Recently, Canalys released a report on PC shipments in mainland China for the second quarter of 2024. PC shipments in the report include desktops, laptops, workstations and tablets, but tablets are calculated as a separate category.
PC decline slows down, Apple falls out of top five
The data shows,Mainland China's PC shipments in the quarter were 9.1 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 6%. Although the overall PC market is still in a downward trend, the amplitude has slowed down significantly compared with the first quarter of 2024., for comparison, mainland China's PC shipments in the first quarter of 2024 were only 7.94 million, a year-on-year decrease of 12%.
It is worth noting that in the ranking of PC shipments, Tongfang jumped to fourth place with a growth rate of 86%. Its shipments in the second quarter reached 742,000, with a market share of 8%, slightly surpassing Asus. Tongfang's outstanding performance has alleviated the market's downward trend to a certain extent, and also shows that some of the market's purchasing power has not yet been released.
After Tongfang ranked among the top five,Apple, which ranked fifth in the first quarter, was squeezed out of the top five rankings., becoming a member of "Others". This is also the second time Apple has fallen out of the top five digital category rankings after the mobile phone rankings in the second quarter of 2024. Only the tablet category remains in the top five.
Except for the same party,Huawei's performance in the second quarter was also quite impressive, with a year-on-year increase of 30% and shipments reaching 1.158 million units., but there is still a big gap with Lenovo, which ranks first.
Let’s look at the tablet category again. Tablet shipments in the second quarter reached 7.8 million units, a 20% year-on-year increase. Huawei continued to surpass Apple to become the number one brand in shipments, with shipments reaching 2.05 million units, slightly surpassing Apple’s 2.01 million units. Compared with the first quarter, its lead has shrunk. However, Huawei's tablet shipments still increased by 66% year-on-year, becoming one of the main driving forces for the surge in tablet shipments.
In addition to Huawei, Honor also performed very well, ranking fourth with a shipment of 652,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 63%, second only to Huawei. Xiaomi continued to maintain its third position, with shipments of 925,000 units, almost the same as in the first quarter.Overall, in the tablet category in the second quarter of 2024, except for Apple, which saw a 14% year-on-year decline in shipments, other brands have achieved significant growth.
The surge in tablet shipments was mainly due to the release of a large number of new tablet products in the first half of the year, coupled with frequent price reduction promotions, which promoted a lot of replacement demand. However, because the overall ranking has not changed much, the next analysis will focus on PC data.
Tongfang counterattacked and became a dark horse, and the mechanical revolution was indispensable
In the Canalys report, the most eye-catching one is Tongfang, which entered the top five and eliminated Apple. Readers who do not know much about the PC market may be recalling which brand Tongfang is? Why are there almost no computers of this brand on the market?
Even if you search for brands such as JD.com, you will most often see the PC brand "Tsinghua Tongfang", but its sales are quite dismal. All product page reviews do not exceed 5,000, which is far lower than the general sales of third-tier brands. So where did Tongfang's sales come from?
First of all, Tsinghua Tongfang does belong to "Tongfang" in the rankings, but it is just one of Tongfang's sub-brands.Tongfang is also one of the largest PCODM manufacturers in China. Well-known brands such as Mechanical Revolution, Machinist, Thor, Naruto, and Shenzhou all use Tongfang's PC molds for some or all of their products.
However, the sub-brands most directly controlled by Tongfang are mainly Tsinghua Tongfang, Tongfang Computer and Mechanical Revolution. Judging from other news in the market,Tongfang's surge in shipments mainly benefited from the dual impact of increased government procurement and increased sales from the mechanical revolution.
In the consumer PC market, Mechanical Revolution has become one of the most watched brands in recent years. The market strategy of focusing on cost-effectiveness coupled with the gradually improving product line and product quality has caused Mechanical Revolution's reputation and sales to soar.
In recent months, Mechanical Revolution has successively launched a number of popular products, becoming one of the most recommended brands in the price range below 5,000 yuan.Moreover, as Tongfang's high-end molds begin mass production, the mechanical revolution is also accelerating to occupy the 5,000-8,000 yuan market share.
