【CNMO】The crossover between car companies and mobile phone manufacturers is not a new thing, but in the past, most mobile phone manufacturers looked at the big cake of the new energy vehicle market. So what if it's the other way around? It can be said that it is very rare for car companies to make mobile phones across borders.
NIO's first mobile phone was unveiled
On September 21, at NIO IN 2023 NIO Innovation and Technology Day, NIO officially released its first high-profile mobile phone - NIO Phone.
According to NIO CEO Li Bin, NIO Phone positioning is a flagship mobile phone, equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen2 mobile platform leading version, up to 16GB + 1TB memory combination optional, equipped with a 6.81-inch screen, support 1Hz-120Hz variable refresh rate, rear equipped with 50 million pixel wide-angle lens, 50 million pixel ultra-wide angle lens, 50 million pixel periscope telephoto lens.
Compared with other Android phones, NIO Phone announced that it "does not hang ads" and achieves "0 system ads, 0 commercial pre-installation". Li Bin said: "Today's Android ecosystem, for various reasons, Internet revenue is a very important source of income for them. But this matter will definitely occupy more mobile phone resources, system resources, we do not have such baggage, our team does not have the idea of making money with advertising. ”
At the press conference, when an audience shouted "far ahead" in the audience, Li Bin responded with a smile: "It's not far ahead, but it's very useful." ”
Roughly speaking, the design and hardware stacking of NIO Phone are worthy of the positioning of the flagship machine. For NIO owners, NIO Phone is a good car key and vehicle-machine interaction hub, but it may not be suitable for use as a main machine. Taking a step back, even if other brands of mobile phones are used, many can realize the car key function, and if the car machine interconnection is not required to be too extreme, some commonly used functions can still be met.
Cross-border mobile phone thing, throughout the entire industry, so many years have not really done it, no one can do the head, and even long-term has become a luxury. Internet companies such as Tencent and Baidu have made smartphones, but they disappeared after a short time; The air conditioning manufacturer Gree Electric Appliances was also full of ambitions for the mobile phone business, but the current situation of Gree mobile phones is known to everyone.
For why NIO makes mobile phones, many people have also given their own views, and some people believe that NIO is to open up a mobile phone battlefield. As an emerging automaker, NIO is under great competitive pressure in the market, so it needs to seek new growth points to expand its business.
Pointing to the mobile phone market?
In the first half of this year, NIO's net loss was as high as 10.795 billion yuan, which has exceeded the same period last year, considering that it delivered a total of 54,600 vehicles in the first half of the year, which is equivalent to a loss of about 200,000 yuan for selling a car. Compared with its old rival Li Auto, which has turned losses into profits for three consecutive quarters, NIO can be said to be sliding farther and farther on the road to losses.
Therefore, Mobile China believes that it is unlikely that NIO will open up the mobile phone market at this time. You know, NIO's own debt ratio is not low, and opening up a new battlefield at this time can be said to be a waste of money.
Moreover, the pricing of NIO Phone is quite high, the 12GB+512GB version costs 6499 yuan, the 12GB+1TB version costs 6899 yuan, and the EPedition 16GB+1TB version costs 7499 yuan. This price is comparable to the mainstream flagship mobile phones on the market at present, and higher than some domestic brands, and it is difficult to imagine that users of Apple and Huawei become NIO Phone users.
Li Bin himself admitted this, saying: "NIO mobile phones can sell hundreds of thousands of units, and users are very happy to buy half of them." However, if sales remain in the hundreds of thousands, NIO's mobile phone business may suffer huge losses, is it cost-effective? This can't help but make users sweat for NIO's mobile phone.
In addition, Li Bin also said in an interview with the media before: "We make mobile phones, not to compete with Xiaomi and Huawei, the logic is not the same." You can understand NIO Life, we are not going to be a clothing company, food company, but around the needs of users, based on our connection with users, to meet their use scenarios. ”
Car companies cross-border mobile phones, what is the mystery behind it?
It is understood that NIO Phone is basically the same as the flagship mobile phone on the market in terms of hardware configuration, positioning the high-end market, and also pioneered the "car control key", realizing 30 functions one-click direct, and its target users are people who already own or plan to buy NIO cars to better manage their cars. NIO has a rich NIO Life ecosystem, and the mobile phone is expected to be able to manage and control their cars more conveniently, enjoy the various value-added services provided by NIO, including appointments for charging, power replacement, maintenance and other services, as well as enjoy the various conveniences provided by NIO Home on the road.
In the long run, when the era of autonomous driving comes, mobile phones and cars can be more deeply integrated, jointly creating an ecological closed loop, and further enhancing the loyalty and market share of the NIO brand. I have to say that this mobile phone made by NIO is very helpful for creating an ecological closed loop.
In other words, NIO cross-border mobile phones are not to open up new battlefields, nor to make profits. According to Li Bin, more than 60% of NIO owners are Apple iPhone users, but Apple's iOS system has a closed problem. "For example, the car of the second generation of NIO's platform is equipped with UWB (digital key) as standard, and Apple does not open the interface, which makes us very passive."
Coincidentally, NIO is not the only one that has cross-border mobile phones, and in September 2021, Hubei Xingji Times Technology Co., Ltd., founded by Geely founder Li Shufu, announced that it will create high-end mobile phones for the global market. In 2022, Geely Automobile officially acquired Meizu, becoming a domestic company with two major industries: automobiles and mobile phones. In March this year, the Meizu 20 series was officially released, and Interstellar Meizu also brought the Flyme Auto operating system, which can be connected with Meizu mobile phones without feeling to realize unlocking functions such as car boarding, navigation flow, and application crossover.
In addition, in early September, Polestar also announced plans to launch a high-end smartphone of the same name in China by the end of this year, equipped with the Polestar operating system developed based on the existing technology platform Flyme.
At present, with the hot sales of new energy vehicles, the interaction between mobile phones and cars is becoming more and more frequent. As Li Bin said, the compatibility problem of mobile phone brands has been plaguing many car owners, some mobile phones cannot be connected to the vehicle's system, resulting in the inability to achieve data synchronization and information interaction, and some mobile phone functions are not perfect, unable to achieve intelligent control, these problems have brought a lot of inconvenience to users.
If car companies develop vehicle-machine connections by themselves, it is possible to break through the barriers of mobile phone resources and automobile resources, better collect road data, driving data and user data, and improve the level of intelligent cockpits.
Write at the end
In general, NIO and other car companies are involved in the field of mobile phones, indicating that the automotive industry is gradually transforming to digitalization and intelligence. For car companies, cross-border mobile phone manufacturing is not only a response to market demand, but also a repositioning of innovation capabilities and core competitiveness.