Choose AI Apple or Tri-Fold Huawei

In the past September, the entire technology circle will pay attention to Apple's autumn new product releases, and mobile phone manufacturers will choose another auspicious day even if they want to "show their muscles", so as not to be in short contact with Apple.

But this year, Huawei chose to be "tough" with Apple.

Apple announced that it will release the iPhone 16 series at 10 a.m. on September 9 (that is, 1 a.m. Beijing time on September 10), just one week later, Huawei also officially announced that it will release the first triple-folding screen smartphone Mate XT at 2:30 p.m. on September 10.

This is not the first time that Huawei has taken the initiative on the new day of its competitors. A year ago, two hours before the launch of OPPO's "small foldable" flagship mobile phone Find N3 Flip, Huawei launched the "Pioneer Plan" in the form of a letter on the official website, so that the high-end flagship Mate 60Pro "sold first", which directly detonated the "pollen" purchase boom, and the number of bookings on the online official website approached 2.5 million units on the same day, and a few days later, the reservation scale exceeded 10 million units, and it was difficult to find a machine.

"Pollen" Wang Mo bought the Mate 60RS Extraordinary Master after being recommended by a friend in October last year, and after seeing the Mate XT Extraordinary Master start the reservation in Huawei Mall, he decisively signed up. As of the afternoon of September 10, before the product was released, the total number of appointments had exceeded 3.4 million, and Wang Mo had a hunch that he would not be able to grab it.

Lei Wei, a person in the technology and electronics industry, saw the three-fold screen concept machine two years ago, "Huawei dared to be the first to come up with mass production and sales", he admired Huawei's courage, but also pointed out the price to be paid behind the trial - low output and high cost.

On the afternoon of September 10th, Yu Chengdong, executive director of Huawei and chairman of the terminal BG, shouted out the price of Mate XT, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB versions are priced at 19999 yuan, 21999 yuan, and 23999 yuan respectively. Huawei has created the highest pricing segment for smartphones in China. You know, just 10 hours ago, the iPhone 16 series, which is regarded as the world's high-end flagship "super wrist", has a price range of 5999 yuan to 13999 yuan.

"Price is not an issue." Zhu Hai, a mobile phone channel dealer in North China, believes that the mobile phone industry is currently criticized for "micro-innovation", and there is not much difference between the products, and the replacement cycle of consumers is often more than thirty or forty months, and mobile phone manufacturers need to find a breakthrough in flagship products.

On the front line of reaching consumers, Zhu Hai believes that whether it is Apple predicting in advance that it will be equipped with Apple Intelligence in the iPhone 16 series, or Huawei bringing the world's first three-fold screen mobile phone Mate XT, creating a record for the largest screen and the thinnest folding screen, the two giants want to shoot a key arrow to hit the demand point of consumers behind the competition on the same day.

Apple's "AI Phone" will enter China until 2025

Lei Wei has spent years watching Apple Park and the Jobs Theater through a screen, and two days ago, he took a flight to California to watch Apple unveil its latest iPhone.

The appearance of the iPhone 16 series has not changed much, and many netizens complain about Apple's lack of innovation, but from the screen bezel of the Pro version, to the performance of the whole series, the image experience and the increase of the "camera button", Lei Wei feels that this is already the biggest change in the flagship smartphones launched by Apple in recent years.

"The appearance of the iPhone has been used for many years, so there is a convention: when it is first released, it is sung down, and as a result, users will buy it when they should buy it." Lei Wei also watched the release process of Huawei's triple folding screen mobile phone overseas, and he felt that these were two types of products in completely different forms.

Zhang Mengmeng, a senior analyst at Counterpoint, believes that as a straight-screen flagship, the iPhone16 series is aimed at medium and high-end smartphone users, compared with the upgrade of hardware, Apple Intelligence's scene landing is the biggest highlight, through the display of the press conference, thanks to the ecological advantages of software and hardware, she feels that Apple's AI function is "very silky" in the application scenario.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said on social media after the press conference that the iPhone 16 series is the "most advanced iPhone", with an A18 chip that allows the device to run AI functions and use Apple's private cloud computing infrastructure to run in the cloud.

It is no different from Apple's previous disclosure, the current iPhone's AI function can recognize text, pictures, etc., comb and optimize text, customize expressions and Wensheng pictures, and also include album management, itinerary planning, etc., Siri also understands natural language better and can perform relevant operations according to instructions.

But to the "fruit fans" regret, Apple Intelligence's above-mentioned features, in October can only be tested in the United States, although later this year for the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and other English-speaking countries will be launched localized, but for the Asia-Pacific region of Chinese, Japanese, and for the European market, French, Spain version, will need to wait until 2025.

The uncertain timetable for the implementation of AI has allowed Apple to usher in two polar voices in the market.

Wall Street analysts expect the blessing of Apple Intelligence to boost the sales of the flagship iPhone 16 series, which will hit 2025.

