According to the report from the data research institute counterpoint, in the first quarter of 2022, the shipments of US $250-399 (about RMB 1500-3000) in China's smartphone market increased by nearly 10% year-on-year, accounting for 25.5% of the total sales, a significant increase from 16.9% two years ago.
Counterpoint said that the smartphone brands in the head have noticed this and increased the number of products in this price segment to meet the growing demand of this segment, which is particularly popular among consumers aged 24 and under.
Ivan Lam, a senior analyst, said: "China's generation Z buyers are very smart when buying smartphones and demand better value for money. Based on online reviews and other resources (evaluation), this generation is more concerned about cost performance and often compares the functions of medium and high-end devices with more advanced products. They are pursuing better CPU performance, excellent camera experience and excellent design for use scenarios such as games."
Counterpoint mentioned that the market transformation is affected by the following factors:
5g continues to grow: according to the report on China's smartphone market of counterpoint, 5g smartphone sales accounted for 75% of the total sales last year, compared with 42% in 2020;
Upgrade cycle: many consumers are replacing old 4G phones with 5g phones because they have entered the market segment of $250-399;
Post epidemic era: the practicability of smart phones has increased, especially in terms of vaccine certificates and quarantine rules.
Promotion from head trauma: in order to minimize the impact of the decline in low-end profit margins, especially the shortage of chips, head manufacturers are pushing the average selling price (ASP) higher.
Research analyst Archie Zhang said: "in the past, major players in China were driven by marketing, but what we see now is the focus on advanced technology and functions. Marketing is obviously still an important part, but manufacturers now really want to further distinguish at the hardware level."
According to counter point's sales tracking of Chinese mobile phone models, vivo led the market with a share of 28.2% in the first quarter. Among the 145 models in this segment, vivo S12 ranks first, accounting for nearly 9% of the total sales. Followed by Hongmi K40, glory 60, oppo a93s and Huawei Nova 9.
Mengmeng Zhang, research analyst, said: "A good example of the market's transition to high-end devices is what vivo is doing. The company has successfully transformed its X-Series devices from medium and high-end products to high-end flagship. This can be seen from the recently released X80 series, X80 note and especially x fold. The S series has performed very well as an alternative to the medium and high-end market. In addition, we expect vivo to continue to explore market segments below $250 through its popular Y-series products 。”