Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 483 August New Opportunity, Sweeping the Whole Place

When the Zhiyun flagship launch conference started, a large number of people around the world were watching, and many of them watched the live broadcast on their mobile phones.

With the rapid development of the mobile Internet era, mobile phones have become highly popular, WIFI has become universally available, and 3G or 4G networks have been generally opened in major markets around the world. This has led to the rapid development of video content. It is against this background that Doudong Video has rapidly risen and become a heavyweight APP in the first echelon of the world.

Similarly, this also led many people to choose to watch Zhiyun's flagship press conference on their mobile phones, some watching the live broadcast and some watching video clips.

After the press conference officially started, when Xu Shenxue just took the stage to introduce some ecological products, many short video clips of the press conference had already appeared on major online platforms.

"Zhiyun launches a new generation of smart sweepers!"

“Zhiyun has launched a new generation of home smart host and a new standard smart home ecological solution!”

"Xu Shenxue claims that people's lives will be highly intelligent in the future!"

"Zhiyun released the new Bluetooth headset Yun Buds3 Pro, equipped with Zhiyun's exclusive Bluetooth 5.6 protocol, with adaptive sound effects and intelligent active noise reduction functions, and the battery life is further increased to seven hours. The price is 1699 yuan!"

Although the highlight of Zhiyun Group’s flagship press conference is the S series flagship, every year Zhiyun Group will selectively release some ecological products at this influential press conference.

For example, Bluetooth headset products have always been released together with the S series flagship.

At the press conference, after Xu Shenxue came on stage, he first introduced the new generation of smart home ecosystem, including the most core smart home host.

Then a new Bluetooth headset product was introduced.

After briefly introducing these ecological products, Xu Shenxue began to introduce some recent technological breakthroughs achieved by Zhiyun Group Semiconductor.

Especially the most critical equivalent seven-nanometer process!
Industry insiders knew at a glance that Xu Shenxue was paving the way for their S903 chip!
Because the S903 chip is the world's first large-scale commercially produced chip using an equivalent seven-nanometer process!
In addition, many manufacturers are also paying close attention to the actual commercialization of the equivalent seven-nanometer process promoted by Zhiyun Group!
To put it bluntly, many manufacturers are waiting for Zhiyun Group to make samples...

The main reason is that the current equivalent of seven-nanometer process uses a DUV immersion lithography machine and quadruple exposure production, which makes the production cost extremely expensive.

A single tape-out costs tens of millions of dollars, and the manufacturing cost is much more expensive than the previous equivalent ten nanometers.

Should we follow the pace of Zhiyun and Fruit and quickly launch the equivalent of 7-nanometer process?

Among them are semiconductor manufacturers, such as Quadstar and Intel, which are also working on it, but it is too difficult to use DUV immersion lithography machines, so they have not been successful so far... Should they continue to invest in it in the future, or should they wait until EUV lithography machines are mature and commercially available before developing the equivalent seven-nanometer process? This is a very serious issue.

Semiconductor design manufacturers are also waiting and watching. The current foundry costs for the equivalent seven-nanometer process are astronomical. Whether it is Zhiyun Microelectronics or TSMC, the foundry fees quoted are very high.

Such expensive foundry fees will cause the cost of chips to increase significantly, and whether the market can accept it in the end is also a big question.

Even the fruit industry actually hopes that Zhiyun Group will take the lead and achieve good results.

Because Apple's chips also use an equivalent 7-nanometer process... They also hope that the market will have a higher acceptance and expectations for 7-nanometer chips!
The launch of Apple’s new mobile phone will be held later, in September. This is their usual launch strategy: to avoid direct competition with Zhiyun!

They also tried to release a new phone in the same month as Zhiyun before, but they were suppressed badly...

Since then, Fruit has never tried to release a mobile phone at the same time as Zhiyun!
Afraid of being beaten!

Even if Apple wants to compete head-on with Zhiyun, it has to postpone the press conference to August. They have no mobile phones to sell now!

Because TSMC encountered many problems when developing the equivalent 7-nanometer process, it was difficult to improve the yield for a long time.

It was not until late July this year that the yield problem was solved and mass production of the latest A series chips for Apple began!

It is already a life-threatening situation for TSMC to catch up with the Apple launch conference in September. It will be extremely difficult to further shorten the time and bring it forward.

Therefore, even if the fruit industry holds a new product launch conference, there will be no products to sell after the launch...

Their new mobile phone has just entered the mass production and stocking stage, and there is not much stock at all.

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Zhiyun Group is promoting the equivalent of seven-nanometer technology, and many semiconductor manufacturers, design companies and even mobile phone manufacturers are watching!

We just want to see how well the market will accept this new technology that is highly praised by Zhiyun Group!

