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author/tang chen

editor/liu yukun

this is another war with apple. can huawei still win?

on september 24, at the autumn full-scenario new product launch conference, huawei launched new hardware products covering sports and health, audio-visual entertainment, smart home, smart travel and many other scenarios, including smart watches, smart speakers, routers, smart screens, etc. hongmeng zhixing’s first coupe suv, the zhijie r7, was also officially released. as the finale, yu chengdong also announced that harmonyos next, the pure-blood version of hongmeng system, will begin public testing on october 8, 2024.

as the opening blockbuster product and the addition of wu lei, huawei watch gt 5 series has attracted much attention. for example, in terms of health monitoring, this watch series is equipped with the xuanji sensing system for the first time, which can accurately detect indicators such as heart rate, blood oxygen, and respiratory rate. at the same time, the watch has added emotional health management functions and supports women’s health research for the first time, providing ovarian health assessment.

among them, xuanji sensing system is huawei’s newly released core technology brand for sports and health. with the launch of the watch gt 5 series, huawei's smart wearables have officially entered the "xuanji" era, which is of extraordinary significance. in the words of zhang wei, ceo of huawei sports and health corps, the era of one person, one watch has arrived. in the next ten years, smart wearables will also become a standard technology product for everyone, similar to mobile phone products.

at the same time, this also means that huawei will start a new round of war with leading brands such as apple and samsung on the smart wearable track, and hopes to have the last laugh. this time, can huawei do what it wants?

smart wear has been aimed at health for ten years

looking back at the development history of smart wearables, if the past ten years were defined as the "golden decade", no one would object. coincidentally, both apple and huawei officially entered the smart wearable track in 2014. moreover, the giants have focused their products and technologies on the field of general health.

on september 9, 2014, at apple’s autumn new product launch conference, cook introduced the first new product category in the post-jobs era: apple watch. this product has been constantly corrected and explored since its birth.

when the first-generation apple watch was launched, fitness bracelets were all the rage. fitness bracelets launched by brands such as fitbit and jawbone dominated the market with their long battery life and ease of use. affected by this, the early positioning of apple watch was not clear, and it repeatedly jumped between sports or fashion items, and even went to the luxury line for a time.

for example, when the apple watch s1 was launched, apple promoted it as a luxury product. users needed to make an appointment to try on all versions of the apple watch in china, including an 18k gold version (priced at more than $10,000). in addition, apple strictly controlled the dealers of apple watch at that time, and also displayed apple watch in many high-end retail stores around the world and supplied it in limited quantities. like in the galeries lafayette store in paris, apple watch will be displayed on the first floor. in the shinjuku retail store in tokyo, apple watch will also be displayed on the first floor.

this marketing strategy borrowed from luxury watch stores is cook’s attempt after introducing angela ahrendez, the former ceo of luxury brand burberry, as head of retail business. he hopes that apple can use this new product line to be fashionable at the same time. market and luxury goods market.

obviously, cook miscalculated, and apple watch fell into a period of confusion for four years. it wasn’t until 2018, when apple watch s4 added a health detection function, that apple truly found a new positioning for smart watches—security and health.

this generation of watches adds lte functionality to the previous generation, supporting functions such as independent calls, sending messages, and using data services. it does not require a bluetooth connection with a mobile phone. it is equipped with an fda-certified electrocardiogram function that can detect atrial fibrillation. in the event of an emergency such as a fall, users can also dial emergency service numbers through the watch, such as 110, 119, etc.; the watch can also send text messages containing location information to emergency contacts to get help quickly. additionally, it will alert users when their heart rate rises abnormally.

apple watch s4, also known as the iphone 4 moment of smart watches, is no longer a "beautiful little waste". at that time, some industry insiders commented, "apple watch is no longer a luxury toy that helps process notifications. it can save lives. and, it does."

since then, apple has continued to dig deeper into functional points such as sports management and health monitoring to further consolidate the new positioning of apple watch. for example, the apple watch s10 series supports sleep apnea and automatic physical training detection, which can detect sleep apnea. by using accelerometers, machine learning and a large number of clinical data sets to complete the monitoring algorithm, it can monitor a process called " new indicator of "disturbed breathing".

