Chinese Electronic Enterprises Trending for Smart Homes at AWE2016

Internet technology penetrates into housing field - reconfigure economic trends

SHANGHAI, March 30, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- China Household Electrical Appliances Association provides information on the ever expanding and developing Consumer Electronics market in China.

The Appliance and Electronics World Expo (AWE2016) held in Shanghai provided many examples of the issues Chinese manufactures are facing.

Adjusting Focus

The Chinese government pushes manufactures to increase turnover by modernization and digitalization as restructuring, e.g. the Internet Plus concept and to be more internationally competitive. Pushing for strong investments in the industry, upgrading household techniques and consumer electronics, which enhance the competitiveness of Chinese manufactures to overseas manufactures, displays China's prowess, summarized Zhu Jun, General Secretary of China Household Electrical Appliances Association (CHEAA).

AWE in Shanghai, together with CES in Las Vegas and IFA in Berlin are the three most important exhibitions and show great optimism. China's giant enterprises like Haier and MIDEA made clear strategies in the smart home concept due to strong customer interest. Smart appliances that can communicate with each other and be controlled via APPs by smartphones are leading the smart home trends.

Chinese manufactures present combination solutions with individual appliances. The demand for high-value and high-end household appliances requires special manufacturing techniques and total control via a smartphone.

Haier Group has merged with GE appliances in the USA, which is a big endeavor for Haier in its international strategy in the consumer electronics field. The continued growth and expansions will provide more opportunities for consumers.

Haier recently launched an extremely low-noise compressor, which has been adapted for HVAC in buildings. Haier has the technique and plans to manufacture this product combined with the control system via smartphones and tablets, said Mr. Wang Ye, the vice president of Haier Group at AWE.

Smartphone manufacturers continue to go further

Xiaomi and Huawei mix the smart home concept with craftsmanship

When people mention newest trends in consumer tech, Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer comes to mind. It was founded in 2011 and within very short time became top Chinese mobile phone producer.

Wang Chuan, the co-founder of Xiaomi has noted that Xiaomi considers itself not as a pure smartphone maker but also technology focused company to provide technology and products that meet customers tastes. Xiaomi only sells online and has no offline locations.

In 2015 Xiaomi expanded into well-designed air purifiers and water purifiers.

At the 2016 AWE, Xiaomi presented new smart TVs, which are more of a new generation of computer plus internet operated TVs. Xiaomi competes with another Chinese newcomer, LeTV. It appears Xiaomi's core business is smartphones, this is deceiving. Here you can see intelligent televisions as central element of a smart home concept and as a switching station for the servicing of internet related consumer devices, said Wang Chuan, co-founder of Xiaomi.

In connection with the smartphone and the development of routers, Wang Chuan sees Xiaomi is positioned as an important player for the core part of the smart home concept. Xiaomi has extensively invested in the construction of cloud computing to further its involvement in the smart home.

One can also imagine the development and improvement introduced by conventional household appliances, said Wang Chuan. It also applies to ordinary products with a special touch from Xiaomi, making use of the technological potential and the strong brand recognition from Xiaomi.

Key Positions

Huawei VP Shao Yang, who leads the marketing and strategy for consumer electronics, sees Huawei's future roles in a key field: the internet of things. Namely the internet protocols and uniform standards for the control of devices that select software and chipsets and the technology for the communication of devices and not least the big data applications in cloud computing.

Huawei believes it is not enough to develop a Chinese unified standard, but will contribute to the integration and vote for an international standard. The core telecom business of Huawei propelled the group to switch positions and join the race for the smart home technology, not just focusing on the internet of things, says Shao Yang. Connectivity is in the center of smart home systems. Huawei will be positioned in a very clear role in cloud technology development, because internet of things is inevitably dependent on the support of cloud computing.

Global Presence

China's household appliances manufactures suffer a latent overcapacity problem, which slows down the economic growth. All rely on the internet of thing and intelligent electronic devices as new perspective in this industry, said Vice President of Midea Group, Mr. Hu.

Midea, with 20 billion dollars revenue and 135,000 employees, is a prime example of China's private industry enterprises, which has undergone an intense transformation process. It transformed from an appliances manufacture to a full range technology power house.

Midea, founded in 1968 in Foshan, the heart of the Pearl River Delta of south China's Guangdong province, has made a name for itself in the in air-conditioning industry. As China's market leader in compressed air-conditioning devices, microwave devices and rice-cooking machines, Midea has made a range of appliances specifically adapted to China's household needs.

Huawei, Xiaomi and IBM have cooperation agreements for services completed involving smart home products with Midea.

AWE Official Website: http://awe.com.cn/en/ 

Cara Wang
+86-10-6709-3609
cara.wang@cheaa.com