61: You're such a genius!

Shen Wei and Chen Yongming watched the major manufacturers making a scene online and couldn't help but snicker. Let them fight; what did their bloody battles have to do with them?

Was that tiny bit of profit in the hundred-yuan phone market even worth fighting over like that?

It seemed these so-called internet manufacturers were nothing more than mediocre.

Users and ecosystems were all empty talk; only bright red rmb was the real deal.

While you guys fight to the death on the internet, we're quietly making a fortune offline.

With those ugly hundred-yuan phones of yours, could the profit from ten units even match the profit from one of my thousand-yuan phones?

The two of them looked down on low-end phones, but they were still very concerned about the mid-to-high-end market. Oppo, whose transition hadn't been particularly smooth, decided to launch another Find series model in the second half of this year.

Vivo didn't mind as much; they had already established a foothold in the mid-to-high-end market. Just last month, they released their flagship Xplay series. The launch event was hosted by Wang Han. The Xplay featured a Qualcomm snapdragon 600, a 5.7-inch 1080P LTPS capacitive multi-touch screen, a top-tier CS8422+CS4398 Hi-Fi audio chip set, and the OPA2604 operational amplifier king. The starting price for the 2+16G model had already reached 2,998.

The only thing bothering Vivo now was charging technology. They had been unable to achieve a breakthrough in this field for a long time. Red Star's charging power had already reached 40 watts, while their own lab had only reached 18 watts, which was worse than Xiaomi's from last year.

On the other hand, Oppo's expansion wasn't as fast as its brother company, Vivo, and it didn't have as many stores, but its charging technology was ahead of Vivo's. This gave Shen Wei a sense of urgency.

The reason was simple: except for some low-end models, mid-range and high-end phones were starting to use non-removable designs. Since Vivo focused on thinness and lightness, the battery couldn't be made very large, which placed certain demands on charging power.

Was 18-watt charging fast in 2013?

It was already very fast!

But it's not about the quality itself, it's about the comparison. The 3,000+ rmb Kunpeng mobile phone has 40-watt fast charging, while your 3,000+ rmb phone only has 18-watt charging. The gap was obvious.

Shifting the scene to Red Star, Chen Chen hadn't expected the competition to be this fierce. It wasn't a matter of who was besieging whom; everyone had to let their product quality do the talking.

The only thing that made him a bit unhappy was Huawei's Brand series. Were they trying to engage in close-quarters combat with him?

His slogan was 'Do something big,' so they came up with 'Do something even bigger.' He was imitating the Xiaomi of his past life, so was Huawei imitating him?

In his past life, Honor used this tactic. Now that the Honor Brand didn't exist, he guessed Yu Chengbei felt that Honor wasn't distinct enough from Xingyao and Shine. If people looked at all these 'Yaos' and thought they were Red Star phones, it would definitely be detrimental to the Honor Brand building.

Speaking of product quality, this shining note wasn't afraid. Unless these manufacturers could bring the snapdragon 600 down to these thousand-yuan phones. Among them, only Lei Jun had that kind of boldness, but if he brought down the snapdragon 600, would his mi 2s still sell?

As netizens put it, it was like installing a Lamborghini 8-cylinder engine on a tractor.

To be honest, if it weren't for users and the ecosystem, Chen Chen really didn't want to invest too much energy into these hundred-yuan phones. The profits were low and there were many problems, but these hundred-yuan phones accounted for the bulk of shipments. You couldn't afford not to do it.

Red Star wasn't like Fruit, which only had 1 or 2 models. Their Brand influence and value had long been established. Even without cheap low-end phones, users still knew and recognized the Brand.

But Red Star couldn't do that. Without enough Brand influence, if you only made high-end phones without a solid base of low-end users, it would be like a castle in the air. Even successful companies like Huawei and Samsung still had their own mid-to-low-end models.

While he was watching the excitement online, the system in his mind suddenly reminded him of the task progress.

"Current task progress has reached 80%."

Whoa, 80% already?

It hadn't even reached 50% in nearly a year, but less than two months after poaching a technical big shot, the progress of the smart speaker started skyrocketing to 80%.

"Professor Cheng, how is the progress now?"

Swiping his access card to the AI Lab, Chen Chen asked impatiently as soon as he entered.

"President Chen, I've solved some logic algorithm issues, and we've also made a breakthrough in voice recognition. Based on current progress, we're expected to finish before September."

"Good, that's great!"

Receiving Cheng Wenfei's confirmation, Chen Chen clapped his hands excitedly. This thing had really been a thorn in his side. Without Cheng Wenfei leading the way, he didn't know how long it would have taken Red Star's own Engineers to make it.

He knew that once the system core was made, it would definitely be upgraded, but they just couldn't get it done.

"Don't be in too much of a rush. If it can go online before October, I'll give everyone a bonus!"

He didn't know any other rewards, only these two words—give money!

Promotions, raises, future career planning—it was all fake! For these research-focused Engineers, as long as they had a satisfactory lab, equipment, and no one breathing down their necks, it was enough.

If the boss gave out bonuses for no reason, that was even more perfect!

"President Chen, this speaker doesn't have a name yet. Would you like to give it one?"

Who said Engineers were all one-track-minded science guys? Professor Cheng's words were full of respect for him.

Chen Chen almost blurted out "classmate little love," but he forced himself to hold it back.

Calling it classmate little love was a bit inappropriate. He liked the name a lot, but what if Xiaomi had already registered the copyright? If he used it, wouldn't that be another infringement?

It would be quite a joke if his book got banned again.

"How about calling it classmate xiao xing?"

"The 'Xing' from our Red Star."

"classmate xiao xing? Good, the name President Chen gave is fine. One should avoid being too haughty when naming, so President Chen used 'Xiao' (Little). 'Xing' (Star) is the Star from our Red Star, and 'Classmate' expresses that it will learn and progress together with us."

"Excellent."

Chen Chen discovered for the first time that this Professor Cheng was quite interesting. His skills were great, and he spoke so pleasantly. He hadn't thought that much about the name classmate xiao xing.

It was simply because he was afraid of a lawsuit if he used classmate little love, so he changed one word. Yet Professor Cheng could explain so much. He was a talent!

A great talent.

"Then it's settled. We'll call it classmate xiao xing. I'm looking forward to our Red Star's classmate xiao xing coming off the line soon."