From knock-off old-man's electric vehicles to industrial giant

Chapter 280 Poaching
The decision to expand Xingchen's smart terminal business was made in such a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere.

The heads of several leading mobile phone companies present occasionally let out hearty laughter.

The atmosphere was very cheerful.

They saw not competition, but an opportunity for future cooperation!
Mr. Xu is still young after all.

Young people love imaginative ideas.

They don't know how difficult it is to manufacture mobile phones.

Once he's done it, he'll realize he's not cut out for it, and he'll understand how difficult it was for these mobile phone manufacturers to get to where they are today, walking on thin ice.

Ideally, Xingchen should suffer a significant loss in this area, clearly recognizing the limitations of their capabilities, before obediently seeking cooperation with mobile phone manufacturers to establish system integration and share a single platform.

This is what is bound to happen.

Just like Apple wanting to build cars, is it that easy to build them?
Interlaced like mountains.

It's normal to lose billions of dollars and come up empty-handed.

……

The closed-door meeting between Xingchen and the mobile phone manufacturers lasted two days.

The next day, Xu Yi met with partners from OPPO and Meizu. After visiting Xingchen, OPPO Vice President Shen Yiren readily secured a supply order for Polestar B. When he learned about the production capacity and conditions of Polestar A, he felt regretful but did not try to negotiate further.

After all, Huawei's sales are the strongest among high-end brands in China, with prices reaching five or six thousand yuan, while other brands' flagship models that sell in volume are still hovering between three and four thousand yuan. From the perspective of overall cost control, they need to make comprehensive considerations about the high premium of Polestar A.

Li Nan was in charge of the negotiations on Meizu's side. The first generation of Starry Sky in-vehicle system was jointly developed with Meizu's team, so the two sides had a history. At that time, it was Li Nan who was responsible for communication and facilitated the handshake between the two sides, thus reaching a cooperation agreement between Meizu and the car company.

Xu Yi had met him once before. Compared to his high spirits two years ago, Li Nan's energy and spirit were much weaker now.

After a detailed conversation, and with the information about Meizu's recent developments gathered and sent by his assistant Xiao Zhou, Xu Yi learned about the key points.

In 2015 and 2016, Meizu was in the spotlight. Li Nan, as the president of Meizu's business unit, was in charge of the entire Meizu product line business. He was able to compete with Redmi and bring Meizu's overall sales to more than 20 million units per year, of which Meizu phones accounted for 70%.

However, in the last two years, Meizu switched to MediaTek chips for its flagship phones because they thought Samsung chips were too expensive, and MediaTek chips caused a major setback.

As a result, sales suffered repeated setbacks, and rumors began circulating online that Meizu was considering cutting its Meilan mobile phone business.

Xu Yi sighed inwardly.

He knew this wasn't just a rumor, but something that was about to happen.

In some respects, Huang Zhang is definitely a talented individual.

In pursuit of a so-called "high-end image" and "company transformation," he personally returned and even cut the best-selling model, a move that stunned the competitors.

The most ridiculous thing was the so-called "premium strategy," which resulted in the subsequent flagship phones flopping, and then the company was completely withdrawn from the game.

“Mr. Xu, Mr. Huang has been too busy with business to come in person recently. Meizu really needs this Polestar B battery. I think we need to have a more in-depth discussion about the price and the purchase quantity.” Li Nan was very interested in this battery. After a moment of contemplation, he said sincerely, hoping to negotiate the price with Starstar in the same way as usual when negotiating the supply chain.

Meizu is now pursuing a premium strategy. Back in 15, they had the MX4 Pro with a 5.5-inch 2K screen, Samsung's flagship Exynos 5430 chip, and even HiFi-level audio. It was a true all-in product, the king of kings.

As a result, the 2K screen caused excessive heat and power consumption, leading to a significant drop in battery life. Sales were lackluster, and the project was ultimately abandoned.

This year, the internal pressure was particularly intense. They couldn't afford to repeat past mistakes, so they immediately set their sights on the Polestar B battery.

"Mr. Li, we hope that mobile phone manufacturers will also consider the concerns of battery manufacturers. The R&D costs and production line costs for new batteries are very high..."

Xu Yi's tone was more "sincere," as if he were in a difficult position.

It is quite clear who holds the initiative on the actual scene.

Given Meizu's current size, it's not enough to negotiate with Starry Sky. The remaining production capacity of Starry Sky B would be a hot commodity for any mobile phone manufacturer or brand.

