In this short article, I want to share with you my opinion on several features of Chinese companies. In my opinion, these features make devices from Chinese brands more 'Chinese' than Samsung, LG, Sony and some others. Of course, not counting the third category companies like UMI, Ulephone, Elephone and so on, which are still making a name for themselves in the market (or at least trying). So …
Any smartphone manufacturer, if it is a serious brand aimed at sales growth, market share growth and long-term development, has a rough understanding of the model range for the near future, has its own guidelines, certain design and other things that make brand devices recognizable. You can argue to me that today all smartphones are like two peas, but this is actually not the case.
I'll start with management. If we take the largest and 'oldest' brands – Samsung, LG, Sony, we will see continuity and similarities in management. Yes, some things can change from generation to generation, and for this reason I did not include the company here HTC (it is in a fever, and now this is an unfortunate example). But if we take conventional smartphones from Samsung, we will find that all models will have a mechanical key under the screen and two touch-sensitive ones, to the right and left of it. Sometimes a fingerprint scanner will be inscribed in a mechanical key, sometimes not, but in general this control system is used in one form or another in Samsung all the time. This does not mean that the company will never present a device with a fingerprint scanner on the back or even on the edge, but if this happens, then, obviously, we will see a change in generations and the vision of devices by the manufacturer. That is, the control scheme does not change from smartphone to smartphone just like that, because it wanted to, the company tries to maintain continuity.
Roughly the same can be said about design. Yes, many people scold Samsung for the same type and boring design, but look at it from a different angle. The company's devices are recognizable, from year to year Samsung adheres to a single style, and if at first it was called 'copying iPhones', now many people easily recognize the new smartphone from Samsung and are already used to their appearance if they have used the company's device for a year or two back. This is also called continuity. For the “Chinese” these things are still more difficult, of course, but they are trying.
The same can be said for Sony or LG. Especially LG. When the company chose a strange layout of the power and volume keys on the 'back', it did not leave it on a couple of devices, but began to implement it everywhere. This is exactly what I'm talking about – the manufacturer initially planned a line, and the continuity of control with the generation change was important, so after the flagship with buttons on the 'back', smartphones from the middle price category received the same control, and then budget devices. This is not always successful, as with the design, but these steps show the long-term planning of manufacturers and the desire to maintain a uniform style of products.
Now let's take most of the Chinese brands using the example Xiaomi. It just so happened that Xiaomi is the clearest example of how a company can completely ignore the continuity of design and management when creating new models.
'Budgets' series Xiaomi Redmi are equipped with touch keys under the screen and a scanner on the 'back'. At the same time, one of the smartphones, Redmi Pro, received a scanner in front and two touch keys in place of three.
The 'flagships' Xiaomi Mi 5s and Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus are not only different in design, despite belonging to the same series, but also completely different in control. In Mi5s, the scanner is on the front panel (and this is not a button, but a scanner and sensor), and in Mi5s Plus – on the back. At the same time, a smartphone Xiaomi Mi 5 is located under them, in which the scanner is also in front, but it is inscribed in a mechanical key. That is, we have three smartphones of the 'Mi5' line in different designs and with completely different controls. And there are many more such examples based on models Xiaomi.
However, these problems apply not only to Xiaomi. It was this manufacturer that I cited as the most striking example, because Xiaomi changes the design and management of smartphones even within the framework of two devices from the same line released one after another. In the case of Huawei and Lenovo, such changes mean a general change in development and a change in device generations (usually), which is still noticeably more frequent for them than for Samsung and LG, eg.
What is it all about? Chinese brands are actively growing and capturing the market, so far mainly due to the excellent combination of characteristics and prices of their products, but I sincerely believe that in the coming years, giants like Huawei will begin to pay more attention to continuity and the little things that make a brand truly strong. Of course, the absence of this continuity does not make the brand weak or unsuccessful, which is shown by an example Huawei. It's just that the moment when the company starts paying attention to such things, in my opinion, means the final stage of reaching the level of the largest A-brands.