Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 485 Zhiyun's Factional Struggle

Since Zhiyun Group released the new generation of S18 series mobile phones in mid-August, the global mobile phone market has also set off its annual new wave.

The second half of August was fine, and no mobile phone manufacturer dared to release a new mobile phone under the popularity of the Zhiyun S18 series of mobile phones... If a new mobile phone is released at this time, unless it can really come up with a high-tech mobile phone that can beat the Zhiyun S18 series of mobile phones in all aspects, it will be completely crushed by the Zhiyun S18 series of mobile phones.

Because the cost-effectiveness of advertising is extremely low at this time, investing 18 million in advertising funds cannot even achieve the effect of million in advertising funds on weekdays... People are all looking at the Zhiyun S series of mobile phones, so how can they have the mood to look at mobile phones from other manufacturers!

But after entering September, major mobile phone manufacturers seemed to come back to life!
Sixing, Huawei, and Weiku Electronics have released new mobile phones one after another!

Among them, Weiku Electronics launched the Blue Max10 Pro, which uses a new generation of under-screen photoelectric fingerprint technology, and also adds a side fingerprint module, adopting a dual fingerprint unlocking technology route.

It uses a 6.5-inch 1.5-generation OLED screen from Huaxing Technology. At the same time, the screen uses a hole-punch screen with a small circular hole in the middle, adopting the smart capsule mode that imitates the Zhiyun S series mobile phones.

The technical route of screen and fingerprint unlocking is actually very similar to the A17 series of mobile phones launched by Zhiyun Group at the beginning of the year. The only difference is that the A17 mobile phone uses a glass back cover to deploy wireless charging, while Weiku Electronics' Little Blue MAX10 does not use wireless charging, so it continues to use an integrated aluminum alloy body.

Xiaolan's MAX10 Pro also has a built-in Yun AI interface, which introduces the technical application of artificial intelligence and earns it the name of a so-called artificial intelligence phone.

In addition, we also followed Zhiyun and started to develop three cameras.

The core chip uses the high-end flagship W1006 chip launched by Zhiyun Semiconductor at the beginning of this year. It is equipped with 8GB of LPDDR4 running memory and a maximum of 512GB of flash memory!
And it also launched a 25-watt fast charging!
In terms of hardware configuration, this Xiaolan MAX10 Pro can be said to be quite sincere, especially when the standard version is priced at only 3999 yuan.

Weiku Electronics is still very ambitious and is trying to impact the 4,000 yuan market once again, no longer satisfied with the 3,000 yuan market!
Last year, the sales volume of the Bluemax9 Pro, which targets the yuan market, reached more than million units, which made Weiku Electronics more confident.

At the same time, the Xiaolan MAX10 and Xiaolan MAX10 S released at the beginning of this year, both mobile phones priced at more than yuan, also achieved good sales.

This year, Weiku Electronics wants to further enhance the high-end attributes of the sub-brand Little Blue MAX. It not only wants to maintain an annual sales volume of 30 million units, but also wants to obtain higher prices and more profits.

Of course, the rise in mobile phone prices is also closely related to the high prices of high-end chips and high-end OLED screens, which lead to the continued increase in costs for mobile phone manufacturers.

The W1006 chip uses Zhiyun Microelectronics' equivalent ten-nanometer process, which is still considered to be the top-level process.

Although the Zhiyun S series of mobile phones and the new flagship phones of Fruit both use chips with the equivalent of 7-nanometer process, only these two series of mobile phones use 7-nanometer process chips.

For other mobile phone chips, the most advanced one is still the equivalent of ten-nanometer process, and the chips produced by this process are not cheap.

The initial price of W1006 is 906% higher than that of the previous generation W.

At the same time, OLED screens are also very expensive these days, especially this year's Little Blue MAX10 Pro, which uses Huaxing Technology's high-end OLED screen, even if it is only at the 17 generation technical level... But you have to know that last year's S standard version and Pro version also used screens using this technology.

The screens used in this year's S18 standard version and S18Pro version are CSOT's -generation OLED screens.

As for the S18MAX and S18Max Pro, they use the fourth-generation OLED screen of Huaxing Technology, which is almost far ahead of the screens of other mobile phone models in terms of technology level.