On the stage, Xu Shenxue started by talking about Zhiyun Microelectronics' process step by step, and finally talked about the equivalent seven-nanometer process. He also talked at length about the difficulty of manufacturing equivalent seven-nanometer process chips under existing technical conditions.

How can we demonstrate the advancement of technology without exaggerating its difficulty?
After talking about Zhiyun Microelectronics' equivalent seven-nanometer process, Xu Shenxue changed the subject: "We spent a lot of money and the efforts of countless engineers to finally perfect the seven-nanometer process!"

"So what does the chip made with this process look like?"

At this time, Xu Shenxue took out a small chip from his pocket: "This is the S903 chip we made with the latest 18-nanometer process. It is also the SOC chip installed in our new generation S series mobile phones!"

"It has an astonishing 803 billion transistors, but its volume is only percent of the previous generation S chip!"

"This is because the 7-nanometer process we use has a transistor density of 100 million per square millimeter, which is 1.8 times higher than the 55 million per square millimeter of the previous generation's 10-nanometer process!"

“It’s 2.3 times better than the 12-nanometer process!”

The 14-nanometer, 12-nanometer, and 10-nanometer processes of Zhiyun Microelectronics are all based on the double exposure technology. Strictly speaking, this is actually a technical route, but improvements have been made in the shape of transistors and other technical details.

The 14/12nm processes are highly similar, even the transistor density is about the same, but the 12nm process has lower power consumption. Strictly speaking, Zhiyun's 14nm process is just a low-power version of the nm process... Low power consumption can make the area larger and the total number of transistors on the chip can be greater.

Therefore, the S703 chip using the 603-nanometer process is larger in size than the S chip using the -nanometer process, and its performance is also stronger.

The equivalent 10-nanometer process is a further improvement on the 12-nanometer process, bringing the transistor density to 55 million per square millimeter, almost pushing the double exposure technology to its limit.

The current equivalent seven-nanometer process uses a brand-new quadruple exposure technology, and the transistor density has soared to 100 million per square millimeter!

This is also the core reason why the S903 chip is smaller in size but has stronger performance than the S803 chip.

Xu Shenxue continued to introduce: "The S903 chip adopts the new IntelliCore 6.8 architecture and has six CPU cores, including two high-performance cores and four low-energy cores."

"Combined with our Zhiyun's leading exclusive dynamic main frequency technology, it can perfectly balance the choice between performance and energy consumption of the mobile phone, thereby ensuring the overall battery life of the mobile phone, while having sufficient performance when performance is needed!"

"In terms of CPU performance, the new S903 chip is 803 percent better than the previous generation S chip!"

"Our S903 chip has a new generation of AP90 architecture and uses four GPU cores. It has greatly enhanced the comprehensive graphics processing capabilities. Compared with the graphics processing capabilities of the previous generation S803 chip, it has increased by %!"

"Not only has the CPU and GPU performance been greatly improved, but more importantly, our S903 chip has significantly reduced power consumption while improving performance. Compared with the S903 chip, the power consumption of the S803 chip has dropped by %, which means that our new phone has a longer battery life!"

"At the same time, the AP903 architecture used in our S90 chip, a new generation of GPU architecture, has added support for artificial intelligence technology. Together with the AI ​​co-processing core in our S903 chip, it can perfectly support artificial intelligence technology and provide sufficient local computing power support for artificial intelligence!"

"This will be reflected in the series of artificial intelligence technologies we have launched on the new S18 mobile phone!"

"In addition, our S903 chip has enhanced other core functions such as communication baseband, ISP core, memory support core, power management core, etc."

"The S903 chip is the most powerful mobile phone SOC on the planet today, bar none!"

"Its overall performance even exceeds that of most computers!"

Xu Shenxue was bragging about the S903 chip in a speech, and a number of PPT introductions of the S903 chip appeared on the big screen behind him. This boasting lasted for nearly fifteen minutes.

If we include the previous ten-minute introduction and boasting about the seven-nanometer process, Xu Shenxue spent twenty-five minutes just introducing the seven-nanometer process and the S903 chip!

After introducing the S903 chip, Xu Shenxue said: "Of course, if a mobile phone wants to achieve top performance, in addition to the most core SOC chip, it also needs the best memory chip and flash memory chip to provide support!"

"And in the new S18Max phone, we have used the best storage chip as always!"

"The memory chip on the S18 Max uses the latest generation of LPDDR4X chips from Zhiyun Storage, which are manufactured using the most advanced 10B2 process. Its speed reaches 4266MHZ and its bandwidth reaches 18GB/S!" "We will deploy 8GB of this top-level memory on the S Max!"

The 10B2 in this memory chip is an upgraded version of last year's 10B process. The difference is not that big. The actual semi-metal spacing is nanometers, and there are only some minor upgrades. However, there is no need to talk about these small details.

