In the competition for the third place among high-end smartphones, will AI be the deciding factor?
Text: Zhigang
This year can be regarded as a "big year" for the mobile phone industry.
Under the continuous stimulation of the national subsidy policy, many brand manufacturers have squeezed out every bit of technological product strength.
For example, Apple's iPhone 17 series not only brings a brand - new upgrade in appearance design and A - series chips, but also realizes for the first time that all models are standard - equipped with a 120Hz high - refresh - rate screen, and the starting storage capacity is increased to 256GB...
"This is the biggest leap for iPhone to date."
Another example is the Xiaomi 17. Due to the cross - generation upgrade of the entire product line, the new product skipped "Xiaomi 16" and adopted the naming series of "Xiaomi 17".
Then there is the recently released vivo X300 series, which also showcases a large number of "game - changing" technologies.
These include, but are not limited to, the brand - new operating system OriginOS 6, which is the first in the industry to obtain the "dual - persistent smoothness" certificate; the exclusive VS1 chip and Blueprint Imaging Chip V3+ in the industry, forming a collaborative architecture of "dual - core combination + self - developed chip" with the Dimensity 9500, as well as various upgrades and innovations in software and hardware...
In addition, there is the Honor Magic 8, which directly brings the smartphone industry into the era of self - evolving AI native mobile phones through "leading in eight major AI technologies, eight major AI experiences, four major imaging aspects, and eight major performance aspects"; the OPPO Find X9 also has an exclusive AI button, supporting one - key flash memory and AI real - scene dialogue and other innovative functions.
In short, at the new product launch events in the second half of the year, all manufacturers have achieved a leap - forward upgrade in product strength.
Then, referring to past experience, the actions of mainstream manufacturers actually correspond to future development trends.
Therefore, against the severe background of the prolonged replacement cycle in the current industry and the approaching end of the national subsidy bonus, the collective major upgrade of flagship phones of various manufacturers aiming at the high - end market may be a tacit response to market demand, but more importantly, it may be an attempt to impact and reshape the high - end mobile phone market...
Is it time for another major reshuffle in the high - end mobile phone market?
The current pattern of the mobile phone industry is quite interesting.
In the mid - to - high - end (4,000 - 6,000 yuan and above) market segment, as everyone knows, the top two brands are either Apple or Huawei.
These two brands are like Maotai and Wuliangye in the liquor industry, with their brand status remaining unshakable regardless of market changes.
However, when it comes to who is the "third - place finisher" in the liquor industry and who can secure the third position in the mid - to - high - end mobile phone market, it seems that no one can be certain.
According to data from Counterpoint Research Market Pulse and Tianyancha APP, from July 2024 to August 2025 in the Chinese smartphone sales list, mainly vivo and Huawei frequently showed an alternating leading competitive situation, while Xiaomi and Apple only topped the list in individual months.
In the price range of 4,000 to 6,000 yuan, after excluding Apple (whose main models are all priced above 6,000 yuan), Huawei, Xiaomi, and vivo occupied the top three positions, with corresponding market shares (from January to July 2025) of 34.3%, 23.9%, and 16.9% respectively.
Crudely speaking, Xiaomi is currently the "third - place finisher" in the domestic mid - to - high - end mobile phone market.
However, there is a problem here. From January to July this year, Xiaomi's corresponding market share declined compared with the same period last year, with a decline rate of 4.1%, while vivo achieved a year - on - year growth of 5.5% against the trend.
With one declining and the other rising, the development trajectories of the two show an obvious "scissors gap". If the trend of one rising while the other falling continues in the future, will the ranking of the "third place" in the mid - to - high - end market change again?
As for who will gain the upper hand in the end, it is still hard to say at present.
After all, the competition for the "third - place finisher" between Xiaomi and vivo is never just a competition for market share, but also a confrontation between two completely different development paths and business philosophies.
After being baptized by multiple rounds of competition cycles, the competition paradigm in the mobile phone industry has undergone a fundamental change. The past competition methods centered on "piling up parameters" and "first - to - market hardware" are no longer effective. Instead, it is the in - depth refinement of comprehensive user experience, including software - hardware collaboration, AI capabilities, and specific scenario solutions.
