Feng Xiaogang once used a "depth bomb" to describe the movie-watching feeling brought about by the works of the famous Japanese director Kore-eda, and he could not feel the thunder under the calm of the wind and waves.
In this era of smartphones characterized by roll-ups and fast food, Moore's Law is gradually approaching the physical limit, and the competition for users in the stock market is becoming more and more fierce, and companies that can maintain a normal mind and insist on polishing products are becoming more and more rare.
And once the products that can slow down, compete with technological innovation, and experience the same product are launched, the thunder under the calm waves will surely reach the depths of the user's heart.
Define the great brand vivo aimed at the mountains and seas
Vivo's arrogance is well-known in the industry, even in the last year ushered in the first high-light moment of sales in the domestic market, its founder, CEO and president Shen Wei in the New Year speech at the beginning of the year, only lightly said "achieved a little achievement".
This is not reverse Versailles, but a certain degree of ambition.
Over the years, vivo, which emphasizes the "duty" culture, has maintained a humble background, the old scalper generally works hard, away from the "are you ok" brainwashing and the hustle and bustle of saliva splashing, has always adhered to the user-oriented and design-driven to create products The original intention remains unchanged, and continues to launch innovative technologies and products that lead the development of the industry, such as full screen, lifting camera, micro-PTZ stabilization.
What is not forgetting the original intention? It is when the author entered the industry ten years ago, buried his head in the cause, insisted on "embracing users, pursuing the ultimate, and creating surprises", and repeatedly heard the vivo people he contacted mentioned, and now it is still. Some enterprises do not miss every outlet, and some enterprises are detached from the real needs of users, innovating for the sake of innovation, and intelligent for the sake of intelligence. But for vivo, the indispensable keywords of user, experience and innovation have not been forgotten.
Good brands often bring feelings that go straight to people's hearts.
What is user experience? Often talk a lot about technological innovation and use of feelings, the author would like to mention another small detail.
In the official vivo store, you can still find the introduction page of the discontinued model from ten years ago. "X1 HIFI quality high fidelity", vivo put the starting point of today's successful X series there, I stand in front of you, you see me a bit like before, for vivo users, to some extent, here is the emotional home and sustenance.
Starting from the user experience, it is not only to grasp the present moment of the mobile phone, but to find the past of memories and the future of hope. Such brand emotions are maintained, hanging all bells and whistles.
Details determine success or failure, experience to the extreme, less to say more has become the company's deep into the bone marrow of the thing; it is better to do it, to do the best, is the company in the industry changes to achieve step by step, high reputation of the underlying reason.
Without rhythm, empathetic thinking, doing things, and treating users well, in these senses, it reflects a very delicate all-round texture, reflecting the pattern and background of this 27-year-old technology company.
In some cases, "fast" is not the only criterion for defining a great brand, and "slow" is a kind of potential energy accumulation, not adventurous, do subtraction, in fact, the essence of the pursuit is the improvement of ability. The fist retracted in order to punch harder. The so-called flowing water does not compete for the lead, but the contention is endless. Imagine, people's punch for twenty years, you can stop it?
From the author's observation, the changes in vivo in recent years are very significant. It has completed the comprehensive optimization of the product line, the research and development layout of the four long tracks, the breakthrough of the high-end market at 4000+ prices, and the siege of sub-brands. Because of this, under the blessing of clear strategy, appropriate tactics, clear track and product strength, vivo sat on the iron throne of the Chinese market last year with the attitude of a long-distance runner, and stood out in the difficult march of a number of domestic manufacturers to high-end breakthroughs.
Achieve high-end breakthroughs rely on products rather than packaging
The longer you stay in the media, the more you will find that the more mature companies are more restrained and introverted. The lack of presence is not the same as the lack of innovation and internal cultivation, and the craftsman spirit of slow work will make its corporate brand and product quality shine.
However, in the domestic mobile phone manufacturers have been blindfolded all the way, to the high-end impact of these years, into the high-end stunned is to become "aesthetic fatigue".
Slogans shouted for many years, the price went up, the materials were piled up, and black technology appeared frequently, but after a fierce operation, it was found that the total difference was so interesting, and only Apple and huawei were really standing firm.
In the end, the experience did not go up, and the brand recognition did not go up. Lack of real flagship products that make users shine and successfully evolve and iterate, and continue to capture users.
To give two examples, the off-screen camera and the folding screen. In these two aspects, it is also after friends have launched related products, vivo seems to have chosen the finale.
But in fact, in 2020, Vivo used a front camera under the screen on its conceptual product APEX 2020, and in 2018, Vivo began to develop tracking on the folding screen and laid out a large number of patents.
The reason why the mass production model was not launched was mainly due to the poor experience brought by the technology at that time. Whether it is the "screen window" of the camera under the screen or the "crease" of the folding screen, the industry cannot give a perfect solution, that is, consumers can enjoy the new experience provided by innovative technology without affecting the normal mobile phone experience.
