In the early morning of September 13, Apple’s new product launch conference was held as scheduled. Apple officially released four models including iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro, and 15 Pro Max.
It is worth mentioning that this "Spring Festival Gala" in the technology world is no longer a one-man show for Apple. In reports after the meeting, many foreign media such as Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal mentioned "Huawei competition."
Since the end of August, Huawei's new phones have continued to sell like hotcakes. The Mate 60 Pro, which CCTV commented was a "competitive machine," has added 15 million to 17 million units to the supply chain, raising Huawei's full-year sales forecast by tens of millions of units. .
Nowadays, two major technology giants are competing on the same stage, and the two product series complement each other. A technology feast that belongs to both consumers and the entire smartphone industry is coming.
iPhone 15 Pro VS Mate 60 Pro
The iPhone 15 series has finally unveiled its mystery to the outside world.
"Curiosity is not enough," he said. The comparison between Apple's new machine and the Mate 60 series is probably what everyone is paying most attention to. From the perspective of Songguo Finance, chips and cameras are the focus of comparison.
First, Huawei made a comeback with Kirin chips, and Apple also launched its A-series processors with the Pro name for the first time.
Judging from the disassembly video of a digital blogger, the pinyin logo of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro chip and the manufacturing location are the "CN" logo in mainland China, and its performance is excellent in multi-tasking, AI computing and graphics rendering, proving that The breakthrough of "Chinese core".
Source: Disassembly video of the UP owner of Bilibili “Let’s see the review first”
At the same time, the biggest highlight of Apple’s new machine is its performance. Judging from its world-first 3nm chip A17 Pro, Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro can even run PC/console games. A17 Pro has 19 billion transistors, equipped with a 6-core CPU, a neural network engine with 35 trillion operations per second, and a maximum transmission speed of 10Gbps.
Huawei's 5G and Chinese chips have doubled the performance of Apple, bringing the smartphone technology battle to a new heights.
Secondly, Huawei Mate60Pro’s advanced imaging system has many highlights, and Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro has also been optimized compared to before.
There are three image highlights of Huawei Mate60Pro: the first is the 50-megapixel rear main camera; the second is the 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens and the 48-megapixel telephoto macro two-in-one lens; the third is the super light-changing main camera with a ten-stop physical aperture Adjustable, this is "way ahead".
Apple iPhone 15 Pro still has a three-camera solution, but with a new coating to reduce lens glare, the ghosting problem may be improved, and the low-light imaging effects in portrait and night modes are also better. At the same time, the iPhone 15 Pro Max brings a 12-megapixel 5x periscope telephoto lens, which adopts a quadruple prism design and can achieve seven focal lengths of macro, 13, 24, 28, 35, 48, and 120mm. .
In short, 50 million pixels combined with AI algorithms, whether it is a new Huawei phone or a new Apple phone, is enough to meet photography needs in most scenes.
From all aspects, these two mobile phones represent a new high in smartphone performance, especially the Lingxi communication technology and satellite phone functions brought by Huawei, which inject new innovation momentum into the smartphone market. Behind the release of the two mobile phones, a number of industry chain players will benefit.
Carnival of “Behind the Scenes Players”
Since the Mate 60 series went on sale, Huawei has single-handedly driven the collective rise of many technology sectors. In particular, the consumer electronics sector, which has been sluggish for a long time, has risen in response to the news since August 29, bucking the trend and rebounding.
Investors "voted with their feet", proving the "terminal driving" role of major technology companies. The technology industry emphasizes technology integration. Terminal companies with strong brand strength are often the "chain masters" in the entire industry chain, driving the performance growth and technology iteration of midstream and upstream suppliers.
Huawei and Apple are undoubtedly the “chain masters” of the smartphone industry.
The number of Huawei's A-share supplier companies exceeds 500, of which more than 100 are expected to be related to smartphones. A recent Bloomberg article pointed out that Apple lists the main suppliers that produce components for its iPhones, MacBooks and other devices every year. In 2022, the list includes 188 companies.
More importantly, a closer look at the lists of the two major suppliers can further reveal the overlapping presence of leaders in various fields of consumer electronics in China. According to research by Cailianshe and Fourxiang Studio, the mobile phone supply chains of the two major technology giants include many overlapping leading Chinese consumer electronics companies. For example, Lens Technology, the leader in functional windows and exterior protective components of consumer electronics products, BOE, the leader in the display field, Goertek, the leader in consumer electronics acoustics, etc.
Main suppliers of Huawei Mate 60 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max
(Photo source: Left: Chaodian Wear; Right: Sixiang Studio)
There is no doubt that as leaders in the segment, the advantages of these companies in technology and production capacity determine that leading brands will include them on the list when selecting suppliers.
Taking Lens Technology as an example, based on its technical and resource advantages in precision structural parts, Lens Technology can meet the needs of major customers through a one-stop ODM precision manufacturing platform in the field of consumer electronics. At the same time, Lens Technology’s years of experience in peak season production ensure relatively sufficient production capacity. On September 6, Lens stated on the investor interaction platform that a number of high-end mobile phones are currently in mass production in Xiangtan Park.
Therefore, while making components such as front and rear covers, metal middle frames, and camera modules for Apple, Lens Technology also appears on Huawei's list of structural parts suppliers.
