Without a self-developed chip and operating system, and the appearance can not get rid of Huawei's "shadow", the outside world has always had questions: can Glory really open up the path of benchmarking Apple?
The author | Liu Shanshan
Editor| Yang Ming
From the Huawei spin-off, the glory of independent operation for 560 days has still not completely got rid of Huawei's "shadow".
On the evening of May 30, Honor officially released the three models of the 70 series - Honor 70, Honor 70 Pro, Honor 70 Pro+, priced at 2699 yuan, 3699 yuan and 4299 yuan respectively.
"A new and upgraded product." Honor CEO Zhao Ming said on Weibo.
This upgrade did not surprise all users - as early as the warm-up period, because the appearance of the Honor 70 series and the Huawei P50 were too similar, it was complained by some digital bloggers and netizens as "Dong Shi Gong" and "copy homework".
"The real machine does look very similar to the Huawei P50, except that there is no RYYB (sensor)." A netizen who watched the online live broadcast told "Pole Business" that this may make more consumers with "Huawei complex" recognize, but it also reflects the lack of innovation in glory's design language.
Previously, when magic3 and honor 50 were released, many people in the outside world also believed that they were "brothers" in appearance with Huawei Mate50 and P50. After the release of the Magic3 series in August last year, in the face of external questions, Zhao Ming said in an interview: "I want to emphasize that no matter from the point of time, or the entire research and development process, the Honor Magic3 series has nothing to do with the Mate50 series. ”
Completely tearing off the Huawei label and getting rid of Huawei's shadow is indeed very important to Glory, which not only helps Glory further strengthen its brand image, eliminates possible related risks, but also proves Glory's independent "walking" ability.
According to the data of a number of consulting and research institutions, in the first quarter of 2022, Glory ranked at the forefront of the domestic mobile phone market share, and Canalys even believed that Glory sat in the top position with a market share of 20%. This means that after Experiencing the darkest moment of all the way down to 3%, Glory completed a beautiful U-shaped curve counterattack and successfully seized the market gap left by Huawei.
"For the next 3 to 5 years, glory does not have a ceiling problem." Zhao Ming said. His ambitions were never in sight, and on various occasions, the glory family frequently mentioned "high-end, shoulder-to-shoulder and even surpass apple" rhetoric.
In the absence of self-developed chips and operating systems, the appearance can not get rid of Huawei's "shadow", which also makes the outside world full of questions: can Glory really open up the path of benchmarking Apple? In the ever-changing mobile phone market with declining sales, is the current "throne" a flash in the pan, or is it the beginning of a stable position?
01
Several major factors determine the fate of the 70 series
From the configuration point of view, as the new generation flagship product of Honor, the 70 series focuses on the 70 Pro and Pro+ two models, the former is the Tianji 8000, the latter is the Tianji 9000 processor. Honor 70 is equipped with Snapdragon 778G+ chip - and Honor 50, Honor 60 processor specifications are almost the same, "cost performance" is not high.
From the feedback of netizens, there are not many dissatisfactions with the configuration of the 70 series, mainly concentrated in the mobile phone at a price of three or four thousand yuan, still using Z-axis motors, plastic borders and short-focus fingerprints, no OIS night shot, no 2K screen, and no infrared and optical image stabilization and other "spit".
"Decent configuration." Digital observer Lin Hui believes that from the perspective of positioning, the 70 series will not change much, it is still mid-range or high-end, and it is ready to answer this year's 618 mid-term exam.
Affected by the recurrence of the epidemic, the economic downturn, the longer replacement cycle and other major environmental impacts, the mobile phone market is under obvious pressure this year. According to the latest statistics from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the overall shipment of mobile phones in the domestic market from January to April this year totaled 87.425 million units, down 30.3% year-on-year. A number of statistical agencies believe that domestic mobile phone shipments this year or will fall below the 300 million unit mark.
This makes this year's 618 promotion, directly affecting the trend of mobile phone manufacturers in the second half of the year. Before the release of the 70 series, vivo, OPPO, Xiaomi and other mobile phone manufacturers have successively released their own new products, and have successively opened 618 promotional programs. Although Honor is now the only mobile phone brand that has maintained positive growth, its market position is not consolidated in the case of a bad environment.
Industry insiders believe that whether the 70 series can bring satisfactory answers to glory in the midterm exam depends on several major factors.
The first is whether the supply chain is stable. Under the epidemic, the resilience of the electronic supply chain has been greatly tested, although the shortage of chip supply has eased, but storage, display, camera, SOC, etc. are still "roadblocks". At the same time, in order to cope with problems such as logistics delays, many manufacturers are more cautious in their stockpiling strategies, which is likely to affect the shipment volume of 618 this year.
Second, competitors are not weaker than the 70 series. About 4000 yuan price model is numerous, is the most fierce competition in the segment, many opponents, the market generally believes that the most direct competitor is vivo X80 - vivo X80 released on April 25 this year, equipped with Tianji 9000 processor, self-developed chip V1+, from the market feedback to see the current performance is good, is regarded as filling the vacancy of Tianji flagship.
