Courtesy of the company.
The first show after Lu Weibing, president of Xiaomi Group, concurrently served as the general manager of the Xiaomi brand, and the Xiaomi 14 ultra and the "people, cars, and home ecology" press conference was held in the Xiaomi Science and Technology Park on the evening of February 22. At the press conference, Lu Weibing and Xu Fei, vice president of Xiaomi China, jointly explained the Xiaomi 14 Ultra series products. Lu Weibing used "optics, computational photography, layering" three words to summarize the key content of the two-and-a-half-hour press conference, Xiaomi 14 ultra series products starting at 6499 yuan.
The so-called computational photography refers to Xiaomi's first AI large-scale computational photography platform "Xiaomi AISP", which is also part of Xiaomi's key explanation at this press conference, and optics mainly refers to the use of Leica's Summlux lens. Not only Xiaomi, mobile imaging is also the field where all mobile phone manufacturers compete in the high-end field, and volume configuration and spelling algorithm are also common ways to play.
According to Xiaomi, the Xiaomi Mi 14 Ultra's Xiaomi Image Brain will be upgraded to become the first AI large model computational photography platform Xiaomi AISP. By fully integrating CPU, GPU, NPU and ISP computing power, the platform can achieve 60TOPS of computing power and provide "super capture" and "super negative" functions. In addition, it can also achieve full algorithm, high image quality, and continuous capture of 150 shots.
At this stage, AI can only be used, and it has not yet become a selling point of mobile phones.
From the beginning of 2024 to the present, AI is nothing new at the press conferences of major mobile phone manufacturers. Not long ago, OPPO announced that it had entered the era of AI mobile phones, and Meizu directly announced the cessation of the new project of traditional smartphones "All in AI". However, when the Blue Whale financial reporter visited the offline stores of the above-mentioned brand manufacturers, he found that the perception of AI by front-line sales and consumers is not very strong, and Xiaomi's offline store sales did not explain AI as a selling point.
For the empowerment of Xiaomi 14 Ultra series AI in the field of imaging, the Blue Whale financial reporter also interviewed some rice fans (Xiaomi fans) at the press conference, they are basically rice fans for more than ten years, and they came from Anhui, Jiangxi, Hebei and other places to participate in the press conference.
From my point of view, Xiaomi's strategy of choosing AI must be right, but I don't think AI will become a selling point of a mobile phone, for users, the biggest significance of AI must not be the optimization of a certain function, but how to revitalize the entire ecosystem, image is only one of the aspects. Rice noodles Li Ling told the Blue Whale financial reporter.
In the future, the mobile phone must be used as an interconnected operating system terminal, and AI at this stage is just a kind of performance scheduling, such as AI photography and AI voice assistant. Another rice noodle, Li Yang, added.
When asked whether AI functions will become the main factor affecting the purchase of mobile phones, senior rice fan Ye Yang's point of view is, "Not necessarily, the development of AI must be from the process of being usable, easy to use, and then easy to use, but at this stage, it can only be used, and it still depends on what functions manufacturers want to achieve with AI in the future, it is only an embryonic stage now, but I am still very optimistic about the future development trend." ”
Can Lu Weibing catch up with Xiaomi's high-end mobile phone strategy?
Xiaomi has two important things to do in 2024, one is to continue to promote the high-end strategy, and the other is the launch of Xiaomi's first car, the SU7. From the strategic level of the entire Xiaomi Group, Lei Jun, the founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Group, chose to focus his energy on the automotive business, while Lu Weibing took over the mobile phone business.
In everyone's general perception, Xiaomi's success is closely related to Lei Jun's personal situation, and there are also voices questioning that Lu Weibing's takeover will affect the market performance of Xiaomi's mobile phones. In this regard, the Blue Whale financial reporter also randomly interviewed some rice noodles at the press conference, and their common point of view is that Mr. Lei's personal charm is a plus item rather than a decision item, and it must be the priority of product power in the hearts of users, so this change in identity will not affect consumers' desire to buy.
Another senior rice fan Wang Rui told the Blue Whale financial reporter, "In fact, I think Mr. Lu will lead Xiaomi mobile phones to a new height, and it can be seen from the market reaction of Redmi series products that Mr. Lu has his own unique ability in brand marketing and ** chain integration, and he is also the fastest promoted executive within Xiaomi." Xiaomi has its own group strategy, and I don't think this adjustment will affect the sales of Xiaomi phones. ”
Since Xiaomi announced its all-out impact on the high-end market in 2020, it has also experienced a lot of setbacks and ups and downs, and it is not easy for Xiaomi to get rid of the "cost-effective" label. With the release of Xiaomi 14 series products, Xiaomi's high-end mobile phone strategy has begun to show results.
At the beginning of the press conference, Lu Weibing said, "The first sales volume of the Xiaomi 14 series reached 7 of the previous generation of the Xiaomi 13 series8 times, the first sales month allowed Xiaomi to gain 38% market share in the 4000-6000 yuan ** segment. According to Counterpoint Research**, Xiaomi's share of the global high-end smartphone market ($600) will rise slightly from 1% to 2% in 2023.
High-end also needs to follow up the corresponding production capacity,On the news side,On February 18, the Xiaomi smart factory in Changping, Beijing was officially put into operation,The factory is Xiaomi's first self-built and self-operated factory based on the production of high-end flagship mobile phones、Large-scale mass production and delivery,Annual production capacity of more than 10 million units。
For Xiaomi, a new round of stories is unfolding.
The rice noodles in the article are pseudonyms).