Text丨One Observation Su Yi.
Which domestic mobile phone is stronger in 2023?
In the past week, reports from major market research institutions have been released. According to the 2023 Chinese smartphone activation data shared by authoritative institutions, Apple took the first place with a market share of 17%, followed by vivo with 166% is in second place, while OPPO is in second place with 158% ranked third. Counterpoint and Canalys also released their shipment rankings in China's smartphone market. The rankings of the three institutions validate a common message:In 2023, vivo will become the mobile phone brand with the largest domestic share
In fact, this is also the year since vivoFor the third year in a row, it has "topped" the share of domestic mobile phones
Another data is also worth paying attention to: the shipment volume of China's smartphone market in 2023 will be about 27.1 billion units, down 50%, the lowest shipment volume in nearly 10 years, but the fourth quarter has achieved a year-on-year increase of 1With a positive growth of 2%, the market is showing a warming trend. IDC expects China's smartphone market to achieve 3The 6% increase is the lowest since the continuous decline in 2016**.
Under the "counter-cyclical" market situation, how does vivo achieve high-quality growth and take the lead again at the inflection point of market change? The insight and thinking of this "atypical" case is very important for all domestic mobile phone brands that are now "passing through the new cycle".
There have been two ideas in the mobile phone industry for a long time in the definition of products: one is ".Order by priceThat is, the first card is in the ** segment, and the configuration is as high as possible under this **. The other is ".Experience firstFirst, plan products based on user demand insights, meet user needs as much as possible in combination with innovative technologies in the same period, and attract consumers with "surprise experience".
Throughout the past two years, in the market sales, user reputation and brand potential to achieve "win-win" products, almost all of them are the second route, which is particularly important in the process of competing for the stock replacement market and impacting the high-end, and it is also what many mobile phone companies are talking about at the press conferenceTechnology-driven"And".User-oriented". But this is not a "correct empty phrase"."Easier said than done" is the biggest testBehind it is often the complete embodiment of the company's business philosophy and systematic product layout.
vivo proposes that "the user is the origin of all work, but also the end of the closed loop, no matter at any time, competition, cost, efficiency and other priorities can not override meeting user needs".
To this end, based on the company's own advantages and long-term planning, vivo has clearly put forward the management of "three closed loops (ECR)", namely experience closed loop, business closed loop, and mental closed loop, and the three closed loops have a progressive logical relationship. Hu Baishan, executive vice president and chief operating officer of vivo, said that when a product does not solve user problems, there is no "reason" to talk about business closed-loop and mental closed-loop, so vivo must put the user's experience first.
In 2021, vivo wrote "design-driven" into its corporate values. Based on the "user-oriented" design drive, vivo has been able to sink its mind into long-term technology investment, and is willing to work hard in places that users can't see but can experience, so as to gain insight into the most real needs of users, and in turn better print its own keen judgment on technology trends and innovation directions. Together, the two form vivo's "coupled innovation point", which in turn forms a positive innovation capability with a high degree of coupling and sustainable iteration of technology, product, brand and user.
Many of vivo's product designs highlight the USP concept, so that users can strongly perceive the unique features and value points before purchasing, and in the process of using themBoost your NPS(Net Promoter Score of the purchaser). As a mature electronic consumer goods category, smart phones have undoubtedly made huge adjustments to achieve these two points. To do that, you have to do it."User-oriented, one step forward, one step ahead".Go to users to understand the diverse needs and pain points of real users, and go to specific scenarios to gain insight into real needs from a closer distance, and create real value points in rigid demand scenarios.
Taking the newly released annual flagship vivo X100 series as an example, its "VARIO-APO-SONNAR" floating periscope telephoto lens is also the first APO super telephoto lens certified by Zeiss in the mobile phone industry, which allows users who like concerts to retain their youth and beautiful meetings without "guns and cannons"; With the use of the new generation of ZEISS T* coating, the vivo X100 series realizes the mobile phone industry's first "telephoto sunset" shooting function, which realizes that mobile images can "restore what the human eye sees" even in the extreme scene of complex light and color light and shadow at dusk and sunset. The blue ocean battery life system of the first "Blue Ocean Carbon Yuan Reorganization" technology also meets the "impossible triangle law" of "long battery life, fast charging, and thin battery" of flagship mobile phone users, which is enough to bring the "zero battery life anxiety" of "not plugging in all day"...
these technologies, products and features".Technical point"It's all exactly what happened."User pain pointsAnd eventually formed a high-end user interest in the vivo X100 series".Full marks for flagshipProduct impressions and user reputation. The cumulative sales on the first day of sales reached 1 billion yuan, breaking the first sales record of all new phones in vivo's history, and the pre-sale sales increased by 740% compared with the previous generation X90 X90 Pro. According to public data, vivo has covered more than 60 countries and regions around the world, with more than 500 million global users.
