Domestic machine will dominate the market

In the latest quarterly earnings report, Samsung and Apple's performance was solid and their profits increased. However, their share prices still fell in the last week's trading. According to industry analysts, the major reason for the stock price drop may be due to investors’ concerns about their future dominance. From the current situation, Apple and Samsung are facing greater challenges in both developed and emerging markets.

Market competition is increasingly brutal. The smart phone market in the United States and most Western European countries has become saturated, especially in the United States. They have been locked on their equipment for at least one year or more due to the contract with the operator. But looking east, where smart phone users are booming, and the competition is becoming more and more cruel.

Apple's iPhone is being strongly sieged in the Chinese mainland market. In the face of the local mobile phone industry's whaling and encroaching, the market share of the iPhone is losing ground. China's mobile phone market is in a period of vigorous development, relying on price advantage to predict the end of the year before the summit, becoming the world's largest consumer of smart phones.

Jefferson Wang, a mobile expert at IBB Consulting, said that China is promoting national brands such as Huawei and ZTE, and Apple is relatively alienated from other wireless communities and is squeezing its suppliers’ profits. No help.

Price is plaguing Apple's Samsung In the previous quarter, Apple and Samsung’s net profits rose to 13.1 billion US dollars and 6.6 billion US dollars, respectively, mainly through the sale of a large number of high-end smart phones and enjoy a huge profit margin. Apple's sales volume was 47.8 million units, while Samsung sold 63 million units, a significant increase from the previous year.

However, with Chinese equipment manufacturers launching cheaper mobile phones and the development of alternative open source mobile operating systems with lower operating costs, it is no wonder that Apple feels pressure to launch cheaper versions of the iPhone, and Samsung is also cautious about it. .

Samsung benefits from relatively cheap equipment, and is even a leader in the Chinese market, but Samsung was cautious in its quarterly earnings report released on Thursday. The company said it expects smart phone demand to weaken in 2013, due to the saturation of the developed country's market and the increased competition in the low-end market caused by Chinese manufacturers. As the market worried about the decline in demand for smart phones, Apple's stock price has also dropped by 17% this year.

“The strong growth in the smartphone market has come to an end,” said Doh Hyun Woo, an analyst at Future Assets in Seoul. “In addition, Samsung’s first-quarter earnings continued to cause concern.” Doh Hyun Woo said Samsung’s first-quarter net profit is expected to Only 8 trillion won. His previous expectations amounted to 8.8 trillion won.

Samsung Electronics said on January 25 that the strong currency exchange rate of the Korean Won may cause the company’s operating profit to decrease by 3 trillion won (US$2.8 billion) this year. Since September 28, the South Korean won has appreciated 1.9% against the US dollar, while the yen exchange rate has depreciated by 15% over the same period. The strong trend of the Korean won exchange rate will reduce South Korean sales companies’ revenue in overseas markets.

At the same time, the signs of competition are rapidly coming. According to a survey conducted by IDC, a market research company, in the most recent quarter, China’s Huawei is now the world’s third-largest smartphone manufacturer in terms of shipments. Huawei's shipment growth rate reached a staggering 89.5% year-on-year.

The domestic machine will dominate the market research company Canalys said that this year China will consolidate its position as the world's largest smartphone market, and it is expected that the annual sales of smart machines will reach 240 million units, accounting for nearly one-third of global shipments. As smart machines are beginning to penetrate into small and medium-sized cities, domestic brands with great price advantages will prevail, defeating all high-priced international big names.

Huawei last week estimated that the company achieved a net profit increase last year, but the company did not disclose the profitability of the smartphone business. A Huawei spokesperson said that the company not only focused on the low-end market, but also increased the supply of high-end models.

Yesterday, it was reported that Huawei’s D2 debuted at CES was listed on the domestic market and was priced at 3,990 yuan. This is the first time that Huawei launched a mobile phone product with a price of more than 3,000 yuan. According to the data of the investigation company IDC, as of the end of December last year. In the fourth quarter, Samsung’s smartphone market share increased from 22.5% in the same period last year to 29%, while Apple’s share dropped slightly from 23% to 21.8%. At the same time, Huawei’s market share increased from 3.5% to 4.9%.

Ramon Llamas, IDC research manager, said that Huawei and ZTE rank among the top 5 smartphone market segments, which signals a major change in the global market.

According to analysis by industry insiders, Huawei has taken the third position of market share for the first time, which indicates that the rapid growth of smart phone users in China and other emerging markets may change the global market landscape and will dominate the smart phone market.