There are too many mobile phones, and young people have not enough.
In the past, the speed of user replacement was very fast, and a mobile phone could only be used for one year; now, the replacement cycle of young people has been extended to nearly 3 years.
For this extremely "inward-rolling" situation, Zhou Hongyi's sentence may best reflect the anxiety of current mobile phone manufacturers:
"The current mobile phone industry is no longer a red sea, but a sea of blood. Every week to make headlines, every month to put a satellite, change a piece of steel plate that can be used to cook bowls also let the world know, the price is only lower and there is no minimum, the CEO is not a talk show nine dan also have to seize the spare time to train a rap singer, otherwise it may lose the attention of the masses. ”
In the "post-Huawei" era, all kinds of domestic mobile phones from appearance to performance, "innovation" continues, new technologies emerge in an endless stream. However, looking at the new machines on the market, there are very few that can truly meet the fundamental needs of users.
In fact, manufacturers who are willing to sit on the "cold bench" are not without, and vivo adheres to its own concept in such a "blood war" scene - user-oriented. From the "world's thinnest" vivo X1, to the Xshot that opened the road to image flagship, and then to the X70 equipped with the self-developed chip V1, when others showed their muscles, vivo focused on optimizing the product series matrix, solving various problems in a down-to-earth manner, and achieving the ultimate in technology.
"Users always remember only the person who created the first, but not the person who followed." We must pursue the ultimate and strive to achieve more industry firsts."
This sentence of Shen Wei, founder, president and CEO of Vivo, may be the most sobering medicine in the battle-hardened mobile phone industry.
01
Bury your head in the cause, and the effect will become natural
Probably everyone has to admit that the domestic mobile phone market is in the "silver age".
The incremental period has passed, so in the face of the stock market, mobile phone manufacturers have entered a state of incredible fighting: you have 65W I am on 120W, you have 90Hz I am on 120Hz, you have 50 million pixels I come to 100 million pixels, it is best to update 12 models a year.
Even in addition to the fierce competition of traditional mobile phone manufacturers, new players are also eager to try.
Of course, some of them have returned home, and although some have successfully entered the mobile phone market but have a bleak future, these still cannot dispel cross-border ideas: even the new energy vehicle companies that are now in the limelight have expressed their desire to "make mobile phones".
However, under the fierce battle, the situation faced by domestic manufacturers is still very tragic: the competition in the low-end market is fierce, and the high-end market is still monopolized by Apple.
Previously, the "High-end Mobile Phone Consumer Survey Report" released by a domestic media showed that the main reference source for users' expectations for domestic high-end mobile phone brands is Apple mobile phones.
In the user survey related to domestic mobile phones, 38.7% of users hope that domestic mobile phone brands can improve the fluency of use; 38.5% of users hope to improve the stability and reliability of the system; at the same time, they also hope that the operating system can be more friendly.
And these expectations are not the goals that the apparent "heap parameters" can achieve.
The high-end road is a systematic project, which requires manufacturers to polish and optimize hardware and software for a long time, and requires a lot of time, energy and patience.
This is also the main reason why vivo can lead the industry: it has enough patience to find user pain points, can lead scientific and technological innovation, and leads the industry to find a crack in the upward breakthrough.
Users' focus is often on fluency, system stability, reliability and friendliness, and vivo has already gained a deep insight into this in its long-term deep cultivation.
To solve these problems, for a mobile phone, the first thing to do is to optimize the performance, followed by to improve the operating system.
In terms of performance, vivo has previously jointly established a simulation network laboratory with the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, and designed three engines: high-real-time computing, intelligent scheduling computing, and high-speed catch-up, which are used to improve the computing performance of mobile phones and achieve smoothness in all scenarios.
In terms of operating system, vivo first adopted a leading algorithm to solve the storage problem that affects the speed of the system, greatly improving the smooth feeling of users in use; and then launched its own mobile operating system in 2021: OriginOS Ocean.
In addition to these, a good mobile phone manufacturer also needs to find the needs that consumers are not yet aware of.
Easier said than done, because consumers often don't know what they want.
As Jobs put it, "People don't know exactly what they need until you put the product in front of them." ”
But vivo is ahead of the user.
From X50's micro-gimbal technology, to X60's ZEISS joint deep customization, to X70's self-developed chip V1, each model is witnessing the changes vivo has made for users.
The V1 chip is the most explosive: it can process complex operations at high speed like a CPU, or it can complete the parallel processing of data like GPUs and DSPs. From images to games, this chip can not only use black light night vision to solve the pain points of users who take pictures at night, but also help users enjoy a higher frame rate interpolation game experience with lower power consumption. The V1 unleashes the maximum potential of a chip and delivers an excellent optimized experience for users.
But behind these optimizations is vivo's long-term investment.
