This report looks at the following areas:
- Ownership of smartphones and wearables by brand
- Smartphone purchase cost
- Consumer satisfaction with smartphone brands and their features
- User perception of brand images of their smartphones
- Wireless earbud purchase factors
- Attractive features of wireless earbuds
Smartphone brands need to prioritise the consumer demand for battery life and create differentiation in imaging through photo/video shooting assisting features. At the same time, smartphone brands have the opportunity to further expand the wireless earbuds market by leveraging existing product ecosystems and brand images.
Toby Xu, Analyst, China Insights
Market Definitions
This Report covers the consumer market for smartphones and wearable devices in China. A smartphone is defined as any modern mobile phone capable of connecting to the internet, as well as downloading applications from proprietary application stores. The term ‘wearable devices’ (also referred to as ‘wearable technology’ or ‘wearables’) in this Report refers to a category of technology devices that can be worn on the body as functional rather than decorative accessories.
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Executive summary
- Key issues covered in this Report
- Definition
- What you need to know
- The market
- The smartphone market regains growth momentum
- The wearable market enjoys sustained growth
- Market factors
- Companies and brands
- Key players’ performance
- Marketing activities
- New product trends
- The consumer
- Huawei remains ahead of the pack in terms of ownership rate, while Xiaomi has further grown and Apple faces challenges
- Graph 1: smartphone brand ownership, 2022 vs 2024
- Smartphones in the RMB3,000-3,999 price range are most favoured by consumers
- Graph 2: smartphone purchase costs, 2024
- Overall satisfaction with mainstream brands exceeds 90%, and Huawei continues to lead
- Graph 3: overall satisfaction with smartphone brands, 2024
- Huawei performs well in all aspects, while other brands have their strengths
- Graph 4: satisfaction with smartphone features, by brand, 2024
- Domestic brands are sculpting their brand characteristics
- Graph 5: smartphone brand image, 2024
- Huawei maintains its lead in the wearable device market
- Graph 6: wearable device ownership rate by brands, 2024
- The demand for wireless earbuds is fragmented, and wearing style has become a key factor
- The demand for wireless earbuds is fragmented, and wearing style becomes a key factor
- Graph 7: wireless earbuds purchase factors, 2024
- In-ear earbuds are all about immersive experience, and open earbuds excel in sports scenarios
- Graph 8: attractive wireless earbuds features, in-ear earbuds vs open earbuds (a), 2024
- Issues and insights
- What we think
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The market
- Market size and forecast
- The smartphone market regains growth momentum
- The wearable market enjoys sustained growth
- Market factors
- Policies to boost domestic demand and promote consumption are expected to continue to stimulate the consumer electronics market
- On-device AI gradually rolls out, ushering in a new wave of consumer electronics innovation
- Display performance and value for money of domestic smartphone screens continue to improve
- Rising storage prices may lead to reduced large storage configurations or price increases in end products
- The fusion of consumer electronics and cars strengthens ecological moats
- Short-term decline in willingness to trade up mobile phones
- Graph 9: proportion of consumers planning to trade up (ie buy from a more expensive brand or purchase more expensive products) in the category, 2022-24
- Willingness to trade up in digital product consumption slightly rebounds but has not yet returned to its peak
- Graph 10: proportion of consumers planning to trade up (ie buy from a more expensive brand or purchase more expensive products) in the category, 2022-24
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Companies and brands
- Key Players’ Performance
- Apple
- Huawei
- Xiaomi
- OPPO
- vivo
- Honor
- Marketing activities
- Assimilate local city cultural symbols into marketing campaigns
- Blending the real and virtual worlds
- Flex product capabilities through hobby and interest scenarios
- Highlight product selling points through immersive offline scenarios
- New product trends
- Battery life upgrade becomes a new direction for smartphone competition
- Ultrasonic fingerprint technology is becoming popular
- More diverse product forms that excel in both ergonomics and user experience
- An assortment of accessories enhances the fun element of small flip phones
- Exploring new forms of future phones with app-free phones
- Headphones advance towards professional health monitoring
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The consumer
- Smartphone brand ownership and purchase costs
- Huawei remains ahead of the pack in terms of ownership rate, while Xiaomi has further grown and Apple faces challenges
