It's no secret that Chinese domestic phone brands owe their current standing to two key factors: aggressive pricing and a volume-driven release strategy.

Pricing needs little elaboration—everyone gets it. It simply means undercutting Samsung and Apple by focusing on cost-effectiveness, because for the vast majority of consumers, price remains the most persuasive selling point.

As for the volume strategy, it means flooding the market with a huge number of models—not betting on one or a few flagship devices to win the market, and not requiring every model to be a masterpiece. As long as a handful sell well, overall sales volume climbs.

Over the past few years, Chinese domestic phone brands have released dozens of models annually—sometimes over 80—spanning mid-range, entry-level, and high-end segments, including both in-house designs and ODM models.

By contrast, Apple releases a strikingly small number of phones each year—just a handful, generally the numbered series with an occasional SE, totaling four or five models. But every Apple device is a polished product, consistent with a premium strategy.

In 2026, however, Chinese domestic phone makers relying on the volume strategy are feeling the squeeze, as memory chip prices have surged, driving up costs and thinning profit margins to razor-thin levels.

Under a volume-driven strategy, substantial R&D and mold development costs are required, and the R&D cost allocated to each individual model rises even higher.

At the same time, rising memory chip prices have made some entry-level phones simply unviable to sell, making the volume strategy increasingly untenable.

As a result, in 2026, Chinese domestic phone manufacturers have noticeably cut back on the number of models they release.

According to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), from January to September 2025, Chinese domestic phone makers released a total of 378 new models, averaging over 40 new phones per month.

But by January to September 2026, Chinese domestic brands released only 265 new models—113 fewer, or more than 10 fewer per month, a year-on-year decline of 29.9%.

Overall, however, the number of phones released by domestic manufacturers remains quite high—accounting for 92.7% of all new phone models launched during the same period (domestic plus foreign brands), meaning nearly all new phone releases come from domestic manufacturers.

According to institutional forecasts, as memory chip prices continue to climb, Chinese domestic phone manufacturers' release pace and model counts may be further adjusted, and some budget thousand-yuan phones may continue to disappear.

This also means fewer and fewer new phones may be released going forward. Domestic phone manufacturers may face a major strategic adjustment—the previous low-price and volume-driven strategies are gradually losing their effectiveness.