If you pay attention to the laptop recommendation information in online communities such as Bilibili and Baidu Tieba, you will find that mechanical revolution is recommended very frequently. Except for the high-end market of more than 10,000 yuan, mechanical revolution can be seen in other price ranges. Interestingly, Mechanical Revolution has a very clear understanding of its own positioning and rarely touches the high-end market worth tens of thousands of yuan. This also allows them to concentrate more energy on capturing the mid-to-low-end market, which has the widest audience.
Why is the mechanical revolution welcomed by consumers? The reason is simple, the price/performance ratio is high enough. When most brands of Core Ultra series laptops still cost more than 5,000 yuan,Mechanical Revolution’s Unbounded 14Pro has dropped the price to less than 4,000 yuan. And the rest of the hardware configuration is not bad, with a 2.8K120Hz high-resolution screen, a maximum brightness of 400 nits, and a standard 1TB solid-state drive storage.
Comparing products in the same price range horizontally, you will find that products from other brands using the same processor are generally several hundred yuan more expensive, and their configurations in terms of screens, molds, power supplies, etc. are also inferior to those of the Mechanical Revolution. As for products similar to the Mechanical Revolution Unbounded 14 Pro in terms of hardware configuration, the price is generally above 5,000 yuan, and the price difference of nearly 30% is enough for users to ignore the gap in brand reputation.
Under the influence of the mechanical revolution, the average price of thin and light products in the market has been on a downward trend in the past six months.Lenovo, Asus, Acer, HP and other manufacturers have launched many low-end and mid-range products focusing on cost performance, and the PC market is entering a new round of price war.
Supported by AIPC and national subsidies, is the PC market about to take off?
Judging from the PC shipment data in the first and second quarters of 2024, the PC market in mainland China is actually on an overall recovery trend, and the year-on-year decline in shipments in the second quarter has been significantly reduced. After entering the third quarter,Lenovo, Huawei, Asus, HP and other manufacturers have successively launched new generations of AIPCs, among which a large number of Snapdragon PCs have become the focus of market attention.(Interested friends can check out the review I wrote before: Snapdragon version YOGA Air14s experience).
In addition to the batch launch of Snapdragon PCs, Intel's Core 200v series laptops will also be released in October, and many reviews have been released.Judging from the test results, although there is not much improvement in performance, it has amazing performance in aspects such as battery life. The actual test is not worse than the MacBook, which is famous for its battery life. People can't help but wonder what kind of "monster" Intel has done.
As the inventory of old-generation processors gradually depletes, it is foreseeable that Core Ultra, Snapdragon X, and AMD AI series will become the main platforms for thin and light notebooks. By then, AI services + long battery life will become the standard configuration of thin and light notebooks.
For friends who frequently travel and work on the move, the new generation of thin and light laptops will provide a better experience than most previous laptops.In terms of battery life alone, the new generation of thin and light notebooks can easily achieve more than 10 hours of battery life and maintain a certain performance release. This alone is enough to qualitatively improve the experience.
Moreover, PC AI applications are also accelerating iteration. Some time ago, Lenovo released a new generation of AIPC at IFA, which mentioned several interesting features. For example, according to the user's usage scenario, it automatically adjusts the PC mode to provide the best experience; learns the user's usage habits, adjusts the PC system and other functions, which make AIPC and traditional PC have a big difference in experience.
In addition to the upcoming wave of replacements brought by AIPC, starting from September 1st, national subsidies for the replacement of old PCs with new ones will also provide a boost to the PC industry.Based on the maximum 20% replacement subsidy, a laptop that originally sold for 10,000 yuan can now be taken home for only 8,000 yuan.(In fact, you can directly enjoy the trade-in subsidy without providing old products. For details, please see another article I wrote: Guide to trade-in subsidy).
Even in the Lei Technology editorial department, many editors took this opportunity to replace their old computers with new ones. The real discounts obviously went a long way in stimulating consumption. Moreover, trade-in subsidies in places such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Sichuan and other places have been changed to be available nationwide, with no restrictions on delivery addresses. This has also brought hope to some provinces that have not yet had relevant activities online.
Driven by both AIPC and state subsidies, PC shipments in mainland China are expected to surge in the third quarter. In order to seize this wave of new trends, various brands will most likely launch more competitive products to seize the market in the coming years. If you plan to buy a new computer but are still waiting to see what happens, you might as well wait.