Domestic Flagship "Apple-Like" Flavors are Getting Stronger: Paying Homage to iPhone or Blazing a New Trail?

Domestic Flagship "Apple-Like" Flavors are Getting Stronger: Paying Homage to iPhone or Blazing a New Trail?If you've been following the recent smartphone releases, you've probably noticed a trend - everything seems to be getting more and more like the iPhone. Benchmarking against the iPhone has always been a favorite strategy for Chinese smartphone brands, with the iPhone often being humiliated at their launch events

Domestic Flagship "Apple-Like" Flavors are Getting Stronger: Paying Homage to iPhone or Blazing a New Trail?

If you've been following the recent smartphone releases, you've probably noticed a trend - everything seems to be getting more and more like the iPhone. Benchmarking against the iPhone has always been a favorite strategy for Chinese smartphone brands, with the iPhone often being humiliated at their launch events. However, this fall's wave of new products suggests a stronger homage to the iPhone vibe.

• The most obvious manifestation of the "Apple-like" design emphasis is in product design. This falls releases saw the straight-edged frame design becoming an industry-wide trend. Numerous standard models, including the vivo X200 series, OPPO Find X8 series, and Xiaomi 15 series, have embraced iPhones straight-edged frame design. These models, without exception, use the iPhone as the primary benchmark in their marketing. For example, almost every brand touts their ultra-narrow bezels as being on par with the iPhone. In terms of body size, vivo X200 Pro Mini and Xiaomi 15 also conveniently maintain dimensions similar to the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro, with a length-to-width ratio of 150mm718.1mm and a screen size of around 6.3 inches. Even the physical camera button, a new addition to the iPhone 16 series this year, has been followed by the OPPO Find X8 series. In the same position on the right frame of the Find X8 Pro, OPPO has added a Quick Capture Key that quickly launches the camera and supports swipe zoom.

The "homage" goes beyond design to system and functionality. For example, while the iPhone has the Dynamic Island, vivo has the Origin Island, OPPO has the Fluid Cloud; the iPhone supports Live Photos, and a host of Android flagships now offer it as well. Even the animation for AI activation in the recently released Pengu OS clearly borrows from Apple intelligence.

This year, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, and other smartphone brands have also emphasized their support for the Apple ecosystem. For example, ColorOS 15's Fluid Cloud enables native file transfer between OPPO and iPhone devices. At the Xiaomi new product launch, the company highlighted HyperConnect's comprehensive support for Apple devices, enabling seamless file transfer between Xiaomi and Apple devices, viewing iWork office documents, and displaying Xiaomi phone mirrors on Mac systems. Vivos foldable screen can even remotely control a Mac.

Over the past two years, "differentiation" has been a frequently used term. Even when smartphone brands adopted Apple's design and functions, they often made a conscious effort to avoid actively associating themselves with the iPhone in their marketing. But somewhere along the way, learning from Apple, fully supporting the Apple ecosystem, and even emphasizing the "Apple-like" features in marketing became a new industry consensus.

Why the trend of borrowing from the iPhone?

It needs to be acknowledged that mutually borrowing from each other in terms of product design and functionality is not a recent phenomenon in the smartphone industry; its an "industry convention." Whether it's the iPhone, Android, or even today's HarmonyOS devices, mutual borrowing and learning are common practices. Even iOS borrows and learns from Android flagship features. For instance, the AI noise cancellation feature widely used in smartphones today was first seen on Chinese phones. The "iPhone mirroring" feature supported by iOS 18 was already implemented on Huawei phones and laptops several years ago. Even the physical camera button in the iPhone 16 series was used on Android phones earlier.

Borrowing from each other is not shameful. After all, the smartphone industry has undergone over a decade of development and transformation since its inception. With both software and hardware reaching a relatively mature stage, the space for product teams to innovate is becoming increasingly limited. In a sense, after years of accumulation, the iteration of software and hardware on such a small device will inevitably lead to some similarities, even coincidences."

