(By Guancha Observer Network, Zhu Dong, edited by Zhang Guangkai)

On June 14th, the newly released Huawei Pura 80 series had its first sale, with the Pura 80 Pro and Pro+ models being the first to go on sale. He Gang, CEO of Huawei's Terminal BG, appeared at the Huawei Shanghai Nanjing East Road flagship store to deliver new devices to the first batch of buyers.

Although the release schedule was delayed by two months compared to the previous generation, the Pura 80 series is no longer severely out of stock. By the evening of the same day, the Huawei Mall showed that except for some colors temporarily out of stock, most models of Puro 80 Pro/Pro+ could be purchased directly.

Source: Guancha Observer Network

In the afternoon, similar situations were learned offline by the Guancha Observer Network. At a Huawei offline store in Qingpu, Shanghai, people came to inquire about the Pura 80 series from time to time. The staff said that most models of Pro/Pro+ were in stock, "We sold fifty to sixty units today."

The Pura 80 series is a major annual imaging flagship for Huawei, with the Pro version equipped with a 50-megapixel one-inch main camera, a 40-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, and a Red Maple original color camera configuration, while the Pro+ version differs in its imaging capability by featuring a high dynamic one-inch main camera.

It was learned by the Guancha Observer Network at the store that the Huawei Pura 80 Pro is equipped with a 12-core processor, the same number of cores as the Pura 70 Pro processor, and this generation features the HarmonyOS 5.1, which is the previously mentioned "pure-blood HarmonyOS," and does not support rollback.

Huawei Terminal BG CEO He Gang

In terms of price, the starting price for the Huawei Pura 80 Pro is 6,499 yuan, while the starting price for the Pro+ version is 7,999 yuan, both identical to the previous generation.

Although the shortage is no longer severe, it was shown by the Huawei Mall that the Huawei Pura 80 Pro is expected to ship before July 2nd, while the Pro+ is expected to complete shipping before June 21st.

At the Xiaomi offline store just across the wall in the same mall, a staff member candidly told the Guancha Observer Network that the glaze texture of the Huawei Pura 80 series feels better than the Xiaomi 15 series, but the Xiaomi 15 series uses the latest Qualcomm processor, "which has an advantage in performance."

Interestingly, on June 13th, Wang Teng, General Manager of Xiaomi's China Market Department, also visited a Huawei store offline.

Regarding the Xiaomi 15S Pro, launched last month and equipped with the Xiaomi 3-nanometer Xuan Ring O1 chip, the aforementioned Xiaomi store staff told the Guancha Observer Network that there are currently no demo units in the store, and the supply is very limited, "In the second batch, our store only has two units, and currently, we should be the only store with inventory in the entire Qingpu area. It's not a matter of chip cost, as it's a new chip, so we need to see how the market responds."

Source: Guancha Observer Network

When asked if the Xiaomi 16 series would continue to use self-developed chips, the staff member believed the possibility was very low, "Because it will affect the relationship between Xiaomi and Qualcomm, but according to Lei Jun's character, who has been developing WPS for decades, he will definitely continue to iterate on the chip."

According to data released by market research firm IDC, in the first quarter, Xiaomi reclaimed the top spot in the Chinese mobile phone market with a share of 18.6%, nearly ten years after its last time. The institution believes that Xiaomi benefited the most from the "national subsidy" policy, with a faster growth rate than leading manufacturers.

The aforementioned Xiaomi store staff also candidly told the Guancha Observer Network that Xiaomi is indeed the brand that benefits the most from the "national subsidy" policy. Because Huawei and Apple phones have higher prices, most models cannot enjoy the "national subsidy," while vivo and OPPO brands rely heavily on offline channels, and there may be inconsistent pricing between offline and online, which can influence users' purchasing decisions to some extent. In contrast, Xiaomi maintains consistent pricing both online and offline, not only allowing most mid-to-low-end models to enjoy "national subsidies," but also enabling high-end models to benefit from the "national subsidy" policy, greatly stimulating sales.

However, when looking at the high-end market, currently, only Huawei seems to be able to compete with Apple.

According to data released by Canalys, in the first quarter, in the Chinese smartphone market priced over $600 (approximately RMB 4,309), Apple accounted for 43% of the share, a year-on-year decline of 11 percentage points, while Huawei accounted for 38% of the share, a year-on-year increase of 12 percentage points; Xiaomi's share was 7%, a year-on-year increase of 3 percentage points; Honor's share was 4%, a year-on-year decrease of 2 percentage points.

An industry analysis pointed out that due to the still incomplete single-frame HarmonyOS system, the Huawei Pura 80 series was delayed by more than two months, so it is unlikely to replicate its performance five years ago in the Chinese high-end market surpassing Apple in the second quarter, but it is very likely to surpass in the third quarter.

Source: Guancha Observer Network

Looking back at the smartphone market this year, it remains a period full of challenges and opportunities.

Recently, various institutions have downgraded their full-year forecasts for the smartphone market. For example, IDC lowered the global smartphone shipment growth rate forecast from 2.3% in February to 0.6%, citing reasons such as fluctuations in tariffs and extended replacement cycles. Counterpoint Research then revised its 2025 global smartphone shipment growth forecast from 4.2% to 1.9%, due to new uncertainties surrounding U.S. tariffs.

However, in China, IDC data shows that under the dual support of the "national subsidy" policy and the "618" e-commerce promotion, sales from May 1st to June 7th grew by 8.2% year-on-year, reaching 30.2 million units. Apple increased its discounts significantly, especially the iPhone 16 Pro 128GB, which led the overall growth after participating in the "national subsidy"; Xiaomi continued its strong performance, and OPPO also received positive feedback after increasing promotions, presenting a thriving scene.

In this competitive environment, whether Huawei can maintain its high growth rate and achieve more market share in the high-end segment, the Pura 80 series will undoubtedly be a key product, as evidenced by He Gang personally delivering devices at the store, indicating that both product parameters and sales strategies are highly valued.

Data from market research firm Techinsights shows that the Huawei Pura 70 series achieved sales of over ten million units within eight months of its launch. Recently, there have been reports that sales of the Pura 70 series have exceeded 13 million units. If this figure is accurate, it means that the shipment volume of the Pura 70 series has surpassed the 12.7 million units of the P20 series in 2018, second only to the 15.8 million units of the P30 series, making the performance of the Pura 80 series备受关注.

This article is an exclusive contribution by the Guancha Observer Network and cannot be reprinted without permission.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7515809909015904831/

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