This change has given rise to two thinking modes that are both complementary and have different focuses:
One type is brands led by "technological thinking", such as Xiaomi, whose strategic core is to demonstrate technological leadership.
Whether it is the pursuit of extreme performance scores, self - developed Xuanjie chips and Pengpai systems, or the close follow - up in ecological interconnection, Xiaomi essentially establishes a high - end image by building visible technological barriers to convince the market.
The models on this development path were Apple in the past and are Huawei now.
Through disruptive innovations such as self - developed Kirin chips, Hongmeng OS, and triple - folding forms, Huawei has continuously redefined the technological track and gradually forged a unique high - end advantage for its brand...
The other type is brands that take "user thinking" as the standard, such as vivo (and Apple at present), whose strategic focus is on the human - centered return of technology - all innovations serve user experience.
The overall approach is not just a simple pursuit of parameter piling, but emphasizes starting from real scenarios and making technological innovation serve the final product experience and user perception.
For example, although the pixel value of Apple's mobile phone camera is not the highest, it still provides an excellent imaging experience through top - notch algorithm tuning and product refinement;
Another example is the new imaging strategy announced by vivo before, which also takes the "scenario solution" as the center, promoting the evolution of mobile imaging from a tool to a cultural carrier and making professional capabilities more accessible to the public.
Based on this, the imagination for Xiaomi and vivo to break into the high - end market presents different pictures:
The path for the former to reach the high - end is a bit like "opening a blind box". Although it is full of uncertainties, once a breakthrough in hardcore technology that defines a category or era is found, the brand can quickly transform from a "chaser" to a "definer".
The latter's path to the high - end is more predictable. After all, the "user - oriented" path is easier to build brand loyalty and word - of - mouth compound interest, and once an advantage is established in key areas such as imaging and systems, the brand can form stable and long - term market momentum.
Just like Apple, although its A - series chips and iOS system are indeed powerful, it is no longer an absolute technological leader overall. The most direct evidence is the long - awaited absence of foldable phones...
Then, why can Apple still firmly occupy the throne in the high - end market?
The key lies in Apple's systematic ability to stably create good products. This system deeply integrates self - developed chips, operating systems, application ecosystems, and supply - chain collaboration, enabling Apple to achieve a precise balance between technological evolution and user needs and maintain consistent and high - quality product experience over a long period.
This also reveals the essence of high - end competition: Good products are the foundation of a good company, but not the moat.
In today's era of rapid technological iteration and easy replication of ideas, there are only two real moats: one is to create iconic innovative products that others cannot copy; the other is the ability to continuously and stably create good products.
Now, both the vivo X300 series and the Xiaomi 17 series can be called "good products", but who can transform them into long - term competitive advantages in the future?
Therefore, the final outcome of this "third - place" competition is essentially a crucial battle to test who can be the first to move from "product victory" to "system victory"...
In the 2.0 innovation era, when will the imagination of AI mobile phones explode?
Why can domestic mobile phone manufacturers now squeeze out every bit of product strength?
What is actually reflected behind this is the systematic upgrade of brand innovation logic and industrial capabilities.
In the past, when the core of the product supply chain was subject to others, brands could only achieve 1.0 micro - innovation and small breakthroughs, and it was difficult to reconstruct the underlying user experience.
But now, with the gradual maturity of underlying technologies such as China's semiconductor manufacturing process and AI algorithms, especially Huawei's breakthrough in Kirin chips, it has not only broken through the technological ceiling but also reshaped industrial confidence and innovation boundaries.
Therefore, more mainstream manufacturers can transform from "followers" who passively accepted technological solutions in the past to gradually carry out cooperative research in key areas, and even promote in - depth self - research to master technological dominance in the 2.0 boundary - less innovation era.
Take the four major blue technologies carried by the vivo X300 series as an example. In terms of chips and imaging, consumers previously had the evaluation of "Blue Factory paired with Dimensity, the more you use it, the more awesome it is", affirming its "joint tuning" ability.
