1. The smart product market is saturated, and brands have begun to focus on acquiring customers in the mid-to-high-end market
Under China’s movement restrictions, pragmatic consumption has become the mainstream trend. In the first half of this year, people's demand for consumer electronic products showed signs of slowing down. The number of active devices of the two major operating systems in China's smart product market has increased, and the growth rate of the Android system is relatively higher than the iOS system. The competition in China's smart product market has entered a high market concentration, with CR5 reaching 91.5%, forming a stable pattern dominated by Huawei, Apple, OPPO, vivo, and Xiaomi. With the support of innovative chip technology and body design, OPPO and vivo new models are sought after by users, while Honor and Xiaomi also attract users by improving key functions such as cameras.
According to QuestMobile data, domestic brands performed well in the first half of 2022, with a total of 86.71 million activated devices for the newly launched TOP5 brands which are OPPO, vivo, Honor, Xiaomi, and Huawei. The user loyalty of Huawei brand is relatively high, and most of the users who replace the phone are mainly based on the new products launched by this brand.
2. Brands attract new traffic through differentiated layouts in software, marketing, and scenarios
The competition for online channel traffic is becoming increasingly intense, and the pre-installed APP on mobile devices has become an important lead generation funnel to get precise targeted users. The mobile brand develops its own APP, which is pre-installed to help attract users and form a traffic pool. The APPs of Huawei, vivo and OPPO are all in the top 5 positions in the browser industry. Among the top payment APPs, the self-owned wallet APPs of the four major domestic end-user brands are listed, among which the active users of Huawei Wallet have exceeded 100 million. Among the leading end-user brands, Huawei and Xiaomi are actively deploying the video industry and integrating third-party video content. Brands adopt different marketing strategies to reach target users and refine operations to enhance user loyalty.
During the 618 e-commerce festival, Apple's lowered its iPhone 13 price on multiple platforms. QuestMobile data shows that the discussion on iPhone13-related topics was extremely hot during the 618 e-commerce festival, and has been viral on Weibo, Doukuai, and other platforms several times. During the period, the total interaction volume for iPhone13-related topics exceeded 3 million. OPPO's high-end series of Find N foldable phones joined the 618 e-commerce festival, making Find N very competitive in the same price range, arousing active discussions among users and re-invigorating consumers' enthusiasm for high-end models. Vivo attaches great importance to the operation of e-sports and incubates a sub-brand iQOO with e-sports performance.
WeChat platform accounts for more than half of the advertising, and the short video platform has become the core position to acquire customers. The active users of Redmi are mainly young people under the age of 30, and they pay relatively high attention to animation. Xiaomi’s IoT business is rapidly expanding, using mobile phones as one of the core device connections, and deploying all-scenario applications for smart life. On the other hand, Huawei focuses on the development of the HarmonyOS system, creating the collaborative interconnection of various end users, starting from mobile phones, realizing the connection between mobile phones, PCs, and tablets, and linking end users such as cars, homes, and headphones to provide users with a complete smart ecological experience.
The smart car industry is developing rapidly, car owners gradually begin to use apps to achieve software and hardware collaboration. The concept of "software-defined cars" brings new opportunities to mobile phone manufacturers. QuestMobile data shows that Huawei empowers the smart car industry, and the HarmonyOS system accelerates the seamless switching between cars and mobile phones to provide users with a better driving experience.