Author: Liu Shanshan
Editor/Yang Ming
After 560 days of independent operation, Huawei has not completely shed its "shadow".
On the evening of May 30, Glory officially released three models of the 70 series - Glory 70, Glory 70 Pro and Glory 70 Pro+, with prices starting from 2699 yuan, 3699 yuan and 4299 yuan respectively.
"A new generation of upgraded products." Glorious CEO Zhao Ming micro-blog Said.
This upgrade did not surprise all users - as early as in the warm-up period, because the appearance of the Glory 70 series was too similar to that of Huawei P50, some digital bloggers and netizens complained about "imitating others" and "copying homework".
“ The real machine is very similar to the Huawei P50 in appearance, except that there is no R YY B（ sensor ） 。” A netizen who watched online live broadcast all the time said to "Extreme Commerce", This may be recognized by more consumers with "Huawei complex", but it also reflects the lack of innovation in the language of glorious design.
Previously, when Magic3 and Glory 50 were released, many people outside believed that Huawei Mate50 and P50 were "brothers" in appearance. After the Magic3 series was released in August last year, in the face of external questions, Zhao Ming said in an interview, "I would like to emphasize that the Glory Magic3 series has nothing to do with the Mate50 series, whether from the point of time or the entire R&D process."
It is really important for Glory to completely tear off Huawei's label and get rid of Huawei's shadow. This will not only help Glory further strengthen its brand image, eliminate possible related risks, but also prove its ability to "walk" independently.
According to the data from several consulting and research institutions, Glory ranked first in the domestic mobile phone market share in the first quarter of 2022. Canalys even believed that Glory ranked first with a market share of 20%. This means that Glory has completed a beautiful U-shaped counter attack after falling to 3% all the way to the dark moment, and successfully captured the market gap left by Huawei.
"In the next three to five years, there will be no ceiling problem for glory," Zhao said. His ambition is never in front of him. On various occasions, the honorable leader frequently mentioned "high-end, comparable and even beyond Apple ”Brave words.
In the absence of self-developed chips and operating systems, the appearance cannot escape Huawei's "shadow", which also makes the outside world full of questions: Can Glory really open the path of benchmarking Apple? In the ever-changing mobile phone market with declining sales, is the current "throne" a flash in the pan, or the beginning of a stable foothold?
Several factors determining the fate of 70 series
From the configuration point of view, as the flagship product of the new generation of Glory, the 70 series focuses on the 70 Pro and Pro+models, the former is Tianji 8000, and the latter is Tianji 9000 processor. Glory 70 is equipped with Snapdragon 778G+chip - almost the same size as Glory 50 and Glory 60 processors, and the "cost performance" is not high.
According to netizens' feedback, there are not many complaints about the 70 series configuration at present, mainly focusing on the mobile phones at the price of 3000 or 4000 yuan, which are still using the Z-axis motor, plastic frame and short focus fingerprint, without OIS night photography, 2K screen, infrared and optical anti shake, etc.
"The configuration is reasonable." Lin Hui, a digital observer, believes that from the perspective of positioning, the 70 series will not change much. It is still a mid end or mid high end, and will answer the 618 midterm exam this year.
The mobile phone market is under obvious pressure this year due to the repeated epidemic, economic downturn, longer replacement cycle and other environmental impacts. According to the latest statistics of the China Academy of Information and Communications, the overall shipment of mobile phones in the domestic market from January to April this year totaled 87.425 million, down 30.3% year on year. Many statistical institutions believe that the domestic mobile phone shipments this year may fall below the 300 million mark.
This year's 618 promotion has a direct impact on the trend of mobile phone manufacturers in the second half of the year. Before the glorious launch of 70 series, vivo, OPPO millet Mobile phone manufacturers have released their new products and launched 618 promotion programs. Although Glory is now the only mobile phone brand that maintains positive growth, its market position is not solid in a bad environment.
Industry insiders believe that whether Series 70 can bring satisfaction to the glory in the mid-term exam depends on several factors.
First, whether the supply chain is stable. Under the epidemic, the resilience of the electronic supply chain has been greatly tested. Although the shortage of chip supplies has eased, storage, display, video, SOC, etc. are still "obstacles". At the same time, in order to deal with problems such as logistics delays, many manufacturers are more cautious in their stocking strategies, which is likely to affect the shipment volume of 618 this year.
Second, competitors are no weaker than the 70 series. There are many models at the price of about 4000 yuan, which is the most competitive segment. Many competitors generally believe that the most direct competitor is the vivo X80. The vivo X80 was released on April 25 this year, equipped with Tianji 9000 processor and self-developed chip V1+. From the market feedback, it is currently performing well, and is considered to fill the gap of Tianji flagship.