in comparison, huawei wearables are more determined in its efforts in the direction of health. since the launch of its first wearable product in 2014, huawei has launched a series of product matrices including extraordinary master, smart technology, classic almighty, and children's watches in more than ten years to meet the needs of different groups of people in sports health testing, disease risk screening, and active management. needs.

during this process, through continuous optimization of sensors, algorithms, and platform architecture, huawei first self-developed one of the bases of huawei health technology: huawei truseen body sign monitoring technology; and subsequently iterated on the body sign monitoring technology truseen and body composition monitoring technology. detection of trufit, scientific sleep trusleep, stress manager trurelax, scientific sports trusport, blood pressure measurement trubp and other sports and health full-stack technology base; until the launch of xuanji sensing system, huawei's sports health technology base also started from single-point detection technology integrated into multi-dimensional sensing technology.

up to now, huawei wear has seven sports and health black technologies including 60-second micro-physical examination, blood sugar health research, communication black technology, diving black technology, body posture image detection and evaluation, and respiratory health. the products cover five major product lines, including classic all-round, smart technology, and health protection, and support more than 100 sports modes, including 20+ professional sports modes such as golf, diving, and cross-country running.

in addition, representative smart wearable brands such as samsung and xiaomi also regard health management as the core selling point of their wearable products. for example, in july this year, samsung released new smart rings and smart watches, which mainly provide users with end-to-end health check-ups. among them, samsung galaxy watch7 further strengthens daily health management with the support of personalized exercise and intelligent and preventive health monitoring functions. samsung galaxy ring brings simple and convenient health management methods to users' fingertips, providing health monitoring, tracking and personalized insights, and maintaining a comfortable wearing experience even while sleeping.

from this point of view, in the "golden decade" of smart wearables, all brands have entered the health management track by different routes and cultivated it as the core scene. health and safety have also become key decision-making factors for consumers when purchasing such products. in layman’s terms, “saving lives at critical moments” is the core selling point of smart wearables. behind this is driven by rapidly growing market demand.

according to idc, global wearable device shipments will reach 559.7 million units in 2024, an increase of 10.5%. it is expected that shipments will increase to 645.7 million units by the end of 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 3.6%. according to the latest "china wearable device market quarterly tracking report" released by idc, in the first quarter of 2024, china's wearable device market shipped 33.67 million units, a year-on-year increase of 36.2%, and the market growth momentum is strong.

"xuanji" landed, is huawei stable?

this is a positive signal for huawei wear, and it has also blazed its own path. moreover, huawei wear has created a core moat in hardware, software, ecological services and other aspects. the xuanji sensing system has also become the "masterpiece" of huawei's wearable technology in the past decade. the more accurate meaning of this "set" is "enhancing the dimension", from the technical system, product system to brand recognition.

according to the official introduction, the xuanji sensing system is a universal information platform based on huawei wearable devices (smart watches, smart bracelets, wearable sports tracking accessories, etc.). it is the biggest leap-forward upgrade of huawei’s sports and health sign monitoring modules and algorithms in three years. it is also the “most accurate, comprehensive, and fastest” sensing system huawei has worn to date.

the three "most" correspond to the three major industry problems that plague the field of smart wearable monitoring. taking the accuracy of physical sign data detection, the biggest problem in the smart wearable industry, as an example, studies have shown that the measurement error of energy consumption by wearable devices is as high as -21.27% to 14.76%, and the measurement error of sleep quality is as high as 12% -180%. . there are even a lot of jokes, such as someone playing guitar with a bracelet and setting an astonishing fitness record in just a few dozen minutes, and even putting the bracelet on the table at night can still detect sleep status, etc.

in terms of comprehensiveness, xuanji has touched the six major health systems of the human body and can monitor 60+ testing indicators to comprehensively assess physical conditions. xuanji even went beyond the monitoring of physiological indicators for the first time and realized the monitoring of psychological indicators. the newly launched emotional health assistant of huawei watch gt 5 series, thanks to the blessing of xuanji perception system, can calculate the user's current emotional tension based on the rri data collected by the watch, combined with the 30 features required for calculation of emotional monitoring. and stress states, and intervene in the user's psychological state through long-term emotional models.

