For a long time, Xiaomi mobile phones have been regarded as the representative of cost performance from the beginning of the market. There is also a saying on the Internet: We can now use such cheap mobile phones, thanks to Xiaomi.

Former "Roller King"

Indeed, Xiaomi used to be recognized as the "roll king". In 2011, the first-generation Xiaomi mobile phone was unveiled, equipped with a 1.5GHz Qualcomm dual-core processor, 4-inch screen, 1GB RAM, and priced at 1999. In the second year, the Xiaomi Youth Edition was priced at 1499. When Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi, announced the price at the press conference, the scene was quiet for a while and then boiled!

I still remember that at that time, as a "little brother" who often went to Internet cafes, I shouldered the task of robbing Xiaomi mobile phones round after round, but they were all robbing them for others. Nokia.

Now it seems that he really fell behind at the beginning. However, in that era, I was the only one who was wrong?

At that time, the concept of "smart phone" was just formed and the definition of smart machine was very vague, and the originator of smart machine "iPhone", many people only saw its shadow in the cottage machine.

Yes, it is a copycat phone. It also started in 2011. The famous copycat mobile phone Nietzsche's advertisement swept through major TV stations across the country, and it lived in the minds of the Chinese people with the trend of brainwashing. It looks exactly like an iPhone, and its shape and system interface are exactly the same. It was even considered by some to be an iPhone. Nietzsche's mobile phone "factory stores" are all over China, and CEO Lu Hongbo even threatened to "catch up with Apple".

At that time, the common impression of people was that it was a smartphone that could install software and games. Of course, the iPhone was a smartphone, and Android was also a smartphone. Nokia, Symbian, and Blackberry were also smartphones.

At that time, there were still some mobile phones that supported JAVA programs, as well as the popular mobile phones based on the MTK platform. They could also install mobile phone QQ, cut watermelon, play fishing master, and Plants vs. Zombies. These mobile phones can barely be regarded as smart phones. .

Of course, in the team of smart phones, the famous Nokia and the Microsoft mobile phone system it once used are still indispensable.

In a blink of an eye, 9 years have passed. In April 2019, Lei Jun said at Xiaomi's 9th anniversary celebration that the biggest change of Xiaomi in the past 9 years is the elimination of China's copycat mobile phones.

At that time, Xiaomi's original approach was not called "internal volume", because Xiaomi has not been a copycat from the beginning, and Xiaomi has never made a copycat.

From another point of view, the ending of the major cottage mobile phone manufacturers has the meaning of "I will not kill Boren", just like the smartphone "killed the calculator, flashlight, alarm clock...", they do not belong to the same one. industry.

Fighting all the way to promote great changes in the industry

Looking at the history of mobile phones, we found that in 2013, the first-generation Redmi mobile phone was released, equipped with a MediaTek quad-core processor, which set a performance threshold for entry-level models that cost a few hundred yuan.

In 2015, Nietzsche’s mobile phone declared bankruptcy.

From 2011 to 2019, many well-known mobile phone manufacturers, including Nokia, Gionee, Coolpad, Lenovo, HTC, Sony, Moto, etc., fell to the altar one after another, some committed to buying from others, some disappeared, and some Helplessly, I went back to the starting point and started making a copycat mobile phone again.

However, Xiaomi fought all the way to become the industry leader!

Relevant data show that in 2021, Xiaomi’s revenue will be 328.3 billion, a year-on-year increase of 33.5%; adjusted net profit is 22 billion, a year-on-year increase of 69.5%; smartphone shipments are 190 million, a year-on-year increase of 30%; global MIUI users will reach 510 million, A year-on-year increase of 28.4%...

At the same time, in the past ten years, another batch of well-known mobile phone brands have emerged from China's huge blue ocean: Huawei, Honor, OPPO, vivo, iQOO, realme... They each have their own brand characteristics and development. The route has formed the mainstay of domestic mobile phone manufacturers.

However, in the face of the powerful strength of the dominant iPhone, even if there are many manufacturers working together to counterattack, it still fails to shake the throne of its "first brother"!

If it is said that Xiaomi and other domestic manufacturers are only facing the offensive of Apple's iPhone, to be honest, there is no need to worry, because the iPhone is still taking the high-end route, and its product line is relatively simple, so it is not as hard as the iPhone. Just now, you can still have your own piece of blue ocean.

However, domestic mobile phone manufacturers are facing not only the strength of the iPhone, but also a more serious involution!

If you can choose to lie flat, why frantically roll in?

Today's smart phones are becoming more and more perfect in workmanship and quality, and excess performance has become a fact. In addition, the overall environment is not optimistic. Therefore, it is inevitable that the smart phone market will enter a state of slow growth that tends to be saturated.

The most obvious phenomenon is that consumers' purchasing needs and desires have dropped significantly. According to the latest report released by market research firm Canalys, smartphone shipments in mainland China in the first quarter of 2022 were 75.6 million units, down 18% year-on-year and 13% month-on-month. During the same period, Xiaomi shipped 10.6 million units, ranking fifth, with a market share of 14%, down 22% year-on-year.

This phenomenon is not only manifested in China, the global mobile phone market has shown a weak state, but China, as the world's largest single market, is more obvious, and Xiaomi is struggling against this background .

With the gradual saturation of the smartphone market, major mobile phone manufacturers can only crazily roll in. Of course, there are also small manufacturers who choose to lie flat and rotten. However, in today's market, once falling behind means a decision Be eliminated.

And Xiaomi, which used to be under the banner of cost-effectiveness, after "rolling" a group of manufacturers, has now become the object of "rolling" in this environment.

Here is a simple example, comparing the Xiaomi 12s series released some time ago with the recently released iQOO10 series, which are also equipped with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ processor, and the price of iQOO10 is reduced by one version as a whole. grade. Specifically, we can compare the following:

It can be seen that the configuration of the two models is basically the same, and the performance is basically the same, and the price of the iQOO10 is exactly the price of the corresponding lower version of the Xiaomi Mi 12s, which is a bit "touching porcelain".

In addition, we also noticed that the iQOO10 is even stronger than the Xiaomi Mi 12S in some aspects, but the price is lower.

In fact, the involution of various manufacturers is far more than that. Even in a relatively slow market environment, it can be seen from the frequency of mobile phones released by various manufacturers and the positioning price of mobile phones. roll.

Although today's Huawei is subject to factors such as chips, it has not yet been able to "show its strengths" in this team. However, Huawei is working hard to develop its own chips and Hongmeng system, and good news is also coming. However, the first echelon of Glory, OPPO, realme, vivo, iQOO, Xiaomi, Redmi, etc. are all "showing up" in the team.

For now, it is clear that various mobile phone manufacturers are not engaging in "vicious competition", but "healthy development" in the industry, although they are fighting openly and secretly and invoking each other.

It seems that the smartphone industry that was once changed by Xiaomi has changed back again?

History does not repeat itself, but it is always strikingly similar! I always believe that the ultimate beneficiary will be the vast number of users.

Perhaps the world of smartphones has not changed as completely as we hoped, but a number of manufacturers such as Xiaomi and Huawei have been working hard!