But now, the Blue Crystal × Dimensity 9500 flagship chip carried by the X300 series is the result of in - depth joint research between Blue Factory and MediaTek. This also allows vivo's self - developed Blueprint Imaging Chip V3+ to be directly embedded in the Dimensity 9500 to achieve efficient collaboration of the "dual - core combination".
In terms of the system, the entire X300 series is equipped with OriginOS 6 reconstructed with the "Blue River Smoothness Engine" technology. Through the innovation of underlying technologies such as super - core computing, dual - rendering architecture, and photon storage, it has also achieved a qualitative upgrade in terms of smoothness, intelligence, and human - machine interaction...
Of course, the real imagination in the 2.0 innovation era lies in AI - this is the clearly defined development and evolution direction for the next stage in the mobile phone industry.
Currently, the AI strategic directions of mainstream mobile phone manufacturers can be roughly classified into three categories:
One is the single - point extreme school represented by OPPO, advocating "using one force to break all methods".
The overall logic still centers around the mobile phone, but the goal is to create an AI mobile phone that "understands me better" or an AI Jarvis assistant, by strengthening edge - side intelligence to reshape the relationship between people and devices, people and services, and people and the world.
The second is the ecological collaboration school represented by Huawei and Xiaomi.
Their AI strategies are mainly centered around the "whole ecosystem of vehicles, homes, and mobile phones". Through AI technology empowering the hardware ecosystem, they promote an intelligent computing architecture of edge - cloud collaboration and heterogeneous integration, thus trying to achieve the ambitious goal of everything being interconnected...
The third is the all - inclusive school represented by Honor's Alpha (AI) strategy.
It is understood that Honor's AI strategy is divided into three steps: from creating smart mobile phones (the era of AI agents), to building a smart ecosystem (the era of physical AI), and finally moving towards a co - created smart world (the AGI era).
Judging from the newly released Magic 8 series, Honor has basically achieved the first step of implementing the AI mobile phone agent.
For example, the Honor Magic 8 series is equipped with the industry's first truly self - evolving AI agent operating system - MagicOS 10.
Among them, the AI agent YOYO with self - evolving ability has two core super - abilities: YOYO See and YOYO Execute. Long - pressing one key can start YOYO See, open a video call with YOYO, and conduct interactions with the agent application.
At the same time, supported by Honor's Magic Large Model 3.0 and self - developed UI Agent ability, YOYO is also equipped with the industry's first system - level MCP architecture, deeply connecting more than 80% of high - frequency scenarios at the system's underlying level, accessing more than 4,000 ecological MCPs and ecological agents. With one - key activation, it can transform into the user's all - around partner: shopping partner, food partner, work partner...
Obviously, Honor's all - inclusive approach is actually a more balanced AI development route.
In contrast, both the single - point technology school and the ecological collaboration school have mixed results in actual implementation.
In the long - term view, the ecological routes constructed by Huawei and Xiaomi have more commercial imagination. After all, the smart home market alone has trillions of potential, far beyond the single mobile phone market.
But in reality, the implementation process of Xiaomi's everything - interconnected vision highly depends on the unification of the hardware ecosystem and interconnection standards, and the overall progress is slow and vulnerable to the impact of external standard changes. The future development has the uncertainty of both high potential and high risks.
The "single - point extreme" path represented by OPPO, although having uncertainties in the long - term pattern, is more in line with the actual consumer market demand at present and for some time in the future.
The overall advantage lies in focusing on the mobile phone as the core entry point. If the brand can deepen and refine its AI capabilities, it can further enhance user experience perception, and the accumulated technological experience and scenario knowledge will also have a high degree of reusability.
Even if the technological route or ecological pattern changes in the future, the solid edge - side capabilities can provide strategic support for the brand's transformation...
In short, in the next - stage competition led by AI, what restricts mobile phone manufacturers is no longer external technological blockade, but more depends on the enterprise's own strategic determination, technological patience, and in - depth insight into user needs.
After the mobile phone industry enters the 2.0 innovation era centered on experience and ecosystem, in the future, whoever can continuously build a system ability that is difficult to replicate will win the real market high ground in the parallel development pattern of the ecosystem and the edge - side.