1. Introduction

In this Internet age, everyone cannot live without a mobile phone, and the replacement of mobile phones is essential. At present, two companies are competing for high-end brands of mobile phones, one is Apple from the United States, and the other is Huawei from China. The research topic of this thesis is the difference in the marketing methods of different mobile phone brands—taking Apple and Huawei as examples. Ever since Apple released the iPhone 14 pro max and Huawei released the Mate 50 series, controversy has aroused on social networks. The direction of public opinion has changed from which mobile phone is easy to use at the beginning, to only buying domestic products as a patriotic expression. This paper will compare the mobile phone products of Apple and Huawei in an all-round way, show the characteristics of the sales strategies of different companies, and help readers choose the products that suit them. The paper will be divided into three main parts to further elaborate on the differences. First, the new product launch event has always been an annual event that has attracted much attention. The two companies have different operating strategies, and the effects presented by the new product launch are also different.

Second, the role of advertisements should not be underestimated. In what ways are the two companies launching advertisements and the substance of the advertisements; Third, the flagship store will bring customers a different sense of experience. The decoration and layout of offline stores, as well as the services and after-sales services purchased by customers, will affect a certain amount of sales. By comparing these three points, author hopes to make it easier for readers to choose a mobile phone that suits them.

2. New Product Launch

2.1. Apple

The organizational structure of Apple Inc. is a notable aspect of the company's enduring success. Unlike most large corporations, Apple operates on a professional function-based structure rather than one based on business units. The company's leadership is comprised of experts in their respective fields, with hardware, software, and design experts leading their respective areas of focus. This decentralized structure grants decision-making power to experts in their areas of specialization, contributing to the company's unique approach to innovation. Apple's leadership style emphasizes attention to detail and collaborative decision-making, wherein leaders actively engage in debates and discussions with their peers. This approach fosters a culture of collaboration and empowers employees at all levels to tap into their potential. The result is a dynamic and exhilarating work environment that prioritizes delivering innovative solutions. Apple's organizational structure is a critical component of the company's success. By focusing on professional expertise and collaborative decision-making, Apple creates a culture that enables its employees to thrive and innovate. [1] "Apple held the 2022 Autumn New Product Launch Conference at 01:00 on September 8th, Beijing time. The new iPhone 14 series, Apple Watch Series 8, AirPods Pro, and other new products all debuted. [2] At the press conference held on September 8, 2022, a total of 4 iPhone 14 series mobile phones were released, namely iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max. This time the iPhone 14 series is on the screen, video. Satellite communication, SOS emergency contact, car accident detection, and A15 bionic chip are all improved and innovative compared with the previous generation iPhone13. The press conference also focused on the design of "Smart Island" and the comprehensive upgrade of the camera, which is the most eye-catching change. Finally, the Bank of China price of the iPhone 14 series was also announced.

2.2. Huawei

In order to create an intelligent, interconnected society, Huawei—a major worldwide ICT (information and communications technology) infrastructure and smart device provider—is dedicated to making the digital world accessible to every individual, every family, and every company. To continuously add value for customers, unleash individual potential, improve family life, and spur organizational innovation, the company offers customers cost-effective, secure, and dependable products, solutions, and services in the areas of communication networks, smart terminals, and cloud services.

In order to advance the globe, Huawei concentrates on constant innovation centered on consumer demands, boosts investment in fundamental research, and plays to its strengths. Huawei hosted its 2022 fall new product introduction conference at 14:30 on September 6, 2022. The Huawei Mate50 series was the major product highlighted during the press conference. In contrast to Apple, Huawei's new products will be featured on the official website in a more succinct and understandable manner. [3] The new product launch conference launched Huawei Mate 50, Huawei Mate50 pro, Huawei Mate50E, and Huawei Mate50 RS Porsche Design. The advantage of this phone lies in its large 6.7-inch screen, which has a clear and transparent look and picture quality. The screen is color-calibrated one by one, supports global color management, and presents high-level color effects. Combined with 1440 Hz PWM dimming, it effectively reduces stroboscopic flicker and makes viewing more comfortable; it is more drop-resistant, using Kunlun glass to obtain the world's first Swiss SGS five-star glass drop-resistant certification, which strongly protects the screen; the whole machine is drop-resistant Increased to 10 times, good water resistance, IP68 dust, and water resistance, no need to worry about water and dust in daily use.

