On the technology stage, the battle between Apple and Huawei has never ended. On September 10, the two giants, Apple and Huawei, held a new product launch conference on this day at the same time, and a high-profile technology feast was grandly opened. At 1 o'clock in the morning of the same day, Apple opened a special Apple event online, commonly known as the "Autumn New Product Launch Conference". Overall, Apple has updated the three main hardware products of Apple Watch, AirPods and iPhone. However, due to the delay in the launch of Apple Intelligence and the lack of innovative highlights in the new device, the market reaction to this has been relatively muted. On the other hand, Huawei's new product launch conference was held at 14:30 in the afternoon of the same day. On the eve of the press conference, the number of reservations for Huawei's new three-fold screen mobile phone exceeded 3.65 million. Why are there so different market reactions? Why did Huawei and Apple release new products on the same day? What kind of sparks will they collide with? Belated Apple AI and the hot Huawei tri-fold screen Although the newly released Apple phone is equipped with many artificial intelligence technologies, such as an upgraded version of Siri and a series of AI-powered tools, the market response has been surprisingly flat due to the delay in the launch of Apple Intelligence and the lack of creativity in the product. According to the data, Apple's stock price fell during the event, and recovered slightly at the end of the session, and finally edged up 0.04%.
It is reported that Apple will be the "king of smartphones" in 2023, and the annual mobile phone sales will exceed 234 million units. However, since 2024, Apple's main business has fallen into the dilemma of sluggish growth. According to the financial report, in the first quarter of this year, iPhone revenue was $45.963 billion, a sharp decline of 10.5% year-on-year; In the second quarter of this year, although the decline in iPhone revenue narrowed, it still fell by 0.94% year-on-year to only $39.296 billion. Or expect Apple Intelligence to tell a new product story, Apple CEO Tim Cook has announced that Apple Intelligence will provide users with another compelling reason to upgrade. However, the Chinese version of Apple Intelligence is belated, and it is expected to be launched until 2025. In other words, domestic iPhone 16 series users will not be able to fully use the relevant functions of Apple Intelligence for the time being this year. As for the reasons for the above situation, on the one hand, there may be a lack of technology. It is understood that Apple has been quite slow to launch AI features, and Apple Intelligence has delayed the release time several times. At that time, some industry insiders believed that Apple was at least 2 to 3 years behind Google in terms of AI technology. On the other hand, Chinese data needs to be collected and labeled. It is understood that training an accurate Chinese language model requires a large amount of high-quality Chinese data. In the Chinese market, the collection of data must follow strict privacy and legal regulations to ensure the security of users' information. At the same time, accurate labeling of the collected data is also a difficult task, which requires professional Chinese language experts and annotators, only in this way can the quality and accuracy of the data be guaranteed. Looking at Huawei's tri-fold screen, the response was enthusiastic before the press conference was held. According to Huawei's official website, as of around 14:00 on September 10, Huawei Mall showed that the number of reservations for the product had exceeded 3.65 million.
In fact, behind the popularity of Huawei's triple folding screen mobile phone bookings is the interweaving of multiple factors. First, with the popularization of 5G networks and the growth of mobile office demand, users have an increasing demand for mobile devices with larger screens and higher efficiency, and Huawei's triple-fold screen mobile phones meet this market demand. According to the research report, in the second quarter of 2024, China's folding screen mobile phone market shipments increased by 125% year-on-year, and Huawei's market share reached 35.2%. Second, technological innovation is another important factor. According to Huawei's press conference, the Qisan folding screen has a unique three-fold design, breaking through the limitations of traditional folding screen mobile phones and showing Huawei's leading position in folding screen technology. The use of double hinge technology makes the screen fold more flexible and smooth, while reducing the appearance of creases, improving the durability and display effect of the screen. In addition, the use of advanced UTG glass materials further optimizes the performance of the screen and brings users a better visual experience. As we all know, Huawei and Apple are both kings in the field of science and technology, and both release new products at the same time, which is both a coincidence and a "hard one". Generally speaking, the consumer electronics industry likes to release new products at the beginning of the third quarter, which is just in time to catch up with shopping festivals such as "Double 11" and "Double 12", as well as peak sales seasons such as Black Friday and Christmas in overseas markets. If it is released too early, the heat is easy to fade; Late releases do not have enough time for the topic to ferment, so the beginning of the third quarter is a more suitable release time for manufacturers. As industry giants, Huawei and Apple naturally know this, and choose to release new products on September 10, which is also in line with industry tradition and market rhythm. At the same time, the release of new products on the same day can focus the market's attention on this day, forming a huge topic effect, so as to obtain higher exposure and influence. For both companies, this is a rare marketing opportunity to better promote their new products and stimulate consumers' desire to buy. However, the flip side of the coincidence is "toughness". The data shows that the global smartphone market is highly competitive, and Apple and Huawei have their own advantages and shares in different regions and markets. By releasing new products on the same day, both parties hope to be able to take the initiative in the battle for the market landscape. Apple hopes to attract more users by launching new products and features, especially to maintain its leading position in the high-end market. Huawei hopes to further expand its market share and enhance its brand influence through innovative products and technologies, especially in the domestic market and emerging markets. What's more, the competition between the two new products on the same day is also in line with tradition. In the past few years, Apple and Huawei have repeatedly "collided" in the timing of new product launches, which seems to have become a tradition of competition. Facing each other head-on, new opportunities are bornApple and Huawei will release new products on the same day, which will not only bring more choices and better products to consumers, but also promote the development and progress of the entire industry. From the perspective of the industry chain, Apple and Huawei, as industry giants, have a huge impact on the industry chain with their new product releases. Among them, upstream parts suppliers and chip manufacturers will adjust their production and R&D plans according to the needs of the two companies, and downstream sales channels and after-sales services will also be deployed and optimized accordingly around new products. Therefore, the two press conferences are not only related to the development of the two companies themselves, but also have an important impact on the development of the entire industrial chain. With the addition of Apple's AI functions, it will bring upgrades to processors, storage, batteries, fast charging, heat dissipation and other components in smart hardware, which will bring new opportunities to key enterprises. In this regard, Ping An Securities pointed out that compared with traditional smartphones, SoC and storage are the main hardware upgrade directions for AI mobile phones to achieve smooth operation of AI applications. On the one hand, the computing power of the SoC plays a decisive role in the scale of locally deployed large model parameters, and directly affects the generative AI function of the AI mobile phone. On the other hand, accessing and loading large models requires storage with higher capacity and performance. In addition, the high-frequency and high-density characteristics of AI tasks also put forward higher standards for mobile phone heat dissipation, batteries, cameras, PCBs and other components. The release of Huawei's triple folding screen will also attract more attention to industrial chain-related products in the future. The person in charge of a Huawei mobile phone supply chain company revealed to the media that the company has begun to supply parts of Z-shaped folding mobile phones to Huawei in batches. Lin Zhi, chief analyst of Wit Display, a research institution, believes that Huawei's sales target for high-end mobile phones has been raised again this year, which has put pressure on supply chain manufacturers such as high-end chips and hinges to a certain extent, and requires industry chain companies to continue to collaborate and innovate in reducing costs and increasing efficiency. In addition, Apple and Huawei's technological innovation and product design have always been the bellwether of the technology industry, and their new product releases often lead the development direction of the technology industry. At this conference, both parties will showcase their latest technologies and applications in the fields of artificial intelligence, folding screens, chips, etc., which will have a profound impact on future smartphones and technology products.
Source | Blue Whale Finance
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