Recently, the annual MWC officially kicked off. Xiaomi, Honor, ZTE and other domestic smartphone manufacturers have participated in the exhibition, showing the latest products and technologies.
Although most domestic smartphone manufacturers have not released new smartphone products at MWC 2024, many mobile phone manufacturers have participated in the exhibition, which also shows from the side that these mobile phone manufacturers are paying special attention to the European market.
In fact, due to the huge pressure of competition in the domestic mobile phone industry, domestic smartphone manufacturers do have the desire to go overseas. Considering the technical strength of most domestic smartphone manufacturers, these mobile phone products aimed at the European market may also achieve outstanding results.
China's mobile phone market is fiercely involuted, and overseas markets have not yet been fully explored
The reason why many domestic mobile phone manufacturers are targeting the European market is mainly because of the downward pressure on China's mobile phone market and the increasingly fierce competition. IDC data shows that in 2023, China's smartphone market will ship about 27.1 billion units, a year-on-year increase of **50%, the lowest shipment record in nearly a decade.
What's even more pessimistic is that with the return of Huawei's king and wantonly grabbing the market, other domestic mobile phone manufacturers have also felt greater downward pressure. IDC data shows that in Q4 2023, Huawei's mobile phone shipments in the Chinese market soared by 362%, returning to the top five smartphone manufacturers, Honor, vivo, oppo and other domestic mobile phone manufacturers shipped year-on-year**.
Against this backdrop, many smartphone manufacturers are looking overseas. Among them, the best one is Transsion. IDC data shows that in 2023, in the global smartphone market, Transsion mobile phone shipments will reach 94.9 million units, a year-on-year increase of 308%, which is the only one among the top five smartphone manufacturers with a double-digit year-on-year growth rate.
This is mainly due to the fact that TRANSSION has captured many consumers in the African market. According to Canalys data, in the third quarter of 2023, Transsion shipped 8.6 million mobile phones in the African market, accounting for 48% of the market share. At present, most domestic mobile phone manufacturers hope to achieve a high-end breakthrough, therefore, these mobile phone manufacturers are targeting overseas markets, mainly represented by Europe, more economically developed regions.
It is true that after more than ten years of development, the European mobile phone market has also fallen into negative growth. According to Canalys data, in 2023, smartphone shipments in the European market will be 129.8 billion units, a year-on-year increase of **8%. However, due to the fact that it has not previously set foot in the European market, the region is mainly dominated by foreign brands. In 2023, Samsung and Apple will have a combined market share of 61% in the European mobile phone market. For domestic mobile phone manufacturers, the market share of these international giants is their own growth space.
Domestic mobile phones are very competitive, and the European market is fighting against international giants again
The reason why many overseas giants carve up the European mobile phone market in the background, domestic smartphone manufacturers still believe that the European market contains huge business opportunities, mainly because the products of overseas giants do not have absolute competitiveness.
According to data disclosed by Canalys, in the European market, Samsung's best-selling models are Galaxy S23 Ultra, Galaxy S23, Galaxy A14, A53, A33, etc. Regardless of the fact that A14, A53, A33 and other mid-range phones have no sound in the domestic market at all, Samsung is also far behind domestic smartphone manufacturers compared to flagship mobile phones.
Take the Samsung Galaxy S24 as an example, which is equipped with the third-generation Snapdragon 8 and is equipped with 62-inch second-generation dynamic AMOLED screen, the rear lens group consists of a 50 million pixel wide-angle camera, a 10 million pixel telephoto camera, and a 12 million pixel ultra-wide-angle camera, of which the telephoto lens supports 3x optical zoom, built-in 4000mAh battery, supports 45W fast charging, 12GB+256GB price is 5999 yuan.
In contrast, the Honor Magic6 Pro is equipped with the third-generation Snapdragon 8, which has a new screen spotlight technology, which can achieve an industry-leading level of 5000nits peak brightness, and is equipped with a super dynamic Hawkeye main camera that fully adopts a customized 50 million pixels, equipped with 1800 million pixel periscope telephoto, battery capacity up to 5600mAh, support 80W wired super fast charging, 12GB+256GB price 5699 yuan. Obviously, the Honor Magic6 Pro's cost performance is significantly higher than Samsung's, if it weren't for "Samsung fans", no consumer would take the initiative to buy the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.