After all, this is an ultra-high-end mobile phone with a starting price of 8,000 yuan. It would be unreasonable not to have a better screen and widen the technological gap.

Weiku Electronics has launched a small blue MAX10 PRO, and unlike previous years' October release, the press conference was moved directly to early September. The purpose is obvious, that is, to join the competition in the field of high-end mobile phones, and try to compete with Huawei's high-end series, OV's high-end series, Zhiyun's A series and SX series in the domestic market to seize the market share in the yuan price range.

At the same time, in the overseas market, it competes with the Galaxy series, Fruit SE series, Fruit flagship entry-level old models, Zhiyun S series old models, and of course, it also competes with Huawei and OV's high-end series.

Since Weiku Electronics, Huawei, OV and even Sixing Electronics are no longer satisfied with the low-end and mid-to-high-end market, and also because of the rising costs of components, the flagship costs of various manufacturers have risen, which has made the flagships of various manufacturers strive to move towards a price of more than 4,000 yuan. Therefore, this year's 4,000 yuan price market will be very cruel and fierce competition!

When a number of mobile phone manufacturers released new phones, Apple also officially released their new phones in mid-September.

This year's flagship fruit phone also uses the top four-star OLED screen, the equivalent of a seven-nanometer SOC chip, Qualcomm's 4G full network communication baseband, plus the equally top-level LPDDR4X memory and flash memory.

Then there are their upgraded 3D facial recognition technology, wireless charging technology and so on.

In terms of hardware, they can be said to have done the best they can!

They tried to curb the declining sales trend by stacking extreme hardware and building up a good reputation over the years!
Last year, they couldn't even maintain sales of 150 million mobile phones, and only sold more than 140 million units.

So this year, they are trying their best to stop the decline in sales and at least maintain sales of 150 million units!
Among them, the US market is safe. Apple phones are still very strong in the US market, almost monopolizing the local high-end market, leaving only a small market for the four-star Galaxy series.

However, in other markets, especially in Europe, it faces fierce competition from the Zhiyun S series!
After Apple released its new generation of flagship products, several other manufacturers also released their own new flagship products!
Many manufacturers released mobile phones intensively in September, and all of them were high-end flagship models, which made the mobile phone market in September very lively.

Major mobile phone manufacturers are competing fiercely around the world.

In the domestic market, Zhiyun monopolizes the high-end market, while in the mid-to-high-end market, the high-end flagship products of Weiku Electronics, Huawei, OV and Dami continue to challenge the dominance of Zhiyun's A series, C series and SX series!
In the US market, Four Star continues to challenge the dominant position of Apple, especially this year's Four Star Galaxy series has performed relatively strongly in the US market and has won a considerable share of the high-end market.

In the markets of developed countries such as Europe, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and Australia, Zhiyun and Fruit are fighting closely, while Warwick, Wecoo Electronics, and Sixin's flagship series are eyeing them covetously from behind.

In markets such as ASEAN, South America, and India, the sales of high-end mobile phones are not high in these places. There is no such thing as Zhiyun S series and Apple's high-end flagship products. Zhiyun's A series, C series, SX series, Apple's old models, and SE series are actually not sold much in these places.

The manufacturers that dominate the markets in these regions are Sixin, Vico Electronics, Huawei, OV and Dami.

Whether it is China, North America, Europe, Japan and South Korea, or emerging markets such as ASEAN, India, and South America, a new round of competition in the mobile phone market has arrived.

In the context of this stock market, this kind of competition will become more and more fierce in the future. Even the high-ranking Zhiyun feels the tremendous competitive pressure.

The most obvious manifestation is that the sales of Zhiyun's C series mobile phones have continued to decline this year, and the C11 mobile phone released at the beginning of the year has not been able to reverse the declining sales of the C series mobile phones!
And in August and September, there was a huge blood loss, and the sales of the entire C series of mobile phones were extremely bleak.

If this continues, the sales volume of the entire C series this year is estimated to be less than 15 million units, which is far from the sales volume of 20 million units estimated at the beginning of the year.

Under such circumstances, Zhiyun Group finally launched a backup plan!

At the end of September, Xinyun Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zhiyun Group, held its first mobile phone launch conference in Shenzhen!

