Recently, it has been reported that VIVO's sub-brand NEX has been "cut". On March 3, Nandu reporter saw on the official website of vivo that the product label of the NEX series has been removed, and the NEX series is still on sale on the official website, but the price is close to "waist chop" (the original price is 4998 yuan), and the current nex flagship version is priced at 2998 yuan.
In this regard, on March 3, Vivo responded to Nandu reporter: The original NEX series' exploration and innovation mission of new experiences and new forms will not disappear, and will be carried by our flagship product X series.
Jia Jingdong, vice president of vivo brand and general manager of brand and product strategy, said on his personal Weibo that he had just brushed some media and netizens' concerns and discussions about NEX, and some information could be shared: The original NEX series will be carried by our flagship product X series. No matter how vivo's product portfolio changes, adhering to the user orientation, adhering to the design-driven, and creating great products is our constant philosophy and pursuit.
Vivo NEX series was officially launched in June 2018, at that time, the "Liu Haiping"-based smartphone market, the first to use the lifting camera design, in the vivo product line to position the high-end market. Previously, the outside world had always been the main impression of vivo focusing on young people, and the birth of NEX was also to broaden the customer base. Wu Fan, the product manager of Vivo at the time, positioned NEX in an interview as a "partial technology crowd".
Nandu reporter noted that as of now, the NEX series has launched several generations of NEX dual-screen version, NEX 3, NEX 3S and other products, but after the launch of the 5G flagship nex 3S in March 2020, the series will no longer be updated.
In December 2018, Hu Baishan, vice president of Vivo, said that within 6 months after the launch of the VIVO NEX series, the sales volume in the Chinese market reached 2 million units, and the average sales price was more than 4,000 yuan, bringing a total revenue of more than 8 billion yuan.
However, after the release of NEX 3S in March 2020, the response was flat, and after more than a month of sale, the prices of various channels began to dive continuously, and the outside world believed that it was because of poor sales and passive price reductions.
Previously, some netizens found that a new vivo machine with a model of V2170A passed the certification of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in January 2022, and the outside world speculated that it may be the new product of the NEX series vivo NEX 5, which will be released in 2022.
According to another source, in an internal structural adjustment in February this year, Vivo abolished the NEX business unit and its subordinate organizations. However, as of press time, vivo has not responded to this.
Some insiders revealed that the vivo NEX series will be integrated into the X series as a whole, the next generation of NEX series will be renamed X Note series, and the folding screen mobile phones in the original NEX series will also be classified as an extension of the X series.
Vivo's official response also seems to verify the news. On March 3, Jia Jingdong said that soon vivo's X series will usher in its tenth anniversary, and here is also a small spoiler: the upcoming X series new product family will also present more innovations and surprises in terms of form and experience, and any expectations of NEX can be answered on the X series new products.
According to data from IDC and Counterpoint Research, the global market share of vivo in 2021 will be 9.5%, ranking behind domestic brands Xiaomi and OPPO, an increase of 14.8% year-on-year. In the Chinese market, vivo topped with a market share of 22%, followed by OPPO with a market share of 21%.
Written by: Nandu reporter Kong Xueshao Intern Cao Ziyi