"Apple mobile phones should really be adapted to localization. There are so many users in China, isn't it worth paying attention to?" During the recent earthquake in Gansu, domestic mobile phones generally had built-in earthquake warnings, but Apple mobile phones did not receive notifications, triggering collective complaints from netizens. Relevant agencies also stated that domestic mobile phone manufacturers have actively contacted and requested access to the earthquake early warning system, but Apple has not contacted them.
Apple is indeed lagging behind in many localized features. For example, functions such as holiday alarm clocks, call recordings, long screenshots, and multiple application openings are all standard features of domestic mobile phones. Although users have expressed high demand for them, Apple has been unable to launch them.
Many experts believe that Apple does not have enough understanding and attention to the special needs of the Chinese market. With the rise of domestic mobile phone manufacturers, Apple's position in the domestic high-end market may face impact.
Earthquake early warning: The United States and Japan have it, but China doesn’t?
Recently, a 6.2-magnitude earthquake occurred in Jishishan County, Gansu Province, causing serious casualties and being felt significantly in many provinces.
Fortunately, smart terminals such as mobile phones and TVs in many areas have received earthquake warnings, which has reduced the casualties of earthquakes to a certain extent. However, many netizens questioned that their Apple phones did not receive any warning messages.
In fact, this phenomenon also triggered discussions during the 5.5-magnitude earthquake in Pingyuan County, Dezhou City, Shandong Province in August this year. Many users questioned: "A mobile phone company as big as Apple does not have such an important function as earthquake warning, and it is so expensive. Shouldn't it reflect on it?"
Sina Technology saw on Apple's official website that emergency alerts and government alerts will be provided on the iPhone, including earthquake alerts, but this feature is not available in all countries or regions, mainly in the United States, Japan and other countries.
Regarding the issue of earthquake early warning, Apple customer service said that the earthquake early warning system needs to cooperate with local governments and use information provided by relevant departments to judge earthquake conditions and issue early warnings. It is recommended that users download third-party early warning apps to obtain earthquake early warning information.
This response from Apple customer service once again sparked discussion. Some netizens speculated that perhaps the earthquake information was too sensitive, so Apple was not allowed to access it. However, this speculation was denied.
Currently, the earthquake early warning functions on domestic mobile phone manufacturers are all cooperating with the Chengdu High-tech Disaster Reduction Research Institute. The agency's official website shows that it has cooperated with Xiaomi Group, Huawei mobile phones, OPPO mobile phones, vivo mobile phones, TCL TV, Changhong TV and other mobile phone and TV manufacturers to achieve system-level access to the disaster warning functions of mobile phones, TVs, and Internet TVs.
The Chengdu High-tech Disaster Reduction Research Institute recently stated, "In addition to Apple mobile phones, domestic mobile phone manufacturers such as Huawei and Xiaomi have actively contacted us and requested access to the earthquake early warning system and built-in earthquake early warning. Apple mobile phones have indeed not contacted us and have built-in earthquake early warning."
It can be seen that Apple is not incapable of providing earthquake warning functions, but has no initiative to carry out relevant localized cooperation in China.
As for downloading a third-party early warning app mentioned by Apple customer service, an Apple user complained to Sina Technology that she downloaded a third-party early warning app after the 5.5-magnitude earthquake in Pingyuan County, Dezhou City, Shandong Province, but did not receive a notification on her phone during the Jishishan earthquake in Gansu Province. After all, third-party early warning apps require multiple system permissions such as positioning and notification, and must always be running in the background to be effective. This is very different from the built-in earthquake early warning function.
Liang Zhenpeng, a senior industrial economic observer, told Sina Technology that there may be multiple reasons why Apple lags behind in the localization of earthquake warning functions. First of all, Apple's product R&D and design are mainly concentrated in the United States, and it may not have enough understanding and attention to the special needs of the Chinese market; secondly, functions such as earthquake warnings require cooperation with relevant agencies and governments, and there may be problems with cooperation being difficult or that the cooperation relationship is not close enough; finally, Apple may focus more on launching universal functions on a global scale rather than targeting the localization needs of specific regions.
Is localization lagging behind? Expert: Not enough attention
In fact, not only the earthquake warning function, compared with domestic mobile phones, Apple has also been complained about insufficient localization in many aspects.
For example, signal issues. Because the iPhone uses an external baseband design, domestic users have complained about poor signal quality for many years, especially in special scenarios such as subways and airports. Apple also hopes to solve this problem through self-developed baseband chips, but the project is fraught with difficulties and there is no news of success yet. This year, domestic mobile phone manufacturers have been involved in satellite communication functions.