Ji Chenghe, senior vice president of Zhiyun Group, personally attended and presided over the press conference, and officially released two mobile phones, the first 'Xinyun N 12' and 'Xinyun N 12 noto'.

This marks the launch of Zhiyun Group's new sub-brand 'Xinyun' into the market!
People in the industry all know that this "Xinyun" is actually the original C series of Zhiyun Group, but consumers outside don't know much about it and think it is a new sub-brand launched by Zhiyun Group.

Although the logo of this sub-brand of Xinyun is different, it still has the bloodline of Zhiyun, and the mobile phone operating system is also NUN OS which is a modified version of Yun OS.

The most important thing is that this phone is cheap and has a good price-performance ratio.

As for the previous Zhiyun C series, anyone who has a little knowledge of mobile phone hardware knows that it is definitely low-spec and high-priced.

The chips are fine, but the screen, battery, memory, flash memory and other spare parts are all old stuff, and this thing only costs between three thousand and four thousand!

Unfortunately, due to the brand burden, there is no way to lower the price... It can only be stuck there, watching its sales drop year by year.

At its peak, the C series had annual sales of over 60 million units!
But now, even the annual sales volume of 15 million units cannot be maintained.

In response to this, Zhiyun Group replaced the C series with the SX series and launched the "New Cloud Plan" on the other hand.

The new cloud plan has now been officially launched, and it has attracted a lot of heated discussion as soon as it was launched on the market!

Because of the new Cloud N12 standard version it released, the price of the standard 64GB version is only 2499 yuan!
What's happening here?
This is the first time in recent years that Zhiyun Group has launched a mobile phone priced below 3,000 yuan, and it is also the first time that it has launched a mobile phone priced below 2,500 yuan.

This price is also the reason why Zhiyun Group insisted on setting up a subsidiary and creating a new brand "Xinyun" which seems to have nothing to do with Zhiyun!

The price is too low, which seriously lowers the high-end image of the Zhiyun brand!
In order to open up the market, the price of the large-screen version of N12 noto is not expensive, starting at only 2899 yuan!

Taking into account the subsequent marketing needs, such as the upcoming Double Eleven, price reduction measures will be implemented. At that time, the discounted price of the N12 64GB entry-level will continue to drop by yuan to a price range of to yuan.

When new products are released next spring, the price of old mobile phones will be reduced further to 2,000 yuan.

The Xinyun brand has a price tag between two thousand and three thousand yuan, and it focuses on the serious mid-range market. It is not like the previous ones that say they are mid-range but actually have a mid-to-high-end price!

Zhiyun Group hopes that this new cloud brand can get rid of Zhiyun’s high-end brand baggage and spare parts restrictions: this is not allowed to be used, and that is not allowed to be used!
Travel light!

Of course, in order not to affect Zhiyun’s brand attributes, especially to ensure the unique attributes of the S series chips, Xinyun brand mobile phones will no longer continue to use S series chips, but will use W series chips.

In the future, the Xinyun brand will adopt an independent operation strategy, letting them do what they want. If they want to do mid-range or high-end, they can do it on their own.

It is common for large mobile phone manufacturers to adopt multiple sub-brands in order to gain more market share and cater to different consumer groups.

Rice, OV and even Warwick do this.

Weiku Electronics also adopts a dual-brand strategy.

Today, Zhiyun Group has also taken this step!
The launch of the new cloud phone has attracted a lot of attention. Many consumers think that this is a phone of Zhiyun descent, and the price is so cheap that they can't help but buy it.

At the same time, although Xinyun is an independently operated sub-brand, it can still make extensive use of various resources of its parent company, and is therefore also directly facing the global market.

After being launched in China, it was also launched in Thailand, Indonesia, India and other markets within a few days.

After the sales data came out, the subsidiary Xinyun Technology also breathed a sigh of relief!

"Sales in recent days have been pretty good. We predict that sales within a month will reach one million units. We will continue to develop more markets and enter the original markets of the C series!"

"In December, we will release new mobile phone models to further expand our product line and cover more different consumer groups!"

"In the future, we will also launch various smart terminal ecological products under the Xinyun brand to improve the product line!"