From a practical perspective, in today's increasingly competitive market and rising supply chain costs, adopting a "take-and-use" approach for proven solutions helps reduce costs and risks.

While its true that, judging from the overall situation with these new flagship phones, Chinese brands haven't completely copied the iPhone. The "Apple-like" design is mostly confined to standard models and mini versions. The flagship "big cup" and "extra-large cup" models that are the pride of Chinese smartphone brands generally "stay true to their roots" and maintain a consistent design heritage.

From the user perspective, there is indeed a segment of users who desire an Android product with a user experience and design close to the iPhone, but at a more affordable price and with a more local flavor. The current approach of Chinese brands is simply in response to this market trend.

Therefore, we cannot jump to the conclusion that Chinese brands are stagnant based on these borrowings. In fact, Chinese Android flagships have been leading the entire smartphone industry in terms of hardware and software innovation. For example, the foldable phone market, with its most intense global competition, the most diverse forms, and the most varied price segments, is the Chinese smartphone market. In particular, in terms of exploring related application scenarios and functions, Chinese brands are not inferior to international giants like Apple, Google, and Samsung.

Apple remains the best model to learn from

In a way, Apple is indeed a good model to learn from. As a leading technology brand, the iPhone has been the best-selling and most popular electronic product globally for over a decade, almost without exception. According to the latest data from market research firm Counterpoint Research, the iPhone 15 standard model ranked first in the global top-selling smartphone rankings for the third quarter of 2024, accounting for 3.5% of the market. In the third quarter of 2024, the top 10 smartphones accounted for 19% of global market sales; Apple occupied four positions on this list, with the iPhone Pro series sales accounting for more than 50% of iPhone model sales for the first time. This trend has been ongoing for years.

The iPhone's popularity is inseparable from its own product strength and the powerful Apple ecosystem. Apple has leveraged its long-term software and hardware ecosystem to maintain high user stickiness. In the high-end market, the iPhone dominates.

Chinese smartphone brands have made notable achievements in the global smartphone market in recent years. In terms of absolute market share, the top-ranked brands globally, aside from Apple and Samsung, are primarily Chinese brands. After achieving comprehensive coverage of the domestic market, Chinese brands have begun to seek breakthroughs in the high-end flagship market. A high-end breakthrough, to put it bluntly, means "stealing cake" from Apple.

However, years of differentiation strategies have proven that it is difficult for Chinese flagships to attract Apple users by touting their differentiating features. Coupled with the intensifying competition in the high-end market, the current approach is to first achieve partial compatibility with the Apple ecosystem, allowing some Apple users to gradually accept Chinese flagships and the Chinese ecosystem, gradually reducing learning costs for users, and paving the way for future possibilities.

Xiaomi is doing well in this regard. For example, Xiaomi SU7 emphasizes its friendliness towards Apple users and the Apple ecosystem. Imagine an iPhone user who experiences the convenience of Xiaomi's car's compatibility with the Apple ecosystem. They will gradually become familiar with Xiaomi's human-vehicle-home ecosystem. When they realize that using a Xiaomi phone gives them easier access to this smart ecosystem they've already grown accustomed to, they might choose a Xiaomi phone for their next device and a Xiaomi TV for their next purchase.

This approach actually explains the main reason for the current "iPhone-like" trend in flagship phones. During the media interview session after the launch of the OPPO Find X8 series, when asked why OPPO's new products, from exterior design to performance and imaging, were all benchmarked against the newly launched iPhone 16, OPPO's Chief Product Officer, Liu Zuohu, bluntly stated: "We want to convert Apple users, to put it bluntly, to give Apple users another option."

The same point holds true: this approach is not shameful but rather practical. If you support this approach, congratulations, you now have more product options. If you disdain this "iPhone-like" approach, it won't affect you. Because there are still a large number of excellent Chinese flagships available.

Source: GizmoCat