The mobile phone industry in 2019 is still lively despite some “players” missing.
Editor’s note: This article comes from Geek Park , the manager of the tofu shop.
Forget it, it’s almost half a month before New Year’s Eve on January 24th. At the end of each year, various companies are busy reviewing the work of the past year, and at the same time, they are planning the next year, and basically no new products will be introduced to the market. Therefore, at this time, the inventory of what happened in the industry in the previous year should be relatively comprehensive.
The change of the mobile phone industry in 2019 is relatively obvious. The user group has begun to move closer to several leading companies, and they have become the absolute protagonists in the center of the stage. In contrast, the days of small brands are more difficult. Many of the mobile phone brands that were active in everyone’s sights in 2018 gradually lost their voice this year, and some even directly abandoned the mobile phone business.
Although the number of “players” has decreased, the mobile phone industry has not become deserted. There are still many new hotspots and development trends. Refined keywords include the following: 5G, high pixels, zoom , 90Hz refresh rate, folding screen, and these scattered words finally come down to the three major directions of network connection, image and screen.
Fast 5G
Each generation of communication technology changes will bring many new development opportunities. From the perspective of users, the faster data transmission speed and lower latency of 5G will undoubtedly greatly improve our experience. For mobile phone manufacturers, the change in the network system means that a new wave of phone replacements will be created, and the industry pattern is likely to usher in reshaping.
Under such a background, rapidly promoting the development of 5G has become a common task for both upstream and downstream of the industry chain. Of course, the effect is obvious. From the official release of the 5G license by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in June last year, to the end of 2019, we can see that 5G mobile phones have completed the concept popularization and formal commercial use in a very short time.
In this process, the progress made on the product side is visible to the naked eye. Early concept popularization stage, allowing mobile phones to connect to 5G networks, and then showing more ordinary users the ultra-high data transmission speed under 5G networksThe degree of focus is the focus of manufacturers. To some extent, we can also understand that measuring network speed was the greatest use of 5G mobile phones at that time.
Under such a use scenario, naturally you don’t need to think too much about the ease of use of the mobile phone itself. Many products are based on the existing models. However, if you want to bring it to the mass market and let ordinary consumers pay for it, it is not enough to simply support 5G network connections. Everyone knows what happened afterwards. Nearly all 5G mobile phones released in the future are emphasizing battery life and cooling capacity. .
In the above, we briefly reviewed the development of 5G mobile phones in 2019 from the dimension of product ease of use. In addition, 5G chips are also evolving in sync, including Huawei, Qualcomm, Samsung, and several major chip vendors. SoC products with integrated 5G baseband have been introduced one after another, and the debate about SA and NSA’s true and false 5G has been completely calmed.
High-pixel, multi-lens is almost “standard”
Image capability is an important trend in the development process of mobile phones, and it is also a point of concern for everyone. Almost all mobile phone manufacturers are working hard to improve the photo and video functions of their products. Looking back at the domestic mobile phone products listed in 2019, the two major changes on the hardware side are that the main camera is getting higher and higher, and the number of cameras is also increasing.
If you list the camera parameters of the mainstream flagship phones released last year, you will find that the 48-megapixel main camera is no longer a rare thing, and most domestic brands have followed up. In addition to the 48-megapixel main camera, 64-megapixel and even 100-megapixel mobile phones also appeared on the market in 2019.
From the perspective of the actual imaging effect, the camera pixel height is only one of them, and it does not play a decisive role. However, in previous related evaluation articles, we also mentioned many times that the benefits brought by ultra-high pixels are obvious. In addition to greatly improving the image resolution, it can also act as a telephoto lens in some cases.
In addition to high pixels, multi-cameras have become standard equipment for mobile phones last year (although some products have been ridiculed), and in order to be able to arrange them reasonably, manufacturers have also tried many more “featured” Solutions, such as the more common Yuba, round, diamond, etc. designs in the second half of the year.
Put aside the quality of the camera itself, in terms of multiple cameras alone, the value is actuallyexisting. Due to the limited internal space of the mobile phone itself, it is difficult to achieve multi-focal-segment shooting similar to a SLR camera with a single lens. At present, it seems that the combination of multiple cameras at different focal lengths is the most reasonable and feasible way.
As for the image of mobile phones, in general, the big development trend is moving closer to the camera. Of course, from the perspective of imaging, it is very difficult or almost impossible for mobile phones to completely replace traditional cameras. But one thing is certain, with the advancement of software and hardware technology, more and more shots can be handled by mobile phones.
90Hz high refresh rate + folding, two development directions of the screen
OnePlus 7 Pro in 2019 has achieved excellent market feedback and user word of mouth. At the same time, the concept of 90Hz refresh rate has become more and more familiar to consumers. It has even become an evaluation of the adequacy of mobile phone screens. A new standard of excellence. After that, many products with high refresh rate screens have appeared on the market.
The improvement of the experience brought by the high refresh rate is actually difficult to describe accurately in words. The obvious feeling is that when you swipe Weibo or slide the screen left and right, it will be smoother and easier to follow than the 60Hz screen. . At the same time, when playing some mobile phones supporting high frame rate mode, its fluency is significantly higher.
At the same time, we can see that as the 90Hz refresh rate is being recognized by more and more users, including game terminals and third-party applications, the related ecology is gradually being established. From another perspective, this will also drive many other industries to make corresponding changes, which is worthy of recognition.
In addition to the high refresh rate, another aspect of the mobile phone screen in 2019 that attracts much attention is form innovation. These include folding screens, ring screens, waterfall screens and other solutions. However, from the perspective of ease of use, the more representative products are the Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X, which have been officially mass-produced. Screen phone.
Compared with current normal candy bar hard screen phones, the biggest advantage of folding screen phones is that by virtue of the foldable nature of flexible screens, two different forms of use are provided, especially in the expanded state. The improvement in experience is obvious. Although the ecological construction is relatively imperfect at this stage, in the long run, this direction is feasible.
Looking back at the changes that have taken place in the mobile phone screen in 2019, although the ultimate goal of both is to bring a better user experience, they are two completely different product paths. In a sense, the high refresh rate is to further enhance the ability of the current screen form, while the folding screen is to try new forms, each with its own emphasis.
What should be watched for in 2020?
We have reviewed some of the new technologies and directions of the mobile phone industry in 2019. On the whole, 5G related, image and screen are the three main areas that manufacturers are paying attention to.
In 2020, in our view, 5G related will become more mature. Next, as the Snapdragon 765 and Snapdragon 865 series chips begin mass production, brands that have not previously been involved in 5G mobile phones will gradually join this rank, and the layout of mid-range and high-end 5G products will also become More perfect, everyone has more choice.
Image from OnePlus official
The image part is still an important force for manufacturers. Judging from the information released so far, there are still many new technologies worth looking forward to in the camera part, such as the hidden and rear camera that OnePlus just showed at CES. OPPO Under-screen front-facing cameras, higher-pixel cameras, and so on have been exhibited many times before.
The two main development directions for screens are roughly high refresh rates and new forms. After that, 120Hz refresh rate screens will appear on more and more mobile phones. Of course, higher refresh rate screens will not be ruled out on the product side. In addition, according to the information that Geek Choice has learned so far, many manufacturers will launch folding screen mobile phones, but the folding method will change.
In general, 2020 will be the year when a large number of 5G mobile phones have officially entered the popularity. Based on this, the product’s functional applications will also usher in many new attempts, which are worth looking forward to.