Editor Su Jianxun
Apple has made another start for the mobile phone industry.
After iPhone 12 boldly announced that it no longer contains chargers, although there were many negative comments, it still attracted the Android camp to follow suit. However, Android manufacturers are worried about bumping into guns like Apple, and they have also adopted some euphemistic ways to deal with it.
Xiaomi 1 1 made a turnaround. First, follow the trend and announce that no more chargers will be given, which triggered a wave of abuse. When it was actually released, Xiaomi announced the launch of two versions with and without charger, allowing users to choose. This method cannot be described as killing three birds with one stone. Not only did I find out the user feedback in advance, but I also used emotional comparison to get a good impression, and I also stepped on a wave of apples.
Apple and Xiaomi both throw excuses: for environmental protection.
Small factories like Meizu are also following up. Meizu's mobile phone shipments are only one million a year, which can't be said to have a great impact on the environment, and hastily canceling the gift of chargers may also affect sales. On balance, Meizu 18 plans to launch a "green rejuvenation plan", in which users can exchange two old chargers for a brand-new Meizu 18 charger.
In addition, it is reported that Samsung will follow up in the future, but the specific plan is still unknown.
"Environmental protection" seems to be an understandable reason. The global annual mobile phone shipments exceed one billion units, and the annual mobile phone charger shipments are much larger than this figure. Charging head and data cable are one of the most idle electronic products.
In fact, environmental protection may be just one of the considerations in this decision. Behind the cancellation of the charger is a far-reaching and profitable business experience that mobile phone brands dare not say.
From a commercial point of view, the most direct purpose of mobile phone manufacturers to cancel the gift of chargers is to save hardware costs and logistics costs.
Take the iPhone as an example. At present, there is only one data cable and charger-related accessories left in the box of Apple's mobile phone, with a value of 145 yuan. Prior to this, the value of charger+data cable was 290 yuan-each set of mobile phones saved 145 yuan, but the total selling price of mobile phones did not decrease.
It is conservatively estimated that, based on Apple's annual shipment of 65.438+0.5 billion mobile phones, the expenditure of chargers alone can help Apple save more than 20 billion yuan in costs every year.
Not only that, in addition to the hardware cost, but also the logistics cost and packaging cost reduction brought by the smaller and lighter mobile phone packaging box.
On the Android side, it's not that exaggerated. Xiaomi and Meizu's standard mobile phone chargers are less than 100 yuan. Although it is not as expensive as apple, the policy at this stage is not across the board. However, with the cumulative expansion of subsequent mobile phone shipments, the comprehensive cost saved can not be underestimated because of this small charger.
Saving money is just a trivial matter. Mobile phone companies no longer give more in-depth consideration behind the charger, for the sake of the just-started charger.
First, solve a problem. Why do mobile phone manufacturers choose to explore chargers that have existed for a long time and are not very lively and sexy before the popularization of 5G?
With the addition of 5G hardware and the enhancement of various functions such as screen/camera, the power consumption of mobile phones is gradually increasing. The contradiction before us is that the battery capacity and the thickness/weight of the mobile phone are natural contradictions. Therefore, developing a higher power charger or improving the charging experience through wireless charging are two ways to solve the user's power anxiety.
Under the guidance of this direction, Android and Apple have different layout strategies on the hardware of the charger.
Android manufacturers have a faster layout on high-power wired fast charging. According to the rough statistics of 36Kr, Xiaomi and OV have both introduced fast charging heads of 65W/ 120W, and the price is generally around 200 yuan, which is much more expensive than the original low-power charging heads of 20 to 30 yuan.
In addition, Android manufacturers have also laid out charger products with different scenes and sizes.
Xiaomi has a vertical/flat wireless charger, a wireless charging board that can accommodate multiple electronic products at the same time, a charger based on car scenes, and a charger charging treasure two-in-one accessory;
OPPO has considered the size of the charger. Not long ago, it introduced a biscuit fast charging charger that can be stuffed in your pocket, and the power has been increased to 50W and110W..
Xiaomi's charging related products
OPPO charger products
Apple is more interested in wireless charging. MagSafe magnetic charger, decorative magnetic card holder and dual chargers that can charge multiple electronic devices at the same time are expanded. The prices of these new categories are not cheap. The price of a single dual charger is around 1050 yuan, which is almost equal to the price of a low-end Android machine.
