In vivo's view, the growth of the brand will eventually change from the "opportunity traction of the early market" to the mode of "driven by innovative technical capabilities", and the development of technical capabilities emphasizes the accumulation of thick and thin hair, which requires time precipitation to achieve the strategic goal of "latecomer first".
Written by | Shi Yang
Responsible for the | Yin Xiaolin
On the evening of April 11, vivo officially released its first folding screen mobile phone vivo X Fold. If you sort according to the product release timeline, the brand that launched the folding screen mobile phone earlier is Huawei, followed by Xiaomi, OPPO, and Honor. Vivo is the last of several domestic mobile phone brands to enter the game.
In fact, vivo's research and development investment in folding screen mobile phones has been opened as early as four years. At that time, Hu Baishan, executive vice president of Vivo, said in an interview with the media that the company was already working on the research and development of folding screen mobile phones. So far, the relevant products have been officially released into the folding screen mobile phone track, because vivo believes that the high-end breakthrough of technology companies is a marathon without shortcuts, and the strategic level of "dare to be the world after the world, after the middle of the race" is closely related to the correct judgment of the company on the trend. At the same time, the "accumulation of thick and thin hair" at the strategic level is closely related to the ability of technological innovation.
We often say that enterprises need to think from the combination of strategic and tactical levels in strategic thinking and action, if strategic decisions can gain insight into opportunities, and through tactical precipitation to lay the foundation for the future construction, then such enterprises can be the first to come first. After all, only high-quality products create value for users, which proves the value of technology and innovation.
Dare to be a strategic determination after people
The strategic level of "dare to be a person" can be understood from the time dimension, which includes two aspects: trend and timing. The "potential" here emphasizes future-oriented trends. This is especially important for tech companies or companies that want to use innovation to break with tradition and shape the future.
"Trend" is the direction of large trends that technology and markets have already presented. For example, according to the latest data released by the China Communications Institute, in February 2022, the domestic market mobile phone shipments were 14.864 million units, down 31.7% year-on-year, and it is not difficult to see that the consumption enthusiasm of the entire market is weakening.
Especially in the past few years, the competition between domestic smartphones has been like an "arms race", gradually becoming white-hot. The product under the rapid iteration is already performance redundancy for most users, and users are eager to appear a subversive product. Among them, with the faster and faster speed of information dissemination, consumers have not satisfied the 6-inch mobile phone screen. However, limited by the size of the human palm, the mobile phone screen has achieved more than 90% of the screen ratio, reaching the extreme of two-dimensional form.
At this time, mobile phones in the form of three-dimensional folding began to appear. However, whether it is a more fragile screen quality, a more fragile mechanical structure, or a higher maintenance cost, any one of the shortcomings has dissuaded many consumers. Although the "trend" has emerged, domestic brand mobile phone manufacturers have successively launched their own folding screen mobile phone products, but for vivo, the real "timing" has not arrived.
Absolutely can not because of the "rush to run" product track and sacrifice the performance of the product is the bottom line of vivo, for the concept of following the trend or short-term interests, forcibly launching immature products, can only achieve the effect of "half the work". These eye-catching products lack the mature technical support behind them and cannot create value for customers, and the result will eventually damage the brand's image in the minds of consumers.
As one of the representatives of domestic mobile phone brands, vivo today has covered more than 400 million users around the world and served more than 60 countries and regions. Data from authoritative research companies such as the international data organization IDC show that vivo ranked first in the Chinese market with a share of 21.5% in 2021, with annual shipments of more than 71 million units, an increase of 23.3% year-on-year. To be able to achieve such impressive results, relying on vivo's dedication to user experience and quality, and this dedication has created its strategic determination and brand reputation.
In the view of Shen Wei, founder, president and CEO of vivo, vivo's strategic determination is: "Always ask yourself what our products have created for users, what has changed, whether this change is what users really need, really meaningful, and whether we are using simple, perfect and elegant ways to achieve this change." ”
Therefore, in the face of the folding screen mobile phone track, Vivo chose a more deliberate strategy. Vivo believes that only by allowing consumers to enjoy the new experience provided by folding technology without affecting the normal mobile phone experience can it truly meet consumers' expectations for folding screen mobile phones, and only through truly high-quality products can we create value for consumers and realize the competition in the back of the folding screen track.
The accumulation of technology in the middle of the competition
Until 2022, the "time" is finally ripe. From the perspective of the general environment, according to IDC research, consumers' acceptance of folding screen mobile phones is gradually increasing. By 2025, the market share of folding screen phones may more than triple, accounting for 1.7% of all mobile phones.
More importantly, vivo has made a major breakthrough in the key technology of folding screen mobile phone products.