3. Advertising

Now most companies in the market are posting a lot of advertisements in downtown areas, on bus casings, and in shopping malls in order to increase their exposure to gain benefits. A good advertisement can make people remember and be interested in consuming it; a bad advertisement will be ignored even if it is posted in a downtown area.

3.1. Apple

Apple's advertisements are always posted in places with a lot of traffic in the form of posters or large-screen displays before new product launches, which always catch people's eyes. Usually, pedestrians can see the huge posters as soon as they look up, which is eye-catching and leaves an impression on the passing pedestrians. Allan Turing is the first character in the first narrative of the Apple logo. Alan Turing was a brilliant man who contributed to the development of artificial intelligence in order to crack military codes. Sadly, Turing's contributions were mostly ignored. Instead, he faced discrimination due to his sexual preference. Due to prevailing societal prejudice, he was threatened with prison time. After ingesting an apple laced with cyanide, he later passed away on June 7, 1954, 10 years after the D-Day landings. While the Allies significantly benefited from his skill to decipher German battle codes, he passed away in obscurity. According to mythology, Alan Turing's life story served as inspiration for Apple Computer when it was searching for a logo for its company. Apple was formed in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne, which is another tale behind the company's logo. They recall how an apple falling from a tree struck Isaac Newton, who afterward discovered gravity. [4] It can be seen that the logo of Apple is inspired by the deeds of two celebrities and has a rich meaning. Every advertisement has an indescribable melody. Sometimes, it's a famous, catchy, original, strange song. But as time goes by, people always finally realize it. Who's never been excited about Apple's Big Christmas announcement? Empathy for the plot is always used to internalize what the character wants to convey to people. Pharrell Williams, Nicky Minaj, Samuel L. Jackson. American musicians, actresses, and celebrities frequently feature in Apple commercials, and whether or not people like them, they have an impact on how they view the things being promoted. From the above, it is clear that Apple's commercial succeeds in three areas: music, passion, and star power. Additionally, Apple's marketing text is excellent. For instance, the 2020 press conference for the Apple Watch Series 6 merely highlighted the features of the new device with just two phrases: "Healthy future, now wear." Always be aware of the heart. The words before and after the half-sentence must be the same to create a familiar flavor. Like its goods, Apple's advertisements and messaging set industry standards for marketers and advertising and even induce cerebral orgasms [5]. In its release of the "1984"-themed commercial, Apple compared IBM, which had a monopoly on the PC side, to the "Big Brother" of the mind controllers in the novel "1984", while Apple was the rebellious party determined to challenge the dominance. It also makes the case that the real-world 1984 would not have been as the book portrays it had the McIntosh computer not been invented. The humorous, audacious advertisement offered a clear and succinct presentation of Apple's objectives and brand concept. Apple's values marketing was launched with the iconic ad "1984", but because values are such a lofty and esoteric subject, it is challenging to plant a fresh and distinctive brand image in customers' heads with only one loud ad. It is difficult to educate consumers about brands and propagate the brand concept since consumers are also changing. Apple has always shaped its brand image on the tenets of "innovation and humanity" for this reason, but it has updated its interpretation to reflect contemporary trends. Apple launched the Think different campaign from 1997 to 2002. To better demonstrate the brand's mission of transforming the world, Apple used the "Think different" campaign to pay homage to figures such as Einstein, Picasso, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, and others who improved human technology and art. Apple strengthened the technical and artistic genes in the brand image by concentrating on the awareness level, which led to the creation of a distinctive value label for the brand as well as the formation of a distinct memory point with its individualized brand image. Of course, Apple's affiliation with so many well-known figures also helped to boost its visibility.