Another example is the issue of fast charging. Due to the pain point of battery life, many domestic mobile phone manufacturers have increased fast charging to 200W or even 240W. However, iPhone charging has only gotten rid of the "5V1A" ancestral configuration in recent years. The current charger provided by the iPhone15 series is 20W.
There are many such cases, such as beauty selfies, holiday alarm clocks, call recordings, red envelope assistants, long screenshots, multiple application openings, etc. that many netizens have called for. These are standard features for domestic mobile phones, but are not provided on the iPhone.
Take beauty selfies as an example. A large number of female users complain about the poor selfie results of iPhones. Among domestic mobile phones, beauty functions have almost become standard features. Many mobile phone products also feature portrait beauty and Selfie functions, which are optimized through hardware and algorithms. The iPhone only provides basic functions such as portrait mode and portrait lighting effects, which are far from enough to meet localization needs.
A digital blogger thinks, why doesn’t Apple improve localization services? The fundamental reason is that Apple still doesn’t quite understand the usage habits of Chinese users. "Are you saying that Apple can't make these features? It's impossible. It's just laziness! Let's talk about conspiracy theories. I don't make these features. The iPhone is still selling well, so why should I care about these details?"
Yuan Shuai, deputy secretary-general of the Zhongguancun Internet of Things Industry Alliance and executive director of the High-Quality Development Promotion Project for Specialized and New Enterprises, also believes that willingness issues may be a factor why Apple lags behind in these localized functions. Apple has always claimed to focus on global vision and simple design, and its product concept is to pursue a globally unified user experience. This has resulted in insufficient attention to some localized functions. In addition, Chinese and Western cultural backgrounds and perceptions are also important factors.
In addition, Apple’s so-called closed ecosystem and strict application review may also limit its rapid response to localized functions. In contrast, domestic mobile phone brands are more flexible and can adapt to local market needs more quickly and launch features that meet consumer preferences.
Is there an opportunity for domestic manufacturers to catch up?
Although Apple has been criticized for not doing enough localization, in the current domestic high-end smartphone market, Apple is still the king.
The latest report from research firm Canalys shows that China’s high-end smartphone market (above 3,500 yuan) grew by 12.3% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2023. Among the 10 best-selling models, Apple accounts for 7, almost dominating the entire list, Huawei has two models, and vivo has one model.
Domestic mobile phone manufacturers are also benchmarking against Apple, trying to compete in the high-end market.
For example, Xiaomi, starting from 2021, Lei Jun has repeatedly mentioned that Xiaomi will fully benchmark against Apple and surpass Apple step by step in the future; for example, Honor, Zhao Ming has also repeatedly proposed that Xiaomi will benchmark against Apple and dare to compete with Apple.
Localization is also one of the differences that domestic mobile phone manufacturers consider to compete with Apple. Such as communications, battery life, imaging, domestic Internet services, etc. When talking about this topic in an interview recently, Hu Baishan, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer of Vivo, and Dean of Vivo Central Research Institute, said that from the product itself, there was a certain gap between high-end Android phones and Apple in terms of user experience, so Apple occupies a relatively large share of high-end phones. However, the gap between the two parties has narrowed significantly in the past few years. In terms of imaging, including OS, where Apple has the strongest reputation among users in the past, the gap is already very small.
In addition, another variable is Huawei's regression. In August this year, Huawei officially returned to the high-end market through the Pioneer Plan of the Mate60 series; recently, Huawei's mid-range nova12 series also joined the Pioneer Plan. Although Huawei has not officially announced the return of Kirin 5G chips, according to tests by professional bloggers and netizens, the network speeds of these mid-to-high-end products have reached 5G speeds.
Yuan Shuai believes that with the rise of domestic mobile phone brands and the return of Huawei's 5G functions, Apple's position in the domestic high-end market will inevitably face a huge impact. These domestic brands have advantages in localized functions and can better meet the needs of domestic consumers. Coupled with the promotion of cultural influence, some domestic consumers are more inclined to choose domestic mobile phone brands.
"Although Apple also has its own advantages, such as its ecosystem, global brand influence and so-called high-end image, etc. However, if Apple wants to retain China's huge potential and economic consumption market, Apple must continue to improve its products and services, strengthen communication with domestic consumers, further meet local needs, and maintain its competitiveness in the domestic high-end electronics consumer market." He said.
Liang Zhenpeng believes that Apple has accumulated high awareness and loyalty in terms of brand value, user experience, ecosystem, etc. These factors also have an important impact on users' choices. Apple's high-end status in the country may not be greatly affected in the short term. However, with the continuous development of domestic brands and technological advancement, Apple needs to pay more attention to the special needs of the Chinese market and provide functions and services that are more in line with local needs to remain competitive.
Text | Sina Technology Zhang Jun