In 2025, driven by the policy of exchanging old for new consumer goods, the scale of China's mobile phone market will exceed one trillion yuan, reaching a historic high. AI takes over mobile phones to complete various commands, and foldable screen technology is becoming increasingly mature... Mobile phone manufacturers accurately explore market demand, explore deeper technological innovation, further improve the industrial ecosystem, and steadily promote high-quality development of the industry. On January 19th, in Zhuhai, Guangzhou, Honor Mobile released three new products in one go, bringing a development report for 2025: mobile phone shipments exceeded 71 million units for the first time, a year-on-year increase of 9%. Qinghai Lake battery technology, oasis eye protection screen, YOYO intelligent agent, Luban architecture and other self-developed technologies are Honor's technical cards and confidence. ”When analyzing the company's development achievements, Fang Fei, President of Honor Product Line, said so. Stable production and sales with continuous product innovation are a reflection of the Chinese mobile phone market. According to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, in the first 11 months of 2025, the domestic market shipped 282 million mobile phones, a year-on-year increase of 0.9%. Among them, there were 244 million 5G mobile phones, a year-on-year increase of 1.3%. 474 new mobile phone models have been launched in China, with a year-on-year increase of 14.5%. At present, the penetration rate of smartphones in China has exceeded 80%, and the average replacement cycle of users is lengthening, which means that the market is shifting from incremental competition to stock competition. ”Wang Peng, Associate Researcher at the Management Research Institute of the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, said. In the game of stock market, innovation has become a key move for mobile phone manufacturers to break through. In March 2025, Huawei released the industry's first wide folding smartphone - the Huawei Pura X. Huawei Executive Director Yu Chengdong introduced that it breaks the boundaries of terminal form, combines the reading experience of e-books with the exquisite convenience of folding machines, and can be called a new species of technology that breaks through imagination. Folding screens have become a continuously increasing track for domestic brands. In the past year, various parties have continued to deepen their cultivation in core areas such as hinges, screens, full form, lightweight and compact machines, and software interaction ecology. Mainstream models have become more balanced in terms of crease control, lightweight and compact body, and imaging capabilities. According to institutional estimates, the shipment volume of foldable screen mobile phones in China will reach 9.47 million units by 2025, a year-on-year increase of 3.3%. Satellite communication, exterior design, battery, camera capabilities, etc. have also become the focus of differentiated competition for mobile phone manufacturers. OPPO launches Find X9 Pro with eSIM support; Vivo launches second-generation semi-solid state battery technology in the industry; The Huawei Mate80 Pro Max is equipped with a four channel satellite receiving antenna for the first time, achieving omnidirectional satellite paging; Xiaomi phones are equipped with self-developed chip Xuan Jie O1... Domestic manufacturers continue to improve their product strength and user experience. AI refactoring user experience "helps me plan my route home tonight", the phone will automatically open the map and avoid congested roads; "Want to buy a down jacket". After the mobile phone confirms the budget and demand, it will automatically compare prices and collect coupons on multiple shopping platforms... In December 2025, ByteDance and ZTE will jointly build the beanbag AI mobile phone, opening a new imagination for consumers. AI smartphones may drive the next round of transformation, moving from a digital hub of software hardware collaboration to an intelligent hub of smart hardware collaboration. ”Cui Li, Chief Development Officer of ZTE Corporation, said. Currently, the integration and innovation of artificial intelligence and mobile phones has become an important direction for major manufacturers to layout. Huawei has upgraded Xiaoyi to a "unified entrance for intelligent services" for users in the Harmony6 system, giving it the ability to operate across applications; Honor Magic8 Pro deeply integrates Honor Magic Big Model 3.0, combined with YOYO intelligent assistant and E10 motion sensing engine, to achieve prediction and active service of user behavior... From text and image generation to more complex scene perception and interaction, AI is evolving from functional embellishment to underlying capabilities. In addition to mobile phone manufacturers, Zhipu, known as one of the "Big Model Six Tigers", recently announced that it will fully open source the "AutoGLM" AI intelligent agent model that can operate mobile phones. This will significantly lower the technological threshold for AI smartphones and promote the AI smartphone ecosystem to move from closed to open co creation. Compared to its early days, AI smartphones have significantly improved in terms of feature embedding depth, user experience, and application scenario richness within just one year. ”Liu Yixuan, the head of research on the mobile phone industry at Omdia, a research institution, said. International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that by 2025, the shipment of AI smartphones in China will exceed 118 million units, accounting for 40.7% of the overall market. The market is entering a period of adjustment, and 2026 will be a crucial year for the Chinese mobile phone market to respond to challenges and reshape its value. The market is entering a period of adjustment characterized by overall pressure and structural differentiation. ”IDC China Research Manager Guo Tianxiang believes that due to the pressure brought by the rising cost of core components such as storage chips, the shipment volume of the domestic smartphone market is expected to decline. At the same time, the market will experience structural differentiation. In Guo Tianxiang's view, the high-end market will continue to expand through innovation and differentiation, while the low-end market will shrink in share due to price sensitivity. The market has shifted from inclusive growth to a new stage of stratification and diversification. IDC predicts that by 2026, the market share of the Chinese smartphone market above $600 will reach 35.9%, a year-on-year increase of 5.4 percentage points; Market share below $200 will decrease by 4.3 percentage points. AI intelligence will become the growth engine of the new industry cycle. Liu Yixuan believes that although AI functionality has not yet become the main driving factor for consumers to switch phones, more than 80% of consumers in the domestic market mentioned that when considering their next phone, most people are increasingly concerned about AI experience. Some institutions predict that by 2026, the new generation of AI smartphones will become mainstream, with an expected shipment of 147 million units, a year-on-year increase of 31.6%, accounting for 53% of the overall market. In addition, the rise of emotional consumption is reshaping consumers' purchasing logic. Industry insiders believe that the emotional value brought by the appearance design and brand emotional connection of a product has become equally important as its technical performance. Mobile phone manufacturers will invest more energy to better meet users' emotional value needs and stimulate consumer purchasing desires through form changes, differentiated appearance designs, joint collaborations, etc. (New Society)