At 19:30 on the evening of April 11, Vivo held a spring new product launch conference, and Vivo's first folding screen flagship vivo X Fold was also officially unveiled. Vivo X Fold is not only equipped with the latest Snapdragon 8 flagship chip, but also makes breakthroughs in the core needs of users such as hinge technology and crease optimization, and is one of the few folding screen models on the market at this stage with a perfect experience.
To say that the recent mobile phone circle has some lively to see, the release of Vivo's first folding screen flagship has undoubtedly caused a great sensation. Although folding screens still belong to emerging categories, the development speed of these years is obvious to all, and now there are large factories entering the game, which inevitably makes people more convinced of the connection between folding screens and future mobile phone development.
On the other hand, compared with other folding screen mobile phone manufacturers, the arrival of vivo X Fold is indeed quite "late". You know, in recent years, the folding screen market has surged, and there are old folding screen manufacturers such as Samsung and Huawei that are constantly iterating on products, and there are new players such as Xiaomi, OPPO, and Glory in the back. Vivo, which is also a big factory, did not choose to follow up at the first time, which is indeed puzzling.
01 Dead end experience, "slow work" is responsible for the user
In fact, friends familiar with vivo should understand that vivo is not a company without long-term goals and lack of action. Far from mentioning, when the 5G sprouts were just beginning, vivo began to set up a global research and development center, fully participated in the research of 5G core technology and standardization, and began to prepare for full support for 5G technology in the strategy, which won the opportunity for the later rapid transfer to the 5G market.
Later, vivo also released a future-oriented "one main and three auxiliary" strategic plan, committed to creating a comprehensive ecosystem with 5G smartphones as the core, from the perspective of time, these actions are consistent with the world's leading enterprises.
In the field of mobile phones, starting from 2019, vivo has established the original needs of design-driven and user-oriented to connect technological innovation and consumers, and clarified the four long tracks of design, imaging, system and performance.
Over the years, vivo has also promoted the landing of a large number of achievements, and the V1 image chip is one of them. Among many mobile phone brands, vivo is one of the most active layout of mobile imaging enterprises, has long been establishing image research and development centers around the world, launched a plan to recruit a large number of talents in imaging and related fields, and made long-term and continuous investment. The V1 image chip was independently developed by Vivo for 24 months, which is a milestone work of Vivo in the field of imaging, and was later first installed by the X70 series and was used on the vivo X Fold.
As we can see, vivo's layout of cutting-edge technology has always been more positive and extremely forward-looking. In the face of such an emerging market, Vivo is naturally not unprepared.
In fact, vivo started very early in the field of folding screens. As early as 4 years ago, Hu Baishan, executive vice president of Vivo, said in an interview with the media that Vivo has always had research and development tracking on the folding screen, and has also set up a special team to actively carry out the layout of patents. As for why vivo has not taken action for a long time, it is actually related to the folding screen experience.
As we all know, in the past few years, folding screen mobile phones have always had many problems in the use experience, such as screen creases, hinge durability, etc. In the face of these problems, it is difficult for the industry to give a perfect folding screen solution.
Folding screen mobile phone crease display (image source network)
In vivo's view, only mature products can retain users, which is based on the great importance attached to user experience, so when the folding screen experience is still difficult to meet user needs, vivo does not compete for a moment, but chooses to spend more time to gain insight into the needs of users, immerse themselves in polishing the product experience, and create a product that truly solves the pain points of consumers.
02 Less compromise and strive to create a near-perfect folding screen flagship
Fortunately, the vivo folding screen mobile phone did not let us wait too long, this month vivo XFold officially debuted, once announced, it was quickly launched on the peak of popularity. "Mature and professional folding screen mobile phone", "TOP horizontal folding screen flagship", "folding screen experience ceiling"... Judging from the evaluation at this stage, everyone's impression of vivo X Fold is still very good.
Of course, this also emphasizes the fact that although vivo X Fold is vivo's first folding screen product, it does not lose some folding screen mobile phones that have updated two or even three generations, and even in terms of some experiences, vivoXFold still has the performance of latecomers.
As we all know, compared with ordinary mobile phones that have developed for a long time, folding screens as a new category do have some advantages, such as screens that can be opened and closed at will, with both portable and large-screen experiences. But at the same time, folding screen mobile phones also have many difficulties and pain points that need to be overcome urgently.
First of all, the most important thing about folding screen mobile phones is the reliability of hinge technology, which is related to the life cycle of folding screen mobile phones. At present, most of the folding screen flagships have hovered around 200,000 times, and vivo X Fold has increased this score to 300,000 times, even if it is opened and closed 80 times a day, it can be used for 10 years.
In addition, the crease problem has always been a hard wound of the folding screen, many folding screens due to hinge structure problems or poor screen material selection, resulting in creases will become larger with the increase in the number of mobile phone opening and closing times, which eventually leads to a great discount in the display effect, affecting the perception experience, which is also one of the reasons why most users do not choose to buy folding screen mobile phones. In order to solve these problems, vivoXFold's hinge uses top materials that are only used in the aerospace industry, including six-fold aerospace materials such as liquid metal zirconium alloy, FS53 high-strength aviation steel, hand-torn steel sheet, etc., which are spread across a total of 174 parts, which are better flat, light in weight, high in strength, able to resist external shocks in many different scenarios, and more resistant to bending than general materials.
