Dong Mingzhu also said that Gree insists on not laying off employees, and will recruit another 3,000 to 5,000 college graduates this year to help college graduates find employment.
【Text/Observer Network Lv Dong】
After the old players in the mobile phone market such as Xiaomi and Glory shouted out to "benchmark Apple", Gree Electric Appliances, which has just been making mobile phones for a few years, also began to flaunt itself with Apple.
On the afternoon of June 7, Dong Mingzhu, chairman and president of Gree Electric Appliances, attended the 2021 shareholders' meeting. When talking about the development status of Gree mobile phones, she said bluntly: What we do (Gree mobile phones) is not worse than Apple.
Although the presence of Gree mobile phones in the market is not strong, Dong Mingzhu mentioned in a guest CCTV a month ago that Gree has not given up mobile phone products. She believes that mobile phones are indispensable for the future of smart + life, and Gree has the ability to support this research and development project.
The "seed" of Gree mobile phones may have been planted when Dong Mingzhu and Lei Jun made a 1 billion bet. In January 2015, Dong Mingzhu said bluntly on a financial program, "Gree will definitely surpass Xiaomi when making mobile phones" and "I want to make mobile phones, minutes, too easy".
In March 2015, the first generation of Gree mobile phones was unveiled. At that time, Dong Mingzhu publicly stated, "Gree mobile phone uses the best materials, and it is a humanized design, and it will feel good to hold, and it will not be worse than other smart phones on the market." She even said bluntly at the time, "Gree has 6 research institutes, many functions of electrical appliances are closely related to mobile phones, if you do mobile phones, you can definitely do 3 years without changing." ”
In the past seven years, Gree Electric Appliances has launched 6 mobile phones. From the initial 1st generation of Gree mobile phones, 2nd generation of Gree mobile phones, 3rd generations of Gree color industry mobile phones, and 3rd generations of Gree mobile phones, to 2020, the brand name will be changed to Dasong, and two 5G mobile phones have been launched successively, G5 and G7.
But as of now, the models still sold on gree mall are only G5 and G7 mobile phones, and since the first mobile phone was sold, Gree has not announced the sales of each model.
Observer network query Gree mall found that the current best-selling model of Gree mobile phone is the Dasong G5 Night Galaxy color matching listed in December 2020, with sales of 15,000 units, which is equipped with a Snapdragon 765G processor released by Qualcomm at the end of 2019, priced at 2699 yuan.
The worst sales volume is the Dasong G7 "Jade Fat White + Sterilization Small Square Tube" model listed in November 2021, which is currently only 4 units sold, which is equipped with the Snapdragon 870 processor released in early 2021, priced at 2959 yuan.
Partial Gree mobile phone sales and price information Gree mall screenshots
Subsequently, the observer network inquired about an e-commerce platform and found that in the price segment of 2600 yuan-3000 yuan, the monthly sales of The Redmi K50 reached 30,000+, Huawei nova's sales in September reached 20,000+, the monthly sales of honor 60 reached 10,000+, and the monthly sales of vivo S12 also reached 5,000+. The processors on these models need to be updated, and the sales volume is far more than gree mobile phones.
As for the Apple mentioned by Dong Mingzhu, the gap between Gree mobile phones and sales is even greater. Data released by market research firm Canalys shows that in the first quarter of 2022, Apple's global shipments of mobile phones reached 56.5 million units. As of press time, the cumulative sales of all models of Gree mobile phones on sale are 38,000 units, which is more than a thousand times different from Apple's single-quarter sales.
Even in the sales volume that can be described as "dismal", Gree mobile phones may also be mixed with moisture. As early as the beginning of 2021, there were media reports that those who bought Gree mobile phones were Gree installers, and no Gree mobile phones could not receive work orders, "it can be said that it is forced, otherwise who will buy"; There are also merchants and users who reflect that "the battery is not durable at all" and "it is deducted by the dealer".
