Domestic mobile phone manufacturers are in a "chip dilemma"
Once upon a time, domestic mobile phones were booming in the domestic and foreign markets, and smart models continued to innovate, with increasingly powerful functions and rising performance. Just when these young and promising domestic mobile phone brands are getting better, a haze is shrouded in their prospects. This haze comes from those "chip aristocrats" who supply chips.
Qualcomm chips squeeze domestic mobile phone manufacturers
Qualcomm, the American chip giant, can be described as the "big brother" of the mobile phone chip industry. With years of technology accumulation in the field of mobile communication chips, Qualcomm's chip products have always occupied half of the smartphone market. But just recently, Qualcomm's chip pricing for Chinese mobile phone manufacturers has caused an uproar.
According to industry insiders, the shipment price of Qualcomm's latest generation flagship chip, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, is as high as $160 per piece, equivalent to about 1,150 yuan. For those domestic mobile phone manufacturers who pursue a high-end flagship experience, this is undoubtedly a big blow to the head. Based on the common annual shipment of 100 million units, the cost of chips alone is as high as 11.5 billion yuan, which is just the tip of the iceberg.
In the face of such high chip prices, domestic mobile phone manufacturers have to tighten their belts to live a hard life. An industry insider, who did not want to be named, said helplessly: "Qualcomm is 'cutting leeks', which can be described as 'ill-will' for Chinese companies." ＂
Huawei's Kirin chip may become a lifesaver
At this juncture, a long-lost name has once again attracted people's attention - Huawei's Kirin chip. As one of the few companies in China that can independently design and produce mobile phone chips, Huawei's chip strength is obvious to all.
As early as 2019, Huawei had to launch its own chip plan because of "chip stuck". After several years of precipitation, Huawei's Kirin chips have not only caught up with the industry standard in terms of performance and power consumption, but also are in a leading position in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence and 5G communications.
In view of this, Li Nan, former vice president of Meizu, has publicly called on Huawei to open up Kirin chips to alleviate the "chip dilemma" of domestic mobile phones. He believes that only with independent and controllable chips can domestic mobile phones truly reverse the dilemma of being squeezed by the "chip aristocracy" and achieve fundamentally independent and controllable.
It is difficult for domestic mobile phone manufacturers to choose chips
Although Huawei's Kirin chip is indeed a good choice, domestic mobile phone manufacturers are also facing some practical difficulties and considerations in chip selection.
The use of well-known foreign chips is indeed conducive to ensuring the quality and sales of mobile phones. Qualcomm, Samsung and other chip giants have invested and accumulated in chip research and development over the years, so that their chip products have relatively mature solutions in terms of performance, power consumption, compatibility, etc., which is the top priority for flagship models that pursue the ultimate experience.
Under the general trend of global integration, many mobile phone manufacturers tend to integrate their supply chains on a global scale, rather than relying entirely on domestic chips. Through the integration of global high-quality resources, we can not only ensure the competitiveness of products, but also maintain the independence of the enterprise, and will not be overly dependent on any one supplier.
Despite this, domestic chips are still the only way to enhance the independent and controllable ability of the domestic mobile phone industry. Some industry insiders pointed out that in the future, there may be a "dual-chip" strategy, that is, domestic chips will be used on some mid-to-high-end models, and foreign chips will be used on flagship models, so as to take into account the balance between performance and independent controllability.