As for the more advanced 10C, it cannot be done with the current DUV immersion lithography machine as it is too expensive. We can only wait for the EUV lithography machine to implement the 10C process.

"For flash memory chips, our S18Max this year will use Zhiyun's sixth-generation flash memory chips, with 512 stacked layers and a maximum capacity of GB!"

"S903 chip with 10nm process, LPDDR2X memory chip with 4B process, and sixth-generation flash memory chip!"

"When these three top chips are combined, a wonderful reaction occurs between them, and finally the most powerful mobile phone in human history is produced: S18 Max!"

When Xu Shenxue introduced it, he used the flagship model S18Max as the introduction... The many technical parameters mentioned did not actually include S18 and S18 Pro...

Because these two mobile phones, except for the S903 chip, many other parts are different from the S18Max and S18 Max Pro!
Because the S18 is relatively cheap, in order to control costs, many of the parts it uses, including memory chips and flash memory chips, are old models from last year!

The top-level memory and flash memory chips are quite expensive...it is impossible to use them in the entire series.

This is also a feature of Zhiyun's flagship press conferences in recent years, that is, the Max series is mainly introduced and promoted, not the standard version and Pro version.

After all, if you tell the truth about the standard version and the Pro version, people will think that Zhiyun has no technological innovation, no technological progress, and is not top-notch... But if you lie, that would be false advertising.

In order to avoid criticism and fall into the trap of false advertising, Xu Shenxue did not use the general term S18 mobile phone when introducing it, but used S18Max.

Xu Shenxue boasted a lot about chips, but he gave less introductions to other aspects, mainly because there were not many major changes.

The screen is still an OLED screen, with three cameras and face recognition, and there are no major changes in other hardware.

The appearance is not much different from the previous generation S17.

However, when introducing the new generation of operating systems, some new functions were highlighted, especially the application of artificial intelligence technology.

For example, after using the S903 chip, the support for artificial intelligence is better, which is also reflected in the picture-related functions of the album, such as photo classification, picture editing and modification.

The new operating system on the S18 mobile phone applies artificial intelligence technology for the first time in image editing, that is, image generation technology, which can help users quickly modify various types of images, such as cutting out images, replacing backgrounds, etc.

In the past, all of these required professional image editing software and technical personnel to achieve, but now, users can make simple modifications with just the movement of their fingers, and the results are quite good.

At the same time, when taking photos, it can also better identify portraits, and then focus accurately to take better portrait photos.

These are the continuous application and popularization of artificial intelligence technologies in the mobile phone field.

Finally, Xu Shenxue began to announce the price and storage space of the S18 series.

S18以及S18 Pro，还有S18Max分别有64GB以及256GB和512GB三个版本。

As for the S18 Max Pro, there are two versions: 128GB and 512GB.

Last year’s S17 Max started at 256GB and was priced at 10999 yuan. However, this price was slightly high, which affected the sales of S17Max to a certain extent.

Therefore, this year's S18Max chose to add a 128GB version, with the price reduced to 9999 yuan, and then added a 512GB version, priced at 11999 yuan, and the 256GB version was cancelled.

Those who like high-end large screens but are a little short of money can buy the 128GB version. Those who have money can go directly to the 512GB version. There is no middle option.

For the standard version of S18, the starting price for 64GB is still 5199 yuan... Zhiyun Group's S series mobile phones have insisted on the 5199 yuan price for the entry-level model for many years and still do not plan to change it. After all, this entry-level model plays the role of a gatekeeper and also undertakes the main task of sales. The price cannot be too high or too low. 5199 yuan is just right.

主打的S18Max，其64GB版本的则是7999元起步，256GB的要9299元，512GB的要10999元。

How much the S18 can sell this year will mainly depend on how the S18 standard version and S18 Max version sell.

As for S18Pro and S18 Max Pro, they are both versions with relatively low sales.

After announcing the selling price, Xu Shenxue ended the press conference. He did not leave immediately, but instead had a brief chat with the heads of several high-tech manufacturers.

Then he returned home with Lin Yaxian.

As soon as midnight that evening, Zhiyun Group opened a full payment pre-order channel on its official website, and several online cooperative channel merchants also opened pre-order channels one after another.

Pre-orders were opened on the evening of the release, with intensive advertising, and the device officially went on sale three days later. This is a common practice for Zhiyun Group when launching new flagship models.

Although Xu Shenxue pays attention to these things, he will not interfere too much.

All previous publicity plans have been finalized and implemented. The marketing department is carrying out extensive publicity on a global scale as planned. It is no longer possible to make strategic changes in the middle of the process, and only minor adjustments can be made according to changes in the situation.

