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The special Apple event of September 10 was a great reporter. We expect nothing less; Apple Arcade looks impressive, while the iPhone 11 Pro's unusual triple camera system makes the world's best memory designers work. At Steve Jobs Theater, there was something that seems to have gone unnoticed. something that exposes Apple's current thinking and its future direction.
His new strategy for China.
Although the appearance of Apple Arcade is perfect, it will not be available on the largest mobile gaming market in the world. The iPhone 11 will however, and claims "the fastest processor ever recorded in a smartphone" according to Apple – which is essential to its strategy. Buyers in the West will have both a powerful phone and an incredible library of games to play with Arcade.
It's a strong, two-pronged marketing strategy – but falling in China, players from the eastern peninsular of the East being excluded from the Arcade subscription service. That's why Apple's decision to present for the first time a Chinese game developer on stage at one of its events was an essential part of its long-term vision for the market. After revealing the majority of his new technologies, he revealed Yang Yang, founder of the TipWorks development studio (part of the giant network based in China).
Apple's bet
Yang was there to give a glimpse of the new game of TipWorks, Pascal's Wager, a fantastic role-playing and action game that "will take you into a gigantic world". But it is not only the game that Yang Yang has shown as much as his performances on the iPhone 11.
"You'll notice the fantastic creatures that look amazing with the Metal2 shaders," he said. He also added, "We spent hours recreating the perfect sounds of footsteps, strings and even blade sounds. The details are clear with the particular audio of the iPhone. At the time of closing Pascal's bet, Yang said we could see the benefits of the effects processing, including anti-aliasing and blooming, which are only possible with the new iPhone's GPU. ".
With Huawei surpassing Apple's market share in China, do not underestimate the importance of this presentation: not only to boost iPhone sales in China, but for the company's broader strategy on the biggest smartphone market in the world. Apple's iPhone sales in China decreased by 30% in the first quarter of this year. Huawei rose 31% in the second quarter. It's not just a company with the best technology, it's deeper than that with Trump's recent trade war between the US and China.
Many in China are turning to Huawei and are turning away from Apple as a sign of patriotism, in order to support their country with their portfolios. "Huawei's retail partners are advertising Huawei's patriotic choice to appeal to a growing number of Chinese consumers who want to take into account political factors when making a purchase decision," he said. said Mo Jia, an analyst at Canalys.
Huawei also works hard at home to encourage locals to switch from Apple, and their approach of heart and mind works. In addition, they make very good phones.
Yang Yang's presentation was not so much about the phone sold by Apple as China, but rather about a change in strategy and culture. The technology giant arrives on the ground floor with Chinese developers and students, and their games, on the main stage, which has been the star of the show. This is a trend that you should expect to see more at upcoming Apple events.
A local approach
There are two reasons for this. The presentation was specifically designed to compel and excite Chinese mobile players. Secondly, it was necessary to captivate the imagination of Chinese game developers to submit them to the App Store. Eighty-six percent of Chinese mobile gamers prefer local publishers such as Tencent and NetEase to Western manufacturers, while 77% prefer games with rich 3D graphics, according to Mintegral's research.
In terms of trends, NewZoo research is a pretty clear picture of what Chinese mobile gamers value. The biggest iOS games in 2018 in terms of revenue are role-playing games, while action games are the most downloaded; these genres switch to second place. At the same time, seven of the top 10 most profitable iOS games in 2018 were also role-playing games, with local Tencent and NetEase publishers accounting for over 60% of the market.
Apple is partnering with a Chinese developer to present a graphics-rich RPG that only appears on the new iPhone? Who on Earth could they seek to attract?
Regulation and relations
It was so much more than a game to sell units, though. It is more a decision to flatter the Chinese developers than the players and to encourage them to subscribe to the visibility that Apple can give them internationally.
Apple hopes that Yang's historic opening speech will not only pique the interests of gamers, but will also highlight the ambition of Chinese mobile game developers seeking to push their technical limits and penetrate global markets via the App Store.
Apple Arcade will not be available in China during its launch, probably because of the strict regulations of the country in terms of gambling. With the rules of Mahjong currently banned in China because of these rules, it is more than likely that the rare games fall under the control of Apple's Arcade regulators. This does not prevent Chinese developers from exploring Apple Arcade as a way to break into Western territories.
Just as the Chinese App Store is a great route for international developers (who are terrified of browsing 400 separate Android stores), its operation is reversed. Chinese developers could use Apple Arcade to attract Western customers and create new ones, gain ground and gain market share, and see their ideas flourish beyond the usual limits.
Which brings us to the most important part of Apple's presentation. For about the last half hour, Apple personalities such as Phil Schiller, Sri Santhanam, Sean Baker and Chris Cohen have presented the benefits of the iPhone 11 and Pro model, as well as the power of the new A13 Bionic chip .
Bionic brilliance
Kaiann Drance evoked a quote from analyst Ben Thompson, who had stated in 2018 that the A12 chip of the iPhone XS, XS Max and XR "is so far ahead of the industry that it will still be competitive with the best Android smartphones in two years. "
Sri called the A13 "the most advanced in the industry," and the performance of the iPhone 11 has been consistently compared to that of the market. These "other phones" are those that absorb Apple's share in the Chinese market – Huawei.
So how is the iPhone 11 against the Huawei P30 Pro? Well, both are equipped with OLED technology and support the HDR10, but there is no doubt that the new A13 Bionic outperforms Huawei's Kirin 980 technology. Chinese consumers will also be able to watch and play longer with the 3190mAh battery of the iPhone 11 Pro; However, this remains lower than the 4200mAh offer of the P30 Pro.
Apple hopes that features such as the new night mode, 12 megapixel cameras and more will at least convince Chinese consumers to consider their offer at the expense of others when they are looking for a new device. But will it be enough? This may not be so. The online search for statistical comparisons between the iPhone 11 models and Huawei's flagship model, the P30 Pro, suggests that there is really little to do between the two, apart from adding the A13 chip Bionic.
Apple must know it. One must also know that trying to fight in a foreign market against huge local businesses is a war that they can not win in the long run, especially with Huawei offering cheaper products, who can match theirs with a little patriotism.
Apple's approach must now be something that, by the accounts, goes against the norm. They must stop being the masters of design and quality material and let their software talk in the form of incredible games that Huawei and other devices just can not handle to improve their lot in the East.
Clement Cao is co-founder, executive director and president of Mobvista. He was previously Director of Investments at Oriza Seed Capital.
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