3.2. Huawei

During the past two decades, Huawei has changed from zero to one to make the world change its view of them. Huawei has always had its feet on the ground, and it is the human touch that impresses others. Huawei's classic tagline is Huawei, not just the Fortune 500. The company has a low-profile, innovative spirit, taking one step at a time and doing solid business with each customer. Huawei's advertising is less ostentatious compared to Apple's. When it comes to their corporate culture advertising, people can barely see the product introduction, but it is solidly contributing to society, which is their methodology and their worldview. In Inner Mongolia, China, Huawei has deployed nearly 20,000 green base stations worldwide, relying on wind and light energy to supplement the power supply, reduce fuel consumption by 80%, and return the grass and sky to a clean place. In China's Mount Everest, Huawei lives up to its promise of 6,500 meters above sea level Together with customers, we deployed wireless base stations at the highest altitude in the world to achieve full mobile signal coverage on the Everest summit route. Another example is that in Suriname, Guyana, and the Caribbean Sea, the seafloor penetrated 2,900 meters into the seafloor laying 1127 km of submarine fiber optic cable system, and local network bandwidth increased by more than 3,000 times. These Huawei quietly pay for the move, are the best advertising signs. In 2013, Huawei released a new brand concept Make It Possible and composed a song "Dream is possible" for this purpose, which is still used as Huawei's classic ringtone. If "Huawei, not only the world's top 500" is to let the public know or re-acquaint with the Huawei brand, the new brand concept of "Practice what you preach" is more like a promise made by Huawei to the public. The print ads are a step-by-step way of saying to users what is possible, and what is possible, is to call the shots but also to take the plunge [6].

4. Experiential Marketing

4.1. Offline Store

Up to now, Apple has 44 offline stores in 16 provinces [7], municipalities, and autonomous regions in China. Stores are located in high-end shopping malls in various provinces and regions. Apple's customer positioning and market position have always been high-end. In Shanghai, Beijing, and other places with several offline flagship stores. The secret of Apple Store's success lies in strict quantity control. For the central and western regions, it has been 6 years since the last direct-operated store opened in Zhengzhou, Central China. Apple's flagship stores have been decorated in style and expensively. Wuhan Apple Store retail Store will be started on September 10, 2021, and completed on March 19, 2022, with a total decoration area of 883.3 square meters. The contract price is 35,127,700 yuan.[8] There is an essential difference between Apple Store retail stores and authorized stores. Authorized stores are essentially operated by a third party, and Apple only provides technical support, with a world of difference in service, attitude, and quality. Apple Store, on the other hand, can bring users the first-time experience, purchase new products, get technical support advice, product set, and maintenance services. Most of these services are beyond the reach of authorized stores. More importantly, Apple Store will not encounter "untrustworthy" merchants, while third-party authorized stores are difficult to guarantee. Most people's first impression of Apple is "simple, advanced, expensive". The same is true of Apple Store. If ones remove the Apple Logo, it could easily be mistaken for a building like an art museum. However, in Apple Store, there are many seemingly ordinary, but behind the knowledge of the "hardware", that can be called art. Take, for example, the tables on which Apple displays its products, custom-made by Fetzer [9], a century-old wood company. In the display of products, it can also store all kinds of data lines, valuable. In the children's section of the Apple Store, there are also some specially designed round seats for children. Adults want to have a try. The chairs, from the Italian brand Baleri Italia, are on the market for 369 euros (2,795 yuan) [10].

Huawei's offline flagship stores are divided into Huawei Authorized Experience Store, Huawei Flagship Store, and Huawei Smart Life Experience Store. There are now more than 3,000 Huawei stores in China, scattered across the country [11]. Huawei's physical stores in China are mainly located in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chongqing, and Tianjin, while there are also a certain number of physical stores in other cities. The IP design principle of "one store, one city" is used in the Huawei Smart Life Pavilions located in significant cities. They offer an insight into each city's culture, and the design cues may also strike a chord with locals. They actively engage with the local cultures of various locations, form strong emotional bonds with locals, and develop into a stunning "postcard" for the city's external promotion. It appears that only Huawei is capable of creating an intelligent life hall that combines a variety of urban cultures and humanistic sentiments. In the Huawei Smart Living Hall, a variety of mobile phones and electronic products are displayed as well as cars and furniture made by Huawei. With the rich product matrix of the whole scene and the powerful distributed technology means of HarmonyOS, Huawei Smart Life Pavilion is actively connecting and interacting with tens of millions of consumers, presenting a visible and tangible "model room" of smart life for thousands of urban people, so that people can experience the future life of the smart home in a zero-distance and immersive way.

4.2. User Experience

In recent years, concepts related to "experience" have become increasingly prevalent in traditional service industries and other deeply affected enterprises. Managers are also revaluing trends related to customer experience. What is clear is that the customer experience has influenced the way business is done, and the time for experience has come. However, user experience is not a seismic innovation, but a lot of underappreciated details.