A chip alone has invested more than 300 people in algorithms, IP conversion and chip architecture design.
Hu Baishan, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Vivo, once said bluntly in an interview with the media, "These things need to be continuously accumulated, not to find a bunch of people today to invest a bunch of money and immediately produce results." At present, the reason why we can launch the V1 chip is strongly related to the fact that we invested in imaging algorithms 5 or 6 years ago. ”
In the end, it turns out that what Vivo has done confirms the concept it has always adhered to: "Bury your head in the cause, and the effect will become natural."
After the launch of the X70 equipped with a self-developed image chip, vivo ushered in the most beautiful year:
According to the data of authoritative research companies such as IDC, vivo ranked first in the Chinese market with a market share of 21.5% in 2021.
02
X80 Series:
Vivo grinds a sword for ten years and casts a high-end image flagship
On April 18, as the masterpiece of the vivo X series for ten years, vivo X80 was officially announced, and once again appeared in front of users with the brand background of vivo's consistent "duty".
Since the release of the first product in 2012, the vivo X series has been passed down for ten years. This is not the first vivo to launch, but it is the longest lasting product line, and it has been renewed for ten years.
At present, the X series has become the professional imaging flagship of the vivo brand that integrates cutting-edge technology, and with the outstanding performance of the vivo X70 series in the high-end market, vivo has become the brand with the largest market share of smartphones in Chinese mainland in 2021.
In this long and firm rise process, the vivo X series has also handed over one "extreme" answer sheet after another:
The world's first Hi-Fi music mobile phone, the world's first 2K screen, the world's first dual 2.5D curved glass screen, the world's first front-facing soft light dual camera, the world's first under-screen fingerprint, the world's first micro-PTZ image stabilization lens, the world's first independent image chip...
Now, with the amazing results brought by the X70 in 2021, the vivo X series has once again revealed its latest bottom card - X80.
Official information shows that the new vivo X80 series continues the "professional imaging flagship" gene of the X series.
One of the most critical self-developed technology bonuses is also full of expectations:
It is understood that the vivo X80 series or will bring the second generation of dual-core technology.
In the currently listed Tianji 9000 flagship model, few manufacturers have realized the dual-core collaboration of the Tianji 9000 version, and fewer people have careful polishing of the image, but the dual-core technology brought by the vivo X80 series will fill this market gap.
In the low-light shooting environment, the dual-core technology has greatly improved the image performance of the X80 series, and in the case of almost total darkness, it can still preview the clear image picture, which can achieve the effect of "night vision goggles", presumably this is also the result of the cooperation between vivo's self-developed chip and Tianji 9000.
In terms of gaming, this chip also performs well. Digital big V Xiaobai review revealed the game test data of vivo X80 Pro in advance, and the blogger said: "In the 30-minute original god highest picture quality stable frame test, X80 Pro is the least volatile in the currently tested Tianji 9000 model."
Super night vision effect + super stable game experience, has been for the X80 series in advance to lock the next generation of divine machine throne.
According to the information of the well-known running score platform, the model has also handed over a running score of up to 1.07 million, ranking first in the list of 9,000 new machines in Tianji.
The same chip has once again brought a completely different experience to users through technological upgrading, excellent joint debugging capabilities and fine polishing.
The familiar "polishing" smell of the vivo X series is once again coming to the fore, and this has penetrated into the product genes of vivo.
03
Stick to the original intention, and strive to do it
The X series means "XTREME", Chinese means "limit", representing the original intention of the vivo X series to pursue the ultimate experience.
The results and sales are only appearances, and behind the leap and qualitative change is vivo's adherence to the X series for ten years as "putting users first".
Through technological innovation iteration, the X series is gradually growing into a recognized high-end flagship in the mobile phone market with differentiated advantages in terms of photography, performance, appearance and other aspects.
Among them, there are vivo X1 that embraces users and debuts at the peak, there are also a variety of models that focus on images, and there are leaps and bounds from cooperation to self-research.
It is also through one model after another to solve the pain points, vivo has always practiced the concept of adhering to the user orientation and counting one by one, and has stepped out of its own high-end road step by step.
As early as 2012, Vivo officially launched the world's thinnest mobile phone vivo X1 at that time, debuting at the peak and always at the peak.
The biggest advantage of the vivo X1 series is the built-in professional CD-grade Hi-Fi chip. In addition, with a thickness of only 6.55 mm, it became the world's thinnest smartphone at that time, and it was also the most landmark product of Vivo from the functional machine to the early stage of the smart machine.
In 2014, the vivo X series began its "glorious years" in the field of mobile phone photography. As soon as the vivo Xshot, the first model of the image series, was released, it became the "light of domestic image mobile phones" of that era.
