After experiencing the iPhone 17, I have to say that Apple is finally going to fight back against domestic smartphones.

In recent days, the highly anticipated iPhone 17 series has finally been officially launched. I wonder if any of our friends have placed an order with enthusiasm?

We've received our phones, and we've also specially gone to Hong Kong, China to buy two iPhone Airs for disassembly. So, the official and comprehensive review will have to wait for a couple of days, but we believe it will be worth the wait.

Today, we'll also share some experiences with the new iPhone. However, we mainly want to talk about something else:

Have you noticed that, contrary to the past sentiment of "Who would buy the standard version?", the standard version of the iPhone 17 has become the most popular choice for purchase this year.

After the upgrade to high - refresh rate and a series of other improvements, the pre - order volume on a single e - commerce platform has exceeded 2 million...

If I remember correctly, the pre - order volume of the standard version of the iPhone 16 on the same platform last year was only around three or four hundred thousand, almost a tenfold increase...

The iPhone 17 Pro has also gained a lot of attention with its VC heat dissipation, larger battery, and new appearance.

Anyway, it's a foregone conclusion that the iPhone 17 series will revive iPhone sales.

To put it this way, several of my colleagues whose main phones are Android devices have rushed to buy an iPhone 17 as their second phone, becoming dual - phone users.

It's that simple. I'll buy it if it has a high - refresh rate screen; otherwise, I won't.

In the past year, domestic brands have been constantly emulating, paying homage to, or force - fitting compatibility with Apple. As a result, Apple's market share in China has dropped to third place. It's absolutely impossible for Apple not to feel the pressure.

The iPhone 17 series is Apple's response to this pressure.

So today, I'm going to ride on the wave of the iPhone 17's launch and talk to you about "Apple's pressure".

First of all, as you may already know, the starting price of the iPhone 17 remains the same as last year's iPhone 16, which is 5,999 yuan.

Although the price remains unchanged, the storage capacity has doubled to 256GB. A high - refresh rate screen and new front and rear cameras have been added. It is equipped with the latest A19 chip, and the GPS has been upgraded to dual - frequency. It's definitely more value for the same price.

In particular, the high - refresh rate screen and dual - frequency GPS, which were previously exclusive to the Pro series, have been introduced to the standard version this year without a price increase. Moreover, the high - refresh rate screen even inherits the "ProMotion" name...

You can think about how "against tradition" this change is for Apple.

With the national subsidy, the initial launch price of 5,999 yuan has been further reduced to 5,499 yuan. A 500 - yuan discount right from the start. Who can resist that...

If there's also a huge subsidy on Pinduoduo, it's entirely possible to get a brand - new iPhone 17 for less than 5,000 yuan.

In the past two years, the mid - range flagship phones of domestic brands have also increased in price to over 4,000 yuan. So, even with the national subsidy, the price difference between domestic brands and the iPhone 17 is not as large as before.

You could say that the significant price cuts of iPhone 16 by dealers last year were due to its lack of appeal. However, with the configuration of the iPhone 17 and the national subsidy this year, its appeal is far greater than last year...

As for the reasons behind Apple's offering of national subsidies and stuffing in more features, we can make a simple analysis:

On the one hand, it's time for a change. To extend the battery life of the iPhone Air, it has to use a ProMotion screen with lower power consumption. At this point, it's not cost - effective to place a separate order for 60Hz refresh rate screens for the iPhone 17.

On the other hand, it's quite simple. After domestic brands have performed better and better in the Chinese mainland, which has always been Apple's "second - largest market", Apple is under a great deal of pressure, not just a little bit.

Globally, Apple remains a global mobile phone giant, often ranking first or second with Samsung. It seems to be doing quite well.

For example, IDC data shows that in the fourth quarter of 2024, even though the year - on - year growth was negative, Apple's smartphone sales still significantly outperformed Samsung, ranking first globally.

However, in the Chinese market, Apple's sales situation is not as optimistic as the global data suggests...

According to IDC data, in the fourth quarter of 2024, although Apple still had the highest shipment volume of smartphones in China, the year - on - year figure was declining. Moreover, vivo, Huawei, and Xiaomi were closely behind Apple, with not much of a gap.

Looking at the whole year of 2024, Apple's market share in China has dropped to third place, a 5.4% decline from 2023, and it has been overtaken by vivo and Huawei.

In the first quarter of 2025, it had a disastrous start, dropping directly to fifth place...

Many iPhone users I know have switched to domestic flagship phones in the past one or two years or have chosen to use both an iPhone and an Android phone.

Considering the strategy of the iPhone 16 series, which saw a rapid price cut just one month after its launch, it's obvious to everyone that the sales of the iPhone 16 series were not very good.

Last year can be regarded as a battle where domestic mobile phone brands ganged up on Apple. In the front, Huawei continued its winning streak by launching the Mate X5 and Mate 70 series. In the back, Honor, Xiaomi, OPPO, and vivo were in fierce competition. OPPO and vivo even made it obvious that they were emulating Apple...

With the active promotion of domestic manufacturers, many iPhone users, seeing the well - made, high - spec, and more affordable phones from vivo and OPPO, placed orders with enthusiasm using the national subsidy...

Of course, many people on the Internet have criticized OPPO and vivo for their imitation of the iPhone, believing that domestic brands lack their own design styles.

But the fact is, after imitating the iPhone, their sales have indeed increased. So, you tell me if it works...

To get closer to Apple users, domestic manufacturers have become very good at "forcing compatibility with Apple". Take vivo as an example. Whether it's a Mac, iPad, or iPhone, they can be interconnected through vivo's office suite or vivo's cross - device transfer function.

Regardless of the public opinion and consequences of this approach, and the fact that you still need an iPhone as a carrier, this roundabout way can indeed attract some users who are interested in Android flagships but are also deeply immersed in the Apple ecosystem.

After all, to attract new users and increase market share, targeting Apple users is a necessary step.

Of course, this approach has had an effect. As mentioned earlier, the sales of domestic brands have been good recently, which has also put a lot of pressure on iPhone sales in China. Apple has had to keep reducing prices to fight back.

The fact that Apple has to keep reducing prices to stimulate sales, especially for a top - tier giant like Apple, says a lot.

So, for this year's iPhone 17 series, Apple knows it has to make significant improvements. Otherwise, the situation from last year will only get worse...

To some extent,