Will the PC of Xishan Xishan be prosperous again because of Huawei's millet?

Looking at the global PC shipment report for the past 4 years, the minimum value is constantly being refreshed: shipments in the fourth quarter of 2015 hit a new low since 2007. Lenovo founder Liu Chuanzhi also felt at the annual meeting that the scale of the PC business was compressed. However, it is such a depressed market, but recently there has been news of Huawei and Xiaomi entering.

The PC market is very mature, and the division of labor in the industry chain is also very clear, so clear that it is very difficult to reduce costs by order quantity. It can be seen that the PC market profit has been very low. In Yang Yuanqing's view, there are only more and more manufacturers out there in this industry, rather than more and more manufacturers coming in. In this case, why should Huawei and Xiaomi come in?

Will Xiaomi’s coming in, like him in the field of smart phones, become a spoiler and reshuffle the PC market? Is it true that Yang Yuanqing said that the entry of Xiaomi and Huawei will allow consumers to once again focus on the PC market and let the PC market heat up again?

PC has fallen into the constant cursing spell

According to the latest data from IDC, global PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2015 were 71.9 million units, down 10.6% year-on-year, the lowest in seven years. Among all PC makers, except for Apple, which grew by 2.8%, other vendors basically experienced negative growth. Lenovo, which ranks 11 consecutive quarters, has not escaped the downward trend.

Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing believes that the current PC market has entered the integration period, the so-called trend is more and more manufacturers go out, rather than more and more manufacturers come in. Lenovo founder Liu Chuanzhi also believes that PC scale is being compressed due to technical and business models.

On the one hand, the difference between PC replacements has become smaller, and consumers have no incentive to buy new machines. On the other hand, the PC market has gradually saturated, and has already entered the stage of stock market replacement. The emergence of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets has also partially replaced the PC.

The PC market is shrinking and is seen as a sunset industry. However, this sunset industry has recently made waves due to the entry of Huawei and Xiaomi.

Huawei, Xiaomi's small abacus

According to information from Chinese trademarks, Huawei applied for the new "MateBook" trademark, and the application contents are portable computer sets, computer hardware, mobile phones, and tablet computers.

Some netizens broke the news that Huawei's notebooks will be flat-panel and PC combo products, support Windows+Android dual system, the price is expected to be more than 5,000 yuan, positioning high-end business people; and Xiaomi will also use flat-panel, PC two-in-one design, However, the price of Xiaomi is more close to the people. Lei Jun has publicly stated that Xiaomi notebook will bring the ultimate price-performance ratio to the notebook industry.

"Although they all choose to enter the PC market, Huawei and Xiaomi have different entry points, and their respective calculations are different." GfK analyst Gao Wei told Netease Technology.

Gao Wei said that Huawei has a layout in all kinds of electronic products, and the field involved is actually very large. Entering the notebook field is not a very important strategic product for Huawei. Huawei cuts in with high-end products, more closely matches the high-end brand image set by Huawei, and enriches the relatively high-end product layout through notebooks.

However, Xiaomi is cutting in the cost-effectiveness of the volume, which will have a greater impact on the traditional market. Entering the PC market is nothing but a complement to Xiaomi's lack of hardware ecosystem.

"For Huawei, it will not be very large in the short term. The strategy will be similar to mobile phones. To be high-end, there must be some profit. It will be more patient than Xiaomi," said a third-party analyst. (It is not convenient to disclose the name because of the brand comparison.)

Is the two-in-one trend?

Judging from the products that Huawei and Xiaomi burst, the two have a common attribute: flat panel and PC combo. Will this market be the future development trend?

Gao Wei said that there are currently two two-in-one products on the market: one is the separation of the screen and the keyboard, and the other is the deformable flip type. For the deformable flip class, analysts' current sales are relatively conservative.

"The more deformable flipping class is used as a normal notebook. The multi-modal use scene is relatively fictional and belongs to the wishful thinking design. There are basically not many scenes to use. The future development space is limited, and the product The positioning itself is relatively high-end, the price is very high, and it does not go." The analysis believes.

Another two-in-one product with a separable screen and keyboard is less acceptable because it was more focused on small-sized products. However, since the 12-inch two-in-one product appeared, the degree of acceptance has become higher. There is a high demand for those who need to work and require portability.

"Screen and keyboard detachable two-in-one products are a must-have for manufacturers. Currently, there are plans in the mainstream market. But Microsoft is the most concerned one." Gao said.

Gao Wei believes that the two-in-one form is objectively the future direction, but this direction is far away. The shipment of 2-in-1 products is mainly from high-end fashion crowds. From the scale statistics, the market share of 5% of this type of products will be its ceiling, and the price will be the bottleneck of its popularity.

PC is difficult to reshuffle in the short term

For the new entrants such as Huawei and Xiaomi, Yang Yuanqing is more optimistic: there are also good places for new entrants, which can blow the wind to the PC industry and drive consumers to pay more attention to this industry. For Lenovo, it is still more to focus on the customer.

In comparison, Xiaomi's cost-effective entry may be more like a bomb, which will impact traditional PC manufacturers.

However, Gao Yan also reminded that the power of the meter could not be overstated. On the one hand, the PC industry is not as profitable as the smart phone industry. When Xiaomi just entered the field of smart phones, the price would indeed be artificially high, giving Xiaomi the opportunity to enter. However, the industrial chain of the PC industry is very mature, the profit is already very thin, and it is not possible to make futures like a mobile phone. The low price of Xiaomi is likely to be put into the money. Such a model is difficult to operate for a long time.


On the other hand, the PC market has been very stable and has been shuffled to only a few. The ones that can survive in the market are those who have been deeply ploughed for many years and have a large dealer network. It is difficult for Xiaomi to enter the shuffle.

However, the question of whether the PC can bottom out. Yang Yuanqing is more positive and optimistic. He believes that the PC industry is not far from spring and is expected to start recovering this year.

He believes that 500 million computers worldwide have been in use for more than five years, which is a historic turning point for PC manufacturers. In some market segments, such as the game field, the DIY market will have room for growth.

In short, no matter how Huawei and Xiaomi cut into the PC market, there is one more choice for consumers. It is not a good thing.