Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 327: Dull Fruit 6S, Fruit Crisis
Zhiyun officially released the S15 series of mobile phones in mid-August, including the blockbuster S15MAX, which sparked a global discussion on 3D facial recognition and full-screen mobile phones.

The sales of its S15MAX mobile phone were also in short supply due to this huge discussion. The spot stocks were sold out early and the order queue was directly stretched to after October.

Many channel dealers are showing off their talents just to get more S15MAX mobile phones in stock.

Against this backdrop, many mobile phone manufacturers are feeling tremendous pressure.

A number of domestic mobile phone manufacturers are fine, as they mainly focus on mid- and low-end models, and can’t even make good prices around 3,000 yuan, let alone ultra-high-end models above 8,000 yuan.

Therefore, they have no intention of competing head-on with Zhiyun's S series phones, especially phones like the S15MAX... It's useless to think about it anyway.

It would be better to figure out how to take advantage of the popularity of the notch screen and produce a phone with a similar appearance, and then focus on the price range of two to three thousand yuan to see if it can boost sales.

As Zhiyun’s main competitors, Four Star and Fruit are under much greater pressure.

Not to mention the mid- and low-end models of Four Star, which are not affected for the time being, but the sales of their Galaxy series have suffered a significant impact.

Although their Galaxy series is impacted by Zhiyun's S series phones and Fruit phones at this time every year, they hold the launch of their flagship phones in March of the year to avoid competition.

However, the impact this year is even greater than in previous years.

As a result, their goal of achieving annual sales of 30 million for their Galaxy series of mobile phones may not be achieved.

It will also seriously affect the Galaxy Note 5 that they are planning to release in September.

The Galaxy Note series is the large-screen version of the four-star Galaxy. Although there are some differences in appearance, the core architecture is similar, which is a bit similar to the relationship between Zhiyun S15 and S15 Pro.

In addition, at the beginning of this year, Samsung also released a more special Galaxy S6 edge, which is similar to the S6 in other aspects, but has a dual-curved screen... I have to say that Samsung has put some effort into the screen.

The four-star note series are all released in the second half of autumn. In the early years, they were released in August, which was one or two months after Zhiyun and Fruit were released.

Last year and this year, the release was further postponed to October... Because the Zhiyun S series was postponed to mid-August, and the Fruit was released in early September, in order to avoid the huge impact of the Zhiyun and Fruit flagship phones, the four-star note5 was forced to be further postponed to early October.

After all, no one wants to release a flagship phone in August or September to compete head-on with Zhiyun and Fruit...even four-star brands are unwilling to do so.

When the eldest and the second in command are fighting, why are you, the third, fourth, fifth, etc., joining in the fun? It is easy for the eldest and the second in command to join forces to deal with them. Even if they are not specifically targeting you, you will be affected by the aftermath of the battle.

And even the third, fourth, and fifth brothers couldn't withstand the aftermath of these battles alone!
Although Samsung sells more than 200 million smartphones a year, their sales are mainly in the mid-range models, which sell particularly well in the 2,000 to 3,000 yuan range. However, the high-end models above 4,000 yuan, that is, the Galaxy series, have a combined annual sales of only more than 20 million units for several sub-models.

The slogan of achieving sales of 30 million units has been shouted by Sixing for many years, but it remains just words until now.

Not to mention the top-end Zhiyun S series and Fruit phones, even the A series phones in Zhiyun's dual high-end model strategy cannot be compared with their Galaxy series!
Although the Zhiyun A series has been silent and overshadowed by the S series, relying on the Zhiyun brand and some details that are different from the S series, more than 14 million A mobile phones were sold last year.

Otherwise, do you think that four-star brands would be willing to hide away from the flagship phone launches of Zhiyun and Fruit every year? There is nothing they can do about it.

If we don't hide, we won't be able to achieve sales of more than 20 million units per year.

After seeing the strength of Zhiyun S15MAX, four-star manufacturers are very worried about their own Galaxy NOTE5 phone that will be released in early October.

However, we can only worry and be anxious... After all, they can't temporarily modify the design of the phone, urgently make a notch screen, and then come up with some 3D facial recognition.

As for this weird thing called 3D facial recognition, their Four Star technical department has already conducted a detailed technical investigation, and the results are very pessimistic.

This damn thing is harder to deal with than fingerprint recognition.

There are several feasible technical routes available now, but either Zhiyun has registered a large number of patents for them, or Fruit has registered a large number of patents in advance.

The patent barriers for this technology are extremely severe.

At the same time, even if we don’t consider the patent issue, the technical difficulty alone is very high. They didn’t have any technical accumulation in this area before. If they want to start from scratch, it will probably take many years and a huge amount of money to invest in research and development.

In addition, Four Star has always focused its technical strength on under-screen ultrasonic fingerprint recognition. They believe that under-screen fingerprint is the best solution for future full-screen phones. After considering the two major technical routes of under-screen fingerprint technology, they believe that ultrasonic is better.

Therefore, a large amount of manpower and material resources have been invested in this field, striving to achieve as many technological breakthroughs as possible for application.

