Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 633 The Largest Supply Chain in Human History
The next generation of Zhiyun S-series phones is about to be released, and a large number of employees in related businesses of Zhiyun Group are making corresponding preparations. This is not only the case within Zhiyun Group, but also among the software vendors in the vast S-series phone supply chain and ecosystem.

As early as spring, some supply chain manufacturers had already begun small-scale production of corresponding components for the new generation S21 series mobile phones, training employees and expanding the corresponding production lines.

Zhiyun Microelectronics Group has begun mass production of the S1203 chip using the N4 process... This is currently the most technologically advanced chip on Earth, employing the most advanced manufacturing process. Its architecture design surpasses many competitors, and it also boasts two extremely powerful NPU cores... This chip's support for artificial intelligence technology will surpass any previous chip.

Zhiyun Storage has begun mass production of LPDDR5 high-frequency memory manufactured using the most advanced 10C process. This LPDDR5 memory is currently the most advanced low-power memory in human history, and its performance can even be said to be one generation ahead of similar competing products from Samsung. In the memory field, where technological advancements are even more difficult, being able to lead the competition by one generation is already very difficult. Of course, this kind of memory is also very expensive, and basically only Zhiyun Group's own high-end terminal products can afford it.

CSOT has begun supplying a new generation of high-end OLED screens. CSOT's high-end OLED screen technology surpassed Samsung's several years ago and is currently the most advanced mobile phone screen in the world. Its most advanced products are not only supplied to Zhiyun Group's S-series mobile phones, but also to Apple. Apple's mobile phones have been using both Samsung and CSOT screens in recent years.

Hailan Battery, a subsidiary of Hailan Automotive Group, has also begun to provide Zhuyun Group with new-generation solid-state battery pouch materials. These solid-state battery pouches will be packaged with Desay Battery and BYD Battery, two packaging foundries, using battery control chips and other components developed by Zhuyun Group.

Other manufacturers of various spare parts, whether wholly-owned or holding companies under the Zhiyun Group, or cooperative supply chain companies, all began small-batch production in April.

With various components entering small-batch production, Vcool Industrial Group's Shenzhen headquarters also began small-batch production of the S21 series mobile phones in April.

The small-scale production of the S21 series phones during this period was mainly used to verify the production line and to optimize and improve the production line based on the production situation. At the same time, the small-scale production of the S21 series phones in the early stage was also used for various tests.

At the same time, small-scale production will gradually expand, and employees will be recruited and trained simultaneously.

After entering June, the three contract manufacturers of Zhiyun Group, namely Weiku Industrial Group, BYD Electric, and Luxshare Precision, have entered the mass production stage, and the production capacity of the S21 series has begun to climb to 20 million units per month.

The rest of June will still be in the production ramp-up phase.

By mid-July, the production of the entire S21 series phones had reached its designed capacity, with a monthly production capacity of 30 million units.

To achieve a massive production capacity of 30 million units per month, more than 250 production bases (factories) of various types are operating at high speed throughout the S21 series mobile phone supply chain.

The S series phones from Zhiyun Group are not limited to the S21 series; there are also older models such as the S20 series, S19 series, and even some models of the S18 series that are still in production and being sold.

If we expand this to the entire smart terminal business of Zhiyun Group, it includes various smart terminal products such as laptops, all-in-one PCs, mini PCs, tablets, smartwatches, AI glasses, Bluetooth headsets, AI robot vacuums, home consoles, and smart home appliances.

The number of production bases affected would be even greater, and the number of people in their supply chains would be extremely large.

This is also the largest product supply chain in human history, bar none!

Last year, a third-party analysis and statistics agency issued a report stating that Zhuyun Group's smart terminal business had created at least five million jobs for the domestic supply chain, including industrial workers, procurement, transportation, administration, investment, and other fields...

Moreover, these five million people only refer to direct employment positions in the supply chain, not including the large number of indirect jobs that arise from them... If all of these are included, the number would be even greater.

With such a large-scale stockpiling of the new generation S21 series mobile phones by Zhiyun Group, the scale and impact of its supply chain operation are extremely large.

More than 200 production bases (factories) around the world have entered a state of high-speed operation. In order to ensure that the supply chain manufacturers of the new Zhiyun mobile phone in the area maintain normal production, some small and medium-sized cities will give priority to many aspects, such as power supply and transportation.

This is not to say that Zhiyun Group has a large influence, but rather that Zhiyun Group's key first-tier supply chain manufacturers are often high-tech economic leaders in their respective regions, with their technology and scale ranking among the top three globally!

