Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 534 The Decline of the New Generation S-Series Phones

With the end of growth in the smartphone market and the beginning of a stock market, Zhuyun Group's mobile phone business has entered a relatively stable period.

At the same time, in terms of technological innovation, smartphones have entered a relatively stagnant period, with only simple performance improvements and various small-scale modifications, but it is difficult to have large-scale, groundbreaking technological innovations.

Even so, Zhiyun Group has applied as many new technologies as possible to the new generation S19 series phones in order to maintain its status as a top flagship model.

Before the press conference, Xu Shenxue personally tried out the upcoming S19 series phones.

Wang Lintu, who is in charge of the Smart Terminal Business Unit, introduced the new S19 series mobile phones to Xu Shenxue.

"For this year's S19 series phones, we used the S1003 chip in the main hardware. The S19 standard version and Pro version use the S1003A chip, while the S19MAX and S19Max Pro use the S1003B chip. Both chips use the same architecture, but they use the first and second generation equivalent seven-nanometer processes respectively, which results in some differences in overall cost and performance."

"The same applies to the three core components: memory chips, flash memory chips, and screens. They have been differentiated to control costs!"

"Because of the new mid-frame, the internal structure of the phone is more compact, so the screen size is larger this year. The standard S19 has a 6.2-inch screen, while the S19 Pro has a 6.6-inch screen. The S19 Max retains the 6.3-inch screen size, and the S19 Max Pro has a 6.8-inch screen size."

"The S19Max and S19Max Pro use CSOT's fifth-generation OLED screen, which offers better display quality. The standard and Pro versions will use a slightly improved version of the third-generation OLED screen to control costs."

The overall screen changes aren't significant; the display quality is slightly better, and the standard and Pro versions have slightly larger screens.

"For the unlocking solution, we continue to use the mature 3D face recognition solution, plus the full-screen display with the Agile Capsule mode!"

"The back cover uses a new generation of higher-performance glass, making it more drop-resistant!"

"For the phone's mid-frame, we boldly adopted a stainless steel material. Although the manufacturing process of stainless steel mid-frame is slightly less mature, the yield rate is relatively low, and the cost is relatively high, it can bring better strength and hardness compared to aluminum alloy mid-frame, and the appearance is also better."

"We believe that although the cost is slightly higher compared to aluminum alloy frames, it is worth it for these advantages!"

“We have also tried to apply under-display ultrasonic fingerprint technology to mobile phones, but the current under-display ultrasonic fingerprint technology is not mature enough and cannot meet our series of technical requirements, so it has not been used this year. We are considering continuing to promote the advancement of under-display ultrasonic fingerprint technology and hope to use it in conjunction with 3D face recognition technology on flagship phones next year.”

As for in-display fingerprint scanning, Zhiyun Group has never planned to use this technology on its S-series flagship models because the security is too poor. For the S-series phones, which place great emphasis on data security and even emphasize security, such security flaws are unacceptable.

Wang Lintu continued, "At the same time, we have also adopted the second-generation blue semi-solid soft-pack battery, which has improved energy density, better safety, and also has a very good charging speed. We plan to launch 40W fast charging in this year's S19 series phones!"

The 40W fast charging technology was actually developed by Zhiyun Group a long time ago, but it could not be applied because it could not pass extremely stringent safety standards, which forced the fast charging division to continuously improve the technology.

Finally, this year, we were able to combine it with the second-generation semi-solid-state pouch battery technology and put it into use.

It's not easy!
In the battery field, Zhuyun Group is very conservative, preferring slower charging speeds to ensure battery safety.

That's why it took several years for this 40W fast charger to be launched on the market.

However, battery safety concerns won't bother Zhiyun Group for long, since Hailan Battery's new solid-state battery doesn't have any safety issues; theoretically, it doesn't even have the possibility of catching fire...

The soft-pack solid-state battery jointly developed by Zhiyun Group and Hailan Battery has completed technical verification and will subsequently undergo various testing phases and the establishment of a production line.

If all goes well, the Hailan Battery factory will likely begin producing soft-pack solid-state batteries for mobile phones, tablets and other products next spring. These raw battery materials will then be supplied to Desay Battery, the battery assembly manufacturer used by the Zhiyun Group, for final assembly of finished products.

It is expected to be used in the S20 series phones that will be launched in August next year, and will subsequently be used in other types of smart terminal products.

Of course, this year's S19 series phones will continue to use semi-solid-state batteries.