There is no point in being anxious now. Xu Shenxue simply ignored it and would wait for the official sale in three days to find out the result...and judging from the media reports in the past two days, the enthusiasm of netizens' discussions and the content of the discussions, there is no big problem!
Although many people say that this year's S18 mobile phone has not made any progress in appearance and is highly similar to last year's S17 mobile phone, many people feel that Zhiyun has no innovation in mobile phones.

However, the S903, which is equivalent to a -nanometer process chip, makes up for this!
This is also more in line with people’s brand perception of Zhiyun mobile phones: using the most advanced technology!
Another important point is that the brand value accumulated by Zhiyun Mobile over the years is already strong enough.

And after years of ecological chain construction, the migration cost of Zhiyun mobile phones has become very high!

Zhiyun Mobile has never just sold mobile phones, but a series of ecosystems!
For example, in the field of devices, it can be connected with Zhiyun's smart home devices, computer products, tablets, Bluetooth headsets, smart watches and other series of Zhiyun devices.

In addition, there is user data, which includes a large amount of software usage information, game accounts, photos and videos, memo files, etc. These data are stored in the cloud, and it is very difficult to migrate these data out.

And the game account simply cannot be migrated... because mobile games are divided into partitions, the Zhiyun area, Android area, and IOS area are all separate, and there is no way to log in to the Zhiyun area in the game on other brands of mobile phones.

Then there is the security of Zhiyun APP Store. It is not so bad abroad. The content control of the three APP stores of IOS, Google and Zhiyun are all about the same.

However, in China, there are no fruit phones, so naturally there is no IOS. Due to restrictions, Google Mall has not entered the domestic market, and the domestic Android market has not formed a unified APP mall. This has led to chaos in the domestic Android APP mall field.

The Zhiyun APP Mall, coupled with Zhiyun’s various restrictions on APP software, gives Zhiyun phones a huge advantage in the content ecosystem!
All of the above factors have allowed Zhiyun phones to cultivate a large number of loyal user groups... Once users have used Zhiyun phones and experienced the high performance and good content ecology of Zhiyun phones, it is actually difficult for users to switch to other brands of phones.

Technological innovation, top-notch spare parts, equipment ecological advantages, system advantages, and APP software advantages, all of these combined together are enough to ensure the lower limit of sales of the S18 mobile phone.

Of course, if you want to raise the ceiling, it still requires the efforts of the marketing department!
Even top mobile phone brands like the Zhiyun S series still need large-scale publicity when they are released to the market, so as to let potential consumers know as much as possible, generate purchasing urges, and finally encourage them to place orders!
And three days later, the S18 series of mobile phones finally went on sale officially!
There were 55 million units in stock, but they were not sold out on the first day. After all, the quantity was so huge that it was impossible to sell them all in one day.

However, these stocks only lasted for a week, and then the S18 mobile phone was officially announced to be out of stock worldwide!
Many mobile phone manufacturers were silent after seeing this... Zhiyun is indeed the big brother in the mobile phone industry. With such a huge inventory and no major changes in the appearance of the mobile phones, it was able to sell out within a week, causing shortages in the global market, and scalpers are everywhere!

In contrast, the sales of my own mobile phone in August were terrible!

In August's mobile phone market, the Zhiyun S18 series of mobile phones are destined to dominate the market, and other brands of mobile phones will have to temporarily stay out of the spotlight.

Not to mention other brands, even Zhiyun’s own old S17 series, the A17 series launched this spring, the S17XL series and other mobile phones of Zhiyun Group, their sales also plummeted in August!

This is the strong market dominance of Contemporary Zhiyun S series mobile phones.

The new phone was released in August and it swept the whole market without distinguishing between friend and foe, it just took down anyone who came!
This makes the fruit industry extremely troubled every year at this time!

On the one hand, they did not dare to release a new mobile phone in August to compete head-on with the Zhiyun S series, so as to avoid being overwhelmed by Zhiyun's new S series mobile phones.

But on the other hand, they are also worried that the high-end market will be taken up too much by the new Zhiyun S series mobile phones, leaving little market space for their own new mobile phones.

This is very confusing and even worrying!
However, the opinions of many friendly competitors outside are no longer important. What is important is that the S18 series of mobile phones has once again been a success, which is crucial to stabilizing the business revenue of Zhiyun Group and smart terminal products that affect the lives of hundreds of millions of people!

After stabilizing the core smart terminal business, Xu Shenxue breathed a sigh of relief and was able to turn his attention to other businesses.

What has attracted Xu Shenxue's attention recently is that Xiaojiang Technology's commercial low-altitude UAV X14 project was released last year. After more than a year of preparation, it finally officially opened the country's first low-altitude UAV commercial route!
(End of this chapter)