Xu Yi was willing to talk because of their previous cooperation. In addition, he also wanted to take the opportunity to have a deeper conversation with Meizu. Meizu is currently carrying out sweeping "reforms" internally, which is a golden opportunity for Xingchen, which wants to make mobile phones!

“Yesterday we signed contracts with Vivo and Xiaomi. The purchase price for the same model is the same. Their pre-order volume and purchase volume are even higher than Meizu’s. The production capacity of the second-generation Polestar battery is also limited this year. There is only one production line available now. If Meizu thinks the price is too high, they can also consider the next generation of Polestar battery. The price of that model is lower than the second generation…” Xu Yi’s words put pressure on Li Nan.

First-generation Polestar battery?
Isn't that the one that Vivo released at the end of last year?

The purchase price is low, but the capacity and battery life can't be far ahead!

Furthermore, their batteries weren't significantly different from ATL's high-grade batteries, so they might as well source from ATL.

"Ok."

Seeing that there was no room for negotiation and no other choice, Li Nan simply accepted the offer.

You have to accept it.

The fact that other leading companies have all replaced the batteries in their flagship phones without hesitation is even more astonishing!

When other brands have battery life of 4,000 to 5,000 mAh, and Meizu's flagship still only has a battery life of around 3600 mAh, won't that be a disaster?
Xu Yi sized up Li Nan and smiled, "Aren't this year's two flagship phones directly managed by your CEO Huang? You don't need to be under so much pressure. After all, channel sales and supply chain coordination are secondary. Ultimately, it's the product that matters. CEO Li, you might as well focus on Meizu Blue. The market for low-end phones is huge."

It would have been better if he hadn't mentioned Meizu.

The mere mention of those two words made Li Nan feel even more bitter.

The bitter wine hurts my throat and my heart aches!
Li Nan said with a wry smile, "Thank you for your concern, Mr. Xu. The Meizu supply chain and channels were indeed under great pressure in the past two years. As you know, for low-end phones, it's no joke to cut profits to 5%. If we're not careful, we might even lose money..."

"But things are much better this year; I probably won't have as much business to do."

Xu Yi feigned surprise: "What's going on? Is the rumor true? Is Meizu really going to scale back its business?"

"Well, it's hard to say exactly, but that's true."

Li Nan sighed deeply. He didn't try to hide it much. Anyone in the industry could tell with a little attention that he, the head of Meizu, was too idle. He was now only responsible for running the supply chain and hadn't done much marketing or management work.

"This... Mr. Huang is so confused!"

Xu Yi was pleased to hear this, but he criticized it in his mouth: "Even if you can't make money in the low-end market, can you just abandon tens of millions of new users every year? Controlling traffic entry points and user retention is better than doing a single strategy. Do you think people who buy low-end phones will never buy high-end phones in their lives? Future product strategies will be family-based and systematic."

The mobile phone market is currently in a state of chaotic competition, but there is already a major trend towards family-based and systematic designs. For a considerable period of time to come, due to the increasingly distinct system and configuration features, users will become more loyal to a particular brand's family of models.

Cutting off all low-end devices is no different from cutting off your own leg.

Li Nan was shocked!
He was under a lot of pressure and felt depressed. He had no one to talk to at the company, but he never expected to find warmth and comfort at Xingchen.

Just a few simple words.

He felt his overwhelming personal charm.

"Mr. Xu, you have such insightful views... If Mr. Huang had the same ideas as you, Meizu wouldn't have developed into what it is today." Li Nan was filled with mixed emotions, her gaze meeting his in the air as she revealed her true feelings.

But he quickly realized his mistake, "I've said too much, Mr. Xu, please don't take offense... I really admire Xingchen's car manufacturing model; seeing it for yourself is truly a case of seeing is believing."

He felt that Xingchen Company had a great atmosphere.

At least the CEO doesn't seem to like putting pressure on people like Meizu does. It's a pity he's in car manufacturing, which is completely unrelated to the business.

Xu Yi countered, "Hey—actually, I've been quite interested in the mobile phone industry lately. I was just chatting with Lei Jun and Yu Chengdong yesterday about what would happen if Xingchen made a phone..."

The voice just fell.

Li Nan was stunned and shocked: "President Xu...you, you're not joking, are you?"

Xu Yi suppressed his smile.

"Actually, we have a tradition within StarCraft that we never make jokes we're not sure we can keep."

(End of this chapter)