Through this phenomenon, it is not difficult to see that the booming sales of Huawei's Mate 60 series and the release of Apple's iPhone 15 series will bring double benefits to the consumer electronics industry chain.
At the same time, the "black technology" dispute between the two major series of products also reflects that midstream and upstream suppliers of consumer electronics are embarking on a path with wider boundaries.
Consumer electronics value chain upgrade
“The second-generation Kunlun glass has doubled its drop resistance” “Ultra-reliable Xuanwu architecture has enhanced reliability and protective functions”… “The lightest iPhone Pro model in history” “Space video shooting”…
The new labels of the two series of products reveal the technical iterations of core suppliers. For example, the iPhone 15 Pro’s reputation as the lightest is inseparable from the titanium alloy material introduced by the frame manufacturer.
It is worth mentioning that the innovation and iteration of these technologies have not only injected new development momentum into the smartphone industry, but have also been expanded to more fields, writing the second and third growth curves of consumer electronics leaders.
First, technological iteration will lead the smartphone market out of the downturn.
In recent years, the smartphone market has hit a growth bottleneck. Canalys data shows that in the first quarter of 2023, it fell by 12% year-on-year and in the second quarter by 11% year-on-year. Global smartphone shipments declined for the fifth consecutive quarter.
Against this background, Huawei has returned with many advanced technologies such as 5G and satellite communications. Apple has used its "space photography" technology with Vision Pro to unlock the "metaverse code", allowing the outside world to see a signal that the inflection point in smartphone demand is coming.
In this regard, Guotai Junan Securities pointed out: "The Mate 60 Pro is officially launched and is expected to lead the high growth of Huawei's mobile phone sales in the future. Huawei's related industry chains will directly benefit. It is expected to be the first to get out of the bottom of the industry cycle and achieve performance growth."
Supplier feedback also proves this. According to a report by China Business News, Lens Technology investor hotline staff said that due to changes in customer situations, order volume has increased, and the specific performance situation must also take into account the downstream terminal sales situation.
At the same time, in addition to directly affecting performance, the competition between Huawei and Apple also plays a role in promoting the upgrading of the consumer electronics industry. On September 9, Tianfeng Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote: "Huawei's return is actually a good thing for consumers. It can force Apple to get out of its comfort zone and innovate more actively."
Maintaining active competition is the driving force for the technology industry to accelerate forward. In recent years, the smartphone market demand has been sluggish, and it is difficult to say that there is no reason for insufficient innovation.
This time, the new product upgrades of the two major technology giants have brought consumers better photography and performance experiences, proving that with the return of Huawei, Apple once again faces a strong challenge.
The technological competition among major mobile phone manufacturers will promote technological iterations by suppliers in all aspects. Therefore, in the competition between major technology manufacturers, the smartphone industry is expected to usher in a wave of upgrades.
Secondly, breakthroughs in underlying technology have accelerated the development of innovative businesses in consumer electronics companies.
With the rise of a new generation of smart hardware devices and the rapid development of new energy vehicles, leading manufacturers are taking the lead in technology iteration through independent research and development and expanding the depth of the industrial chain.
In the first half of 2023, Lens Technology has stable demand in the smartphone and computer business, and the new energy automobile industry with long-term resource investment is bringing a new growth curve. Combined with the financial report, we can see that Lens’ new energy vehicle and smart cockpit business revenue increased by 54.98% year-on-year in the first half of the year.
Coincidentally, Goertek also launched a new generation of DLP technology PGU module for vehicle-mounted AR-HUD in the first half of this year, transforming its resource investment in the new energy automobile industry into products with more temperature resistance and stability.
Performance growth and new products are the result of the consumer electronics leader gathering resources such as R&D and capital. According to the financial report, Lens Technology invested 1.143 billion yuan in R&D in the first half of the year and has obtained 2,189 patent authorizations; while Goertek opened the Goertek Optics Shanghai R&D Center in the first half of the year, dedicated to the exploration of cutting-edge AR optical technology and automotive HUD optical business .
As the entrance to the next generation of Internet traffic, new energy vehicles and XR devices are also expected to open up new development space for the consumer electronics industry.
On the one hand, the development of the new energy vehicle industry chain has driven the growth in demand for automotive electronics. Especially with the warm winds of the intelligent connected car policy, the country has launched pilot projects for intelligent connected car access and on-road access, automobile intelligence is advancing in depth, and in-vehicle intelligent hardware is becoming a new growth opportunity for consumer electronics manufacturers.
On the other hand, the XR market also has broad prospects. For example, as a new media carrier, VR products are expected to gradually replace the market space of entertainment electronic equipment such as game consoles, projectors, and televisions due to their immersive and interactive characteristics.
As XR equipment gradually moves into applications in fitness, medical, education, industrial production and other industries, its ecological scale is expected to exceed that of the smartphone industry.
Conclusion
In short, Huawei and Apple's competition on the same stage has stimulated the recovery of the smartphone market, which is a signal that major consumer electronics manufacturers are coming out of the bottom of their performance.
Through the various technological innovations of the two new phone series, we can also see that with smartphones as the cornerstone of growth and multi-level business layout to open up new space, the giants of the consumer electronics industry chain are undergoing a transformation of the value structure of the industry chain. Redistribute and outline a new blueprint for growth.
Source: Pinecone Finance