Users of high-end products may not be price-sensitive, but they must be sensitive and calculated for the experience. The author believes that in the consumer electronics industry represented by mobile phones, any innovation should be based on the optimization of the product experience, rather than for gimmicks, hype, and the so-called first-mover advantage, bringing products that destroy the experience. Why not bring consumers a "no problem" product at once? Treating consumers as guinea pigs will only widen the distance between brands and consumers.
In the process of domestic mobile phone brands advancing into the high-end, product strength is particularly important, emphasizing "focus" and "learning to do subtraction". This is also vivo's product methodology, spending 80% of its energy on 20% of things, and the product experience is deadlocked, and it cannot be launched for the sake of "show technology" and the experience is not perfect.
Under the guidance of such a methodology, vivo has gradually gained sales and word of mouth in the high-end market. In the past two years, when the whole industry is discussing who will take over the baton after Huawei, Vivo has been approaching this goal.
Counterpoint data shows that at the end of 2021, in the price segment of 4,000-5,000 yuan in the Chinese market, Vivo ranked first with a market share of 24.1%. In the past three years, in the domestic high-end market, vivo is the most successful domestic mobile phone brand after Huawei, and Counterpoint also evaluated vivo as "making significant progress in China's high-end field".
Product strength to win the reputation of consumers
Nowadays, Vivo's X series and sub-brand iQOO's digital series are gradually establishing the top influence in the industry, and vivo's performance in the domestic and high-end markets is not unrelated to the high investment in the field of research and development and product technology breakthroughs in recent years.
Through unremitting efforts in the direction of research and innovation in imaging technology, including the establishment of a global joint R&D strategic partnership with century-old optical giant ZEISS, Vivo is continuing to push up its value chain.
Today, Vivo's X series products are officially entering the top flagship product camp in an unprecedented way in the industry. X70 Pro+'s image capabilities, performance performance, system experience and other aspects have pushed the overall performance of Android mobile phones forward a big step, close to the price of 7,000 yuan, still in short supply.
The sub-brand iQOO, which focuses on the direction of technology exploration, has gradually gained a foothold in the young polar guest group, focusing on the ultimate performance experience, and the price of its flagship series has reached 5,000 yuan+, and the high value chain has gradually been recognized by the market.
Good products really make consumers take the initiative to become salesmen.
In the past year, three peers have recommended the X70 Pro+ to the author in the process of communication, "taking pictures is better than the iPhone". If it is not excellent product quality and use experience, it will definitely not conquer these "old cannons" of the mobile phone circle known for being picky, and from another side, it also reflects vivo's reputation in the high-end market today.
In those moments, there will really be a feeling of dreaming back to the 2014 Huawei Mate7 turned out to be born, Yu Minhong and other business leaders endorsed huawei Mate7 recommendations, and in the following years, Huawei's high-end flagship has been changhong.
The high-end breakthrough of the mobile phone brand is a marathon, there is no shortcut, only rely on thick accumulation and steady play, rely on publicity and packaging concepts can only participate in sprint races, and only rely on quality and word of mouth to win long-distance running races and people's hearts.
According to the data recently released by Daily Interactive, in the market share of 5G Android mobile phone brands by age group, Huawei continues to lead the domestic 5G mobile phone market with a market share of 29.2%; vivo ranks second in the market share, reaching 15.4%; vivo market share among people aged 24 and below is 21.5%, ranking first, and Huawei ranks second in market share.
According to the recently released China Brand Word-of-Mouth Index 2021 Annual Smartphone Word-of-Mouth Report, Apple, Huawei, and Vivo ranked in the top three in the total word-of-mouth index. In terms of brand reputation, Huawei, Vivo, and Honor ranked in the top three.
Butterfly 2022 The first folding screen will be available
Understanding vivo's breakthrough in the high-end, as well as the product philosophy of technology and experience, then, for its upcoming folding screen mobile phone, there is reason to give more expectations.
According to the industry's breaking news, it is expected that vivo's first folding screen product vivo X Fold will debut in April, along with the 7-inch large-screen mobile phone vivo X Note.
Image source: @Digital Chat Station Weibo
From the current comprehensive information, vivo X Fold uses an 8.03-inch Samsung OLED screen, the first time in the domestic folding screen products to introduce fingerprint unlocking under the screen, at the same time, the use of the highest cost folding screen hinge on the market, the cost of more than 1200 yuan, hardware belongs to the industry's top level.
The vivo X Fold real machine exposed on the internet
Last year, many manufacturers launched folding screen products, but to some extent, it is a display of industry scientific and technological achievements, but it sacrifices the external screen experience (narrow screen), game experience (software support experience), portable experience (thick fuselage), endurance experience (standby, heat) and so on.
According to the understanding of the micro network, although Vivo's folding screen products have been issued for a few months, through the most cutting-edge hinge technology and folding screen technology, the experience has been greatly improved and enhanced, through a series of technological breakthroughs and industry firsts, will achieve a truly designed folding screen mobile phone for consumers, but also a flagship experience product that does not sacrifice the flagship mobile phone. Vivo internally calls the folding screen product "Butterfly", and also hopes to achieve a butterfly change in the form of the folding screen product.