Wang Lintu continued, "This year, in addition to the stainless steel frame, upgraded camera, and better OLED screen, our mobile phone has another core selling point: the 5G communication baseband!"

"We will be using our self-developed 5G full-network compatible baseband B56 for the first time on this phone. This communication baseband will support all existing communication networks worldwide, including various 3G and 4G networks, as well as the latest 5G!"

"Currently, some overseas countries have already launched 5G networks, and China's 5G network will also be officially put into operation in the second half of this year."

"Using 5G networks, we can launch another advertising campaign to boost mobile phone sales!"

"It is worth noting that our biggest competitor in the overseas market, fruit, has still not been able to obtain 5G communication basebands, so we predict that we will gain a significant competitive advantage in the overseas market in this area!"

If 5G is promoted well, it can incentivize users to upgrade their phones.

A significant portion of Zhiyun's annual sales come from existing Zhiyun phone users upgrading their devices... How to incentivize them to upgrade has become a key consideration for Zhiyun Group's smart terminal business unit.

With insufficient progress in other areas of technology, Zhuyun Group's marketing department plans to focus its publicity and marketing efforts on the 5G concept.

Therefore, recently, Zhuyun Group has been working closely with domestic operators and even manufacturers such as Huawei and Zhongxing to promote 5G... striving to make people feel that 5G phones are better.

Xu Shenxue looked at the S19Max phone in his hand and compared it with the S18Max he was using. He felt that there was not much difference, except that it was a little heavier.

This is a characteristic of the stainless steel frame. Stainless steel, while harder, is also denser, making it slightly heavier.

However, from another perspective, being slightly heavier can also bring a certain sense of solidity, making users feel that the materials are more substantial... Whether this is good or bad depends on different angles, and this requires guidance from the marketing department.

Putting down the new phone in his hand, Xu Shenxue felt that the marketing department was probably under a lot of pressure this year!

Aside from 5G, this phone doesn't have many other selling points worth boasting about!
As for better performance... performance has never been a selling point worth boasting about for Zhiyun phones. When users buy Zhiyun's S series phones, they assume that your performance is top-notch.

If a flagship phone costing several thousand or even tens of thousands of yuan can't outperform its competitors in performance, what's the point of even trying?

Xu Shenxue turned to Ji Chenghe and said, "Your marketing department will be under a lot of pressure going forward. Do a good job and stabilize our mobile phone sales!"

With smartphones having evolved to this point, there haven't been any major technological innovations, especially those that would change user perceptions or usage habits. It's extremely difficult to trigger a massive wave of phone upgrades.

In addition, the performance of mobile phones nowadays is quite good, especially for phones like the Zhiyun S series, which have top-notch performance and excellent content management. If the system is not upgraded at the same time, the old phone can be used for four or five years without any problems.

This is a very awkward situation for Zhiyun Group: their phones are so good that they last so long, and as a result, many ordinary users are not willing to upgrade their phones...

Then Xu Shenxue turned to Wang Lintu and asked, "Didn't you guys make a foldable screen phone? How's it going?"

When Wang Lintu took office as the head of the Smart Terminal Business Unit, his first major move was to launch a large-scale foldable screen phone project.

Now that some time has passed, Xu Shenxue naturally wants to see how things are going.

Wang Lintu said, "Our current foldable phone project is still in the research and development stage, and we have encountered many technical difficulties, especially the problem of fold lines on the flexible screen, which is quite serious. We need some more time to solve it!"

Foldable phones have officially entered the market this year, as existing smartphones have reached a bottleneck, making it difficult for major manufacturers to achieve significant technological breakthroughs. Therefore, many manufacturers have begun to bet on foldable phones.

It's not just Zhiyun phones that are making foldable phones; Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo, as well as international brands like Samsung and Motorola, are all doing it too.

However, there are still many technical problems. Foldable phones are expensive and easily damaged. And more importantly, they lack a competitive ecosystem of applications!
In other words, foldable phones lack a unique and advantageous ecosystem of applications, resulting in a mediocre user experience.

This means there's a lack of unique ecosystem applications that foldable phones can do but regular phones can't... or that regular phones can do, but foldable phones can do even better.

This has led to a rather serious problem: a lack of clear ecological positioning.

In this situation, besides the high price and large screen, how can we convince consumers to buy expensive and easily damaged folding phones?
It's not easy!
These factors have led to poor sales this year, despite the emergence of foldable phones from manufacturers such as Samsung and Huawei, which seemed to have caused some buzz.