- Graph 11: smartphone brand ownership, 2022 vs 2024
- Smartphones in the RMB3,000-3,999 price range are most favoured by consumers
- Graph 12: smartphone purchase costs, 2024
- Foreign brands focus on the high-end market, while domestic brands use the mid-range market as a foundation, and Huawei excels in high-end
- Graph 13: smartphone purchase costs, by brand, 2024
- Overall satisfaction with smartphone brands and their features
- Overall satisfaction with mainstream brands exceeds 90%, Huawei continues to lead
- Graph 14: overall satisfaction with smartphone brands, 2024
- System smoothness and display performance of various brands have reached high satisfaction levels, while heat dissipation and battery life still have room for improvement
- Graph 15: satisfaction with smartphone features, all brands, 2024
- Battery life and photo/video shooting assisting features are key factors affecting satisfaction
- Graph 16: influence of smartphone features on overall satisfaction with the brand, 2024
- Huawei performs well in all aspects, while other brands have their strengths
- Graph 17: satisfaction with smartphone features, by brand, 2024
- In addition to preserving its advantage in imaging hardware, Huawei also needs to enhance user photography experience through software solutions
- Apple urgently needs to improve heat dissipation and battery life to meet market challenges
- Xiaomi should improve battery life to address its limitations and shortcomings
- OPPO should prioritise improving camera performance in non-flagship models
- vivo should prioritise improving heat dissipation performance
- Honor needs to further improve device durability
- Smartphone brand image
- Domestic brands are sculpting their brand characteristics
- Graph 18: smartphone brand image, 2024
- Huawei has established a solid moat for itself
- Graph 19: Huawei’s brand image, 2024
- Apple needs to adopt marketing strategies that align more closely with local values
- Graph 20: Apple’s brand image, 2024
- Xiaomi builds brand trust through sincere communication strategies
- Graph 21: Xiaomi’s brand image, 2024
- OPPO and vivo are diverging in their brand images
- Graph 22: OPPO’s and vivo’s brand images, 2024
- Honor still needs to develop its brand characteristics
- Graph 23: Honor’s brand image, 2024
- Ownership of wearable devices by brand
- Huawei enjoys the highest ownership in smartwatches
- Graph 24: smartwatch ownership by brand, 2024
- Huawei and Xiaomi dominate the smart wristband market
- Graph 25: smart wristband ownership by brand, 2024
- Huawei maintains its lead in the wireless earbud market
- Graph 26: wireless earbuds ownership rate by brand, 2024
- Consumers tend to choose smartwatches and wireless earbuds of the same brand as their smartphones
- Graph 27: ownership rate of wireless earbuds among mainstream smartphone brand users, 2024
- Graph 28: ownership rate of smartwatches among mainstream smartphone brand users, 2024
- Xiaomi and Huawei attract different customer groups in the smart wristband market
- Graph 29: ownership rate of smart wristbands among mainstream smartphone brand users, 2024
- Wireless earbud purchase factors
- Wireless earbud demand has become more segmented, and wearing style has become a key factor
- Graph 30: wireless earbuds purchase factors, 2024
- The design of wireless earbuds has become an important factor in male consumers’ purchasing decisions
- Graph 31: Wireless earphone purchasing decision factors (by gender), 2024
- Consumers in Tier 1 cities value earphone appearance design, while those in non-Tier 1 cities value earphone packaging/accessories design
- Graph 32: wireless earbuds purchase factors, by city tier, 2024
- Attractive wireless earbuds features
- In-ear earbuds are all about immersive experience, and open earbuds excel in sports scenarios
- Graph 33: attractive wireless earbuds features, in-ear earbuds vs open earbuds (a), 2024
- Focus on the long-term wearing experience of wireless earbud users
- In-ear earbuds effectively attract Gen Z in Tier 1 cities with improved user experience, while smart features are likely to attract Gen Z in non-Tier 1 cities
- Graph 34: Gen Z’s perception of attractive wireless in-ear earbuds features, by city tier, 2024
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Issues and insights
- Opportunities still exist in the highly competitive smartphone imaging field
- When targeting mass consumers, focusing on experience is better than hardware
- The potential of AI in photography assistance is huge, but careful direction is key
- Mobile phone brands have the opportunity to further explore the wireless earbud market
- Product ecosystem gives smartphone brands an edge in the wireless earbuds field
- Create iconic earphone designs
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Appendix – methodology and abbreviations
- Methodology
- Abbreviations
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