If you can't reach the top three globally, you can't become a Tier 1 supplier for Zhiyun Group.

The most important production task for this local high-tech economic leader in a year is to place orders for parts and components for the new Zhiyun S series mobile phones.

Meanwhile, in Ancheng, the largest production base of Weiku Industrial Group, the most important contract manufacturer of Zhiyun Group.

To produce the S21 series phones, the Ancheng production base has mobilized more than 150,000 workers to participate directly, in addition to employees from supply chain manufacturers who are located nearby.

Throughout the city, more than 200,000 employees of various kinds work for the production of S21.

The production and stockpiling of S21 series mobile phones by Zhiyun Group is the most important economic activity for the local area this year, bar none!

To ensure that the entire supply chain system can operate smoothly in accordance with the strategic decisions of Zhuyun Group, Gu Zhiming, Senior Vice President of Zhuyun Group, started a frequent business trip a month ago.

For many years, Gu Zhiming has been the busiest senior manager in the Zhiyun Group. Whenever a new product is about to be launched, he will be running around.

Therefore, Gu Zhiming is the second senior executive in Zhiyun Group, after Xu Shenxue, to own a private jet... Actually, it can't be said that Gu Zhiming has a private jet, but rather that he travels too much for business and uses the private jet too often, so Zhiyun Aviation simply arranges for a Gulfstream private jet to follow him around all year round.

Throughout the year, he actually spends more time outside than at the Shenzhen headquarters...

After entering August, the initial arrangements for the production and inventory of the S21 series mobile phones were completed. The overall production capacity had reached the designed capacity of 30 million units per month and had been operating for almost a month before Gu Zhiming finally had some free time.

Looking at Gu Zhiming, who had been working at a high intensity for almost two months, Xu Shenxue said, "Old Gu, work is important, but you still need to take care of your health!"

"Some things should be arranged... If you keep doing things like this, people outside will say I'm mistreating my employees!"

Gu Zhiming chuckled and said, "It's not that bad, it's not that bad!"

"The supply chain is too important. I'm really worried about it a lot. At the beginning of the year, we adjusted the supply chain system in the production field. The upgraded supply chain system is now facing its first major test. I can't rest easy without personally overseeing it!"

Xu Shenxue didn't try to persuade him further. Gu Zhiming had always been a workaholic, ever since he joined Zhiyun Group to oversee the supply chain system, and he still was.

However, it's not to the point of causing premature aging due to exhaustion... For someone of Gu Zhiming's caliber, a business trip is a completely different matter from a regular business trip.

Their schedules are all arranged perfectly by their subordinates. For long-distance travel, they have private jets, and upon exiting the airport, they have pre-arranged Aqua Blue SLC accommodations. After arriving at their destination, they stay either in local five-star presidential suites or local villas.

The logistics department of Liuhe Investment has purchased a large number of high-end real estate properties such as villas and large apartments across the country.

These high-end properties come in a variety of types and uses.

In some cities that Xu Shenxue frequently visits, such as Guangcheng, Guancheng, Ancheng, Jiangcheng, Tongcheng, Hucheng, Jingcheng, and Qiongzhou, there are some large-scale independent manors or resorts, or high-end hotels, which are mainly used by Xu Shenxue for accommodation when he travels there on business.

When Xu Shenxue travels on business, security measures are quite complex and troublesome, making it inconvenient to stay in ordinary hotels. Even if he had the money, it's not easy to book an entire venue on short notice, and not booking the venue can easily lead to various unnecessary troubles.

Putting everything else aside, it's not good to be stared at by other passengers.

To avoid trouble, the logistics department of Liuhe Investment simply purchased these properties in the cities that Xu Shenxue frequently visited, building large, independent estates wherever possible.

If they can't build large independent estates, they can build some resorts or high-end hotels, which are used for commercial operations on weekdays. When Xu Shenxue comes, they can simply close off the area for Xu Shenxue and his entourage to stay.

There are also some more conventional villas, which cover a wider range of cities... Basically, in cities where the Xu Group has important business, the logistics department of Liuhe Investment will purchase one or more villas or high-end properties such as large apartments or hotels. These high-end properties are sometimes used as temporary accommodations for Xu Shenxue, but they are rarely used.

Most of the time, these regular villas or hotels are used by the senior management of Xu Shenxue's various companies when they travel to the area for business. The hotels, in particular, are basically used as designated hotels for business trips.

When employees of Zhiyun Group travel for business, they often stay in hotels owned by Liuhe Investment...

This isn't about showing off; it's more about saving on business travel costs... Our own hotels are convenient, inexpensive, and of high quality.