Screenshot of the Taobao platform's question about "Gree Mobile"
Liu Buchen, an independent analyst in the home appliance industry, told the observer network that Gree mobile phones basically do not have their own labeling advantages, and the configuration is relatively low in the eyes of young people, while the price is very high, which is a typical low-cost product. Such a mobile phone cannot sell well. Moreover, since the birth of Gree mobile phones, a decent conference has not been opened, which is a very unprofessional path.
He also mentioned that Gree mobile phones have not established a complete sales system, nor have they entered the operator's procurement list, but only sold in Gree air-conditioning stores and Gree e-commerce "Gree Dong Pearl Store", but the sales volume is very small, and this amount is basically negligible under china's large market. In the eyes of most people, Gree has completely failed to do mobile phones, and the probability of future reversals is also very low.
In March this year, when Dong Mingzhu talked about Gree mobile phones again at the shareholders' meeting, he said that he was no longer as "spirited" as he was then. She frankly said that Gree is not doing mobile phones to seize market share, but has its own planning, and believes that sticking to it will be rewarding.
Judging from Dong Mingzhu's statement and layout, Gree should want to integrate mobile phones more into the smart home business. The 2021 financial report disclosed that the Gree 5G mobile phone is equipped with the self-developed Halo UI 6.0 operating system, which can link Gree smart home devices.
Gree also mentioned in the financial report that the company has laid out six major technologies in the field of smart home, including intelligent connection, intelligent perception, intelligent interaction, intelligent cloud platform, intelligent energy, and artificial intelligence, and has five major control entrances of "Gree +" App, intelligent voice air conditioning, IoT mobile phone, smart door lock, and Rubik's Cube Genie, which can cover the entire range of Gree intelligent products.
Back in that year, the background of Gree doing mobile phones was that traditional air conditioners gradually entered the stock market, and Gree hoped to diversify its business. But with the passage of time, the mobile phone business has not brought new hope to Gree, and the traditional air conditioning business is also facing great pressure from its peers.
According to the 2021 financial report, the revenue scale of Midea Group's air conditioners reached 141.88 billion yuan, an increase of 17.05% year-on-year; Gree air conditioning business revenue of 131.71 billion yuan, an increase of 13.96% year-on-year. Whether it is the scale of revenue or the growth rate, Midea is ahead of Gree.
Liu Buchen told the observer network that removing the impact of "other income", Gree air conditioners accounted for the actual proportion of gree electric appliances revenue of all products as high as 91.75%, gree dependence on a single air conditioning product is much higher than most people imagine, "air conditioning boom is Gree xing, air conditioning decline is Gree decline."
In contrast, even if Midea competes with air conditioners and Gree, which accounts for 42% of revenue, the remaining consumer appliances, robots and automation systems can still support 58% of revenue. In terms of diversification, it is far more than Gree Electric Appliances, which may be an important reason why the capital market is willing to give Midea a higher valuation. Since the end of 2020, the stock price of Gree Electric Appliances has fluctuated downwards, and it has now been "cut off".
Gree Electric Appliances and Midea Group stock price trend
As the stock price of Gree Electric Appliances continues to decline, Hillhouse Capital, the largest shareholder of Gree Electric Appliances, has also attracted the attention of investors. In December 2019, Zhuhai Mingjun, a subsidiary of Hillhouse Capital, spent 41.8 billion yuan to buy 902 million shares of Gree Electric Appliances at a price of 46.17 yuan per share, becoming its largest shareholder. As of the close of trading on June 7 this year, Gree's stock price closed at 31.92 yuan / share, and the market value of Zhuhai Mingjun's position has been floating 12.85 billion yuan.
A week ago, Hillhouse Capital reported "layoffs", hillhouse capital insiders recently responded that all are "rumors", the company did not lay off employees, let alone "large-scale layoffs".
Dong Mingzhu also said at the shareholders' meeting, "Regarding Hillhouse Capital, it is absolutely reassuring, and investors do not need to have any doubts." She also said that Gree insists on not laying off employees, and will recruit another 3,000 to 5,000 college graduates this year to help college graduates find employment.
This article is an exclusive manuscript of the Observer Network and may not be reproduced without authorization.