"Next year, we will strive to achieve mobile phone sales of 20 million units and completely replace the previous C series' strategic position in the group!" Wang Lintu, vice president of Zhiyun Group and CEO of Xinyun Technology Co., Ltd., reported to Xu Shenxue.

"We are still keeping the C series for sale as a precaution, but if the new cloud brand plan goes well, we plan to stop production of the C series next year, making the C series phones history!"

"If the new cloud plan fails to meet expectations, we will release the C12 phone as usual next spring!"

"We have made preparations for both scenarios!"

Xu Shenxue said: "Well, since the plan is perfect and the preparations are complete, then let's go ahead and do it!"

"For the new brand Xinyun, my requirements are not high. I just want to do a good job in the mid-range market, digest some mature parts for the company, and dilute the R&D costs of various technologies and parts. That's enough!"

“If we can do better in the future, it will be double happiness!”

Xu Shenxue continued, "I'll give you one year. I won't be involved in anything during this year. You will be fully responsible for the operation of this subsidiary. After one year, we'll see how things go."

If the results are up to standard, then everything is good!
If the standards are not met, Xu Shenxue did not say, but you can guess without any doubt that she would be banished to the cold palace!

The C series product line had not improved for a long time and had been getting worse and worse, which had caused quite a bit of controversy. However, at that time everyone also knew that the C series was difficult to make and had too many limitations.

Now we will throw away the C series and give you a new brand "Xinyun". Except for the exclusive core components of the S series and the use of the Zhiyun brand, you can do whatever you want with the rest.

If you still can't do this well, then there's no need to say more about the consequences...

Wang Lintu, who previously served as executive vice president of the smart watch project and executive president of the tablet computer project, was promoted to vice president of the smart terminal business unit two years ago. Together with several other vice presidents, he assisted Xie Jianyong in coordinating the smart terminal projects of the entire group.

This year, Zhiyun Group launched the New Cloud Plan. He recommended himself to Xu Shenxue, wanting to go to the new subsidiary New Cloud to prove his ability to be independent...

Being a vice president in the smart terminal business unit, although this smart terminal business unit is huge, as a deputy, you will never be able to become the senior vice president of Zhiyun Group and enter the decision-making level of Zhiyun Group!
After all, the smart terminal business unit has as many as five vice presidents... Zhiyun Group's smart terminal business unit has an annual revenue of more than 300 billion US dollars, and it has many vice presidents, executive presidents, and executive vice presidents!
It can be said that this is the department with the highest concentration of top talents in Zhiyun Group.

In this case, it is very difficult to continue climbing up!
Wang Lintu, he needs to show his ability to stand on his own before he can go further in the future!
Xu Shenxue was also optimistic about his development. He had watched this man climb up the ladder. When he first joined the company, he was just the leader of the R&D team. Later, his abilities performed extremely well and he gradually climbed to the position of vice president.

Therefore, Xu Shenxue approved his application and gave him a brand new platform: Xinyu Technology Co., Ltd.!

After hearing what Xu Shenxue said, Wang Lintu said, "Don't worry, President Xu, I will never let you down. By this time next year, if Xinyun's sales volume does not reach 20 million units, I will hand in my resignation!"

After the two talked for a while, Wang Lintu said goodbye and prepared to return to Xinyun Technology!

As an independently operated wholly-owned subsidiary, Xinyun Technology Co., Ltd.'s office space is currently still located in the headquarters of Zhiyun Group, using a more than ten-story office building as its temporary headquarters.

If the business develops well in the future, we will build an office building outside as the company headquarters.

After bidding farewell to Xu Shenxue, Wang Lintu went to the office floor of the intelligent terminal division a few floors below to meet his old boss Xie Jianyong.

During the years he worked with Xie Jianyong, he was well taken care of by Xie Jianyong.

He wanted to go to Xinyun Technology Co., Ltd. to develop a new brand, Xinyun, and he also received strong support from Xie Jianyong.

At that time, several vice presidents of the company were competing for this independent position, and Xie Jianyong recommended him to Xu Shenxue.

Xie Jianyong's recommendation also influenced Xu Shenxue's decision to a certain extent. In the end, he recognized Wang Lintu and decided to give him a chance!
But after arriving at Xie Jianyong's office, Wang Lintu found that his former boss seemed to be in poor condition and looked a little haggard!
After the two sat down and chatted for a few minutes, Xie Jianyong took the initiative to say: "You can see that I am not in a good condition!"

