Bloomberg: Chinese manufacturers lay high-end market cheap smartphones are dead

According to Bloomberg News, in the past two years, China's top smartphone manufacturers have occupied seven seats in the top ten global smartphones. This is not just the role of Chinese consumers in loyalty to local brands. These most successful Chinese manufacturers have moved away from cheap counterfeiting models and are more aggressively competing in the high-end market. Huawei, OPPO and vivo phones are competing with most iPhone and Samsung Galaxy series phones. In the global mobile phone market, which sells for more than $500, these Chinese manufacturers account for 40% of shipments.

Ding Jiexi, an analyst at market research firm Canalys, said that the average price of the top three Chinese smartphone makers has stood above $300. “People want higher-end phones,” she said. “Now everyone is thinking about high quality and good service, not just low prices.” This is why the millet that caused a sensation in 2014 and 2015 is now eclipsed. One, the company has been known for selling low-priced products, and its average mobile phone price is now about $180.

At the same time as ambitious, Chinese mobile phone manufacturers also benefited from an agreement reached between the government and Qualcomm in 2015. In order to settle the anti-monopoly allegations, chip giant Qualcomm agreed to pay a fine of $975 million and lower the licensing fees for Chinese companies. Qualcomm will set the licensing fee base for Chinese smartphone manufacturers at 65% of the domestic price of the device, not 100%.

Eric Robinson, chief patent consultant for Rouse Asia Pacific, a British consulting firm, said: "The Chinese government has given all Chinese mobile phone manufacturers a big gift, which allows them to better compete with Apple and Samsung." Robinson was the patent director of Qualcomm Asia. This summer, he replaced the previously used Samsung Galaxy Note 4 with a Vivo phone.

In 2017, China's top mobile phone brands will strive to expand their influence overseas. At the moment, Huawei is pouring a lot of resources into its design department. The department has a total of hundreds of people in Seoul, Tokyo, London and China. The head of the department is former Samsung designer Joonsuh Kim. He said that their first priority is to create a consistent look and feel for the Huawei brand. He also said that he hopes to expand the team to the West. “We need a design team in the US to ensure that we can develop styles and tastes that appeal to American consumers. We are working hard in this area,” Jin Junxu said.

The US market is still a big challenge. The most common Chinese mobile phones in the United States are low-cost phones from ZTE, Lenovo and TCL. Therefore, India has become the primary target for Chinese smartphone manufacturers to go to sea. Vivi has opened a factory near Delhi and has sponsored India's top cricket league. Wu Qian, vice president of OPPO, said that the company focuses on its so-called star products and stands out from the quality. Wu Qiang said: "We must focus. We hope that more young consumers can better understand OPPO." He said that OPPO is committed to staying away from the low-end market.