Of course, some analysts believe that this is because Zhiyun Group, the current leader in the mobile phone industry, has not yet launched a foldable phone... Without Zhiyun taking the lead, it will be difficult to develop this market.

However, if Zhiyun were to launch a foldable phone in the future, it might be able to develop the foldable phone market.

The problem is that Zhiyun Group's foldable phone project is still under development, and Zhiyun Group has very high technical requirements for foldable phones. It is impossible for them to just produce a foldable phone and rush it to market like manufacturers such as Samsung and Huawei.

If Zhiyun Group wants to develop foldable phones, it must solve many technical problems, at least the huge defect of creases, before it can even propose a foldable phone.

Early folding phones these days become unusable after a while, with the creases becoming very noticeable and unsightly!

It's highly unlikely that Zhiyun Group would release such an immature product!

As a world-class top high-tech giant, when it comes to making these kinds of terminal products, Zhuyun Group either doesn't do them at all, or it does them to the best of its ability. If it can't do them to the best of its ability, then it simply doesn't do them!

There is another prerequisite: high profits must be guaranteed. If the profits are not high, then Zhiyun Group will not do it!

Furthermore, in new businesses and new products, Zhuyun Group generally prefers to develop products that others cannot make, products that only they can make, thus creating a de facto monopoly.

Just look at the intelligent robots and virtual devices that Zhiyun Group has developed in recent years, and you'll see... They're playing in markets with huge potential, often worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and businesses that others can't yet compete in.

Therefore, the foldable phone project is not a core business of Zhiyun Group, but just an expansion business within the Smart Terminal Business Unit!
The main reason is that the smartphone market has entered a period of stagnation. As the head of the smart terminal business unit, Wang Lintu could not stand by and watch the core mobile phone business stagnate or even regress, so he came up with various solutions.

On the one hand, we will continue to promote the advancement of new technologies and strive to develop better S-series phones, such as trying to develop a dual unlocking mode that combines 3D face recognition and under-display ultrasonic fingerprint.

On the other hand, we will promote the development of the new cloud phone brand, and continue to promote the development of the SX and SXL series.

As for the A series, it's barely surviving; they're trying to maintain it as much as possible, but there's not much hope left.

Finally, we're preparing to make foldable phones... Foldable phones are expensive, and the profit margin is high, easily costing tens of thousands of yuan. Even if we achieve tens of millions in sales, it would be equivalent to the sales of thirty to forty million units of the standard S series.

While we don't expect the foldable phone to become the mainstay of the product line, it can certainly serve as a supplement to the S series. Afterwards, Wang Lintu showed Xu Shenxue around the foldable phone they were developing, and Xu Shenxue even had a brief look at one of their prototypes.

Although the screen is large enough when unfolded, the body is too thick when folded, and there are obvious creases, especially when the light is reflected, the creases are very noticeable.

While this level of folding phone may not look inferior to Samsung's folding phones, it still doesn't meet the technical standards of the Zhiyun Group... The Zhiyun Group would never release such a obviously flawed product to the market; it would damage the brand!
After looking at the foldable phone, which was still under development, Xu Shenxue also took a look at a number of other random new phones under development.

For example, the prototype phone with under-display ultrasonic waves and 3D facial recognition is quite interesting, and Xu Shenxue found it to be a perfect solution to the unlocking problem.

When you pick up your phone, you can easily use 3D face recognition.

When the phone is placed on the table, you can unlock it directly on the screen with your fingerprint without having to get close, which is very convenient.

This is very important... The only scenarios for using a mobile phone are picking it up and using it, or placing it on a table and using it.

When you pick it up and use it, 3D facial recognition is the most convenient: just glance at your phone.

However, when the phone is placed on a table, front fingerprint unlocking is the most convenient.

Previously, front-mounted fingerprint unlocking perfectly solved this problem, but in the era of full-screen displays, front-mounted fingerprint unlocking has been abandoned.

As for under-display fingerprint technology, under-display photoelectric technology is not very good, and ultrasonic solutions still have some technical challenges. Therefore, such under-display phones are still in the laboratory and cannot be launched to the market for the time being.

Xu Shenxue also saw an experimental model of full-screen technology with an under-display camera. This model looked very good, with no holes on the front and a single piece of screen covering the entire screen.

However, Wang Lintu explained, "Currently, we are unable to resolve the conflict between screen display and light transmission, so we cannot launch it to the market yet!"

If the screen doesn't have a hole, then light needs to pass directly through the screen and then into the camera... At the same time, the infrared light emitted by the 3D face recognition module also needs to pass through the screen!