Third, since independence, Glory has been playing the "air sea tactics" strategy, but the outside world still has doubts about how long its effect can last.
Since its independence, Glory has released nearly 30 models, with an obvious tactical strategy, forming four product systems of Magic series, digital series, V series and X series, covering the price range from 2000 to 10000 yuan. However, not every model performs satisfactorily. Even if its appearance is similar to Huawei's, its fate is quite different. For example, Glory 50 has become a popular model, while Magic3 has failed to meet expectations.
Fourth, the glory of high-end market needs to be broken through. "At present, the most popular models of Glory are concentrated in the middle and low end prices. For example, the Glory 50 series, which was popular last year, priced from 2399 yuan to 3999 yuan, and did not break through 4000 yuan to enter the high-end price, which is the key factor for good performance." Lin Hui said.
In addition to the relatively low and medium end prices, "Huawei Halo" is another important help. A mobile phone dealer said that many of the customers who bought the Glory 50 series were Huawei's phone replacement users. "In the eyes of many users, Huawei Glory is still not separated."
The question is, how many consumers can be attracted by the "Huawei" label when the configuration and price of the Glory 70 series are not too surprising, and the environment is complex and consumption is weak?
Huawei label that cannot be torn off
As a subsidiary brand derived from the original attack on Xiaomi, Huawei was once the most proud label of glory.
At the initial stage of glory development, the body appearance of Glory 3C and 3X retained Huawei's logo. Later, Glory became a parallel brand with Huawei's mobile phones. Huawei's logo disappeared from Glory mobile phones, but Huawei still gave great support to Glory technology, products, channels, and other aspects - for example, Glory 6 and Glory 6 Plus, respectively, used the Kirin 920 and Kirin 925 chips of Huawei HiSilicon.
With Huawei's full support, we have successfully completed the task of confronting Xiaomi. In December 2017, Zhao Ming said at the press conference that Glory surpassed Xiaomi to become the first brand in China's Internet mobile phone market share.
On September 15, 2020, Huawei chips were technically restricted. On November 17, 2020, Glory officially made a living independently.
Different from other new brands, behind the glory and independence is Huawei's talent, technology, product strength and some offline channels 。 At the beginning of Glory, a team of more than 8000 people came from Huawei, of which R&D personnel accounted for more than half. Among them, the R&D teams of Yuanhua in Shenzhen, Beijing and Xi'an, four R&D centers nationwide, more than 100 industry laboratories, and the original R&D team of high-end mobile phones.
After independence, the relationship between Glory and Huawei has always been the focus of attention. In an exclusive interview with Glory Magic3 in August last year, Zhao Ming explained that from the company's perspective, Glory and Huawei have been two independent companies since their independence. Both sides have carried out business expansion, research and development and other related work along their own business development strategies.
"To put it simply, Glory and Huawei are in a state of peace," Zhao said. Later, he repeatedly mentioned the topic of "active competition" with Huawei.
From the perspective of Huawei and Glory's strategic security, it is necessary to "draw a clear line" of this brand image: it is known that in a complex environment, various risks of Glory can be reduced.
Therefore, in addition to the old models before independence, from V40, V40 luxury, glory 50, glory 60, to Magic3, Magic4, and 70 series, the Android system is used instead of Hongmeng. "It is impossible to upgrade to Huawei Hongmeng operating system in the future." Lin Hui believes that this is a reflection of the glory of completely tearing off Huawei's label.
However, in terms of marketing channels, product design and other aspects closely related to "consumer psychology", as a matter of fact, up to now, the glory is still difficult to shake off Huawei's shadow.
For example, in the design concept of many products, whether it is Magic3, Glory 50 or 70 series, we can clearly see that its design style is the same as some Huawei series, which even makes the digital blogger sigh "Glory is always regarded as Huawei."
Off line channels, many dealers' sales and after-sales are even more tangled, and some dealers now sell Glory and Huawei at the same time. "Lei Feng. com" recently reported that in order to promote sales, offline shopping guides will consciously and actively emphasize various relationships between Huawei and Glory. "Buying glory is supporting Huawei", creating a sense that two brands are still in the same system, resulting in a large number of purchases.
"In just two years, the glory mobile phone can go from being forgotten to a strong rebound, which must be assisted by Huawei Halo." Many industry insiders said.
From the market data of several major research institutions Counterpoint, IDC and Canalys in the first quarter of this year, Glory ranked fourth, second and first in China's smartphone market share - although the statistics of each are different, the growth rate of Glory has attracted the attention of the outside world.
For Zhao Ming, this is equivalent to proving the effectiveness of the strategy of Glory Independence, and that Glory is growing into what Ren Zhengfei had expected: "To become Huawei's competitor, you can even shout down Huawei."
