Text | Xiaoyi Comment Technology
Some time ago, OPPO and Huawei signed a cross-swap agreement on 5G patents, which is the first domestic mobile phone brand and Huawei to sign a similar authorization cross-agreement, according to Huawei's official announcement afterwards, OPPO must have paid the patent fee to Huawei in this round of negotiations.
Fan Zhiyong, Director of Huawei's Intellectual Property Department, said: "After more than 20 years of continuous innovation, Huawei has formed a number of high-value patent packages around the world, including 5G, Wi-Fi, audio and video, etc. Huawei is pleased to enter into a cross-licensing agreement with OPPO. Mutual recognition of the value of IP among enterprises can promote "investment-return-reinvestment" in high-value standard technology research
Why did OPPO reach a patent licensing agreement with Huawei at this point in time? According to the interpretation of the outside world, the purpose of OPPO's move is to pave the way for its own 5G SOC.
According to more conclusive sources in the industry, OPPO's first self-developed SOC (AP part) will be officially announced in 2023, that is, in the Q3 quarter of this year, using TSMC's 4nm process and plugging MediaTek's 5G baseband. Personally, it is predicted that its performance may reach the level of the Dimensity 8100.
In other words, by the end of this year, we will have to welcome another mobile phone company with a research and development of mobile SOC.
In addition to OPPO, almost all domestic mobile phone brands are actively developing their own chips, such as VIVO V series IISP chips, Xiaomi's surging series of power/battery management chips, and even Red Devil has announced self-developed game interpolation chips.
So the question is, why are mobile phone manufacturers so hot in chip research and development at this stage? In this article, we will do a detailed combing:
1. Impose a "value identity" on the product to increase the recognition of high-end products.
When it comes to the current smartphone, I believe everyone will have a very consistent idea, that is, "serious homogenization", if two different brands of mobile phones cover the brand, just look at the core components, we can not distinguish their brand at all.
Because they are equipped with chips from Qualcomm/MediaTek, screens from Samsung/BOE/Huaxing Optoelectronics, CMOS sensors from Sony/Samsung/Omniway, all core components are externally sourced, and the brands of external procurement are also very fixed and repeated.
For domestic leading enterprises at this stage, there is no difference in the strength of the supply chain, and the resources that brand A can get, brand B can also get, which is nothing more than the length of the exclusive cycle.
For the simplest example, the Samsung GN2 on the Xiaomi 11Ultra was originally advertised as a Xiaomi exclusive and jointly developed with Samsung, but it appeared on the Honor Magic 4 Ultimate Edition less than a year later.
Therefore, at this stage, the difference between mobile phones and mobile phones is the combination of permutations.
Product homogenization has little impact on low-end products, because most of the consumers targeted by this part of the product are pursuing cost performance, as long as the configuration is reasonable and the price is in place, it can still impress them.
However, for models that focus on the high-end market, homogenization is equal to failure, because no high-end machine user will want to buy a stacker without features, no value recognition, and no soul.
Facts have also proved that this is indeed the case, all high-end machines in history with stacking materials as the core selling point have failed without exception, but those models that are a little short, but have distinctive characteristics and strong differentiated selling points, such as the iPhone, such as the Huawei Mate series.
So, for mobile phone companies at this stage, how to create their own unique selling points in this situation? "Core making" is a track that is very worth investing in.
Because self-developed chips are a topic that is easy to quantify into PPT and is very hot in terms of public attention. And at this stage, the difficulty of developing a "non-essential" chip, such as ISP chip, charging management chip, etc., is not high, and the input-output ratio will not be particularly difficult to accept.
Once there is a self-developed chip, it is equivalent to imposing an identity imprint and value recognition on its own product, even if the chip itself has no actual value to consumers.
Just like luxury bags, it sells the brand, so does the brand itself have use value? No, but it has a strong brand internalization ability, which can allow users to get psychological satisfaction, and that's enough.
Of course, it is not ruled out that the chips developed by some mobile phone brands at this stage can bring strong differences in user experience perception, such as the VIVO V1 chip with deep personal impression for the first time in the Android market to realize the synchronous real-time preview function of the framing frame, which is a relatively high perception scene.
2. Plan ahead and make a long-term layout.
Although the so-called self-developed chips of most mobile phone manufacturers at this stage are serving short-term goals, it is not ruled out that some brands have indeed made long-term planning.
For example, Huawei and the aforementioned OPPO.
If in 2023, the latter's first SOC can really be mass-produced, and the comprehensive performance meets the mainstream level, and it is also carried on the mainstream product line, then it can be determined that the chip industry will become one of OPPO's core strategic goals, no longer just for show.
So, what does OPPO make chips for? Or one sentence - create product differentiation.
Compared to so-called ISP chips, power management chips, etc., the value attached to SOC is much higher.
First of all, in the release rhythm can be separated from other mobile phone manufacturers, other mobile phone manufacturers can only wait for Qualcomm/MediaTek "regular feeding", mobile phone companies with self-developed capabilities can use this time difference to release their own mobile phone products, so as to have extremely high product differentiation, which Huawei did that year.
Secondly, it will have higher product pricing power, and can set the price of products more flexibly according to market demand, have you forgotten the Kirin 810?
In addition, for mobile phone brands, the example of ZTE and Huawei is presented bloodily, and how to have a way back when facing a desperate situation is naturally the focus of all parties.
END hopes to help you