"I went to Zhiyun Hospital for a checkup three days ago. The results were not very optimistic. I had some heart problems. The doctor recommended that I have surgery!"

"This is the third time the doctor has recommended surgery. But I used to think that surgery was too risky and that my health would not affect my life if it got worse. I always thought I could still work for a few more years. But this year I found that my health was getting worse!"

"The doctor strongly recommended that I have surgery within a year, otherwise the subsequent risks would be too great!"

"But someone has to take on the work of the smart terminal division. Zhiyun is not only Mr. Xu's business, but also my business. I can't let it go!"

"We have been working together since the old Weiku factory, developing the C1 and S9 phones together. We have endured so many days and nights, and this laid the foundation for Zhiyun!"

Wang Lintu also said at this time: "Yes, the days when I worked overtime every day and stayed up all night to do research and development are still vivid in my mind!"

Xie Jianyong said: "However, time is not forgiving. I am old and can't bear it any longer. Although I don't want to admit defeat, I still have to accept my fate. I have decided to go for the surgery after everything is arranged properly. It will probably take eight or nine months!"

"But even if the operation goes well, I won't be able to continue to lead the Intelligent Terminal Division. This job is too busy and stressful. If I continue doing it, it will kill me sooner or later. Regardless of whether the operation goes well or not, I will officially apply for retirement next year!"

"Before I retire, I will recommend you to President Xu as the new person in charge of smart terminals!"

"I know your abilities, which are enough for this position. Besides, you have worked hard with everyone in the old Weiku factory, so you have enough experience!"

"But... the group is so big, there are many talented and capable people, so you won't be the only candidate!"

"So, go and make Xinyun a success, and prove yourself to the company's 700,000 colleagues and Mr. Xu! You have the ability to lead the company's smart terminal business to new heights!"

"I will help you the last way, but whether you can do it depends on you!"

After hearing what Xie Jianyong said, Wang Lintu was a little dazed for a moment!

He didn't know that Xie Jianyong was seriously ill, even to the point where he couldn't work. Before, he just knew that Xie Jianyong was not in good health, but he didn't expect it to be so serious.

In fact, apart from Xu Shenxue, no one else in the company knew Xie Jianyong's specific health condition, but Xu Shenxue would not tell outsiders.

After all, as the senior vice president of Zhiyun Group and the head of the smart terminal business unit, Xie Jianyong has a very large influence, and his physical health may even affect the company's stock price!

After all, Xie Jianyong is in charge of business worth more than 300 billion US dollars. In the power ranking of Zhiyun Group, he is among the top five and is truly one of the group's decision-makers!

At the same time, Xie Jianyong is also an idol of many engineers in China and even abroad. With a technical background, he accumulated a lot of experience in middle age and created an amazing series of smart terminal products. Finally, he became the senior vice president of Zhiyun Group, a top global high-tech group, in charge of the smart terminal business line of 300 billion US dollars!
As the chief designer of C1 and S9 mobile phones, his name is enough to appear in the history book of smartphone development.

In Zhiyun Group's smart terminal business, Xu Shenxue is typically responsible for setting requirements and formulating strategies, while Xie Jianyong is responsible for implementing requirements and executing strategies.

Many outside investors still have great confidence in Xie Jianyong's capabilities in the field of smart terminals!
Such a Xie Jianyong has sufficient prestige and a solid position in the group. He is also deeply trusted by Xu Shenxue and is also Wang Lintu's biggest backer!

Now, hearing that Xie Jianyong was seriously ill and would retire within a year, Wang Lintu was a little overwhelmed for a moment.

In a trance, he comforted Xie Jianyong with a few words, and said that he would continue to work hard in the future and live up to the cultivation of his old boss Xie Jianyong. Then he left Xie Jianyong's office!

After leaving the office, he sighed deeply!

Among the many executives who came from the old Weiku factory, the old boss Xie Jianyong is now about to leave the stage, and there are fewer and fewer old faces!
When the smartphone team was formed in the old Weiku factory, Xie Jianyong was the one who led the team, and more than 200 people joined the team one after another. Wang Lintu joined Zhiyun at that time and was gradually promoted later.

