Author: Jia Lin
Logically speaking, without Huawei as a strong opponent, the domestic mobile phone leaders should be like a duck in water, but this is not necessarily the case.
Recently, market research organization CINNO Research released a report that in February, smartphone sales in the Chinese market were approximately 23.48 million units, down 20.5% year-on-year and 24.0% month-on-month, both shrinking year-on-year and month-on-month.
On the other hand, according to Tianyancha information, vivo disclosed patents for autonomous driving methods, vehicle-mounted devices, mobile devices and vehicle-mounted electronic equipment on April 1. After Xiaomi and OPPO fell out, and Huawei "helped car companies build cars," does Vivo's move mean that it will also join the car-making army? Is this a compromise with reality after declining sales?
1
Conservative vivo
In the past many years, domestic mobile phones have developed wildly with the help of mid-to-low-end products, channels, cost-effectiveness, and marketing advantages. In exchange for very beautiful results. Vivo is a typical example.
But this "machine-sea tactic" that relies heavily on marketing is not invincible. On the one hand, mid- to low-end smartphones have extremely low profits and have to be eroded by layers of distribution; on the other hand, domestic mobile phone endorsement and release fees remain high, further compressing profit margins.
Therefore, as the smartphone industry gradually matures, major manufacturers have begun to change their strategies, reduce model releases, and abandon this mobile phone tactic that "wastes people and hurts money".
After all, the most important purpose of business is to make money.
And what about vivo at this time? Based on last year’s situation, it is not difficult to find that vivo is still adhering to this ancient tactic.
Public information shows that Xiaomi, Redmi and Black Shark *** released 25 mobile phones in 2021, OPPO released 21 models, Huawei and Honor released 12 and 23 models respectively, while vivo has 36 models. models are on the market, not including the 13 iQOO models, which can be said to be huge.
Although this ancient tactic has allowed vivo to become the domestic mobile phone sales champion in 2021 with sales of 71.5 million units, behind the impact on sales is vivo's sacrifice of profits.
According to 2021 smartphone revenue data released by Counterpoint, the revenue of the top five smartphones in 2021 will be 448 billion US dollars. Among domestic mobile phones, Xiaomi increased by 49%, OPPO increased by 47%, and vivo At the bottom with a growth rate of 43%.
It is worth mentioning that vivo ranks first in mobile phone price increases in 2021. This growth rate lower than that of its peers is still based on frequent price increases.
Insisting on "backstroke" in the sea of ??machines. From the current point of view, vivo, the conservative choice, is really unwise.
2
The dilemma of focusing on one thing and losing the other
Strategically conservative and slow, vivo is also showing signs of fatigue in terms of product layout.
On March 3, Jia Jingdong, vice president of vivo, said on Weibo that in the future, "any expectations everyone has for NEX can be answered in the new X series products." This means that the NEX series, which once shouldered the mission of vivo’s high-end development, has permanently pressed the pause button.
This kind of direct announcement of abolition is rarely heard in the mobile phone industry, but when it comes to nex, everything seems to be reasonable again.
In 2018, the nex series was launched, leading the industry with a front-facing screen-to-body ratio of more than 90%. However, judging from market performance, nex obviously failed to successfully talk to high-end consumer groups. The lifting camera that it has always insisted on not only affects the thickness of the phone, but also weakens the waterproof function of the phone, which runs counter to the "sense of technology and future" promoted by vivo. In addition, the large-curvature waterfall screen design has also been criticized as "flashy" due to problems such as incomplete display and side color casts.
After failing to hit the high-end market, vivo launched the sub-brand iQOO, targeting e-sports and young people.
However, the pursuit of performance through stacking materials will inevitably increase costs, so the high price also discourages young people.
The iQOO 3 released in early 2020 was significantly reduced in price and cleared by more than a thousand yuan on 618 just a few months later. The iQOO 9, which was launched at a price of 3,999 yuan, also did not cause much splash. The sales volume of iQOO could only stay at 3 million. Department left and right. As for the vivo X70 series equipped with vivo's first self-developed professional imaging chip V1, the high-end version is even close to 7,000 yuan. Netizens also collectively think that the high price is brought about by blindly stacking materials, so few people buy it.
What’s even more fatal is that vivo simply does not have high enough technical barriers in terms of products and technology, so it is difficult for those who are high to be free from worries.
Today, Huawei MatePad Pro and Honor Tablet V7 have been launched one after another. Xiaomi Tablet has launched its fifth generation. OPPO’s first tablet, OPPO Pad, was also released on February 24 this year. Vivo only proposed the "1+3+N" strategy in August last year, in which "3" refers to the tablet products to be released. At present, Huawei, Apple, and Xiaomi have begun to take shape in their ecological construction, and they have all launched laptops, wearable watches, smart speakers, smart homes, etc. However, there are only four smart hardware models on vivo’s official website, which is different from the variety of competitors. The categories and quantities are very different.
It is undeniable that the smartphone market in the past was an attractive cake, but as time has passed, this cake has long lost its original deliciousness. If a new battlefield cannot be opened, vivo will soon fall behind others.
3
Build a car to break the situation?
The future is here, and vivo may be trying to change.
As car manufacturers and mobile phone giants cross borders, vivo has also made new moves.
As early as the middle of last year, there was a lot of news about vivo entering the car manufacturing industry. The automobile-related talent recruitment information that appeared on OPPO’s official website at that time also added some credibility to the news. But then OPPO and vivo’s denials lowered market expectations. Until recently, vivo’s public patent has drawn everyone’s attention back.
In fact, vivo has made plans in the automotive field as early as 2019, establishing cooperation with Baidu, Great Wall and other companies; at the developer conference at the end of 2020, vivo also released the Internet of Vehicles brand - Jovi InCar; a few months ago, vivo, OPPO, and Xiaomi took the lead in opening up the smart car linkage, with participation from Changan Automobile, Geely Holding, SAIC Motor, Yuanfeng Technology, China Science and Technology Thunder, and China Automobile Research Institute Intelligent Network. Alliance ICCOA was officially established.
Today, as the global shipments of mobile phones continue to decrease, creating a perfect ecosystem that integrates cars and machines is indeed a good business. For vivo, it is better to take the initiative and seek greater growth space by building cars, which may be able to break the situation. But faced with a late start and slow response, vivo had no choice but to run wild.