Third, since independence, Glory has been playing the "machine sea tactics" strategy, but the outside world still has doubts about how long its effect can be maintained.
Since independence, Honor has released nearly 30 models, and the tactical strategy of the aircraft sea is obvious, forming four major product systems of Magic series, digital series, V series and X series, covering the price range of 2000 yuan to 10000 yuan. But not every one of them is satisfactory, even if the appearance is similar to Huawei, the fate is very different - such as the Honor 50 became a hit, but the Magic3 did not meet expectations.
Fourth, the glory high-end market needs to be broken. "At present, the most popular models of Honor are concentrated in the low-end price, such as last year's Glory 50 series, priced at 2399 yuan to 3999 yuan, and did not break through 4000 yuan to enter the high-end price, which is a key factor in good performance." Lin Hui thinks.
In addition to the price relatively low-end, "Huawei Halo" is another important boost. Some mobile phone dealers said that many of the purchases of the Honor 50 series are Huawei replacement users, "In the eyes of many users, Huawei Glory is still not separated." ”
The question is, the Honor 70 series configuration, price is not too much surprise, and the environment is complex, weak consumption, "Huawei" label can attract how many consumers to pay?
02
The Huawei label that can't be torn off
As an affiliated brand derived from the initial sniper attack on Xiaomi, Huawei was once the proudest label of Honor.
In the early days of Honor's development, the appearance of honor 3C and 3X fuselages retained the Huawei logo, and later honor became a brand alongside Huawei mobile phones, and Huawei logo disappeared from honor phones, but Huawei still gave great support to honor technology, products, channels and other aspects - for example, Honor 6 and Honor 6 Plus, respectively, using Huawei HiSilicon's Kirin 920 and Kirin 925 chips.
With huawei's full support, Honor successfully completed the task of dueling Xiaomi. In December 2017, Zhao Ming said at the press conference that Honor surpassed Xiaomi to become the first brand in China's Internet mobile phone share.
On September 15, 2020, Huawei's chips were technically limited. On November 17, 2020, Glory officially became independent and self-reliant.
Unlike other nascent brands, behind the independence of Honor is the shadow of Huawei's talents, technology, product strength, and some offline channels. Honor's initial team of more than 8,000 people came from Huawei, of which R & D personnel accounted for more than half. Among them, it includes the original Huawei R&D teams in Shenzhen, Beijing, and Xi'an, 4 R&D centers nationwide, more than 100 industry laboratories, and the original R&D team of high-end mobile phones.
After independence, the relationship between Honor and Huawei has always been the focus of attention from the outside world. In an exclusive interview with the Honor Magic3 conference in August last year, Zhao Ming explained that from the company's point of view, since independence, Honor and Huawei are two independent companies, and both sides have carried out business expansion, research and development and other related work along their own business development strategies.
"To put it simply, Honor and Huawei are currently in a good state of their own." Zhao Ming said. Later, he repeatedly mentioned the topic of "active competition" with Huawei.
From the perspective of Huawei and Honor's strategic security, it is necessary to "draw a clear line" of this brand image: as we all know, in a complex environment, it can reduce various risks of Honor.
Therefore, in addition to the old models before independence, from V40, V40 light luxury, Honor 50, Honor 60, to Magic3, Magic4, 70 series, the use of Android system, not Hongmeng. "It is impossible to upgrade to Huawei's Hongmeng operating system in the future." Lin Hui believes that this is a manifestation of Glory completely tearing off the Huawei label.
However, in terms of marketing channels, product design, etc. that are closely linked to "consumer psychology", in fact, as of now, Glory is still difficult to get rid of Huawei's shadow.
For example, in a variety of product design concepts, whether it is Magic3, Honor 50, or 70 series, it can be clearly seen that its design style is the same as some of Huawei's series, which even makes digital bloggers sigh "Every time the glory is regarded as Huawei." ”
Offline channels, many dealers' sales and after-sales are even more entangled, and some sellers are still selling Glory and Huawei at the same time. "Lei Feng Network" recently reported that in order to promote sales, offline shopping guides will consciously take the initiative to emphasize the various relationships between Huawei and Glory, "buying Glory is to support Huawei", creating a feeling that the two brands are still in the same system, resulting in a large number of purchases.
"Honor mobile phones can go from being forgotten to rebounding strongly in just two years, which is definitely inseparable from the help of Huawei's aura." A number of industry insiders said.
Judging from the market data of several major research institutions Counterpoint, IDC and Canalys in the first quarter of this year, Honor ranked fourth, second and first in China's smartphone market share respectively - although the statistics are different, the growth rate of Honor has attracted attention from the outside world.
For Zhao Ming, this is equivalent to proving the effectiveness of Honor's independent strategy, and Honor is growing into what Ren Zhengfei originally expected: "Become a competitor of Huawei, and even shout to overthrow Huawei." ”
03
Self-developed bottlenecks that are difficult to solve
Although Huawei's mobile phone business has slipped to the bottom, it has not given up this battlefield - Dingqiao and many other Huawei smart mobile phones are regarded by the industry as one of Huawei's 5G mobile phone alternatives.
