Nachdem ich drei IT-Märkte landesweit besucht habe, wurde mir klar, dass die heutige Jugend nicht mehr so leicht zu täuschen ist.

In Xiaolei's impression, every summer vacation is the busiest time for the digital city: regardless of whether they did well in the exams or not, high - school graduates who are about to enter university usually buy a laptop. On the one hand, many majors are closely related to computers. Although schools generally provide computer rooms for students to use in class, it is still very inconvenient not to have their own computers. On the other hand, many aspects of university studies, such as writing papers and taking notes, need to be completed with a computer.

So, do today's prospective college students still buy things in the digital city? What will they buy? And what do they value more when buying devices? With these questions in mind, Lei Technology visited the Brainworld in Guangzhou and JD Mall and found that the situation was a bit different from what we expected.

Whether online or offline, it's hard to deceive young people nowadays

The first stop was Brainworld. As one of the most famous chain digital cities in the country, it is also the preferred place for many Guangdong people to buy computers.

To be honest, looking at the entrance of Brainworld, I couldn't help but think of my first computer in college. Although I had a great interest in digital products in high school and did a lot of research before going to the computer city, I still got a bit ripped off in the end. I spent thousands of yuan on a “gaming laptop” equipped with a GT750.

Although it only differs from the GTX750 by one letter, the performance gap is quite large. The only thing to be thankful for is that it at least has a discrete graphics card, and it was okay to play the then - popular game LOL on it. When I got to the college dormitory, I found that one of my roommates was deceived because he knew nothing about computers. He bought an office laptop for gaming, and the result was, of course, tragic (the performance of the integrated graphics card at that time was barely acceptable).

Of course, relatively speaking, Brainworld in big cities is much more regular. Judging from previous visits, although the prices may differ from those online (after all, there are still labor and rent costs), the kind of deceptive situation like “I wanted a gaming laptop but ended up buying an office laptop” rarely happens anymore.

After arriving at Brainworld, Xiaolei found that the footfall was not high on the afternoon after the college entrance examination results were announced. There were quite a few people strolling by the entrance, but the people in the mall were mainly concentrated in a few mobile phone stores, and there were very few people consulting about computers in the computer stores.

Source: Lei Technology

Fortunately, my goal today was not limited to the people buying computers. So after waiting around the stores like Xiaomi and OPPO for a while, I quickly “caught” two young guys who looked like high - school students. They had just come out of the Xiaomi store, carrying a Xiaomi tote bag in their hands. It seemed that they had made a good purchase.

After a simple conversation, the two young guys were very straightforward in answering my questions. For example, when asked why they chose Xiaomi, one of them said that he had read many reviews online and thought that Xiaomi had better hardware configurations at the same price range. Since his budget was limited, he finally chose Xiaomi. This was an expected answer. “Cost - effectiveness” is indeed a label that runs through its mobile phone product line.

As for the other guy's answer, it really surprised me. “Since junior high school, I've been going to the Xiaomi Home with my friends to play games on weekends when I had nothing to do. I felt the experience was quite good, and I've gotten used to it (accompanied by the laughter of his companion). Now that I can buy my own phone, the first brand that comes to mind is Xiaomi.”

Source: Lei Technology

To be honest, I really didn't expect that the so - called “Xiaomi Internet Cafe” that people used to complain about would actually help Xiaomi gain a group of fans. Even if the conversion rate is not high, this kind of cost - free advertising is really a pure profit. However, sometimes when there are too many young guys like them, it will also affect the experience of ordinary customers. The staff at the Xiaomi Home should make some rules with them, at least leaving one phone for passers - by to experience.

One of the guys bought the Xiaomi 15s Pro, and the other bought the K80 Ultimate Edition. Since the latter was still in the pre - sale period, they agreed to pick it up on the 26th. When asked why they didn't buy it during the 618 promotion, the answers were exactly the same: “The scores hadn't come out yet, and my parents didn't approve the budget.” It's no surprise at all.

However, the models they chose were both newly launched recently, and there weren't significant discounts during the 618 promotion, so overall, they didn't lose out.

Interestingly, when I asked them if they planned to buy a laptop, their answers were very consistent: “Yes, but I'll buy it online.” The reason for not buying offline was also very simple: “I've come here to look at the machines before. The salespeople are so persuasive that I always feel like I'm being led around. It's more comfortable to just make a decision online.”

After saying goodbye to the two young guys, I had a preliminary understanding of the thoughts of these prospective college students. Born in the Internet era, they will frequently search for information on various platforms, compare and filter out those obviously “sponsored reviews”, then list the candidates, rate them based on their experience, and finally make a decision according to their own needs.

Source: Lei Technology

For example, the guy who chose the Xiaomi 15s Pro gave three main reasons:

• It was just released recently. It's better to buy the new one than the old one;
• It has an AR anti - reflection coating;
• It's Xiaomi's own product, so the follow - up maintenance will be more attentive.

As for the requirements in terms of imaging performance, after comparing several other models in the same price range, the guy thought that the Xiaomi 15s Pro had already met his needs.

To be honest, this is much better than what I did back then. At that time, I just browsed the Tieba and at most posted a question asking for advice from netizens. Finally, I chose Meizu between Meizu and HTC. It turned out that the choice was right. After all, HTC declined faster than I expected, while Meizu still had several “golden years” later.

