The price increase of Xiaomi's 15 series smartphones has finally been revealed.
On the evening of October 29th, at the Xiaomi 15 series and Xiaomi Pengpai OS 2 new product launch event, Xiaomi Group CMO Xu Fei released the Xiaomi 15 series smartphones. The Xiaomi 15 series includes the Xiaomi 15 Standard Edition, Xiaomi 15 Bright Silver Edition, Xiaomi 15 Custom Edition, Xiaomi 15 Diamond Limited Edition, Xiaomi 15 Pro Edition, and Xiaomi 15 Pro Bright Silver Edition. Among them, the Xiaomi 15 Standard Edition starts at 4499 yuan. Compared to the 4299 yuan Xiaomi 14 12GB+256G version, the price has increased by 200 yuan, and the starting price of Xiaomi 15 Pro is 300 yuan higher than the previous generation.
On October 24th, Lei Jun revealed the price increase on social media: "Last year, I told everyone that the Xiaomi 14 would definitely be priced at 3999 for the last time. This year, the cost of components has increased significantly, and we have also invested heavily in research and development. The Xiaomi 15 does need to increase its price
Xiaomi's high-end strategy, which began in 2020, has now reached its fifth year. At this press conference, the Xiaomi 15 series focuses on keywords such as "smarter operating system" and "more powerful AI functions". Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi Group, stated on site that Xiaomi expects to invest over 24 billion yuan in research and development this year, and 30 billion yuan by 2025, continuously investing in underlying technologies such as AI, OS, and chips.
Components and R&D drive up costs
The price increase of upstream chips, memory, and screens is a common trend in the current supply chain of mobile phone manufacturers.
The Xiaomi 15 series released this time is equipped with Snapdragon 8 Ultimate Edition SoC chip (system level chip). Guo Mingchi, an analyst at Tianfeng International Securities, previously stated that the single cost of Snapdragon 8 Ultimate Edition reaches $180 (approximately RMB 1281), which is a 15% increase compared to the price of Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
In terms of storage devices, the industry has been raising prices since this year. Storage manufacturer Micron's financial report shows that in the fiscal year 2024, the average selling price (ASP) of NAND flash products in the last three quarters increased by 20%, 30%, and 20% month on month, respectively; In terms of DARM inventory products, the ASP has increased by 20% month on month in the past three quarters.
In terms of screens, the core technologies of Xiaomi 15 series mobile phone screens include flexible screens and COP (Chip On Pi) technology. By using LIPO packaging technology similar to amber curing to protect internal insects, and utilizing photosensitive resin to protect COP cables, a frame width of 1.38mm has been achieved, improving the reliability of the screen.
At the same time, Xiaomi announced the system update of Pengpai OS 2 at this press conference, which will be installed on Xiaomi's 15 series new phones. Jin Fan, Vice President of Xiaomi Group's Mobile Department, stated that in terms of performance, the self-developed microarchitecture scheduler of Pengpai OS 2 has reduced CPU idle time by 19%, increased IPC in high load scenarios by 16%, and reduced the maximum scheduling delay of critical threads by 46%.
It is worth mentioning that Xiaomi phones equipped with Pengpai OS 2 support interconnection with Apple MacBook series laptops. Apple users can install "Xiaomi Internet Services" to enable file transfer between iPhone and Xiaomi phones, share Xiaomi phone screens on Mac computers, and view Apple exclusive format documents.
AI is also a major highlight of Pengpai OS 2. Xiaomi has reshaped its system applications through AI technology, including AI writing, AI sound recognition, AI subtitles, and AI animation. Among them, AI subtitle function supports global real-time translation, AI writing supports polishing and rewriting, AI sound recognition supports global sound transcription, can distinguish different speakers and generate; The AI drawing function allows users to easily sketch.
According to Jin Fan, Xiao Ai will be upgraded to "Super Xiao Ai". When the driver's license, invoice, ID number and other information appear on the screen, as long as Super Little Love is given the command to "write it down", it can be recorded. When the above information is needed, it can be retrieved at any time and automatically filled in. In terms of connecting with smart home products, Super Xiaoai can also achieve functions such as automatically turning off the TV after the user falls asleep. Jin Fan stated that the first batch of internal testing for Super Little Love will start recruiting on the evening of October 29th, and the internal testing will begin in mid November.