This is because OLED screens are partially transparent, allowing light to pass through the gaps between the light-emitting diodes... This means that the higher the screen pixel count and the larger the PPI, the smaller the gaps between the diodes, and consequently, the worse the light transmittance!

This is a contradiction between light transmittance and display density!
Therefore, many manufacturers use techniques such as local pixel reduction and special wiring to achieve this... However, this can easily lead to problems with extremely poor screen display in certain areas!

However, the problem persists: either the light intake is insufficient, or the display fails!

This is very contradictory.

Wang Lintu said, "The existing technical routes are not usable. It is worth noting that Fairy Mountain Holdings has a new type of transparent diode material. We are currently developing the under-screen camera display screen based on this material. However, this material is still relatively primitive, with a very short lifespan and poor light transmittance, so its performance cannot meet the requirements!"

"We are working with Fairy Mountain Holdings to improve this material. If the improvement goes smoothly, we will be able to use this material to make a truly under-display camera and an under-display 3D face recognition module!"

"In addition, our optimizations to the camera algorithm are sufficient to ensure high-quality imaging results from the under-display camera!"

"Therefore, we have hope of launching a truly full-screen phone in the future!"

"However, this will still take time!"

Xu Shenxue said, "Technological progress takes time. We just need to keep going. The concept of a truly full-screen phone still has a very promising market prospect. The current 'smart capsule' mode of our phones is just a compromise under the current technological conditions. It doesn't mean that we have to accept it forever. We will eventually get rid of this 'smart capsule' mode and achieve a truly full-screen phone!"

"Now that the new material is feasible, let's intensify our research and development efforts and strive to develop it as soon as possible!"

In the smartphone R&D department, there are all sorts of random research and development projects. Xu Shenxue took a tour and saw seven or eight different kinds of experimental prototypes.

However, the prototype with the highest level of technological completion is the one that combines under-display ultrasonic waves and 3D facial recognition. This prototype, or rather the technology, will continue to be improved. Once it is fully perfected, it will be applied to the latest S-series phones and become the flagship S-series phone of a certain year.

Xu Shenxue is generally satisfied with the progress of smartphone R&D. The mobile phone department has not rested on its laurels, but has continued to maintain high-frequency technology R&D and explore different technical routes.

This is important!

As a technology-driven high-tech enterprise, Zhuyun Group considers new technologies as its core lifeline!
Subsequently, accompanied by Wang Lintu, Xu Shenxue inspected the development of several other smart terminal products, but the changes in these other products were not significant.

The tablet computer is still the same, with no major changes.

There haven't been any major technological changes in projects such as smartwatches, Bluetooth headphones, and AI glasses.

This also reflects the predicament of the smart terminal industry as a whole: revolutionary technological innovations are becoming increasingly rare and difficult to achieve.

Zhuyun Group's smart terminal business has struggled to achieve significant sales breakthroughs, so it can only focus on increasing average selling prices and gross profit margins to maintain sustained revenue and profit growth.

After reviewing the development of various smart terminal products, Xu Shenxue became even more determined to promote the virtual equipment and robotics business.

Smart terminals are pretty much set in stone; it's unlikely there will be any major breakthroughs in the near future, at least for the next few years.

If Zhiyun Group wants to achieve significant revenue and profit growth and continue to drive the group's rapid progress, it must vigorously promote its virtual equipment and intelligent robot businesses.

A few days later, Zhiyun Group officially held its annual flagship launch event at the Qianshan International Conference Center.

The S19 series mobile phones and several ecosystem products were officially released to the public.

Thanks to the strong brand appeal of Zhiyun Group and its complete global sales and promotion channels, coupled with the selling point of 5G phones, the S19 series phone launch event, as always, attracted widespread global attention and generated huge sales.

The massive stockpiles were quickly snapped up, leading to a global shortage.

However, only the senior management within the Zhiyun Group knew that although the S19 series phones were still in short supply, the time it took for the initial stock to sell out was several days later than last year.

This might not be a big deal for other manufacturers; it's just selling for a few more days, no big deal!

However, for Zhiyun Group, and for the S-series mobile phone, a super product that sells globally with annual sales of over 250 million units, this is a very dangerous signal!

This caused Wang Lintu, the head of the Smart Terminal Business Unit, great anxiety!

During Xie Jianyong's era, Zhiyun Group's smart terminal business dominated in various fields, especially its S-series mobile phones, which were unrivaled globally.