From the top of the Chinese market to the high-quality development of the global market, and then to the flagship market to continuously set a "new benchmark in the industry" and be recognized by high-end users, vivo's "product win" logic is actually not complicated: what users need, vivo will use products that exceed user experience expectations to achieve, which is the most efficient way for "user-oriented innovation" to go from ideal to realization, and it is also the most direct path to enhance users' perception of vivo brand's "technology-driven" and "experience-leading".
It can be said that "technology-driven as the backbone" allows vivo to dare to go deep into the underlying core technology and establish a deep accumulation".Technology platform system”。"Design-driven as the soul" promotes vivo to fully implement the "three closed loops" at the level of product experience innovation, supports the long-term healthy development of the enterprise, and achieves extensive reach and value recognition at the user level, and finally realizes it".Knowledge and action are one
In the "second half" of smart phones, the mobile phone industry is fighting for "differentiated innovation". In 2023, vivo will not only significantly strengthen the market competitiveness of the brand and product line through the "intensive explosion" of the vivo X100 series, vivo S18 series, and iQOO 12 series, but also let the industry and users see what is".More effective differentiation
Hu Baishan said in the roundtable dialogue of "vivo living room": vivo's R&D model is actually no secret, simply put, vivo is compared to vivoMore persistent, more focused, and it is continuous running and investment, which is the "buried cause" that vivo has always emphasized.
In fact, vivo has always been a typical example in China's mobile phone industry."Technocracy
As early as 2019, vivo invested more than 10 billion yuan in R&D, and set up R&D centers in 10 cities around the world, including Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Japan, and San Diego, USA. According to ** report, as of December 2021, vivo's overall R&D personnel have accounted for as much as 75%, which is almost the "highest R&D proportion" among all top mobile phone brands. Taking Huawei as an example, its R&D employees accounted for 55 percent in 20224%。It shows vivo's emphasis on R&D and its resoluteness.
On the basis of strong R&D investment, vivo has fully demonstrated the "Spotlight"Concept: For example, the long-term planning and layout of vivo** research institute, focusing on the four major technical long tracks of design, image, system and performance, continues to invest, and meets the phased pain points of users such as fast charging and battery life, and gradually forms a clear innovation rhythm of vivo technology and a user-oriented innovation systemBlue Technology
Compared with the technology brand and support system of other technology companies, Blue Technology has three characteristics:
Expand from a single point of innovation to comprehensive innovation. From the engineering innovations such as Hi-Fi and ultra-thin, now vivo blue technology includes the blue heart model, blue crystal chip technology stack, blue ocean battery life system, blue river operating system, etc., each module not only represents the trend of technological evolution, but also allows vivo to have a matrix industry technology leading strength.
From application innovation to underlying technology innovation。For example, the "blue crystal chip technology stack" is based on vivo's long-term investment in the chip field, through the "joint research and development" to "joint definition" with mainstream chip companies, and then superimposed on the "dual-core collaboration" realized by self-developed chips in imaging and other fields, so as to achieve stronger "chip and computing power differentiation". These underlying technological breakthroughs not only promote vivo products to achieve stronger innovation leadership and experience differentiation, but also give vivo a more advantageous "technology moat".
From hardware drive to the formation of software and hardware plus algorithm and AI integration capabilities。For example, the SoC architecture was jointly defined with the industry's top chip companies, combined with the in-depth construction of the OriginOS 4 original system, through chip customization and software optimization for chips, so that vivo has a complete advanced strength at the level of chip-system-application optimization, and jointly brings users a smoother and smarter control experience. In addition, the blue heart model aggregates the "four elements" of data, manpower, algorithms and computing power, and achieves industry-leading parameters in terms of parameters, and supports the actual functions and application values that users can "perceive" such as super semantic search, super writing and super intelligent interaction.
Behind the launch of blue technologyvivo's "big year of technology" innovation strength has completed a qualitative changeimportant embodiment. Different from the "X-point black technology" advertised by some enterprises, Blue Technology not only continuously promotes black technology, but also pursues sustainable innovation in the style of "long slope and thick snow". In this process, vivo's scientific and technological innovation has not only formed a complete scientific and technological innovation system and unique approach leading the industry, but also let itvivo continues to "go one step deeper, one step deeper" in exploring and innovating no man's land。Landing on the product, it has formed a "flagship jump experience" represented by the X100 series, "the standard version surpasses the Pro version of competing products, and the Pro version is built according to the super large cup".
It can be said that behind the "comprehensive expansion" of vivo's various product lines is actually the strong differentiated product breakthrough ability brought about by the superposition of the two characteristics of long-termism and professional focus. In today's environment of "slowing down innovation" in the entire smartphone halfway, vivo has "taken a step deeper" in the scientific and technological innovation system and the product systemReverse adding"In this way, it also allows vivo to stay in the fierce market competition in 2024".Winning backhand
For example, Jia Jingdong, vice president of vivo brand and general manager of brand and product strategy, recently revealed that in the first half of 2024, vivo will release two blockbuster new flagships: one is".The strongest folding screen", the other is2024 "New Thanos".。And the latter, with a high probability, is the "super cup" of the vivo X100 series. When "the Pro version is built according to the super large cup" and receives enthusiastic feedback from users and the market, then the "super large cup" of the vivo X100 series is enough to make the industry and users "have higher expectations".
