SASAC entrusted operators to reduce subsidies

Operators cut mobile subsidies, Apple and other foreign brands will face challenges. Figure / CFP

In domestic mobile phone staged corner overtaking at the same time, foreign mobile phones have encountered many challenges in the country. First and foremost is the policy change from partner operators. Earlier this month, the SASAC asked the three major telecom operators to cut marketing expenses to stabilize profits. Analysts said the news will once again turn positive balance to domestic mobile phone manufacturers. First-line foreign brands such as Apple are facing challenges.

Operators huge subsidies difficult again

China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom were recently informed by the SASAC that they spent too much money on the promotion of high-end devices such as the iPhone. SASAC requires operators to cut sales and marketing costs by about 20%, or 40 billion yuan, of which probably more than a third are used to subsidize mobile phones.

According to third-party statistics, in recent years, Apple and Samsung each take more than 100% of the smartphone market profit each year.

Market research firm ABI Research report shows that the average Samsung mobile phone operator subsidy rate of 84%, while Apple and HTC were 74%, 80%. This means that 78% of the upfront costs of the three handset brands are subsidized by the carriers.

In the case of Apple, each operator spends at least hundreds of millions of dollars for the iPhone advertising, especially iPhone4, iPhone4s and iPhone5 subsidies the most ferocious, operators sell an iPhone have to subsidize thousands of dollars, and these ads basic In the last half seconds before revealing the operator's logo, accused most of the publicity for Apple.

It is understood that China Unicom, Telecom, the amount of annual subsidy iPhone's conservative estimate of each have more than one billion yuan. In January of this year, China Mobile opened the 4G version of its iPhone. According to public information, China Mobile currently has 2.8 million 4G users. By the end of April, more than half were iPhone users.

Three operators are expected to cut subsidies this year will exceed 10 billion yuan. Some people in the industry think that the days when the first-line foreign-brand mobile phones rely on operator subsidies may not come back forever.

Thousand yuan machine compression foreign mobile phone space

Right now, more and more mobile phone manufacturers realize the huge market potential of thousands of smart phones. Coupled with China this year is the first year of 4G, the three major carriers are under the blood of this promotion 4G network, providing a large number of subsidies to the terminal manufacturers. The advent of a thousand-yuan 4G mobile phone has driven the acceleration of price adjustment of high-profile models and also reduced the living space for foreign-funded, handset makers in the third, fourth and fourth tier.

"First-tier brands also have less than 1,500 yuan of products, but the same price, chips, screens and other configurations than the domestic manufacturers a big difference." A mobile phone industry insiders said that the configuration is similar to experience the equivalent products, first-line foreign brands also maintained Two or more times the price.

The truth before us is that there are still a few thousand foreign-funded manufacturers that launch 4G mobile phones.

Recently, Huang Guoqiang, president of Sony Mobile Greater China, said recently that the competition in the low-end handset market is too bloody to rush into. "Although operators are hoping manufacturers will soon launch the 4G Thousand machines, our products are not in this category. That is not in line with Sony's Mobile in China's development. "

According to market research firm IDC, the global smartphone shipments this year may increase from 39.2% last year to 19.3% and the average selling price will decline. Samsung's market share in the first quarter fell to 30.2% from 31.9% a year ago, Huawei and Lenovo's share has increased.

Foreign brands appear Yahuo

Insiders said that in the past some consumers, such as non-Apple brands do not buy first-line, valued foreign brands halo, but now that the halo is gradually disappearing.

According to media reports, nowadays, the products of foreign-owned mobile phones have not been sold well in the final analysis. In the final analysis, the comparative advantages are not obvious. Since the beginning of this year, the inventory cycle of some foreign brand products has been as long as 12-14 weeks, while its good time can be controlled at 3-4 weeks. In April this year, the inventory of products sold in last December was still under pressure.

An official in charge of an handset manufacturer said in an interview that the flagship machine of a foreign-funded brand is priced at more than 5,000 yuan. The products of Huawei P7 and Coolguaran from domestic manufacturers are not much different in terms of configuration, and are the same as the Android operating system and the experience of using different products. But the price is often only half the foreign brands or even lower.