China cell phones under attack: being cheap is no longer enough

China cell phones have been and are in vogue for some time. However, the "great dying" could soon begin, because only cheap prices will then no longer be enough. A painful lesson that many market participants have yet to make - a comment.

I like to admit it frankly, actually I'm an Apple user and usually only get the news in the Android world in passing. But I'm still open-minded and even use one of the aforementioned China cell phones as a second device. Nevertheless, the time is ripe for a comment from the "sidelines", because Apple's iPhone also plays a role in the following consideration.

First successes of the China cell phones: The understandable reasons

How could the Chinese cell phones gain such influence and market power in a relatively short period of time? Initially there were only cheap copies of the iPhone, but the hardware in particular got better over time . Not only parts of the rest ramp were installed, but also modern processors from Qualcomm and decent displays that would otherwise end up in Samsung or Apple phones. And how do you get people to buy such "powerhouses" from manufacturers whose names you have neither heard before nor can you pronounce properly to this day?

Nothing easier than that, let's buy the market by selling things at cost price and thus appearing as unbeatable price-performance winners - they thought. With such a "business concept", companies like OnePlus, for example, were able to quickly gain momentum and were immediately considered to be so-called "flagship killers". But what is left of it?

In the video - OnePlus is gradually moving into the middle class and therefore, according to no fewer observers, probably also into mediocrity:

With each generation , the price advantage became smaller, but the smartphones became more and more interchangeable. This year, OnePlus and Oppo even went together, but should somehow remain "independent". If you believe it, I am asked, the parent company BBK Electronics is simply consolidating both brands here. In the long run, it won't make much sense to keep both going. Even now no one looks through it anymore, it's all the same shit.

Cheap prices alone are not enough

It turns out that cheap prices are not a sustainable business concept , they alone do not guarantee survival in the shark tank of smartphones. Such China cell phones or such exchangeable brands are actually doomed, it just takes a little more than just pulling out the red pencil.

Huawei, for example, was on the right track and had already made the jump. Once known for cheap plastic bombers, you could fight your way to the top a few years ago. You could create this image gain with the best smartphone cameras, among other things, even an iPhone looked mighty old. Get out of the cheap corner and into the premium segment. If the US had not intervened under Trump, who knows where Huawei would be today.

Smartphone brands from China ... some you know, some not:

What I would like to say: Sustainable brand growth cannot be achieved through cheap prices, but only through unique selling propositions. Which then brings us back to Apple. Even the first suppliers of Chinese cell phones had to learn painfully, only those who copy the look of the iPhone have not understood its "soul" for a long time. The operating system (iOS), combined with the interlinking of the remaining Apple products, make up the premium mobile phone, a market advantage that is difficult or impossible to reproduce. Any idiot can lower prices, but only a few competitors create something truly unique.