As we all know, the high-end breakthrough of technology companies is a marathon with no shortcuts, and the strategic level of "latecomer first-come" is closely related to the correct judgment of the company's trend. The strategic level of "accumulation and thin development" is closely related to the ability of technological innovation.
So, in vivo's view, sometimes the slowest road is the fastest road. In the early days, it seemed that investments that were very slow to achieve results, such as scientific research and innovation, supply chain building, etc., were actually for the strategic service of "daring to be the world, and then competing for the first". Only by accumulating thick and thin hair and playing steadily can we achieve the final victory.
In the vivo X Fold, vivo has gathered a number of industry-leading technologies to comprehensively surpass the previous folding screen products in terms of screen crease optimization and hinge durability. At the same time, in terms of screen technology, chip performance, battery life, imaging system, etc., all flagship configurations are readily available. The unique use experience makes vivo X Fold more suitable for modern business scenarios, frees hands for consumers, efficiently releases productivity, and opens the next decade of the X series with non-low-key product power.
In terms of hinge design, the vivo X Fold is truly durable and reliable. After rheinland testing, the vivo X Fold is still extremely well controlled after undergoing 300,000 folds. Even if it is folded 80 times a day, it can be used for about 10 years, which is enough for the average consumer to use it worry-free during the change cycle.
In terms of screen crease optimization, in the center of the vivo X Fold hinge, there is a one-piece zirconium alloy keel that acts as the "skeleton" of the entire hinge, providing support for the hinge. Above the keel, there is a one-piece zirconium alloy floating midplane, imitating the biological characteristics of bird wings, moving with the movement of the mobile phone. At the same time, the vivo X Fold inner screen adopts UTG super tough glass, with a unique staggered structure, which can greatly improve the pressure resistance of the screen when folding under the premise of high light transmission performance, which can allow a smaller bending radius and improve the durability of the screen. At the same time, the UTG glass rebounds quickly, and the "drum bag" on the top of the door panel on both sides of the hinge disappears quickly.
In terms of imaging, vivo and ZEISS in-depth cooperation also ushered in a full-scene upgrade experience, and the ultra-high-lens lens and T* coating jointly developed with ZEISS have become a well-deserved flagship configuration in the field of mobile phone imaging. Vivo X Note is also equipped with vivo's self-developed V1 chip, which has the characteristics of high computing power, low latency and low power consumption to solve the increasingly complex shooting needs of users.
In terms of configuration, vivo X Fold has almost the same size as Huawei Mate X2 internal and external screen size, but the application of dual screen fingerprint recognition, internal and external 120Hz and other leading technologies, while with 8 Gen1 SPU custom flagship chip, improve the user password security protection level. At the application level, vivo has further optimized the business scenarios and created a more efficient business experience through a series of smart office software.
Be a friend of time
The take-off of technology has made everything in our time press the accelerator button. The pace of change brought about by market competition is getting faster and faster; the emerging and discovering technologies also open up nearly unlimited possibilities for us. What follows is that market demand is no longer satisfied with staying in those relatively fixed trends, but instead moves towards faster update frequencies and more diverse demand.
In this context, no matter what industry you are in, companies need to think about how to adapt to the faster competition "clock". An intuitive answer is to "move faster," such as launching new products faster and opening up new markets faster.
However, "fast" doesn't solve everything. As the saying goes: if you want to be fast, you can't reach it. In particular, the speed of the company's tactical level cannot be equated with the speed of the strategic level. It should be noted that the tactical level, whether fast or slow, is for the service of the strategy, without the guidance of the strategic level, the "fast" of the tactics will lose its ultimate meaning.
Taking vivo as an example, its X series has more than 100 million cumulative users in ten years, and the whole brand has more than 400 million users worldwide. These 400 million living, real users are not a small number. Every innovation and change vivo has made in its products may seem insignificant, but multiplying them by the numbers of 100 million or 400 million is no longer a trivial matter.
As Huang Tao, vice president of vivo products, said at the press conference on April 11, "Business should talk about strategy and consider operation, but we are not just for business." Products made purely for business will not have a soul and will not impress anyone. ”
The growth of the brand will eventually be transformed from the "early market opportunity traction" to the "innovative technology ability driven" model, and the development of technical ability emphasizes the accumulation of thick and thin hair, it takes time precipitation, to be a friend of time, in order to achieve the strategic goal of "competing for the first in the future".
Therefore, although X Fold is vivo's first folding screen product, it carries the practical experience accumulated by vivo X series products in the past ten years, and after four years of preparation, it will bring consumers a real, high-quality flagship folding screen mobile phone experience.