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iPhone loses its charm in China
iPhone在中國市場吸引力下降
The iconic iPhone is gradually losing some of its charm in China. According to IHS Technology research institute, Apple’s Chinese market share in the second quarter of this year declined from second to third place. Domestic brands now dominate the market with Xiaomi and Huawei leading the way.
Qu Hongyi bought his Xiaomi several months ago. Having used foreign brands such as Apple and Samsung previously, Qu says he chose Xiaomi because of it offered him better performance for the price, especially important to a student like him.
“The high cost-performance ratio was the most attractive thing for me. To people like me who are looking for high functionality, Xiaomi takes care of our needs. My phone was only around 700 yuan and it does everything a smart phone should do. Xiaomi is a good choice for a student," Qu said.
Qu is far from the only one to make that choice. Statistics from IHS Technology show that in the second quarter of this year, domestic brands accounted for about 80 percent of sales in China’s mobile market. Staff at cell phone shops say they are now seeing increasing demand for domestic brands, compared to the past.
"Domestic brands like Xiaomi and Huawei have the best sales volume. As the market has developed, Xiaomi and Huawei have become very competitive," said Gao Fulin, manager of Guangchuang Mobile Phone Square.
"iPhone was very popular last year and in the first half of this year, but as students were the major buyers during these past two months, the sales volume of iPhones has fallen by 30 percent.
In term of functions, Chinese mobile brands have almost completely caught up with the with foreign brands. Compared to the iPhone 6, Huawei’s newly-launched Mate 7, for example, actually has a higher resolution camera.
Its price, however, is only 3,000 yuan, at least 1,000 yuan cheaper than the iPhone. Wang Yang of IHS Technology says that in comparison to foreign brands, the relatively more reasonable cost of domestic brands accounts for their popularity.
"Consumers prefer to buy good things at low prices. But Apple, for example, has a high cost because it puts a lot of effort into improving its functions. Domestic products are cheap but they're good enough to satisfy the needs of most people, so they are very popular," he said.
While the domestic brands are doing well in terms of sales, however, Wang says that compared to foreign brands like Apple, domestic brands still have a long way to go in branding.
"Domestic brands are coming closer to Apple in term of user experience or camera pixels. But the branding of domestic brands is not as influential as Apple," Wang said.
"If a domestic phone wanted to sell for price above 3,000 yuan, consumers would think it wasn't good enough to justify the price, and would prefer to spend another one or two thousand to buy an Apple. Branding has to be developed over a long time. Chinese brands still have to put a lot of effort into branding."
Research company Canalys says China has become the largest smart phone market in the world. Huawei says its output volume has increased by 39 percent in the first half this year.
But Wang says that despite domestic mobile brands accounting for a large percentage of the market share in China, Apple is still the best money earner because of the low pricing of domestic brands.
Apple's second quarter financial report shows its revenue has increased by around 70 percent in China, compared with the first quarter.