The 'King of Cost Performance' Enters the High end Market
The market space for high-end mobile phones is gradually expanding. Guo Mingchi once estimated that the market share of high-end mobile phones (over 4000 yuan) in the Chinese market will increase from 25% -30% in 2023 to 30% -35% in 2024.
At present, the average selling price of domestic smartphones continues to rise. According to IDC data, in the third quarter of 2024, the market share of high-end mobile phones priced above $600 (4277 yuan) in China reached 29.3%, an increase of 3.7% compared to the same period last year.
For Xiaomi, after experiencing setbacks with Xiaomi 11, Xiaomi 12, and Xiaomi 13 not meeting expectations, its path towards high-end development has gradually moved towards the right track starting from Xiaomi 14. Canalys data shows that the significant increase in sales of the Xiaomi 14 series has directly boosted Xiaomi's market share in the international high-end mobile phone market. In the second quarter of 2024, Xiaomi's market share in the global high-end market was 2%, a year-on-year increase of 71%, ranking behind Apple (62%), Samsung (22%), and Huawei (9%).
In the domestic market, IDC data shows that in the third quarter of 2024, the shipment volume of smartphones in China was about 68.78 million units, a year-on-year increase of 3.2%. Among them, Xiaomi ranks fourth in China with a market share of 14.8%, and has achieved year-on-year growth in shipments for five consecutive quarters.
On the eve of Xiaomi's price increase, Apple, the benchmark for high-end smartphones, has gone through multiple rounds of price reductions. Starting from mid January 2024, the iPhone 15 will start a full range price reduction, with the regular version even entering the 4000 yuan price range. As Double 11 approaches, the entry "iPhone 16 official rare price reduction of 1600 yuan" has hit the hot search, and the operation of lowering prices within a month of its release has surprised the outside world.
Although the price reduction of iPhone 16 this time is a marketing tactic used by e-commerce platforms to subsidize Double 11 users, it also indirectly shows that the market feedback for iPhone 16 is not as expected.
A report from Morgan Stanley indicates that the average delivery time for iPhone 16 from pre order to today is 14 days, which is the shortest among all cycles in the past 5 years. This means that sales of the iPhone 16 series are likely to fall short of expectations. Prior to this, renowned analyst Guo Mingchi stated that the first weekend pre order sales of the iPhone 16 series were about 37 million units, a decrease of about 12.7% compared to the sales of the iPhone 15 in the same period last year.
Another set of data also shows a sluggish performance in the iPhone 16 market. Barclays Bank analysts Tim Long and George Wang pointed out in their report that Apple may have reduced production of the iPhone 16 series in the fourth quarter due to lower than expected demand. According to component procurement data, the iPhone 16 series has cut approximately 3 million orders.
Xiang Ligang, a member of the Expert Committee of the Lanti International Think Tank, told Time Weekly reporters that concepts such as artificial intelligence will to some extent stimulate the birth of opportunities in the mobile phone market, but in recent years, the innovation of iPhone products has been clearly insufficient.
AI is a rare path for mobile phone manufacturers to seize the high-end market. According to Canalys' prediction, the global penetration rate of AI smartphones will reach 17% in 2024 and jump to 30% in 2025. On October 28th Eastern Time, Apple updated its iOS 18.1 system, allowing iPhone 16 users in the United States to experience the Apple Intelligence feature first. According to Apple's previous plan, Apple Intelligence will be launched in China, France, Japan, Spain and other places starting next year. The brief absence of Apple AI in the Chinese market undoubtedly increases the difficulty of its future market competition.
The high-end market represents brand image, while also indicating the construction of market competition, profit margins, and user loyalty for mobile phone manufacturers. Times have changed, and Apple, the benchmark for high-end smartphones, has started to reduce inventory by lowering prices, while Xiaomi, which started with "cost-effectiveness", has entered the high-end market.