As it stands now, Liuhe Investment has quite a few projects under its umbrella, including various resorts and high-end hotels, numbering in the dozens... In fact, many so-called large commercial real estate companies don't even have as many assets as this logistics department.

For a high-ranking executive like Gu Zhiming, when he travels for business, he usually stays in a villa or a presidential suite in a high-end hotel. He also has a group of people to serve him in his daily life, and his work schedule is arranged to accommodate him. He doesn't need to rush or anything like that.

I've spent most of the year traveling for work. It's certainly been tough, but it's not the same kind of tough work as the work of ordinary people!
Gu Zhiming took a sip of tea and then continued to Xu Shenxue: "The stock of the S21 series phones is almost ready. Before the official launch, we expect to have 55 million S21 series phones in stock. This number is based on the decision made by the marketing department and is expected to be able to initially meet the short-term demand after the official launch of the phones!"

"By the end of the year, the production volume of the entire S21 series of mobile phones is expected to reach 120 million units to meet the demand of the global market!"

The Zhiyun S series phones have a clear sales cycle. In the second half of the year a new phone is released, its sales often reach more than 70% of the sales volume of a full year.

Generally speaking, there is a sales boom after the release, and the sales volume during this boom is very high. Based on the past years, 50 to 60 million units of stock can be sold out in a short period of time... This is also the reason why Zhiyun Group prepares such a large amount of stock for the new S series mobile phones every year.

Specifically in the domestic market, there are sales peaks during periods like Singles' Day (November 11th) and Double Twelve (December 12th), and another sales peak before the Spring Festival.

While the situation may differ in overseas markets, these months in the second half of the year are also a crucial sales period for the new S-series phones.

After the Spring Festival, sales of the new S series phones will enter a very obvious off-season...

Then this off-season will continue until around May or June. In June, to boost sales of the S series phones released ten months later, and also to make room for the price of the new S series phones released in August, there will be a promotional event with a significant price reduction. This will also bring a sales peak... After this sales peak, sales will plummet!

The main reason is that at this time, many consumers who want to upgrade their phones will choose to hold off on buying them until the new models are released in August.

Therefore, July is also the month with the lowest sales volume for Zhiyun S series phones every year!
The production plan for Zhiyun Group's new S-series mobile phones is also based on this sales cycle.

Therefore, the initial inventory buildup before launch is relatively large, and there will be a period of full-speed production for several months after the launch. Then, production capacity will gradually decrease after winter, and production will return to normal. The following year, when a new S-series phone is released, sales of the older S-series phones will plummet, resulting in significantly reduced production, with monthly capacity only reaching a few million units. This capacity will continue to decline until production ceases!
The core sales period for a new S-series phone is within three months of its release... The month before that for inventory preparation and the three months after the release are the periods with the highest production capacity, the busiest supply chain, and the greatest pressure.

Gu Zhiming, who is in charge of the overall production of the S21 series mobile phones, will also be extremely busy during this period!
Gu Zhiming continued to explain the situation to Xu Shenxue: "Based on past experience and market research, we have prepared 21% of the production of the S21 series and the production plan for the next few months for the entire S21 series, with the S21 Max model being the main focus!"

"Our high-end models have always sold well. Last year, high-end models accounted for 50% of our sales. This year, our marketing department predicts that with the further improvement of the economy and the gradual recovery of the global economy, our high-end model sales are expected to increase by another 5 percentage points."

"For the S21 standard and Pro versions, the stock is 45%, with the standard version accounting for the majority of the stock!"

Since the S15 series, the best-selling models in the S series have become the standard and Max versions.

The standard version is the cheapest and is the first choice for many ordinary consumers as an entry-level model, so its overall sales share is relatively high.

People with more financial means tend to choose the Max model, which also accounts for a large share of sales.

Then there's the Pro version. The performance of this version is not much different from the standard version, except that the screen is a bit bigger, but the price is also much higher, so most consumers are not very accepting of it.

As for those who have plenty of money, they will naturally choose to buy the Max Pro... Moreover, the top-of-the-line model sells better than the low-end model... After all, if you're already buying the Man Pro model which costs over ten thousand, many wealthy people will choose to go straight for the top-of-the-line model.

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While the entire Zhiyun Group and its supply chain were busy with the production of the S21, Ji Chenghe's marketing team also launched a new round of large-scale marketing campaigns globally.

They launch a massive propaganda campaign across various online media and social platforms around the world, releasing a mix of true and false information to arouse people's curiosity and attention.