At the peak of China's mobile phone industry, there were more than 6,000 mobile phone brands, and now 99% of them are gone. Why can vivo become a "one thousandth" continuous cycle traverser?
Hu Baishan said in the roundtable dialogue of "vivo living room": "A good industry has the natural attributes of going through the cycle, vivo is immersed in the cause, doing the right thing, focusing on the communication industry since its establishment 28 years ago, and doing everything deeply and thoroughly." ”
What does it mean to "do the right thing"? In the view of "One Observation", there are three main points:
The first is to grow together with industry chain partners with "altruistic hearts".。The speed of Qiji is not the power of one foot. The mobile phone industry is actually the most complex emerging manufacturing cluster in the entire history of manufacturing. The prosperity of this industry is not only a manufacturer and an industry, but the collective prosperity of tens of millions of first-class chains behind it. What position the mobile phone industry achieves, what is the position of the industrial chain behind it. Under the same conditions, vivo gives preference to domestic ** chain". In fact, this is also the role of "head goose leading" that the industry has been emphasizing. Hu Baishan believes: "vivo believes that the geese will go far, and actively play the role of the head goose, help the coordinated development of the domestic ** chain, lead the collective prosperity of the industrial chain, and jointly go through the cycle."
The second is to optimize the organizational structure of the enterprise internally, adhere to the scientific management and duty culture, and realize the internal "employee ideals and interests, and highly match and synergize with the corporate vision and values".。Since its establishment, vivo has established the corporate values of the concept of "duty", and has infiltrated it into various fields such as culture, products, strategy, and management in its long-term operation. At the organizational level, vivo adheres to a culture of cooperation, which ensures that the team can better focus on the product and quickly focus on solving problems if there is a problem. The culture of trust improves operational efficiency and collaboration, while allowing each partner to "work together" with vivo. Believing in the "scientific management practice" of returning to the basics, the ECR management method can become the correct "yardstick" to truly test the health of the business, so as to achieve "the wild goose travels far" in the long-term operation, which is actually an important "organizational guarantee" for vivo to continuously pass through multiple cycles.
The third is to adhere to long-termism and believe in the power of believing。The mobile phone industry has a typical "long slope and thick snow" characteristics, from the process of the mobile phone industry in the past 20 years of development, many companies have been eliminated, not because of the mobile phone industry itself, but the blind expansion of multiple industries. Hu Baishan said: "In the past, it was said that the necessary conditions for life were sunshine, air, water and food, but now we also need to add mobile phones. Therefore, vivo has always judged that the mobile phone industry is the best industry, and there is no one."
One Watch believes that compared to other technology companies, vivo has more".Humanistic temperament”。The reason is that "design-driven" carries the concerns of users closer to users, and the blue technology spawned by "technology-driven" allows vivo to dare to invest in the underlying scientific and technological breakthroughs for a long time, and has completed today's three major levels of technological breakthroughs, as well as the leading strength of sustainable innovation in the style of "long slope and thick snow". The two together drive vivo to win the preference of 500 million users around the world, and at the same time, vivo and industry partners have jointly built a new "cross-cycle force" for the next decade, which is also vivo has now topped the domestic brand in the Chinese market for three consecutive years, and has been completed one after another".High-end qualitative change"And".Qualitative change of innovation".
From the perspective of industry trends, 2024 will be an important year for the mobile phone industry."The year of the inflection pointIn addition to the market "bottoming out**" generally expected by major market analysts, the proportion of high-end mobile phones (more than $600) is expected to exceed 25% for the first time (Counterpoint), the sales of folding screen phones in the Chinese market will cross the "10 million threshold" (IDC) for the first time, and the shipment of generative AI smartphones will exceed 100 million units (Counterpoint).
That is to say, in the Internet of Everything, AI large model, 5With the convergence of multiple important new technologies such as 5G and 6G, smartphones will undergo significant changes in terms of technology, products, experience and market structure, and a new round of industry innovation cycle has begun. For vivo, adhering to the "design-driven" allows it to have a more keen insight and thinking into user needs and technological innovation, "technology-driven", long-termism and "more focus" allow it to have stronger differentiated product innovation strength, "altruistic heart" and "wild goose traveling" allow it to obtain more partners and industrial chain enterprises efficient collaborative innovation, and the "sub-culture" and "three closed-loop" ECR management methods jointly ensure that vivo has a strong investment in technology, The right orientation at multiple levels such as product innovation and business operation.
From this point of view, vivo is not only a typical case of Chinese mobile phone companies continuing to promote deep innovation and impact high-end, but also provides an important observation perspective for the study of China's economic transition.
A good enterprise should have the pursuit of profit above profit。For excellent enterprises, every impact of the times is an opportunity for qualitative change. Moving forward is the answer, and every step of the way is the best road, the most suitable road for vivo.