Layout: From Custom to Own
Recently, China Unicom's Unicom Huasheng Communication Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Unicom Huasheng") officially released China Unicom's brand-new 5G mobile phone brand-U-Magic, and simultaneously released the brand's Youchang 20 Plus and Youchang 200 5G mobile phones.
Coincidentally, not long ago, China Telecom also released its own brand 5G mobile phone. In June 2020, 1 1, China Telecom launched the industry's first officially commercialized 5G cloud terminal Tianyi1; 202 111In October, China Telecom released an upgraded version of Tianyi1-its own brand, 5G full netcom cloud mobile phone Tianyi 1 202 1.
Unlike China Telecom and China Unicom, China Mobile launched its own brand mobile phone earlier. 20 13 In August, China Mobile released two self-owned smart phones, M60 1 and M70 1. 201In August, 2009, X 1, the pioneer of China Mobile's first private brand 5G mobile phone, was officially listed.
Customized mobile phones refer to mobile phones customized by operators from mobile phone manufacturers. It is understood that operators will generally subsidize custom machine to reduce its price, and custom machine will also restrict the service functions or networks of other operators. Because of the lower sales price, operators can attract more users with the help of custom machine.
However, after entering the 4G era, the number of customized mobile phones by operators gradually decreased until it almost disappeared in the later period. In this regard, senior telecom analyst Ma Jihua said that in the 3G era, the three major operators have different network standards, and customized mobile phones can restrict users from switching to other operators. However, in the 4G era, communication standards are gradually consistent, and all-netcom mobile phones are becoming more and more popular. It is obviously unprofitable for operators to launch customized mobile phones.
Transformation: From Channel to Brand
Why didn't China Telecom and China Unicom launch their own branded mobile phones in the 4G era, but waited until now for large-scale layout?
For the above problems, Ma Jihua said that in the mobile phone industry, Xiaomi and other enterprises belong to brands, and the three major operators belong to channel providers. In the past, the boundaries between the two parties were relatively clear. But now, brands such as Xiaomi have begun to strengthen their channel layout, which makes operators as channel providers feel pressure. In order to avoid being marginalized in the mobile phone industry, operators began to develop their own brand mobile phones and carry out brand transformation, that is, to break through by laying out the upstream of the industrial chain.
In addition to the pressure of industry competition, the greater opportunities brought by 5G commercialization are also one of the reasons why operators launch their own brand mobile phones. In response to the release of the U-MAGIC brand, China Unicom emphasized that "China already has the world's first 5G network, and the demand for 5G terminals also shows explosive growth".
According to the data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in 2020, China has opened more than 710.8 million 5G base stations, and the 5G network has covered cities above prefecture level and key counties and cities nationwide. The domestic sales volume of 5G terminals has also reached10.60 billion units, and it is estimated that it will increase to 280 million units in 2026 in 5438+0.
"Operators' own brand mobile phones are basically cheap low-end mobile phones. These low-end mobile phones contribute to the rapid popularization and sinking of 5G terminals and promote the commercialization of 5G. In addition, in order to develop new services in the 5G era, operators must have their own experimental fields. Launching your own branded mobile phone can create your own demonstration base and guide industry partners to move in their own direction. " Ma Jihua said.
At the same time, China Unicom said, "The U-MAGIC mobile phone brand released this time extends China Unicom's 5G? The concept of making the future grow: U stands for Unicom China Unicom, the young user of the user, Unique born unique, the alliance is opposite, and the user feels the same * * * and resonates with the partner. " .
Competition: from products to services
It is worth mentioning that for China Telecom and China Unicom, launching their own brand 5G mobile phones is only the first step, and the next step is still to think about how to gain consumer recognition.
"The domestic mobile phone market is highly concentrated, and it is not easy for new brands to survive. Operators have no advantage in marketing. If they want to gain a foothold in the 5G mobile phone market, they need to combine their mobile phone products with their communication services. " Fu Liang, an independent telecom analyst, said.
Unicom said that the selling points of U-MAGIC series mobile phones mainly include 5G network, aesthetic design, endurance, imaging system, experience and rights. Specifically, both mobile phones are equipped with 7nm5G SoC, which is compatible with SA/NSA dual-mode full netcom to ensure better signal coverage, and also equipped with large-capacity batteries. From the price point of view, the price range of the two mobile phones is 1699-2499 yuan, which is in the middle mainstream market.
Fu Liang believes that from the configuration point of view, the first batch of U-MAGIC brand 5G new mobile phones released is not new, and some mobile phone manufacturers have been able to provide these configurations in the mobile phones launched a few months ago. In addition, the publisher of U-MAGIC brand is not China Unicom, but the terminal company of China Unicom, so there is almost no operator feature in the new brand. But without the full support of China Unicom, the new brand will be difficult to succeed.
As a "cloud phone", the selling points of China Telecom Tianyi 1 No.2021include price and cloud service. According to the official introduction, the starting price of Tianyi 1 202 1 is only1/99 yuan. In addition to Tianyi 1 202 1, users can also enjoy a second mobile phone running in the cloud. Cloud mobile phone adopts Android system, which can load various applications as needed. In addition, tianyi1no. 202 1 also provides users with 10GB/ month directional local traffic packets for free, so users do not need to pay for the generated traffic when using the cloud mobile phone.