After Apple, who is the king of consumer electronics?

At 10 a.m. on September 10th, California time, Apple’s 2019 autumn new product launch conference was held as scheduled at the Steve Jobs Theater at its California headquarters.There were few hardware highlights at this conference, as Apple sought to transition to services and content.

Apple is seeking transformation. First, Apple’s own hardware innovation is weak, especially after the death of Steve Jobs, it has not yet created revolutionary products.In June of this year, Apple’s soul designer Josenna Ivey confirmed that he would leave the company.Apple’s future innovation adds another variable.Second, after more than ten years of development, the industry of mobile consumer electronics products represented by smartphones has entered a stable period. Most of the future product demand will come from the update of the existing market and a small part of the incremental market.In the next five years, whether the consumer electronics market can explode again depends on whether VR/AR products and content can improve by leaps and bounds.Third, the difference between the Android system and the iOS system is getting smaller and smaller, and mobile phone manufacturers such as Huawei, Samsung, and Xiaomi in the Android camp are getting stronger in innovation, design, and R&D capabilities. They have even surpassed Apple in terms of micro-innovation, and Apple is gradually losing its position as an industry leader.

No matter what industry, there needs to be a leading company that is far ahead, lonely and deep in no man’s land, pointing the way for followers and ecological chain companies. If Apple falls, it may indicate that the consumer electronics industry has entered a stable period. Professional manufacturers of sound and light in the consumer electronics ecological chain will inevitably reduce investment and reduce market risks, and the entire industry will also accelerate its decline.The best case scenario is that only Apple will decline, and a new leader will emerge to lead the industry to continue to develop.

Future leaders need three basic qualities. The first and most important point is to have a great vision of looking up to the stars and benefiting mankind. Only great vision can create a great enterprise.Second, the leader must have an inclusive mind and aim to serve all mankind, instead of just focusing on Europe, North America and Asia. It must focus on Africa, South America, the Middle East and West Asia, and pay attention to the majority that have not yet spoken out.Third, it must have independent technology from the underlying technology to the operating system, otherwise it will be controlled by others.

Now we see that Huawei and Samsung are the closest.The biggest variable for Huawei is whether a stronger corporate leader will emerge after Ren Zhengfei retires.Samsung is a family-owned company, so the issue of corporate stability and inheritance is not a big one. The biggest issue is whether South Korea’s national character has the foundation to nurture a world-class great enterprise.

Perhaps the future leader has yet to emerge.

Perhaps the future leader will never appear again.

Published at: Sep 11, 2019 · Modified at: Jan 14, 2026