In fact, domestic smartphone manufacturers continue to involute, and indeed continue to erode the market space of international mobile phone giants. Once upon a time, China's top five smartphone lists were still the world of giants such as Samsung, Nokia, and Apple, and now, most of the international mobile phone giants have disappeared from China's mobile phone sales list. IDC data shows that in 2023, the top five smartphone markets in China are Apple, Honor, OPPO, vivo and Xiaomi, and only Apple is an overseas brand.
Later, domestic mobile phones won Europe with their strength
Although from the perspective of configuration, domestic flagship mobile phones have been one position ahead of the products of international giants, due to the more complex overseas market, domestic mobile phone manufacturers are actually facing higher cost pressure.
Due to the need to consider tariffs, logistics and other costs, the overseas market price of domestic flagship mobile phones will be greatly increased. For example, the Honor Magic6 Pro 16GB+512GB version is priced at 1299 euros, which is about 10111 yuan; The Magic V2 RSR 16GB+1TB version is priced at 2699 euros, about 21008 yuan. In comparison, with the same configuration model, the domestic price of Magic6 Pro is 6199 yuan; Honor Magic V2 RSR domestic price is 15999 yuan.
Coincidentally, the 16GB+512GB version of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra is priced at 1499 euros in the European market, which is about 11667 yuan. In comparison, the model with the same configuration, Xiaomi 14 Ultra is priced at 6999 yuan in China.
In comparison, on the official website of Spain, the price of the 12GB+1TB version of the Galaxy S24 Ultra is 1579 euros, which is about 12326 yuan; The 1TB version of the iPhone 15 Pro Max is priced at 1,969 euros, or about 15,370 yuan. It can be found that the pricing of domestic mobile phones such as Honor Magic6 Pro and Xiaomi 14 Ultra in the European market is much higher than that in the domestic market, and it is the most top-of-the-line mobile phone of the benchmark Samsung and Apple.
Although the overseas price of domestic mobile phones has increased, due to the core competitiveness of domestic mobile phones, they have achieved outstanding results in overseas markets. Taking Honor as an example, data disclosed by Canalys shows that in Q4 2023, in the European market, Honor will ship 1.1 million mobile phones, a year-on-year increase of 116%, ranking among the top five in the European smartphone market for the first time.
At MWC 2024, in an interview, Honor CEO Zhao Ming revealed, "Today's 1299 euro Magic6 Pro, just now ** told me that it has been booked crazy", "Last year, the development of the European market We exceeded 200% growth." This year we will probably grow by more than 100%. ”
All in all, Chinese mobile phone manufacturers are moving strongly into the European market. In the domestic market, fierce competition has prompted domestic mobile phone manufacturers to seek opportunities in overseas markets in order to seek greater development space. This trend has become more and more evident in recent years, especially with the continuous improvement of domestic smartphones in terms of technology and brand building.
Comparing Samsung's Galaxy S24 with the Honor Magic6 Pro, we can clearly see that domestic smartphones have surpassed international giants in many aspects. From performance to design, to user experience, domestic mobile phones are not only comparable to, but even surpass, some well-known international brands. This advantage has been proven in the Chinese market, and overseas brands have had to retreat in the face of competition from Chinese brands.
It is worth noting that with the entry of domestic mobile phones into overseas markets, their pricing has also been **. Despite this, due to the continuous consolidation of the underlying competitiveness of Chinese mobile phone manufacturers, they have gradually won the recognition and love of consumers in the European market. Whether it is technical strength or brand influence, Chinese mobile phone manufacturers are gradually breaking the monopoly of international brands, bringing more choices, better products and services to European consumers.
Looking ahead, we have reason to be optimistic about the performance of Chinese mobile phone brands in overseas markets. With the continuous innovation of technology and the continuous improvement of brand image, Chinese mobile phone manufacturers will continue to shine on the international stage and become the first choice of global consumers.