China brand sails overseas smartphone market.

　　Recently, the latest report released by Canalys, an international market research organization, shows that in 2023, the global smartphone shipments were 1.14 billion units, and China’s Xiaomi, OPPO and Voice were among the top five brands. In terms of sub-regions, China’s mobile phone brands have a high market share in India, Southeast Asia and Africa. In Europe, China’s smartphone brands are also accelerating their layout. With the development and maturity of smart phone industry in China, more and more China brands have gone overseas and gained consumer recognition.

　　Seek business growth in overseas markets

　　"China mobile phone manufacturers are becoming more and more innovative." According to the website of the German newspaper Le Monde, at the recent Mobile World Congress, the glory Magic6 Pro mobile phone uses artificial intelligence technology, and some functions can be controlled by eyes. Previously, Glory launched Magic V2, a foldable smart phone, with a thickness of only 9.9 mm, which is equivalent to that of ordinary mobile phones, which is the first time in the field of foldable smart phones.

　　In recent years, with the development and maturity of China’s smart phone industry, China has become the world’s largest producer and exporter of mobile phones with the help of the wave of the global mobile Internet era. According to the statistics of China General Administration of Customs, in 2023, China exported 13.92 trillion yuan of mechanical and electrical products, accounting for 58.6% of the total export value. In the first two months of 2024, China exported 2.22 trillion yuan of mechanical and electrical products, up 11.8% year-on-year, accounting for 59.1% of the total export value, including 123.745 million mobile phones.

　　According to the statistics of many international market research institutions, by the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, global smartphone sales had been declining for several consecutive quarters, showing a recovery trend. The total smartphone shipments in China market also stopped falling and rebounded in the fourth quarter of 2023.

　　"In the bustling shopping area of downtown Nairobi, billboards of China mobile phone brands such as TECNO, itel and Infinix can be seen everywhere, and blue, red and black and white storefront signs attract customers. These mobile phone brands are all produced by Voice. This Shenzhen-based company once sold mobile phones only in Africa, and then gradually expanded its business to other markets such as Latin America, India, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. " The South China Morning Post quoted Ali Sachu, a sub-Saharan geo-economic analyst, as saying: China mobile phone brands are "everywhere in the whole African continent".

　　According to a report quoted by Sputnik, in 2023, China brand smartphones accounted for 79% of Russian imported smartphones, which was 4 percentage points higher than that in 2022 and 29 percentage points higher than that in 2021.

　　Liu Yixuan, research manager of Canalys, analyzed that at present, overseas markets, especially emerging markets, are an important breakthrough for China smart phone brands to seek business growth, and different mobile phone brands also have their own development areas. Xiaomi has made full efforts in markets such as Middle East, Africa, Europe and Latin America. The overseas markets of OPPO and vivo are mainly in the Asia-Pacific region, and the overseas focus of glory is in Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Seeking business growth in overseas markets is a strategic choice for many China mobile phone brands.

　　From "Winning by Price" to "Excellent Quality and Price"

　　Why do China smart phone brands sail in overseas markets? The technological innovation, industrial chain layout, product positioning and marketing strategy of China smart phone brand have attracted attention in the global mobile phone market. Alceni Thiam, an associate researcher at the European Institute for Outlook and Security, said that China’s products have been "winning by price" in the past to "excellent in quality and price" now, and they have advantages in research and development in smart phones, electric vehicles and other fields. China’s products are being favored by more and more countries.

　　Bai Ming, a member of the Academic Degree Committee of the Ministry of Commerce, said in an interview with this reporter that at present, China’s smart phones have occupied an important position in the international market and have strong market competitiveness in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa. The advantages of smart phones in China are as follows: First, the cost performance is high, and the functional design meets the local needs of overseas markets; Second, China has infrastructure cooperation with many countries in the field of communication, which facilitates the matching of smart phones and communication technologies; Third, China’s domestic smart phone industry is mature, with many sub-categories, complete industrial chain and high product update frequency. After full competition in the domestic market, the products have strong "hard power" when participating in overseas market competition.

　　Taking HONOR as an example, Canalys and Counterpoint data show that in the fourth quarter of 2023, it returned to overseas markets for less than two years, and its sales volume in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and other regions has ranked among the top five in the market, and a global sales service network covering more than 70 countries and regions has been established. Zhao Ming, CEO of Glory Terminal Co., Ltd., said in an interview with this reporter that Glory has maintained a rapid growth trend in the context of the global smartphone market decline, thanks to Glory’s insistence on high-quality development, targeting user needs, strengthening global industrial chain cooperation, and transforming technological innovation into products needed by the market. In addition, glory focuses on adapting to local conditions in different regional markets, providing product portfolios that match the needs of local users, and strengthening communication and cooperation with local partners to better enhance the user experience.

　　Advance into the developed market with "hard power"

　　According to the trend data of smartphone price segment share in China from 2019 to 2023 recently released by IDC, an international market research institute, the high-end market share of China brands above $600 has been growing continuously for five years, reaching 27.4% in 2023, an increase of 3.7 percentage points over 2022, and a full double of that in 2019.

　　According to Canalys data, in the recent fourth quarter of 2023, Apple’s share in the European smartphone market reached 33%, surpassing Samsung for the first time in seven quarters. Among the mobile phone brands in China, Xiaomi’s market share in Europe dropped from 17% to 16%, and Glory’s market share increased from 1% to 3%. At present, entering the developed markets has become a strategic choice for some smart phone brands in China.

　　"2023, as a year of vigorous development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, brings a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, and also brings new opportunities and challenges to the global smart terminal market. The European mobile phone market is a representative mature market in the world, with a relatively high proportion of high-end users and large operators, and a high demand for innovative products and high-end brands. " Zhao Ming said that Glory regards Europe as the "second local market" and hopes to enter the European market with "hard power" such as innovative technology and high-end products. For example, glory has invested as much as 10 billion yuan in research and development in the AI field, obtained more than 2,000 AI-related patents, and used platform-level AI technology to promote the application of innovative technologies such as cross-device collaboration and next-generation intention recognition human-computer interaction in smart phones.

　　According to a recent report on the German newspaper Le Monde, it was not easy to buy a non-Apple brand smartphone in Germany a few months ago because there were not many choices. Previously, due to patent disputes, many Android mobile phone brands disappeared from the shelves of European countries. At the beginning of this year, related companies shelved patent disputes. China mobile phone manufacturers, including OPPO, Yijia, vivo and Realme, may try new things in Germany soon. As these brands re-enter the German market, the mobile phone brands that can be selected in the future should be more diversified.

　　"With the emergence of more and more application scenarios and requirements and the development of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, the iterative update of China smartphones in terms of functions and technologies is worth looking forward to." Bai Ming believes that at present, China is still facing a bottleneck in the field of high-end smart phone chips, and it is urgent to continue to promote technological breakthroughs. In addition, in the markets of developed countries in Europe and America, China’s smartphones still face certain development bottlenecks and policy risks, and it is still necessary to speed up localization, strengthen cooperation with local industries, and build a diversified supply chain system.