Difficult to solve the bottleneck of self research
Although Huawei's mobile phone business has fallen to the bottom, it has not abandoned this battlefield - Dingqiao and other Huawei smart phones have been regarded as one of Huawei's 5G mobile phone alternatives by the industry.
Huawei Zhixuan mobile phone is not equipped with Kirin 5G chip, but with MediaTek and high pass 5G chips, but Huawei ID design, quality control standards, and marketing channels have been applied to Huawei - a large number of Huawei offline stores have set up smart selection areas, and become the main model for promotion.
In addition to developing models with partners, Huawei has not given up its mobile phone business. At the end of April this year, Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei's consumer business, said that Huawei's mobile phone supply chain had been greatly relieved. On May 30, the live pictures of Huawei's nova 10 series real machine also appeared on the network, which is said to be released before 618 this year.
With direct competition from the market, the relationship between Glory and Huawei has become delicate. "Snow Leopard Finance Agency" said that Huawei has reserved some core technologies. For example, Magic V does not carry Huawei's core technology of "water drop hinge", but amphenol Improvement based on the public plan.
It is certain that as time goes by and the market environment changes, "Huawei Halo" will contribute less and less to glory. However, it is a long and difficult process for Glory to win in the high-end battlefield and truly get through the path of benchmarking Apple. There is also a ceiling that needs to be broken.
So far, glory has relied too much on external procurement of semiconductor chips ——Last December, Fomalhaut Technology Solutions, a Japanese research company, disassembled Glory X30 and found that 39% of the parts were from the United States, while only 10% of the parts were domestic.
In the industry, there is a consensus that if there is no self research, mobile phone manufacturers will be no different from those who save phones, and will never be able to compete with Apple and Samsung.
From the perspective of the domestic mobile phone industry, self research has become the common choice of most manufacturers to "make up lessons". The reason why Huawei is stuck is largely due to its strong R&D strength; Xiaomi, vivo and OPPO have also launched NPU or video self-developed chips, and most of them have been used in mass production - among mainstream mobile phone manufacturers, only Glory has been slow to develop any self-developed chips.
This is one of the issues that the outside world is most concerned about Glory at present. After the Glory 70 series press conference, Zhao Ming responded in an interview with the media: "Objectively speaking, making an external chip is not particularly challenging and technically difficult today."
"Glory has such a chip, whether it is a product designed for the future, a product under development, or a product already on the market, all use such a chip." Zhao Ming revealed: "For Glory, it is not worth promoting."
However, from the perspective of glorious marketing strategy and Zhao Ming's character of frequently throwing mobile phones at the press conference, it is hard to believe that "the self developed chip has been used and is not worth promoting". Therefore, it is difficult for the outside world to know which model of Glory mobile phone uses the self-developed chip, let alone whether it is an NPU or an image chip - and of course, it is not clear whether Glory really has the self-developed chip, which has been used in the listed products.
stay Zhihu Under the topic of "Does Glory have the ability to develop its own chip", many people answered that although Glory has taken away many of Huawei's R&D teams, it probably does not have the ability to develop its own processor chip (AP) and baseband chip BB.
"The R&D of Huawei chips has always been the main responsibility of Hisense Semiconductor. In addition to the accumulation of technology, it also benefits from the long-term investment of tens of billions of dollars in R&D funds to Hisense, which may have been in the last decade." Some insiders said that the glory of independence did not take the Hisense R&D team away. In addition to the pressure of the self-developed chip capital chain, there is also a lack of necessary technology precipitation.
Coremaking is indeed a tough job with too long payback period. However, some people in the industry also believe that, in terms of today's glorious capital and technology reserves, it is fully capable of developing relatively simple ISP chips, but compared with Xiaomi and OV, Glory has more considerations: "Glory was independent at the beginning to obtain the chips of Qualcomm and MediaTek. If Glory makes efforts to develop its own chips, it is likely to worry about repeating Huawei's mistakes."
No matter how hard it is, as Zhao Ming said before, "The mobile phone industry is not a top game, but still needs to return to the fundamentals of business". How to determine the future growth of Huawei when its "halo" will eventually disappear?
After all, even though Glory has ranked among the top two in mobile phone sales, it has obviously failed to achieve the "absolute leadership" of Huawei Kirin in the 990 period. What's more, surpassing Apple can be just a marketing script. In the face of the market with declining sales, how to consolidate the domestic foundation and break through the overseas market with few shipments is really related to the glorious future.
In fact, even Yu Chengdong is regretting that he didn't engage in semiconductors earlier. "If I had engaged in semiconductor manufacturing in the early years, I would not have such a bad ending today." When attending the 2022 Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Auto Show, Yu Chengdong said that he believed too much in the global division of labor and did not enter the semiconductor manufacturing field, but the reality was humiliated. "There are all kinds of medicines sold in the world, but there is no regret medicine!"