Under so many restrictions, after a major internal technical discussion, Four Star decided to temporarily abandon the 3D face recognition technology route... It's not that they didn't want to, but that they couldn't do it.

Of course, if we can't do it ourselves, we can also look for a third-party supplier just like the previous fingerprint recognition technology. So now Sixing is looking for similar suppliers all over the world, but it can't find any for the time being.

The four-star team felt the pressure, and the fruit team even more so.

After all, fruit is Zhiyun’s core competitor.

As for Four Star, the annual sales volume of its Galaxy series is only over 20 million. One had an annual sales volume of 200 million, but now it is heading for 230 to 240 million. The gap is too big to be considered a competitor.

Zhiyun's main competitors in the high-end mobile phone field were high-end feature phones and pseudo-feature phones from traditional mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia in the early days. In the two years when the S9 and S10 mobile phones were released, Zhiyun and Apple were allies in a sense, often playing tacit games and jointly clearing out traditional mobile phone manufacturers on a large scale.

However, after the failure of high-end models of traditional mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia, Zhiyun's main competitor became Fruit.

In recent years, the flagship phones of both sides have been targeted in various ways, the battlefield has spread across the globe, and the conflict even expanded further last year, resulting in both sides kicking each other out of their own territory!
How could super companies of the size of Zhiyun and Fruit tolerate their core competitors showing their teeth to them in their own turf? They would definitely slap the other party in the face first, and if the other party still refuses to behave, they would kick the other party out completely!
Both parties had similar ideas and took similar actions, and in the end it ended up like this... Apple withdrew from the Chinese market, and Zhiyun withdrew from the US market.

Last year, the two sides fought back and forth, and in the end, the mobile phone sales of both sides increased.

After all, although there are some differences in performance between last year's Zhiyun S14 series mobile phones and Fruit 6 mobile phones, in actual usage, the two are actually similar. At least ordinary people can't feel any obvious difference.

In other aspects, Zhiyun S14 does not have any leading exclusive advantages. Even though it has wireless charging technology, it is not enough to create a huge actual gap.

After all, last year's Fruit 6 was also very difficult to beat, even stronger than the Fruit 6 in the original time and space...it was all forced by Zhiyun.

This year, the Apple iPhone 6 has been upgraded to include a more advanced 6-nanometer chip, better 6-inch and -inch screens, and an integrated aluminum alloy body, launching the more powerful iPhone and PLUS.

Apple originally thought that Zhiyun’s mobile phone would not have a major technological upgrade this year, at most it would be an upgraded version of the S14... They even got some information about the S15 in advance, and confirmed this: there is not much difference between the S15 and S14.

But I didn’t expect that Zhiyun would actually come out with an S15MAX!

Before the official release of S15MAX, Apple's intelligence department had already collected some information about S15MAX, but it did not have complete intelligence. It was not until after watching the press conference that they realized that they had faced a powerful enemy this year.

They really don't like this feeling, especially for executives led by Cook of the fruit company, as it reminds them of the huge crisis several years ago.

In 10, Zhiyun launched the epoch-making S10 mobile phone, equipped with press-fingerprint technology... Relying on this technological advantage, Zhiyun made a complete comeback, from the former second place to the first place, and then suppressed Apple for two years.

It was not until Apple made a breakthrough in technology and came up with its own fingerprint-pressing technology that it was able to reverse its decline.

But at this time, Fruit had already fallen behind a lot, with a considerable gap between it and Zhiyun.

In the following years, the two sides continued to compete, and Apple tried its best. Although its own sales continued to break through, from tens of millions to over 100 million units, and then to over 150 million units last year, Zhiyun ran faster, with the Zhiyun S series quickly increasing from tens of millions to 100 million units, then 150 million, and last year it even reached 200 million units.

Fruits have been following closely, but have not yet been able to regain the top position.

I had thought that this year, we could narrow the gap by taking advantage of the fact that neither side had made any major breakthroughs and were relying on their old strengths, but I didn't expect that Zhiyun had another big move.

As a result, let alone narrowing the gap this year, I'm afraid the gap will be widened again.

The outside world has estimated that the sales volume of Zhiyun's S series mobile phones this year is expected to reach 240 million units.

As for their fruit sales this year, the target set within their company is 180 million units, but it seems unlikely now.

The S15MAX is so popular that it even suppressed its own S15 and S15PRO. The four-star Galaxy series has also been seriously affected... In this case, it is impossible to say that the Apple company's 6S this year will be immune.

After all, the market capacity is limited. If Zhiyun's S series takes a bigger bite, other mobile phone models will have to take a smaller bite.

While the outside world estimates that Zhiyun's S series mobile phone sales will increase to 240 million units this year, the estimated sales of other mobile phone models have been gradually lowered.

The outside world's sales estimates for the Zhiyun A series are only 20 million, and the estimated data for the four-star Galaxy has also been cut by several million.

As for the fruit market, external analysis agencies actually only gave a sales estimate of 160 million units, which is a direct reduction of 20 million units from the estimated sales of 180 million units in the first half of the year.

After all, Fruit is Zhiyun’s core competitor. If more Zhiyun phones are sold, it naturally means fewer Fruit phones will be sold.