Later vivo X7/X9 showed a sudden situation, so that the slogan "Illuminate Your Beauty" was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Subsequently, in 2019, the vivo X series ushered in its first 5G mobile phone, the vivo X30, which became the X series image transcendent.
But on the road of imaging, vivo does not stop here.
Starting with the X50 series, consumers are finding vivo different again – it embarks on a path of deep collaboration and self-development.
The X50 series brings vivo's long-polished micro-gimbal and stacking technology, which has become an important technological "milestone" in the history of mobile phone imaging development.
In the subsequent X60, through cooperation with ZEISS, Vivo reached a deep customization of software and hardware. In terms of hardware, Vivo rarely uses T* coating on mobile phones; on the software, it has jointly achieved tuning and upgrading with ZEISS, becoming the strongest voice in the industry.
The X70 series and the V1 self-developed image chip it carries are a bombshell that the vivo X series has thrown to the market, unlocking the era of hardware-level algorithms for mobile imaging.
The latest X80 has brought Tianji 9000 chip + self-developed image chip, superimposed to enhance the amount of light into the flagship new CIS, directly created a "night vision", and brought vivo's image series to a new height.
From vivo X1 to vivo X80, vivo X series continues to cultivate in the field of image technology, and has stepped out of its own image flagship road step by step in ten years. This decade for the vivo X series, short and long, short is a big step forward in image technology, subverting the imagination of the industry and users again and again. However, the research and refinement behind innovation requires patience and a little accumulation. The vivo X series has spent ten years leading everyone to witness the "vivo paradigm" they have written for themselves.
04
Use technology to grind through the iron of time
In the "2022 New Year Speech", Shen Wei has publicly stated:
"At any time, competition-oriented, cost-oriented, parameter-oriented, efficiency-oriented, etc. must not be above the user-oriented." Enterprises that abandon users will eventually be abandoned by users and will not be able to be healthy and long-lasting. Vivo's Jiangshan is the user, the user is the vivo's Jiangshan, we must always put the user first, and embrace the user with heart. ”
For vivo, "exactly what is created for the user, what has changed, and whether this change is what the user really needs" is always the goal of integrating into the blood of the entire team.
"User first" here, is not a slogan, but a real in-depth user scenario, prejudgment of user needs, and then in the most simple, perfect and elegant way to achieve.
The path to implementation is inseparable from the support of technology.
As early as 2019, vivo has identified the four "long tracks" of design, imaging, system and performance, and recruited cutting-edge talents around the world for long-term and continuous research and development investment.
In terms of technology research and development, vivo has built an "iron triangle" research and development system from product planning, technical planning to technical pre-research. Among them, the product planning is to think clearly about what vivo wants, and the technical planning is to gain insight into the needs of users and how vivo can meet the implementation. When product and technology are combined, Vivo will set up a series of future technology lists for up to 36 months.
In 2021, Vivo has set up vivo Central Research Institute, which is committed to pre-researching cutting-edge technologies of mobile phones and pointing out the direction for product and technology planning for more than 3 years. This technical beacon is not only a sufficient reserve for vivo's own research and development, but also a way forward for the development of the entire industry.
When the expansion of new technologies becomes the consensus reached by the entire smartphone industry, when the "heap parameters" are getting farther and farther away from the "user pain points", vivo tells us: mobile phones can still do this.
From the X70 series to the X80 series, Vivo is using its own actions to demonstrate that every product release is a new beginning.
Shen Wei said, "If you look back and forth in another ten or twenty years, 2021 may be the first year of vivo's qualitative change." ”
In the past, as a high-end mobile phone, the vivo X series may only have a "selfie artifact" label, so the future vivo X series will carry the original tool expectations of various users such as "self-developed chip", "dual core", "strongest folding screen", "strongest night vision" and so on, and go global with local expectations.
Behind each seemingly easy "label", it is the accumulation and run-in of the vivo R&D team for several years.
What we should probably also expect is what this "technology beacon" of the mobile phone world will bring us in the next decade.
End
For the vivo X series, the decade has been both slow and fast.
For the mobile phone market, ten years is very fast. This once high-growth industry has moved from the golden period to the silver age, many manufacturers have come and gone, and countless models are fleeting.
For vivo, ten years is slow. Because each of the vivo X series is practicing the fundamental concept of vivo, step by step, with the most sincere scientific and technological innovation, so that every step is in the user's heart.
Embracing the concept of "doing nothing", which contains traditional Chinese culture, vivo is even a bit "stupid" in the eyes of the market.
But it is also its story that tells us that real change always happens in the seemingly unchanging, and the real leap also happens in the accumulation of bit by bit.
Many times, slow is fast.
This young and mature company, in a word—
The only difference is that it is different everywhere; the most fundamental innovation comes from the surface to the inside.