At the same time, vivoXFold also adopts a more complex hinge structure, and the common U-shaped structure is different, vivoXFold adds a one-piece zirconium alloy keel in the center of the hinge, and at the same time adds an integrated zirconium alloy floating plate to the keel, and the overall posture presents a "bird wing" shape.
When the screen is unfolded, the midplane floats up with the screen to provide support for the screen and ensure that the screen remains flat and unmarked; when the screen is closed, the floating midplane falls, providing sufficient space for the screen to bend and protecting the screen. This is a "clever" design that resolves uneven stresses encountered during screen opening and closing, further counteracting crease problems.
Of course, this also requires a stronger toughness in the screen, so vivoXFold's inner screen also specially uses UTG super tough glass, which is not only very durable, can be bent 1 million times at room temperature, but also has good recovery and excellent compressive ability, which is 1.3 times more than the outward tension of ordinary folding screens, so it is very suitable for use as a screen material for folding screens.
The above is vivoXFold for the hinge structure, screen creases to do some of the technical upgrades, in addition to the use of better materials, the design ideas can also be described as "imaginative", effectively solved the folding screen mobile phone has always existed pain points, only from this point of view, vivoX Fold although came a little late, but did do "no compromise".
Even with a large number of top configurations such as Snapdragon 8, ZEISS imaging, one-stop office solutions, and ingenious appearances, the user experience has been further enhanced, and it is not too much to say that it is a folding screen model with a perfect experience on the market at this stage.
03 Break through the high-end and create products that truly meet the needs of the market
Of course, for such a comprehensive folding screen mobile phone, its positioning is naturally the most high-end product of vivo at this stage, which can be called the breakthrough of vivo in the high-end market.
In recent years, domestic mobile phones have sprinted to the high-end, and vivo, which is also a mobile phone manufacturer, is also actively seeking change. In fact, in the past few years, with the research and development layout and long-term accumulation of four long tracks in image, performance, system and design, vivo mobile phones have indeed achieved a series of eye-catching results in the market.
According to authoritative data, in the past 6 quarters, vivo ranked first in China's smartphone market share in four quarters, and ranked first in the Chinese market in 2021. In the high-end market, vivo's share ranking in the high-end mobile phone market of more than 4,000+ in the Q3 quarter of 2021 has reached the top three in the industry. From the data, it can be clearly seen that whether it is the share of the entire market or the breakthrough of the high-end market, vivo's performance is very outstanding.
However, although vivo has achieved good results in the market, it is undeniable that in the face of fierce competition from other manufacturers and the realization of real high-end breakthroughs, vivo still needs a new coping strategy.
Previously, vivo has adjusted the way of playing products, such as vivo S12 Pro, the product label has gradually transitioned from "thin and light selfie flagship" to "all-round flagship", taking over the "baton" of the X digital series in the 3000 yuan price segment, which makes the X series liberated from the high-end market and focus on sprinting the high-end market.
vivo S12 Pro
This time, the release of vivo X Fold and X Note allows us to clearly see vivo's new actions in the high-end product line. In fact, this set of play is not unfamiliar in the high-end market, such as OPPO has adopted the product strategy of "Find+Find N", and the glory of the same product layout has also adopted the dual flagship combination of "Magic+Magic V".
To put it bluntly, the competition for the high-end market has its own set of new logic in it, not the "copy and paste" of the low-end market play, for vivo, if you want to gain a foothold in the high-end market, you need to "force to make a place". Only by aggregating resources and cutting off unnecessary product lines can we create flagship products that truly meet the needs of high-end markets.
Obviously, vivo X Fold is the product of this strategy, whether it is the use of aerospace-grade floating wing hinges, or support for Snapdragon 8 Gen1 flagship chip, ZEISS image, or with an internal and external 120Hz refresh rate of E5 dual main screen, vivo X Fold pursues "extreme" and "uncompromising", the pursuit is the highest level of folding screen at this stage. Because it is not only a stepping stone for vivo to open the door of the folding screen market, but also an important force that carries vivo's high-end mission and further develops the high-end market.
Finally, there is something to say:
In general, whether it is to fulfill the promise of four years ago, or the need for high-end development, Vivo has indeed come up with a mature and professional folding screen product.
Vivo's action seems to be a little late, but the author feels that the time is just right. Just as the so-called "slow work can be a fine work", when the folding screen mobile phone can not bring users a perfect folding screen experience, vivo chooses to fight with the product experience to the end, willing to spend more time to insight into the needs of users, to create a product that can better meet the needs of users, and truly solve the long-standing pain point problems in the industry, just by virtue of this, the arrival of vivo X Fold is not too late, after all, the user experience is always the first.
Of course, on the other hand, in the face of the intensification of the market environment, mobile phone manufacturers have also begun to become impetuous, so that "grabbing the first launch without rushing to experience" is popular, but in my opinion, this is no different from exhaustion and fishing, the consumer's mind will always grow, not focusing on product experience is undoubtedly a consumption of user trust, after all, it is not a long-term solution. Because of this, Vivo's insistence on focusing on polishing the product experience for four years is precious, and it seems to be out of place but penetrates the essence of the market. In short, manufacturers still have to understand that "speed" may be rare, but the premise is to put a good "experience" of this level, otherwise it is to give up the end, win the first opportunity and lose the back hand.
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