Is this analysis useful and accurate?
It’s hard to say. Anyway, after the release of Zhiyun S15MAX, the stock price of Fruit has been falling for half a month.

In this environment, even though the road ahead is tortuous and faces huge competition, Cook and others from the Apple company can only grit their teeth and continue to prepare for the 6S launch conference and listing plan in early September.

The more difficult times in 10 and 11 were overcome, and although they are facing difficulties now, Cook and his team are still confident that they can get through it.

At worst, I can just hold out for a year, and then move back next year when I have developed 3D facial recognition.

No matter what the situation is, it is better than in 10 and 11.

Looking back 10 years ago, Zhiyun launched a surprise attack on Fruit, and Fruit was stunned by Zhiyun's fingerprint-pressing technology on the S10. It took it two years to recover.

It is precisely because of this precedent that Fruit’s current technology research and development strategy is that no matter what Zhiyun does, I will do it... No matter how difficult the technology is, or whether it is useful or not, I will do it anyway.

In addition, develop some unique technologies of your own.

This is to avoid being attacked by the ultimate move again.

It is precisely because of this that Fruit followed Zhiyun's lead early on and started the research and development of the 3D face recognition project.

They just didn't expect that Zhiyun's 3D facial technology research and development progress would be so fast.

However, the problem is not very big. Their 3D face recognition project team has entered the overtime mode. The company will provide people and money, and strive to develop this 3D face recognition technology next year, and then install it on the next generation of Apple flagships.

As long as 3D facial recognition can be successfully developed next year, the gap between Fruit and Zhiyun will only be one year, and it will still be able to hold on to Zhiyun tightly!
Then wait for the opportunity in the future. When the opportunity comes, make a Jedi comeback: bring down Zhiyun and regain the throne of the smartphone leader!
The boss's position originally belonged to them!

Since it was lost, they had to get it back!

They are not Ounoya, which has not changed despite the upheavals of the times. They have flexible business strategies, a strong technical team, and huge cash flow support!

They have enough confidence to regain the title of the smartphone leader.

Of course, confidence is confidence... but when Apple launched its new generation flagship phone, the Fruit 6S, in early September, Cook and others were really disappointed.

After the release of the Fruit 6S, they were not greeted with praise, but widespread criticism... Especially the American media criticized it even more harshly, expressing their disapproval!

Look at Zhiyun, what did your competitor come up with? It's S15MAX, 3D face recognition, and full screen.

Not to mention Zhiyun, even its younger brother Samsung has at least launched a Galaxy S6 edge with a dual-curved screen this year.

What did Apple bring out this year? Last year's copycat version of the Apple 6, the 6S, had almost no changes except for a new chip.

You are too lazy to even squeeze the toothpaste!
They were widely criticized in the media for not being innovative.

Consumers are not very enthusiastic about discussing the 6S, and even if they do discuss it, they will use the S15MAX to belittle the Apple 6S.

In overseas markets, apart from old users and fans who placed orders immediately, passers-by no longer had impulse purchases... Even if they wanted to make impulse purchases, they would buy S15MAX.

The US market is better, after all, Apple is the only one in the market, but the sales volume is not too impressive... Mainly because there is no change compared to the Apple 6, and consumers have no urge to buy it.

This situation has cast the fruit company into a state of pessimism.

After five years, the Apple company once again faced a dark moment... It reminded Cook and countless others of the summer of 10, when Zhiyun released the groundbreaking S10.

That summer was the darkest summer the fruit company had experienced in the past decade!
To this end, the fruit company was forced to immediately acquire the world's second largest fingerprint recognition company at a premium of several times, and then invested huge amounts of money in the research and development of fingerprint technology within two years.

Not only did it suffer heavy losses, but the fruit company also fell from its leading position.

And now...fruits are facing a similar crisis!
If changes are not made quickly, the consequences may be disastrous... Sometimes, the collapse of a company starts with a small lag, and it may seem fine afterwards, but suddenly one day, it collapses completely with a bang.

Less than twenty days after the 6S launch conference, Apple made a low-key and major personnel adjustment in its technical department, and several heads of core R&D projects were fired.

Among them was the R&D director who led the 6S project.

At the same time, the company recruited talents from all over the world and poached many core technical R&D personnel from other large companies to lead the R&D of the next generation mobile phone, Fruit 7.

The Apple company's board of directors finally couldn't stand the technical department's procrastination and began to force Cook to make major personnel adjustments to its core business, the smartphone R&D department!

In order to complete the research and development of 3D face recognition, wireless charging technology and other key technologies as soon as possible!

Next year, Apple’s new mobile phones will definitely use these advanced technologies and reactivate the market!
In this regard, Cook made a guarantee to the board of directors!

If this cannot be done... well, although no one has said it explicitly, everyone knows what the outcome will be. Fruit performance will decline sharply and Cook will lose his job.

If Cook doesn't want to lose his job and become the first CEO of a large smart terminal manufacturer to be ousted and become a global laughing stock!
He must deal with it with all his strength!
There will be another chapter in the second half of the night, but it will be very late, don’t wait!

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(End of this chapter)