDC, the fourth quarter of 2023, China's smartphone market shipped about 73.63 million units, a year-on-year increase of 1.2%. Among them, Huawei occupies the fifth place in the domestic smartphone market with a market share of 15.3%.
In the first six weeks of 2024, Huawei's domestic sales of smartphones increased by 64% year-on-year, and its market share recovered to 17%.
Although the rapid recovery of the domestic market has brought Huawei's mobile phones back to the center of the stage, the ceiling is relatively limited, and in the broader overseas market, Huawei still has a long way to go.
Yu Chengdong has quit being far ahead, but for Huawei, there is still a long way to go to restore its former glory in the field of mobile phones.