What will happen to smartphones in 2022? The polarization of 20,000 yuan and ultra-high end also shows signs of popularity among the masses.

Xperia Ace II launched by DoCoMo at a reasonable price has contributed to Sony's expansion of market share.

　In retrospect, 2021 will be a year of smartphone polarization. Mainly due to the winding of characteristic mobile phones, and the rapid growth of 20, 000 yen terminals aimed at young people, terminals over 200000 yen, known as the "ultra-high-end model", have also appeared one after another. Use the unique features that smartphones do not have in the past to achieve differentiation. The popular smartphone represented by the "Galaxy Z" series is also one of the terminals that created the latter trend. In terms of the function of folding smartphones with less than 140000 yen, the high-definition quality of the camera continues to develop, and new methods have been adopted for video shooting. As Google's "Pixel 6 Pro" represents, the application of machine learning is also growing, and applications other than photography are emerging. The model is equipped with a "Tensor" that has become an independently developed SoC, but progress has been made in differentiation at the semiconductor level. Here, we will review the trend of smartphones launched in 2021 and look forward to the terminal market in 2022.

The registration model is expanded, changing the smartphone with an increase of 20,000 yen

　As a symbol of the topic of 2021, the first thing to list is the expansion of the registration model. Among them, the number of terminals with prices around 20,000 yen has increased, and sales have also increased. Softbank Corp. began to sell Xiaomi's "Redmi Note9T" exclusively in February 2021, which can be called a pioneer model. Sony also boosted its market share with DoCoMo's "Xperia Ace II", returning to its top market share in the first half of 2021 as the maker of Android smartphones. Xperia Ace II is launched as a 4G model, but the finalist model has also expanded to 5G. The above Redmi Note 9T is one of them. Similarly, Xiaomi has teamed up with KDDI to launch "Redmi Note10JE" from au and UQ mobile, which is also about 20, 000 yen, corresponding to 5G finalists. The shortlist model must meet certain specifications while driving down the price, so the case of joining hands with specific operators is particularly prominent. This can be seen as to create a certain sense of scale. As mentioned in previous series, the background of this kind of terminal growth is "terminal discount limit" and "3G stop wave". The former is the discount provision amended by the Telecommunications Law in October 2019, and currently provides for a maximum discount of 21,000 yen when accompanying the contract. If it is a terminal of about 20,000 yen, if the discount is applied to the upper limit, it will be infinitely close to 0 yen. The 3G outage of KDDI is approaching in March, and more and more users are aware of switching from feature phones to smartphones, which is also the reason for the expansion of the shortlist model. The discount ceiling remains unchanged, and KDDI will face 3G outages from Softbank Corp. and DoCoMo, so the shortlist model should continue after 2022. As evidence, au and UQ mobile will release Sharp's finalist model "AQUOS wish" on January 15. The price is about twenty thousand yen. Sharp has expanded its market share in the "AQUOS sense" series and, as mentioned above, was topped by Sony in the first half of 2021. Whether this trend can be stopped through the investment of AQUOS wish can be said to be noteworthy. However, due to the limited cost that can be invested, the finalists often have horizontal specifications. Specifications for the Japanese market, such as wallets, mobile phones and waterproofing, are also developing, making it difficult for them to become elements of differentiation. The body's use of recycled plastic, like the full launch of SDGs's AQUOS wish, seems to need to change the entry point of the plan itself. In terms of improving the brand strength, it is also required to constantly clarify the characteristics of the manufacturer in the high-end mode.