At the previous Apple conference, Cook spent a lot of time introducing MageSafe products. However, this product is not a hot-selling product because of the low charging efficiency and degaussing problem after listing, and there is still much room for improvement in the future.
Apple wireless charger and its price
Another question worth discussing is, to what extent can the seemingly arbitrary decision of "canceling the gift of chargers" stimulate the sales of charger categories?
Because Android manufacturers have not dared to completely reject the presented charger, the change of charger sales in this camp is of little reference significance at this stage.
According to a person in charge of the charging head network, Anke, Lvlian, Pinsheng, Beth, Mizi, Maiduoduo and many other brands have sold more than 10,000 pieces of 20WDD fast charging apples at the beginning of last year 1 1. Among them, the monthly sales volume of 20WDD fast charging charger in ANKER Tmall flagship store even increased from several thousand to more than 1 10000, which increased by several times. The monthly sales of Lvlian 20WDPD also exceeded 65,438+10,000 units.
The aforementioned person told 36Kr that the gross profit margin of this fast charge is not low, generally around 20-30%. It can be said that Apple's decision is to support a large number of charger manufacturers.
It is foreseeable in the future that with the development of users' fast charging habits and the increasing demand for charging experience, this kind of charger still has a lot of room for expansion.
A case for reference is that before this, major mobile phone manufacturers drastically cut off the setting of the 3.5mm headphone hole on their mobile phones and forced users to use wireless headphones. After several years of user training, the shipment of TWS true wireless headphones has really increased significantly.
Today's TWS headphones may not be tomorrow's fast charger.
Selling hardware is not the most profitable, but the fast charging agreement/authorization, which has a lower marginal cost.
At present, the biggest problem of fast charging is protocol barrier, that is, fast charging has a strict one-to-one correspondence with mobile phones and cannot be mixed with other brand products. For example, you can't use Apple's MagSafe to charge Xiaomi's mobile phone, and you can't use OPPO 65W's fast charging head to quickly charge Huawei Mate40.
OPPO and Huawei authorized an exclusive fast charging agreement to third-party brands. Not long ago, OPPO announced the "Flash Charging Eco-Partner Program", with partners such as FAW-Volkswagen, NXP Semiconductors and Anke.
However, the prices of various fast charging agreements are confidential. An insider of ANKER told 36Kr that "fast charging protocol is the core of the charging head, and making a fuss about it will be the highlight in the future".
The same is true of Apple's operations. In June 5438+10 last year, Apple launched the authentication system MFM(Made for MagSafe) specifically for MagSafe. From Apple's point of view, the role of this certification system is to control the price of third-party products and realize patents.
To put it simply, if third-party accessories manufacturers want to do MagSafe, they must honestly pay for Apple's MFM certification, otherwise the products will not be used normally by the iPhone. Usually, the cost for accessory manufacturers to complete Apple certification is sometimes not lower than the cost of the hardware itself.
Take the Apple data cable as an example. The total cost of an Apple data cable certified by "Made for iPhone" (similar to MFE) is generally around 25 yuan. In order to complete the certification, data cable manufacturers not only need to buy Apple's special chip, the cost price has reached about US$ 3 (equivalent to RMB 19.5 yuan), but also need to pay a considerable certification fee.
At present, due to the high cost of authentication, a cracked version of MEM has also appeared in the market. Despite this, an industry insider said that the price of Apple's MagSafe module is generally more than ten times that without MFM certification.
To sum up, Apple will save tens of billions of dollars in various costs every year by cutting off the included charger. Further promote the sales of their own wireless charging products and the prosperity of third-party fast charging manufacturers. The increase in hardware shipments from third-party fast-charging manufacturers will also stimulate the increase in the number of Apple authorized certifications-and under Apple's certification rules, Apple is the winner.
This is not difficult to understand. Even if the Android and Apple mobile phone camps are at risk of being scolded, we must resolutely dismantle this small charger.
Extended reading:
Marketing observation 丨 OV Xiaomi intensively launched 100W fast charge, and the Android camp finally won this time.