Offline, we are working with numerous channel distributors to prepare for the deployment of offline advertising. A large number of advertising materials are printed in printing factories and then transported to various locations. Some of the pre-release advertising brochures are posted in advance, while some advertising materials containing information about the features of the S21 series models are sealed and stored, and will not be released until the official launch event.

Prior to this, the S21 series phones had already undergone various pre-market licensing reviews and obtained market approval in China and other major markets.

It's Saturday night, August 14th!
The annual Zhuyun Group Autumn Launch Conference was officially held at the Shenzhen Qianshan International Convention Center!

Xu Shenxue once again personally hosted the launch of the core products at this press conference, while Ji Chenghe hosted the launch of some ecosystem products.

At this fall launch event, in addition to the S21 series phones, Zhiyun Group also released its fourth-generation Bluetooth headset. This Bluetooth headset uses a new generation of built-in chips and supports Zhiyun Group's self-developed new generation Bluetooth communication protocol, Bluetooth 5Y.

Zhiyun Group has been developing its own Bluetooth protocols, starting with Bluetooth 4.5 in the early days, then collaborating with international Bluetooth protocol developers to develop Bluetooth 5.2, and now launching its own Bluetooth 5Y.

The new generation of Bluetooth 5Y protocol supports greater communication bandwidth, lower latency, longer communication distance, and better stability!
The Bluetooth 5Y protocol was first implemented on the S21 series mobile phones, and will subsequently be implemented on all smart terminals of the Zhiyun Group. At the same time, Vcool Electronics Group will also support this protocol in its subsequent products.

The third-generation Bluetooth headset, which uses the new Bluetooth 5Y protocol, has better communication quality, which translates to better sound quality... Greater communication bandwidth means that more audio data can be transmitted, which naturally leads to better sound quality.

At the same time, the signal is more stable, and the signal is also very good for long-distance transmission.

Furthermore, it also uses solid-state batteries!
In its third-generation Bluetooth headset, Zhiyun Group adopted a solid-state battery for the first time, increasing the headset's battery life to over ten hours.

Furthermore, the battery compartment also uses a solid-state battery, which can provide multiple charges for the earphones, extending the overall battery life.

The combined battery capacity of the earphones and the charging case provides a total of over forty-eight hours of battery life.

Compared to the earlier first and second generation Bluetooth headphones, the battery life has doubled, which means that the battery life problem of Bluetooth headphones has been completely solved!
The solution to the battery life issue has also led to a continuous increase in sales of Zhiyun Group's Bluetooth headphones... Among many smart terminal products, Bluetooth headphones are one of the few products that can still maintain sales growth, largely due to the advantages brought by the improved battery life of solid-state batteries.

This year's fourth-generation Bluetooth headset continues to use solid-state batteries, and with the addition of the new self-developed Bluetooth 5Y protocol, it offers better sound quality. The Bluetooth headset project team of Zhiyun Group hopes that this year's Bluetooth headsets will further increase sales.

In addition to Bluetooth headsets, at its autumn launch event at the end of this year, Zhiyun Group also released a new generation of AI-powered robotic vacuum cleaners... Zhiyun Group releases a new generation of robotic vacuum cleaners approximately every two years.

Zhiyun Group's robotic vacuum cleaners are packed with high technology, including LC series lightweight terminal computing chips, LiDAR, cameras, ultrasonic radar and other sensors, plus artificial intelligence algorithms.

This thing is called a sweeping machine, but it's actually more like a small robot or an autonomous vehicle.

Its sweeping ability is also quite strong; at least it can handle regular sweeping and mopping without any problems.

It can also connect with home consoles and smart robots, allowing the home console or smart robot to control it.

Such AI-powered robot vacuums are naturally not cheap, with entry-level models costing 18,000 yuan and high-end models costing over 30,000 yuan... They have almost monopolized the high-end robot vacuum market. Of course, even with a monopoly on the high-end market, their actual sales volume is just so-so!
Those who can afford it are rich people, but rich people often directly hire hourly workers or live-in housekeepers!
Similar flashy but impractical products include dancing robots... Even now, Zhuyun Group still has dancing robots in its product line.

The dancing robot released this year is only about 20 centimeters tall and is shaped like a very cute little dog. However, this dog can also dance according to the music being played... When Ji Chenghe was boasting on stage, he said that the movements of this dancing robot dog are controlled by algorithms and change according to the rhythm of the music.

Whether it's a robot vacuum cleaner or a dancing robot, they're all flashy but impractical gadgets, but the engineers at Zhiyun Group love playing with these things, continuously developing and releasing new products... and quite a few people actually buy them.