However, I don't think there are many student users like them. The two prospective college students I met seemed to pay close attention to digital products on a regular basis. If someone just crams for knowledge at the last minute, it's hard to have such in - depth knowledge of digital products like mobile phones. But this also shows that today's prospective college students are much smarter than consumers in the past. With the increase of personal voice channels such as Xiaohongshu, Video Accounts, and Douyin, it's easier for people to verify information. The so - called “lying with open eyes” and “exaggerated praise” in product reviews don't have good effects and may even arouse the disgust of some people.

If the budget allows, they'll go for the Apple ecosystem. The ecosystem is the killer feature

In order to learn more about the thoughts of prospective college students, I waited at Brainworld for a while. Finally, I saw a father and daughter walking out of the Apple authorized store with big and small bags in their hands. It seemed that they had bought the whole Apple set at once, including an iPhone, an iPad, and a MacBook, and maybe even some small accessories like earphones.

To tell the truth, although I noticed that there were people shopping in the Apple authorized store when I passed by the door just now, I thought they were just buying an iPhone. But then I saw the whole set, which means that this prospective college student must have done very well in the college entrance examination - so he/she got a fully - equipped reward from the parents.

After a simple conversation, I got the answer to my question. “Buying the whole Apple set was promised to my child before the college entrance examination. I've been using Apple products for her since junior high school. She's used to it, and we also think Apple is very good... What are the advantages of Apple? Well, it's hard to say. One is that it doesn't lag. My iPhone 12 or 11, I can't remember exactly, still works fine now. And the Family Sharing function is also very useful. Sometimes when she goes to cram school and it's inconvenient for us to pick her up, we can still know where she is,” the father explained to Lei Technology.

In Lei Technology's view, Apple's ecosystem is still its greatest advantage. Although domestic mobile phone manufacturers have been catching up, there is still a gap, especially in the experience of wearable devices. Apple is still in a league of its own globally at present.

Source: Lei Technology

Maybe in the eyes of many netizens, this father is a kind of “controlling” parent. But later, the father further explained, “We don't really control her. She's very self - disciplined. The location function is just an insurance when we can't get in touch with her.” I agree with this. Parents are always worried when their children are out. The accurate real - time location function of the iPhone is really powerful. Even if the phone is forcibly shut down, it will still record the last location.

Maybe many readers will ask, “Don't these functions also exist in Android phones?” Indeed, the family guardianship function is basically a standard feature in mainstream mobile phones. But in Lei Technology's experience, the difference is actually quite significant. Even OPPO, which does the best in this regard in China, still has many limitations and can't achieve the same positioning accuracy as Apple.

So, can't domestic mobile phones compete with Apple in terms of smart interconnection? Not really. Most of the devices released by Huawei after 2024 support the StarFlash technology. Even after the device is shut down, it can still achieve meter - level accurate positioning for up to 48 hours. However, the overall popularity is not high, so many people don't even know about it.

Source: Hisilicon's official website

From the perspective of user experience, if the budget allows, there's no problem in directly choosing the Apple trio. Except for the less - than - satisfactory PC gaming experience, whether it's a mobile phone or a tablet, the experience is top - notch. If you don't have the need for PC games and your professional courses don't require software that only runs on Windows, the MacBook offers the best experience among thin and light laptops. And because of the “average gaming experience”, it also better meets the parents' underlying concern of “fearing that their children will play games too much” when buying devices for them.

Although Apple's share in the domestic mobile phone market has indeed declined in the past two years, its share in the PC and tablet markets has increased. And in the field of wearables, Apple still has an obvious advantage. Coupled with years of ecosystem stickiness, Apple still has strong competitiveness in the high - end market.

When buying mobile phones, they focus more on the product rather than “chasing the brand”

After visiting Brainworld, Xiaolei decided to go to JD Mall. As a large - scale offline flagship store of JD, Lei Technology has always paid close attention to JD Mall. I visited it not long after it opened. At that time, I thought that compared with traditional digital cities, JD Mall was more like a “theme park” for digital enthusiasts. You can find most mainstream digital products here for trial, and the sales staff won't pester you to make a purchase.

It's just been one year since JD Mall opened, and it has also invested a lot in subway and outdoor advertisements for promotion, so it's not unknown. Sure enough, the footfall at JD Mall was significantly higher. The mobile phone stores of Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, and vivo were all crowded with people, and many of them looked like students.

Source: Lei Technology

After spending about an hour randomly interviewing some college entrance examination candidates, I had a new understanding of today's young people's thoughts on choosing digital products.

First of all, the popularity of domestic mobile phones has increased significantly, and the high - end transformation has achieved remarkable results. In the high - end price range, there were people asking about and experiencing the top - of - the - line flagship models at almost every brand's sales point. Even within the ten minutes I was strolling around, OPPO and Xiaomi each sold a Find X8 Ultra and a Xiaomi 15 Ultra. The idea that “if you want good photography, choose the top - of - the - line model” has almost become a consensus.

According to a young guy, “There aren't many people in our class using iPhones. Most of us use OPPO, vivo, and Xiaomi, and there are also some using Huawei. We've compared the photography of different phones when we go out. Sometimes the iPhone is good, but in most cases, domestic mobile phones at similar prices can directly outperform it.” Well, I dare not say “outperform” for fear of being scolded by Apple fans.

The young guy's view is basically correct. In terms of the starting price of the standard iPhone model, it is comparable to the Pro - version flagships of various brands. These domestic flagships are equipped with large - sensor main cameras, periscope telephoto lenses, and large - sensor ultra - wide - angle lenses. Some models like the Find X8 Pro and X200 Pro even have dual - telephoto configurations. In terms of imaging performance, the standard iPhone model can't compare.

Moreover, they generally think that fast charging is very important. Being able to recharge the battery in a short time is very suitable for students' usage scenarios. For example, when