But if the sales of the S series phones decline after Wang Lintu takes over the smart terminal business unit, wouldn't that prove his incompetence?
Therefore, after learning that the sales of the S19 series phones were slightly worse than last year, Wang Lintu held several high-level meetings of the mobile phone business, demanding that the marketing department work together to develop a more comprehensive, powerful, and wide-ranging advertising and marketing plan, including promotional plans.

For example, in the domestic market, as soon as the S19 series phones were released, Wang Lintu and Ji Chenghe were already discussing price reductions and promotions during Singles' Day to boost sales.

In previous years, Zhiyun S series phones would also be discounted during the Double Eleven shopping festival, but the discounts were not significant, and there was not much special promotion. The main message was "take it or leave it!"
However, this year, Zhiyun Group will probably be launching a major advertising campaign during Singles' Day.

Regardless of the circumstances, Wang Lintu must ensure that the sales of the S19 series phones remain stable.

Let's not say how much more it has increased compared to last year's S18 series phones, but it should at least be on par!
In addition to increasing investment in the advertising and marketing strategy of the S19 series phones, Wang Lintu also frequently pays attention to the various R&D project teams of his company's phones... This year, due to the lack of technological breakthroughs, the feedback from a large number of real users has been lukewarm, with many saying: My old Zhiyun S series phone can still last for another three years!

This has made the sales situation somewhat less than optimistic.

He doesn't want things to continue like this next year!
Next year's S20 series phones must have some technological breakthroughs to stimulate people to upgrade their phones and achieve greater sales!
The S19 series phones were launched a few days later than usual because the stock sold out, which attracted the attention and even anxiety of Wang Lintu and other senior executives of Zhiyun Group!
If executives from other mobile phone manufacturers knew this, they'd probably be speechless... Dude, is this some kind of exaggeration? You had tens of millions of units in stock, and you sold them all in such a short time, and you're still not satisfied! I don't sell as many high-end phones in a year as you did in just a few days!

Comparing yourself to others is just infuriating!
However, people from companies like Apple, Samsung, and even domestic companies like Huawei and Weiku Electronics noticed that while the initial sales of Zhiyun Group's S-series phones were still booming, there was still stock available for sale several days later than in previous years.

They were all eager to get started.

At Apple's headquarters in the United States, Cook was in high spirits upon hearing the news. He appeared very optimistic while discussing preparations for the launch of the new phone with his executives.

While his arch-rival Zhiyun Group's S19 series phones were incredibly popular, they had unexpectedly stagnated, giving him an opportunity to catch up!
Apple has been firmly held down the second position by Zhiyun Group for many years. They also want to make a comeback. Even if they can't overtake them, selling an extra ten or twenty million mobile phones would be great.

If the S19 series phones aren't competitive enough this year, then Apple's phone sales could potentially return to 150 million units.

In South Korea, Samsung is also gearing up to launch its new flagship Galaxy phone this fall, attempting to steal market share, especially in Europe.

Even domestic companies like Vcool Electronics, seeing their older brother's stagnation, are planning to focus on the new generation Bluegogo MAX flagship model to be released this fall, aiming to seize a portion of the high-end market.

The Blue MAX series from Vcool Electronics is quite competitive in the three to four thousand yuan price range, and its sales are also quite good.

Then Huawei also wants to make a move to seize the market. Their high-end PM series models have been selling well recently, and they are very determined to continue to impact the high-end market.

These mobile phone manufacturers are making frequent moves in the high-end market. Outsiders who don't know the situation might think that Zhiyun Group's S series phones are no longer viable.

In reality, the only difference between the previous years and the previous years was that the Zhuyun Group's S19 series phones sold out a few days later... But even this small difference attracted the attention of many outsiders!
This is the problem facing the world's leading power!
If they acted slightly weaker, the second, third, fourth, and fifth sons all felt they had a chance...

This made Wang Lintu, the senior vice president of Zhiyun Group and head of the intelligent terminal business unit, very unhappy... "We at Zhiyun didn't even take a nap. We just blinked a little, and you all think that Zhiyun is failing? What kind of logic is that!"
Look at all the new technologies under development in our lab; any one of them would scare you to death.

Wang Lintu, who was in a bad mood, kept an eye on the laboratory every day, urging the various research and development departments to speed up the progress of technological research and development.

Next year, I'll come up with a groundbreaking S20 series phone that will scare you to death!

They want to overthrow our Zhiyun Group's dominant position in the smartphone industry? What a pipe dream they're having!

(End of this chapter)