We won't make money, but we won't lose money either.

In addition to robot vacuums, they also released a new generation of smart TVs. This smart home product is more normal, focusing on top-of-the-line large-screen displays, and the price is as expensive as ever, starting at 20,000 yuan and the most expensive costing 40,000 to 50,000 yuan.

The smart TVs released by Zhiyun Group never talk about cost-effectiveness; they always aim for the limits of technology, making the world's top smart TV products, especially with an extreme pursuit of color performance... Of course, they are still mass-produced industrial products and are not considered luxury or professional products.

Similar positioning is seen in computer monitors... Zhiyun Group's PC product line will release standalone computer monitors to be used with laptops or mini PCs, and can also be connected to computers from other brands!
Its characteristics are very simple, namely, the ultimate color display effect... Its color display effect has reached the level of professional monitors, and its price is also very high, starting at more than 20,000 yuan, and the more expensive ones cost 30,000 to 40,000 yuan.

This price is exorbitant compared to ordinary monitors that cost thousands or even hundreds of dollars, but compared to other professional monitors, it's actually not expensive.

Many of Zhiyun Group's products are not actually aimed at ordinary consumers, but rather at professionals with certain specialized needs, serving as a production tool.

For example, the high-end Yun Book 14 and 15 models, especially the 15-inch business laptop, are equipped with dedicated graphics cards that are professional graphics processing cards or even professional inference cards... They are mainly used for video editing, audio processing, and artificial intelligence, but they are not very good for playing games.

Zhiyun Group's PC products are designed specifically for studying and working.

The 13-inch model boasts three main attributes: portability, long battery life, and stylish design. In terms of performance, it is mainly suitable for light office work and is an essential computer for many business people who travel frequently. It is also frequently seen in airports and coffee shops, and is also very common on university campuses, where many students use this computer for studying.

The 14-inch model balances battery life and everyday work, making it popular for office use and convenient for business trips. This laptop has sold very well, and many programmers and engineers in other industries in China own one.

The 15-inch model is a professional high-performance laptop, targeting engineers, designers, editors and other professionals... It's rarely bought by ordinary people, and even if they did, they wouldn't be able to fully utilize its powerful performance.

Some might even think that this thing costs 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, yet it's terrible at gaming... not worth the price.

Zhuyun Group's laptops have very high sales volume in China. Basically, companies of a certain size will choose to purchase Zhuyun laptops when providing computers for their employees.

All of Zhiyun Group's products, whether they are consumer products for ordinary users, office products for enterprises, or personalized products, have one thing in common: they are expensive!
Otherwise, how would Zhuyun Group generate such high annual revenue and profits from its smart terminals?

After introducing a series of eco-products, Ji Chenghe left the stage amidst applause. At this time, Xu Shenxue took the stage and began to introduce the highlight of today's press conference to the audience at the scene and the large number of viewers watching the online live broadcast: the S21 series mobile phones.

Furthermore, the press conference highlighted the dual unlocking solutions of 3D face recognition and under-display ultrasonic fingerprint unlocking.

It also introduced other key selling points, or promotional points.

Such as the newly applied steel-aluminum composite frame material.

And there's also the most advanced mobile phone SoC currently available: the S1203!

In particular, the dual AI cores in this chip, namely the two built-in NPU cores, have become the focus of this year's presentation.

By introducing the chip, the powerful local inference computing capabilities of the new generation S21Max/Max Pro models were highlighted, enabling them to effectively handle various artificial intelligence tasks.

At the press conference, Xu Shenxue demonstrated the image and video processing capabilities, offline AI translation capabilities, and offline text processing capabilities.

As for the standard S21 and the Pro version, not much was mentioned... After all, these two phones use the previous generation's chip and screen, so there's nothing to brag about.

At the end of the press conference, Xu Shenxue announced the price!

This year's S21 series phones are priced similarly to last year's S20 series phones. The starting price of the standard S21 is still 5199 yuan, while the starting price of the Max version is 7999 yuan. The Max Pro version has eliminated the low-capacity version, with higher capacity starting at 10999 yuan.

Following the successful conclusion of the press conference, full-payment pre-sales began simultaneously on the official websites in China, Europe, and Japan and South Korea that same evening!

Ji Chenghe also began to lead his marketing team to continuously promote the S21 series phones globally, trying to attract potential consumers to place orders.

A few days later, Ji Chenghe, who had been busy for several days, reported to Xu Shenxue on the sales of the S21 series mobile phones after their launch!
(End of this chapter)