20: New model solution

In the mobile phone market, there are some very important years where significant changes occur; manufacturers who can grasp these market shifts will gain their deserved market share.

In the last ten years, the first revolution was the emergence of Fruit, which redefined the smartphone.

Smartphones replaced feature phones, capacitive screens replaced resistive screens, and full touchscreens replaced physical keyboards.

During this stage, Fruit and Samsung rose strongly, while Blackberry, Motorola, and Nokia—who was stuck in Symbian until its demise—failed to seize the opportunity due to their slow perception of market changes.

They gradually faded away into the long river of history.

According to current global development patterns, there are two main time points in the following decade.

The first was roughly when the Mix burst onto the scene, bringing the new concept of the full-screen display, while other manufacturers, led by Huawei, made breakthroughs in camera technology.

Mobile photography began evolving toward dual, triple, and quad cameras, while pixel counts continued to break through, quickly reaching 100 million and 200 million pixels within a few years.

At this juncture, the biggest change was that among the original Zhong-Hua-Ku-Lian group, everyone except Huawei began to drop out of the mainstream manufacturer ranks; instead, Hua-Mi-OV rose strongly to form the new Big Four.

At the same time, Samsung also lost the China market.

From 2012 to 2015, the pace of mobile phone upgrades wasn't particularly massive, and the life cycle of some phones could even reach 18 months.

For example, the mi 2 series and the mi 4 series.

Since current breakthroughs in mobile technology aren't very significant, Xiaomi uses hunger marketing to increase and extend the sales life of its phones, which is an excellent way to maintain hype.

Of course, this method also has drawbacks, namely a certain amount of damage to the brand's image.

Naturally, this isn't an issue for a rapidly growing company like Xiaomi.

Impact on reputation and brand?

Develop first, then deal with the issues!

However, Chen Chen's Red Star cannot keep using this method to maintain hype; currently, Red Star's main task is to reclaim its reputation and users.

Therefore, after a full month of limited sales in October, the Red Star Generation 1 has begun unlimited sales; as long as consumers want to buy it, they can get it anytime from the Red Star Mall, Tmall and JD, and Pinduoduo.

Red Star's first phase of online tasks is basically complete.

The next phase's task is to restart the development of high-end models while using the high profits from those models to continue maintaining the few remaining offline markets.

"I've gathered everyone today for the purpose of restarting the development of our high-end smartphones. If anyone has any opinions, please feel free to speak up."

The heads of the various Red Star departments present looked at each other, but no one spoke.

Finally, Chen Chen called someone out directly: "Cui Yichen, you suggested at the last meeting that we should fully develop high-end models. Tell us your thoughts."

Out of necessity, Cui Yichen had to stand up and say:

"Mr. Chen, I think we shouldn't restart high-end models right now. I feel that the market's acceptance of domestic high-end phones is currently very unsatisfactory, especially after Huawei developed the p series..."

Lu Weibing nodded at Cui Yichen's words.

A lesson from the past!

The high-end model Red Star developed at the beginning of the year was a complete failure. This year, the two high-end models released by Huawei, the P1 and P1S, faced global sales but had dismal results.

It's estimated that the combined sales of both models didn't even reach 1 million units.

And that was with global sales.

Red Star currently doesn't have an overseas market, so doing high-end again... "Were you scared by the 903 series or by Huawei's failure?"

"The 903 series failed because the company's grasp of the market wasn't clear enough. In today's market, if you make a side-sliding full keyboard, how can it not die?"

"As for Huawei, they just haven't found their direction yet, and aside from being ultra-thin, that phone didn't have any highlights."

"However, the new model we're about to build will have major breakthroughs and will definitely justify a high-end price. Dr. Zhou, you speak first to give everyone some confidence."

After Chen Chen finished speaking, he yielded his place to Dr. Zhou.

Dr. Zhou walked to the front of the conference table and began explaining next to the projector screen.

"Our Red Star Laboratory's latest technology is a 1080p screen. The patent application has already passed, and Old Li is currently working with Huaxing Optoelectronics to develop it. This screen currently represents world-leading technology. If our high-end model features this 1080p screen, it will be the world's first phone with 1080p resolution."

"At the same time, we've also made breakthroughs in charging. As for how many watts can be mass-produced, it's still in the experimental stage, but it's definitely faster than the 18W on our Red Star Generation 1."

"It's not just the screen and charging; we also have a new interface technology that can be plugged in either way, with faster data transfer speeds and better durability. It's currently in the first tier of patent applications."

"And regarding the chips, TSMC has clearly stated that a brand-new 28nm process will go online in the middle of next year. Our Soaring Cloud S2 can go into mass production next year."

"In summary, this high-end model of ours isn't just a whim of Mr. Chen's. With so many advanced technologies, I don't believe failure is possible."

"Of course, if sales exceed 200,000 units, it's a success!"

Chen Chen added another sentence. In his view, the conservative sales for this machine should be around a million units. Saying 200,000 was just to prevent the people present from being too fearful.

It wasn't as if the company would vanish if it failed.

Red Star has now gained a firm foothold. Throughout October, with six sales launches, the cumulative sales of the Red Star Generation 1 have exceeded 2 million units, and the company now has very abundant cash on hand.

Moreover, the shining 1, priced at 799, is still selling. After amortizing the costs, each phone still yields a profit of over 40 yuan.

Chen Chen picked up a design drawing from the table, handed it to the others, and continued:

"These are some of my ideas for the new model: the screen should be over 5 inches, the battery preferably over 3000mAh, the front panel should be glass, and the middle frame and back should be metal, with a unibody design."

The group began discussing while looking at the drawing, and they soon reached a consensus.

"Mr. Chen, it's feasible, but the cost is estimated to be over 2,000. If we initiate the project now and progress is fast, it will just coincide with the mass production of the Soaring Cloud S2 chip."

"Alright. Cui Yichen, you were previously responsible for our high-end model development. I'm handing this phone over to you now; you'll be the Product Manager and report directly to me from now on."

Cui Yichen stood up, overwhelmed by the favor. Previously, he was responsible for mobile development, but he had never led a team for independent development; he had always worked with supplier solutions and leadership requirements.

He felt the weight on his shoulders wasn't light, but he still nodded firmly: "Thank you, Mr. Chen. I will definitely do a good job."