The reason why Apple can create a comfortable and warm space and continuously bring a good consumption experience to customers is inseparable from its "customer-centric" concept. The reason why the brand loyalty of Apple fans is so high is that both generations of CEOs have a good insight into future trends. In his time, Mr. Jobs would personally run organizations for nerds, inviting fans to Apple stores for Tours and reviews and asking them how they felt. Not only to share software or expertise with fans but also to convey to customers the idea that consumers are no longer mere buyers but Apple people. When products and enterprises can mobilize consumer emotions, customers will have trust in the enterprise and are willing to exchange their own experiences. That's why Apple has access to a steady stream of customer experience data that it can analyze and refine to create memorable experiences. In the later era of Cook, Apple even wrote customer experience management into the DNA of the company. Regardless of potential customers or old customers, Cook paid full attention to every opportunity to contact customers, listened to the real needs of customers, and constantly improved customer experience, so that customers from satisfactory experience to emotional recognition. For example, in a video interview with Chinese fans, Cook mentioned that Apple's offline stores are not just a playground for young people, but that the company will also do more to make the elderly and people with disabilities have a good shopping experience in its stores. Of course, in addition to the CEO's direct communication with customers, Apple is also actively deploying a customer experience management system designed to collect experience data from different channels. In offline stores, shop assistants may conduct one-on-one interviews with customers to understand in detail the problems and obstacles encountered by customers in the process of entering and leaving the store, and share the data internally promptly. Online channels, Apple's official website feedback column, customers through product, website and developers to experience feedback, and can receive a formal email reply. To sum up, in the process of creating a quality experience, Apple neither ignores the real needs of customers nor forgets its characteristics. Instead, it designs stores, launches products and provides services around customer experience. There are no insistent salespeople, no cacophony of voices, and no blinding lights. Only by exploring new customer experience modes can customers' recognition be increased. [12] After the new product release conference, Apple will reduce the price of the products of the previous period after the launch of the new products. This takes advantage of the psychology of consumers to "bring out the new from the old", which is to take care of the psychology of the previous generation of consumers. It also enables users to trade in the old for the new and get certain discounts or monetary compensation for the purchase of the new generation of products.

The customer experience life cycle is a widely recognized concept within the industry, and the underlying customer journey is of significant relevance to all stakeholders. Jonathan Hopkinson, a senior business consultant in customer experience management at Huawei SmartCare, asserts that the customer journey is a holistic and multidimensional experience that entails both emotional and rational aspects. Therefore, it is crucial to comprehend each touch point from the external perspective of the customer. Through meticulous analysis of every point of contact throughout the customer journey, Huawei cannot only identify numerous opportunities for customer satisfaction but also potential sources of customer dissatisfaction. Currently, Huawei is actively collaborating with global operators to explore the potential of these touch points and develop a series of use cases that will truly enhance the end-to-end customer experience and make customer experience management a tangible reality.

In summary, the effective management of customer experience necessitates a comprehensive understanding of the customer journey, with a focus on both emotional and rational aspects. Huawei's approach, characterized by rigorous analysis and collaboration with operators worldwide, holds significant promise in terms of enhancing the customer experience and delivering tangible results [13].

5. Conclusion

The present paper has provided a comprehensive analysis and exposition of the marketing strategies and mobile phone products of Apple and Huawei. This study serves as a foundational framework for the development and implementation of more effective and appropriate marketing plans for these two leading companies in the mobile phone industry. The unique marketing characteristics of each company have been carefully examined, allowing for tailored recommendations that take into account the distinct needs and preferences of their respective customer bases. Further research will be undertaken to gain a deeper understanding of the consumer groups of Apple and Huawei. Through first-hand data collection and analysis of customer characteristics, this research aims to provide valuable insights into the specific needs and preferences of each group. The resulting recommendations will enable Apple and Huawei to refine their marketing strategies and expand their market share while delivering greater value and satisfaction to their customers. The ultimate goal of this research is to foster a peaceful partnership between these two influential companies. By gaining a mutual understanding and respect for each other's strengths and weaknesses, Apple and Huawei can leverage the insights gained through this study to continue innovating and improving their products and services. This will ultimately benefit both companies and their respective customers, and contribute to the ongoing growth and success of the mobile phone industry. Overall, this research highlights the importance of adapting marketing strategies to meet the unique needs of different customer bases and the benefits that can be achieved through collaborative efforts between industry leaders.