But not everyone is as lucky as him to keep up with Xu Shenxue's pace.

Among the many old employees back then, not many are still able to remain in the senior management today. In addition to the well-known Ji Chenghe and Xie Jianyong, there is also Wang Tu, the head of the PC business unit, and then there is Wang Lintu and a dozen executive presidents and executive vice presidents.

As for other people, many left their jobs midway for various reasons, some failed to keep up with the pace and gradually became mediocre, some capable people stayed in middle-level jobs in the group, and some who really failed to keep up with the pace were arranged to hold idle positions and receive money for their retirement.

Xu Shenxue will not abandon the old employees who worked with him in the past. As long as they do not make mistakes in principle, they will not be fired. There will be no restriction on their job and salary. If they have enough ability, they will be promoted. If they do not have the ability, they will be assigned some idle positions and the salary will also be sufficient.

And basically everyone has a large amount of stocks and has achieved financial freedom long ago.

Even the cleaning ladies in the company back then, most of them now hold company stocks worth millions of dollars, and have become low-level managers in the cleaning and other logistics departments...

Of course, those who were able to work as cleaning ladies in Zhiyun Technology back then were also elite cleaning ladies. When various departments in the company worked overtime and stayed up late every day, they were able to work overtime and stay up late to clean the place and continue to ensure the cleanliness of the office space.

For an elite auntie like this in the cleaning industry, it is natural for her to be promoted and get a raise!
Xu Shenxue fulfilled his promise and led everyone to become rich together!
However, making money is one thing, but wanting to grow all the way to become a senior executive of a company at the same time is rare!

This requires too much ability.

Zhiyun has been expanding all the way, with the company's annual revenue soaring from tens of billions of dollars to hundreds of billions of dollars. It has grown from an emerging mobile phone manufacturer to one of the world's top high-tech multinational giants today.

This places very high demands on the capabilities of the company's middle and senior management personnel.

Therefore, among the old employees of the R&D department who came from the old Weiku factory, only Xie Jianyong has been able to reach the level of senior vice president today, and only Wang Lintu and Wang Tu have been able to reach the level of group vice presidents.

Ji Chenghe is also an old man from the old Weiku factory. However, Ji Chenghe came from the marketing department. He has his own faction and has never had much intersection with the people who came from the R&D of the old Weiku factory.

Of course, there are some old people in the other companies under Xu Shenxue, such as Bai Qiwen, An Dayu... But these people are from Wecoo Electronics, Wecoo Industry, Wecoo Trading and other companies, and have no big relationship with Xie Jianyong, Wang Lintu, Wang Tu and others.

Now Xie Jianyong also said that he wanted to retire, which made Wang Lintu feel very sad... Xie Jianyong's retirement meant that there would be one less leader among the group of people who came from the R&D of the old Weiku factory.

Well, in a company as big as Zhiyun Group, there are actually many factions, and there are many open and secret struggles.

The group business downsizing plan led by Xu Shenxue was, to some extent, also a factional purge within the Zhiyun Group. An entire faction that came from the administrative department of the old Wecoo factory and then led Zhiyun Properties was purged, including a senior vice president of the group, three vice presidents, and several executive presidents and executive vice presidents. All senior executives were purged.

That group of people were either fired or sent to subsidiaries for retirement. The entire faction disappeared, and outsiders no longer see a company executive who came from the administrative department of the old WeCool factory!
In the purge that year, the R&D faction headed by Xie Jianyong, the marketing faction of Ji Chenghe, and Gu Zhiming's group made great contributions!
The group headed by Xie Jianyong in the past were considered the old employees of the old Weiku factory. In addition, there were Wang Lintu and Wang Tu who were promoted by Xie Jianyong, as well as a dozen executive presidents and executive vice presidents. This group of people totaled about ten people.

Once Xie Jianyong retires, without the protection of senior executives like the senior vice president of the group, I'm afraid that life will not be easy for Wang Lintu and others!

When Wang Lintu walked out of office building A, he looked at the sky outside and his eyes gradually became serious. Since the leader was about to retire, he would become the new leader of the R&D faction of the old Weiku factory!
The new cloud plan cannot afford to fail!
(End of this chapter)