After "pigeon" for a long time, Huawei finally released the latest masterpiece of the Mate X series - Huawei Mate Xs 2.
It is understood that Huawei Mate Xs 2 adopts an external folding screen design and is currently the thinnest folding screen mobile phone. At the same time, Huawei Mate Xs 2 also innovates in terms of performance, and is the industry's first mobile phone to support tri-band Wi-Fi, with a maximum WiFi rate of 4Gbps.
Although Huawei still has not come out of the cloud of sanctions, combined with the launch of Huawei Mate Xs 2, Huawei seems to have found a new "solution" idea outside the hardware.
Huawei cleverly solves the pain points of folding screens
In fact, from the perspective of pure performance, Huawei Mate Xs 2 does not have absolute competitiveness, such as its only equipped with Snapdragon 888 4G processor + 66W fast charging, etc., these configurations are not only better than the mainstream folding screen mobile phones on the market, but also inferior to traditional straight-panel mobile phones.
However, from another level, Huawei Mate Xs 2 can also be called a folding screen mobile phone market is a very sincere product. At the scene of the press conference, Yu Chengdong used "ultra-thin, ultra-flat, ultra-reliable" to describe the Mate Xs 2.
In fact, unlike most folding screen products that are still in power configuration, Huawei is aware of the current obstacles that limit the wider range of folding screen mobile phones to sweep the market, mainly from the ease of use and reliability of the product, so it focuses on the process of the product.
For example, the new hinge technology with the folding design makes the Huawei Mate Xs 2 extremely thin and light, with a thickness of 11.1mm when folded, 5.4mm at the thinnest unfolding, and a fuselage weight of only 255g. This three-dimensional performance is even better than some traditional bar flagships.
Due to the use of a more complex mechanical structure, in order to avoid Mate Xs 2 to be broken, Huawei gave it a composite stacked screen structure, the protective layer, buffer layer, barrier layer, display layer stacked in turn, compared with the previous generation of products, Mate Xs 2's anti-drop, impact resistance, anti-extrusion ability increased by 2.5, 2.8 and 1.4 times respectively.
In addition, because Google has strategically abandoned tablets, the biggest resistance to the further popularization of folding screen mobile phones at present mainly comes from the adaptation of software. To solve this problem, Huawei launched an adaptive UI engine. It is understood that through the engine, the system can automatically obtain the original layout information of the application and retype and optimize the graphic information.
As for the network level, although 5G is not supported, it is because Huawei also gives the Mate Xs 2 a stronger WiFi technology. It is understood that the Mate Xs 2 is the first mobile phone to support tri-band WiFi 6 technology, with a peak rate of up to 4Gbps, which is the fastest WiFi mobile phone in the industry.
Considering that the biggest problem of folding screen mobile phones is still "not durable", the Mate Xs 2 that solves this problem may bring a completely different "solution" idea to the market.
Huawei's experience-based product strategy
In fact, the Mate Xs 2 is, to some extent, an important "key" for us to understand Huawei's product strategy in the past two years.
Previously, Huawei was successful in the high-end market with Kirin processor + Leica imaging technology, but due to US sanctions, Huawei also fell into the dilemma of "smart women are difficult to cook without rice".
At the China Informatization 100 People's Conference in August 2020, Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei's consumer business, said: "Huawei will launch the Mate 40 equipped with Kirin 9000 chips this fall, which may be our last generation of Huawei Kirin high-end chips." ”
Since it cannot win in terms of performance, what Huawei can do is naturally to exert its advantages accumulated in the consumer business and focus on optimizing the product experience to achieve overtaking of competitors.
Taking Huawei's latest release of WATCH GT 3 Pro as an example, its entire range supports ECG ECG analysis, and continues the previous excellent heart rate, blood oxygen, body temperature, scientific sleep, stress, women's physiological cycle and other comprehensive health management advantages.
Huawei MatePad SE is the same reason, although this product is only equipped with Kirin 710 A processor, but it supports HarmonyOS 2, Histen 7.0 sound effect technology, and also equipped with a children's park and education center, can create a relaxed and happy learning park for children, only 1499 yuan. The product power of this heavy experience undoubtedly hits the current consumer learning needs for tablets.
Considering that for most people, there is a phenomenon of excess performance in the processors of current mobile products, Huawei's change of product thinking actually caters to the eagerness of some consumers who have requirements for experience.
Huawei's IoT achievements are remarkable, and the future can be expected
This can be seen from the users we harvested from Huawei's distributed system Hongmeng.
On April 28, 2022, Yu Chengdong revealed that since the opening of the Hongmeng system upgrade on June 2, 2021, it has basically covered all Huawei products, "the number of Huawei equipment equipped with Hongmeng system has exceeded 240 million units, the shipment of ecological equipment has exceeded 150 million units, Huawei's global partners have more than 2,000, and more than 14,000 offline outlets." ”
In fact, this also implies another track for Huawei outside of smartphones. According to data released by Valuates, the global IoT market size will reach $31.9 billion in 2026, and the COMPOUND annual growth rate of the IoT market will reach 64.2% from 2019 to 2026.
The reason why Huawei's flat-bottom hongmeng system can gain a large number of users is because it is compatible with Android APP, but more importantly, it is also directly related to huawei's construction of a highly differentiated "experience network" through the Hongmeng system.
At the 2019 Mobile World Congress, He Gang, President of Huawei's Consumer Mobile Product Line, officially announced Huawei's "1+8+N" strategy in the 5G era.
Although Huawei's smartphone business has rapidly retreated due to sudden sanctions, combined with the market, with a differentiated experience, under the guidance of the "1+8+N" strategy, Huawei has stabilized its position.
IDC data shows that in 2021, Huawei ranked first with a share of 49.3% in China's folding screen mobile phone market. It is estimated that by 2025, the global shipment of folding screen mobile phones will reach 27.6 million units, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 69.9%. It is foreseeable that huawei folding screen mobile phones should have better performance in the future.
What is even more rare is that under the background of continuous pressure on consumer business, Huawei has not given up digging deeper in technology to build core competitiveness at the product experience level.
According to the financial report, Huawei's total revenue fell from 891.4 billion yuan in 2020 to 636.8 billion yuan, but Huawei still maintained a high level of research and development, and in 2021, Huawei's R&D investment was 142.7 billion yuan, accounting for 22.4% of the annual revenue.
Looking back, Huawei's experience-centric IoT service actually makes up for the lack of performance. Because fragmented IoT terminals do not need too strong performance, and most consumers are not particularly demanding performance. Therefore, Huawei may create more surprises for us in the future.