Exploring Huaqiangbei under the confrontation between Apple and Huawei: Some iPhone models are breaking prices, while Huawei's three foldable models are marked up by up to 26,000 yuan

On September 20th, on the first day of the sales battle between Huawei and Apple's new phones, Huaqiangbei, known as a prominent electronic product trading center in China and even globally, was bustling with activity.

On the streets, scalpers selling the iPhone 16 could be seen everywhere, enthusiastically soliciting every passerby in an attempt to sell the new phones in their hands. In contrast, Huawei's new product, Mate XT, was more scarce, but there were also available stocks being sold.

From the prices offered by these scalpers, the outside world could catch a glimpse of the market feedback for the latest products from these two smartphone giants.

The iPhone 16, which is generally considered by the public as "squeezing toothpaste" with the main highlight being the addition of a physical camera button, did not see the frenzy of previous years. According to a price list obtained by Time Finance from a distributor, apart from some models of the iPhone 16 ProMax which saw price increases of over a thousand yuan, the prices of the vast majority of models remained stable, with small price increases.

The scalper prices for the 128GB versions of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus were basically the same as the official prices, with only around a 50 yuan increase for the 256GB version. As for the annually most anticipated Pro series, the price increase for the 128GB and 256GB versions was only around 300 to 400 yuan.

Moreover, some models have seen prices drop below the launch price. For example, the 512GB version of the iPhone 16 was priced at 8950 yuan for all colors, which is 49 yuan lower than the official price of 8999 yuan; the 512GB version of the iPhone 16 Plus was similarly priced at 9950 yuan for all colors, which is 49 yuan lower than the official price of 9999 yuan.

And this is for available stocks. If consumers are willing to wait, after several e-commerce platforms started a subsidy war, the prices will be even lower. Especially on Pinduoduo, the subsidized price for the iPhone 16 is 5399 yuan, a direct reduction of 600 yuan from the official price; the subsidized price for the 512GB version of the iPhone 16 Plus on Pinduoduo is 8999 yuan, a direct reduction of 1000 yuan from the official price.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo from TF International Securities wrote in his analysis that the key reason for the lower-than-expected demand for the iPhone 16 series may be that the Apple Intelligence, which was supposed to be the biggest selling point of this series, could not be launched along with the product. At the same time, the intense competition in the Chinese market continues to affect consumer demand for the iPhone.

This was already evident during the pre-sale stage before the release. According to Ming-Chi Kuo's estimation, the pre-order sales of the iPhone 16 series in the first weekend were estimated to be around 37 million units, a decrease of approximately 12.7% compared to the first weekend sales of the iPhone 15 series last year Compared to the weak demand for the iPhone 16 series new phones in the market, Huawei's foldable phone Mate XT saw a much higher markup by scalpers on its first day of sale.

The product had already attracted over 6.85 million people to pre-order online. And less than a minute after the online sales started at 10:08 am on September 20th, Huawei Mate XT was sold out on platforms such as JD.com, Taobao, and Douyin.

Even in Huaqiangbei, Huawei Mate XT was not commonly seen. Unlike iPhones that can be easily found on the streets, consumers could hardly see scalpers selling Huawei Mate XT on the streets directly. Even in authorized Huawei stores, it was not possible to see or purchase the product directly.

At a location near Huaqiangbei's Yuanwang Digital City, Time Finance only saw three Huawei Mate XT phones displayed together. Since the products were unboxed, the three black 512GB Huawei Mate XT phones were priced at a relatively discounted rate compared to new products, but still high at 41,000 yuan each, which is 19,000 yuan higher than the original price of 22,000 yuan.

A scalper revealed to Time Finance that he did not have brand new unopened Huawei Mate XT products on hand and needed to source them. In terms of pricing, in the afternoon of September 20th, the black 512GB in-stock units were priced at 46,000 yuan each, which is 24,000 yuan higher than the original price; the more popular ruby red 512GB model was even more expensive by an additional 2,000 yuan, reaching a staggering 48,000 yuan.

The overwhelming popularity of Mate XT even exceeded Huawei's expectations. Early on September 20th, Richard Yu, Chairman of Huawei's Consumer Business Group, appeared at Huawei's flagship store on Nanjing East Road in Shanghai to participate in the new phone delivery ceremony and stated on-site that the demand for the foldable phone far exceeded expectations, with the team working overtime to expand production capacity.

Due to the high market demand, Ming-Chi Kuo also raised his shipment forecast for Huawei's foldable phone Mate XT from 500,000 units to 1 million units. However, Kuo emphasized that considering the global foldable phone shipment estimate for 2024 has been revised down from 30 million units to 15 million units, and past flagship Huawei models have experienced rapid demand decline after release, the market still needs to pay attention to whether the demand heat can be sustained.

Source: Time Weekly, Original Title: "A Close Look at Huaqiangbei in the Apple-Huawei Showdown: iPhone Models Breaking Prices, Huawei's Foldable Phone Markup Reaches 26,000 Yuan"