An e-commerce platform released a sales ranking as of June 17th, showing that Apple's iPhone 15 dominated the top three positions. The domestic phones on the list were either mid-to-low-end models or phones equipped with old Qualcomm chips, with the new flagship models completely losing out.

Surprisingly, Apple's most popular phone is the most expensive iPhone 15 Pro Max, which was priced at nearly 10,000 yuan. However, relying on a discount of up to 2,350 yuan, it achieved the first place in sales. The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 took second and third place respectively, making Apple the undisputed winner of the 618 promotion.

In contrast, among the domestic phones on the list, there are only three models that can barely be considered flagships. All three of these domestic flagship phones use Qualcomm's previous generation flagship chip, the Snapdragon 8G2, and are priced at over 2,000 yuan. No domestic phones priced above 3,000 yuan made it onto the list.

Another domestic flagship phone that claims to have been snapped up by consumers since its launch last year did not make the list, not even its model priced around 3,000 yuan. This shows that consumers are clearly aware that its chip is indeed outdated and overpriced, and they are unwilling to pay for it. The so-called "liking" is nothing more than empty slogans.

When consumers choose domestic phones, they mainly look at the price. However, this year's domestic phones are far from厚道 (honest or sincere). Many domestic phones priced below 2,000 yuan use old chips from MediaTek and Qualcomm, such as the Dimensity 6020 and Dimensity 6080, which are renamed versions of the 3-year-old Dimensity 700 and Dimensity 810. Some phone companies even use the Snapdragon 680, which is an upgraded version of Qualcomm's 2018 Snapdragon 660. With such deception of domestic consumers, consumers simply abandoned these mid-to-low-end phones.

Apple has been the most厚道 (honest or sincere) mobile phone brand in the past two years. Last year, Apple took the lead in reducing the price of the iPhone 14 by 1,200 yuan, and later reduced it by as much as 2,000 yuan during the fiercest competition with domestic phones. This shows that Apple is truly passing on benefits to consumers and pleasing them with real price reductions.

Compared to Apple, domestic phones have a small price reduction range. Domestic flagship phones usually only reduce their prices by 300-500 yuan as a gesture. This year, with Apple increasing its price reduction efforts, domestic phones simply didn't bother to adjust their prices, keeping the prices of new flagship phones high, even at their launch prices.

Most of the discounted domestic phones are old models or phones equipped with Qualcomm's previous generation chips, and some even use super outdated chips. Such practices have caused great dissatisfaction among consumers. Unable to influence the pricing of domestic phones, consumers have voted with their feet, abandoning domestic flagships and embracing Apple.

Consumers' sentiment towards domestic phones has been particularly severe since February this year. In February, the shipment volume of mobile phones in the domestic market was halved, and subsequent monthly shipments were far inferior to last year. However, after Apple significantly reduced its prices in March, its sales soared, and in April, Apple's sales even increased by 50%. This shows that Apple is crushing domestic phones through price reductions.

In August last year, the relaunch of 5G phones by a certain domestic phone brand briefly drove a rebound in domestic mobile phone sales. However, since February this year, phone shipments have continued to decline. Facing such a situation, domestic phones have used outdated chips to deceive consumers, and their performance during this year's 618 promotion has been so disappointing that it is feared that the shipment volume of mobile phones in the domestic market will decline again this year, and may even fall below 250 million units. Domestic phones have no choice but to accept this reality.