The report recently released by Jiwei Consulting pointed out that 2022 will open the "folding screen first year" of real large-scale shipments, folding screen mobile phones will usher in explosive growth, and it is expected that 2022 is expected to be close to 17.5 million shipments. From this point of view, whether it is the maturity of technology, the sense of user experience, or the time of launch, Vivo's folding screen products are timely.
The highlight of vivo X Note is that its undertaking of the previously successful NEX series products means that vivo's X series has been strengthened in addition to "image", technological exploration and innovation in new experiences and new forms. It is not difficult to see that these two new flagships will dock with Huawei's folding screen flagship Mate X2 and business flagship Mate digital series, while the original professional image flagship X digital series is to continue to break the wrist with Huawei's P series in image performance. As the most restrained brand in terms of flagship among domestic mobile phone manufacturers, we can also see vivo's more focused thinking on high-end flagship series.
Android mobile phone manufacturers currently generally adopt a dual flagship strategy in high-end flagships. For example, Huawei's Mate+P series; Xiaomi's digital+MIX series; OPPO's Find series (X+N); Glory's Magic (digital+V), etc. Samsung has also cancelled the former Note series and integrated it into the Galaxy S series Ultra product line.
In this way, in terms of flagship products, in addition to the folding screen, vivo X series will also form a "digital + Note" "image + business" positioning, the focus of the flagship product line, which will help aggregate R & D resources and establish a clear positioning and cognition of consumers for high-end brands.
At the same time, the large-screen business flagship also exists like a touchstone, which is easier to give birth to milestone products, such as Huawei Mate7, iPhone 6, etc. For domestic mobile phone manufacturers, who stands on the large-screen business flagship means that there is more chance of winning in the process of competing for high-end.
According to the understanding of Jiwei Network, the X Note and X Fold series are the pinnacle of vivo's independent innovation to drive industrial chain innovation, and are domestic mobile phone products that have truly reached the level of high-end products after the Huawei Mate series.
Press the Innovation Accelerator key
As stated above, the author believes that the speed of the development of mobile phone enterprises is not in marketing and slogans, but in product strength, R & D investment and user reputation. Therefore, the author believes that after the accumulation of thick and thin, vivo's innovation road will usher in further acceleration.
In fact, since the beginning of 2019, vivo has begun to show obvious signs of acceleration, and the driving force behind it lies in the improvement of internal "strategic mobility", which is directly manifested in the targeted layout and butterfly change of product force.
According to the understanding of Jiwei Network, in 2019, vivo made strategic adjustments, clarified the concept of company's product priority and research and development priority, and emphasized that it is necessary to work several hard bones of user experience.
Vivo will "image, design, system, performance" as the four major R & D long track, to create product planning, technical planning to technical pre-research such a set of products with a perfect process of "iron triangle", at all costs to R & D investment, follow-up and the establishment of the Central Research Institute, as well as R & D centers at all levels, to ensure that products can continue to maintain competitiveness.
Soon, the release of vivo X30 series, which is the flagship representative product of the X series in the image direction of the great leap forward, followed by the continuous iteration of several products in 50/60/70, which will introduce new technical directions such as micro-gimbal and ZEISS optical system into the industry, and the vivo X series has grown into the first brand of mobile phone imaging flagship in 2 years. Subsequently, the fully updated OriginOS Ocean operating system has pushed the experience of Android mobile phone system to a new height with its cross-era design and excellent experience.
The performance track represented by the sub-brand iQOO, the introduction of 120w ultra-fast flash charging, e-sports mode, and top chip memory launched by the sub-brand has made the iQOO mobile phone a representative of the performance product in the industry.
From the perspective of the chip, in the past two years, Vivo has jointly developed the main chip with large factories, and has taken the lead in the industry to develop self-developed image chip technology, and the release of the V1 image chip last year means that innovation in the field of vivo mobile phones is moving to the bottom. And the impact of high-end, improve brand influence, self-developed chips are a part of the must be overcome.
Therefore, in the author's opinion, a series of low-key vivo initiatives in recent years, especially in the strengthening of research and development, are mutually causal with the domestic market dominance and breakthrough in the high-end market. Strengthening research and development and innovation has helped vivo achieve success and breakthroughs in stages, and after gaining a market position, it means that vivo needs to meet future challenges with a leader rather than a follower posture, and to some extent, enter the "no man's land" of innovation, which increasingly needs the guidance of the latter's technology beacon.
This also means that in terms of technology, experience innovation, etc., with the continuous investment in research and development, the results of its transformation will continue to appear, and in terms of innovation and research and development, vivo will press the acceleration button.
Ten years ago, the X1 was born, with the "world's thinnest" and "the world's first Hi-Fi sound" selling points to become famous, becoming vivo's highly landmark innovation in the early stage of turning from a functional machine to a smart machine.
Ten years later, whether it is the vivo X Fold and the 7-inch large-screen mobile phone vivo X Note, as well as the X digital series that will continue to be iterated in the future, they have injected new meaning into the X series, releasing the signal of further acceleration of vivo, and also marking the beginning of a new historical node on the vivo station. (Proofreading/Andrew)