Analysts at Counterpoint, a third-party research firm, also expect the AI-enabled iPhone base to increase to more than 125 million units by the end of 2024, as Apple's timing and region for the launch of AI features are phased, and the resulting growth in overall shipments and revenue will be more pronounced in 2025 and beyond.

On the contrary, most consumers criticize Apple's AI technology for being still in the preparation stage, and it is difficult to distance itself from the capabilities presented by Google, Samsung, and even domestic smartphone manufacturers, especially for China, where the AI technology launch time is 2025, so that some "fruit fans" choose to wait and see.

Qi Yingnan, deputy director of research at Counterpoint, analyzed in an interview with the Economic Observer: "As a flagship mobile phone that will impact 2025, it is not too late for the iPhone 16 series to tell the AI story for the Chinese market. In order to accelerate the implementation of AI Phone in China, it is necessary to make localization plans for cloud computing infrastructure and data that support AI.

In the past two days, an Apple channel dealer in the southwest region has received the display materials of the iPhone 16 series, she revealed that considering the high attention of consumers to the iPhone with AI elements, stores in various regions of the country have mostly rushed to prepare some popular sources before the start of sales on September 20.

Not only offline channel stores are stepping up stocking, but on the basis of cooperating with online platforms such as JD.com and Meituan, Apple's offline authorized dealers are also cooperating with Kuaishou e-commerce to ensure sales through the O2O model of hourly delivery service.

According to Kuaishou insiders, Apple has also seen the sales growth of brands such as Huawei on the platform, and hopes to drive users on the platform to log in to the exclusive appointment page of the iPhone 16 to place an order to buy products.

Huawei has made the triple folding screen a luxury product

Unlike the iPhone 16 series, which is only initially grounded, Huawei's self-developed Pangu model has been implemented in multiple flagship phones by supporting the "Xiaoyi" intelligent assistant for "pollen" to get an AI-generated experience.

On the afternoon of September 10th, Yu Chengdong did not focus on AI, and during the half-hour release of Mate XT, he focused on Huawei's breakthroughs in core technologies such as screens and hinges that took 5 years.

The three-fold screen should allow the hinge system to achieve internal and external bending, the outer folding should be anti-stretching, and the internal folding should be anti-extrusion, this kind of "mutual exclusion" is a process problem that hinders the mass production of Huawei Mate XT.

Zhang Mengmeng, a senior analyst at Counterpoint, said that Huawei has been investing in R&D in folding screen technology since 2016, and its long-term accumulation on this track has given it an important weapon to create a differentiated experience in the high-end market.

"Due to the increase in the number of screens, more folding actions are required to unfold, which also puts forward higher requirements for the folding life of the screen." Wang Hua, the head of a manufacturer in the upstream supply chain of mobile phones, told the Economic Observer that this design also increases the physical structure of the hinge after it is introduced, thereby increasing the risk of product damage.

Of course, unlike the widespread consumer concern about durability when folding screen phones were first introduced, after 5 years of technological evolution in the industry, "most manufacturers have provided convincing solutions. Wang Hua said that the folding life of mainstream domestic folding screen mobile phones is now about 400,000 times, even if it is folded 200 times a day, it can be used safely for 5 years.

Yu Chengdong introduced that in the two material solutions for folding screen mobile phone panels, namely CPI (plastic film) and UTG (ultra-thin glass), the screen of Huawei Mate XT uses UTG with a double impact resistant structure.

A week before the release of Huawei's new three-fold screen, material manufacturers including Kaisheng Technology, screen manufacturers including BOE, and hinge concept stocks such as Dongmu Co., Ltd. have changed to varying degrees.

"It's become a luxury." A person in the display field who is in the upstream of the mobile phone terminal commented on Huawei's triple folding screen mobile phone, which is different from the straight board iPhone 16 series, and the customer group label that Mate XT wants to hit is very obvious, high-end business or fashion people.

Yu Chengdong concluded that the emergence of Huawei Mate XT can allow consumers to put computers in their pockets.

The above-mentioned people in the display field also have the experience of using folding screen mobile phones,Different from Wang Mo,He feels that many folding screen mobile phones do not play the role of large screens,With the display ratio of most videos16:9,The size of the screen seen when the horizontal screen is unfolded is almost the same。

At the press conference, Yu Chengdong showed that the Mate XT is suitable for business travel and office scenarios such as in-flight immersive reading and large-screen browsing of information, and also emphasized the folding adaptation of applications such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin. Lei Wei does see more and more applications joining the "circle of friends" of the Hongmeng ecosystem, but he still believes that the current software ecology of folding screens is still in its early stages.

Huawei is focusing on increasing the display size, reducing creases, enhancing durability, and extending battery life of book-style folding phones. Qi Yingnan saw from the Mate XT that Huawei was exploring more possibilities in the direction of folding screen phones.