Huawei Smart Select mobile phone is not equipped with Kirin 5G chips, it is equipped with MediaTek and Qualcomm 5G chips, but it adopts Huawei ID design, quality control standards, and laying to Huawei's marketing channels - Huawei's large number of offline stores have set up a smart selection zone and become the main model.
In addition to developing models with partners, Huawei itself has not given up the mobile phone business. At the end of April this year, Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei's consumer business, said that Huawei's mobile phone supply chain has been greatly alleviated. On May 30, there were also suspected real photos of Huawei's nova 10 series on the Internet, which was said to be released before 618 this year.
From the direct competition in the market, the relationship between Honor and Huawei has become delicate. "Snow Leopard Finance and Economics Agency" said that Huawei has reserved some core technologies, such as magic V is not equipped with Huawei's core technology of "water drop hinge", but is improved on the basis of the Ampeino public version of the program.
It is certain that with the passage of time and changes in the market environment, the "Huawei Halo" will help Glory less and less. But Glory wants to win in the high-end battlefield, and it is a long and difficult process to really open up the path of benchmarking Apple, and there is still a ceiling that needs to be broken.
That is, so far, Honor has relied too much on external procurement of semiconductor chips - last December, the Japanese survey company Farmerhaut Technology Solutions dismantled the Honor X30 and found that 39% of the parts are from the United States, and only 10% of domestic parts.
In the industry, there is a consensus that if there is no self-research, then mobile phone manufacturers are tantamount to saving machines, and it will never be possible to have the ability to compete with Apple and Samsung.
From the perspective of the domestic mobile phone industry, self-research has become a common choice for most manufacturers to "make up lessons". The reason why Huawei is stuck in the neck is largely because of its strong research and development strength; Xiaomi, vivo, and OPPO have also launched NPU or image self-developed chips, and most of them have been mass-produced and used - among mainstream brand mobile phone manufacturers, only Glory has not had any self-research and development.
This is one of the most concerned issues for the outside world to Glory, after the Glory 70 series conference, Zhao Ming responded in an interview with the media: "Objectively speaking, making a plug-in chip is not particularly difficult today's challenge and technical difficulty. ”
"Honor has such a chip, whether it is a product designed for the future, or a product that is being developed, or a product that has already been listed, it uses such a chip." Zhao Ming revealed: "For Glory, I feel that it is not worth publicizing to the outside world. ”
However, from the glory marketing strategy, as well as Zhao Ming's frequent mobile phone personality at the conference, it is difficult to believe that "the self-developed chip has been used and is not worthy of publicity". Therefore, it is difficult for the outside world to know which model of Honor mobile phone uses a self-developed chip, and it is not clear whether it is an NPU or an image chip - of course, it is not clear whether Honor really has a self-developed chip, which has been used in the listed products.
Under the topic of "whether Honor has the ability to develop self-developed chips", many people replied that although Honor has taken away many of Huawei's research and development teams, it is likely that it does not have self-research capabilities such as processor chips (AP) and baseband chips BB.
"Huawei's chip research and development has always been the main responsibility of HiSilicon Semiconductor, in addition to technology accumulation, but also benefited from the long-term investment in HiSilicon's research and development funds of tens of billions, which may be decades." Some insiders said that Glory did not take away the HiSilicon R&D team when it was independent, in addition to the pressure on the capital chain of self-developed chips, it also lacked the necessary technical precipitation.
Core building is indeed a hard job with a long payback period. However, some people in the industry also believe that in terms of today's glory funds and technical reserves, the research and development of relatively simple ISP chips is actually fully capable, but compared to Xiaomi and OV, Glory has more consideration: "Glory was independent at the beginning, in order to obtain Qualcomm and MediaTek chips, if Glory develops its own chips, then it is likely to worry about repeating Huawei's mistakes." ”
No matter how bitter it is, as Zhao Ming said before: "The mobile phone industry is not a game to the top, or it needs to return to the fundamentals of business." Huawei's "halo" will eventually dissipate that day, how to determine the future growth?
After all, even though Honor has ranked among the top two in the mobile phone market, it has obviously not achieved the "absolute lead" of Huawei's Kirin 990 period. Moreover, beyond Apple can only be a marketing word, in the face of a declining sales market, how to consolidate the domestic foundation, break through the overseas market with almost no shipments, is really related to the future of glory.
In fact, even Yu Chengdong now regrets that he did not engage in semiconductors earlier. "If I had been engaged in semiconductor manufacturing in the early years, I would not have had such a bad ending as today." When attending the 2022 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Auto Show, Yu Chengdong said that he had believed too much in the global division of labor and did not enter the field of semiconductor manufacturing, but the reality was beaten. "There are all kinds of medicines sold in the world, that is, there is no regret medicine!"