at the same time, the medical and health industry's recognition of smart wearable devices is also increasing. for example, huawei watch d has become a blood pressure measurement device that meets international standards due to its measurement accuracy; recently, the "china guidelines for the prevention and treatment of hypertension (2024 revised edition)" clarified for the first time that wearable devices have been verified by professional institutions and meet medical standards. , can be used for daily blood pressure monitoring. huawei's wearable devices equipped with the xuanji sensing system are expected to become the health guardians of users' daily lives.

to date, huawei's global cumulative shipments of smart wearable products have exceeded 130 million, serving more than 450 million users, and it has ranked first in china's wrist-worn wearable device market share for five consecutive years. in the first quarter of this year, according to idc data, huawei accounted for 17.1% of global wrist-worn device shipments, ranking first among global manufacturers.

the new ten-year battle started by huawei wear has raised industry competition from technology to brand recognition, putting great pressure on apple. in recent years, apple's "flat innovation" has also spread to the smart wearable product line. the once beautiful little waste has once again fallen into an iteration bottleneck. many celebrities or experts have criticized apple for "resting on its laurels". for example, the sleep pause detection function featured by apple watch s10 has been implemented by huawei in the watch gt3 series launched in 2021.

one step is slow, each step is slow. some media commented that the current situation of apple watch is quite similar to that of the iphone a few years ago: its performance is already quite stable, but there are only small improvements every year, making people vaguely expect it to make a big breakthrough.

that's not because apple isn't trying. in fact, apple has been actively developing new health monitoring functions, such as high blood pressure detection, sleep apnea monitoring, and non-invasive blood glucose monitoring technology regarded as the "holy grail" of health technology. but its progress has been slow.

an objective reality is that, as the pioneer of smart watches, apple is gradually lagging behind its competitors. techinsights data shows that in the past two years, apple watch shipments have shrunk in all but two quarters.

among these opponents, huawei is the most difficult. previously, huawei has gradually outperformed apple in the domestic market in terms of smartphones and operating systems, and is poised to go overseas again to challenge apple's leading position in smart terminals in the global market.

taking the operating system as an example, market research agency counterpoint data shows that in the first quarter of 2024, huawei's harmonyos's share of the global market reached 4%; its share of the chinese market increased from 8% in the first quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024. 17%, ios share dropped from 20% to 16%.

previously, wang chenglu, the "father of harmonyos" and former president of huawei's consumer bg software department, once said, "16% is a watershed, and the ecosystem that exceeds it is basically there." this means that huawei's harmonyos has surpassed apple's ios for the first time in the chinese market. it has become the second largest operating system in china, and the domestic mobile phone operating system "android-ios-harmonyos" has become a tripartite force.

does this indicate that huawei wearables are stable and will beat apple again in the smart wearable business? it is difficult to make a conclusion at present, because everyone has come to a new starting line again: driven by artificial intelligence and cloud computing technology, smart wearable devices will be able to interact and process data more intelligently in the future. this will open up more possibilities for the evolution of its technical routes, data collection methods, and ecological collaboration requirements.

for example, in the form of wearable devices, smart watches are already "traditional" in style, samsung smart rings already have basic health functions, and there is news that apple is also accelerating the development of the first generation of smart rings. xingji meizu also launched the new star brand at a recent press conference and released smart rings under the brand. smart earrings, necklaces and other devices are also in the technology arsenal of relevant manufacturers. the product rabbit r1 released by the american startup rabbit is also positioned as an artificial intelligence assistant. orders reached 10,000 units on the day of release. neither ai pin nor rabbit need to be connected to a mobile phone. in addition, mr products such as meta quest and pico have opened up a new head-mounted display device track.

the track of smart wearables seems far-reaching and full of unknowns. this is a no-man’s land that everyone needs to cross before reaching the finish line, and it is also a challenge for all smart wearable players. as for huawei, it also wants to win against apple again.