166: The 12th listing, a counterattack.

"Exactly. The yield rate over at Qualcomm is still climbing. They can supply officially, but a large-scale launch is still a bit difficult."

"As for MediaTek, as long as we keep using their chips, they can continue to provide priority supply."

Lei Jun helplessly slapped his head. The Mi 1 Phone Youth Edition was originally just an emergency measure. He had thought it was a stopgap, but now it seemed it might be a long-term partnership.

"Old Lin, it looks like we'll have to trouble President Zhang a bit more."

"Indeed! If it weren't for that batch of chips he supplied, our sales wouldn't have exceeded 500,000 units by now, and we're expected to be the first to break one million soon."

...

In the evening, Lei Jun posted another update on Weibo:

"The second batch of Xiaomi phones has officially shipped. There are 50,000 units this time, with another 200,000 units currently being stocked."

"The cumulative sales of the Xiaomi Youth Edition have exceeded 500,000. The chip supply for the Youth Edition is sufficient, so there won't be any inventory crisis. Interested Mi Fans can give it a try."

"Thank you for the support of all Mi Fans. The first batch of Mi Fans won't lose out or get ripped off."

"There might be even greater benefits in the future."

The Mi Fans in the comments section were extremely excited:

"The second batch is finally here, I've missed it so much."

"Me too, I almost couldn't help but buy an honor play."

"The price-performance ratio of the Youth Edition isn't higher than Honor's."

"Although Xiaomi's price is lower, Honor has fast charging... that really affects the experience, doesn't it?"

"Won't lose out? Could it be that President Lei is going to refund the first batch of Xiaomi phones..."

"Why are you so greedy? A refund, how is that possible."

Besides those discussing it, some Mi Fans asked: "President Lei, when will the Mi 2 come out?"

Lei Jun replied: "Early next year."

...

In Yangcheng, at the Transsion headquarters.

Shen Fei scrolled to this Weibo post and smiled. It wasn't because of the content of the post, but rather the joke about the refund from the Mi Fans—he might actually make it happen.

According to his memory, later when the Dami Auto was released, Lei Jun actually refunded the purchase price of the first-generation Xiaomi phone.

It was a 1,999 yuan voucher that could be used for any product.

A single batch of purchase refunds created a marketing effect worth over a hundred million.

But this time with the first-generation Xiaomi, with MediaTek involved, would Lei Jun still refund the money? Would he be willing to?

Recalling this, he actually remembered some classic moves and was thinking about what other plans could be "borrowed."

[Feel free to comment and offer some suggestions]

Huang Tianya asked from the side: "President Shen, what are you thinking about?"

Shen Fei snapped back to reality and handed over the phone: "Lei Jun has finally shipped the goods. I was wondering if he would refund this purchase money to the Mi Fans."

"Refund? How is that possible?" Huang Tianya said subconsciously, "But for a marketing genius like Lei Jun, it's actually possible. Using the lowest cost to manipulate the user's psychology..."

"President Shen, are you thinking of following up in advance..."

"What are you thinking? Our sales aren't that low. If we actually did a refund, it would hurt our foundation."

"However, we could issue some vouchers then to give back to the first batch of customers."

Huang Tianya nodded as well, then sighed with emotion: "I really admire Lei Jun more and more."

"Why?"

Huang Tianya thought for a moment and said: "Because he knows when to bend and when to stretch. When the chip supply couldn't keep up, he switched to MediaTek. When the screen supply was blocked, he went to beg one company after another. If it were anyone else, they would have collapsed long ago."

He hesitated: "But he persevered through it all."

Shen Fei nodded: "Lei Jun is essentially a marketing genius. He knows what users need and can achieve the best results with the lowest cost."

"Of course, persistence is also a key factor in his success."

"Then what about us..."

Shen Fei waved his hand: "Let's continue to be ourselves. Xiaomi's path is different from ours."

"If one day we cross paths, I won't be soft-hearted."

After all, the biggest taboo in the business world is emotion.

...

Time quickly arrived at May 7th, and the Mate2 series launch event at the Yangcheng Concert Hall officially began.

Big Mouth Yu officially brought out the Mate2 series. Compared to the Mate, it mainly upgraded the processor.

The MediaTek series was replaced by the Taishan 900 (standard version), the battery was upgraded from 3700mAh to 4000mAh, and the screen was the same 720p screen as on the Mate S, not a retina-level screen.

The sincerity of the upgrade wasn't particularly great, but the price was indeed a pleasant surprise.

After all, it was the same price as the 2s.

[Mate S: So, the upgraded configuration still can't escape its old fate?]

But what confused some Huawei Fans was that while there were originally three versions of the Mate2, this time there were only China Telecom and China Mobile versions. Although Big Mouth Yu explained: because of tight chip production capacity, the China Unicom version was temporarily cancelled, but it would be launched later.

But when will it launch? That is the question.

After the launch event, at a Huawei offline flagship store in Magic City, a salesperson was holding a demo unit and introducing it to a customer.

"Sir, look. This is our newly released Mate2 series. It is equipped with a domestic Smartphone chip."

"Domestic?" The word "domestic" made the consumer subconsciously put down the phone.

He hadn't heard of other things, but he had heard a little about domestic semiconductors. Lagging... very lagging.

How does that saying go? Only a fool buys domestic semiconductors.

"Sir, don't be anxious. It's not like it used to be. Domestic semiconductors are the real heavyweights now. This chip is even stronger than the strongest international one, Qualcomm."

"I see you know a thing or two. You've probably heard of Qualcomm, right?"

The customer nodded, and the salesperson continued to introduce: "This phone is equipped with a domestic chip that is 1.7 times that of Qualcomm's strongest chip. The performance is way ahead."

"Swipe the card." After saying this, he decisively handed over a card. He was skeptical, not a Luddite.

He was willing to pay for that statement. If the salesperson was lying to him, he would make the other party understand that an old guy is not to be messed with.

The sales assistant, full of joy, led him to the lounge on the side to prepare to process the transaction...

While preparing to pay, he said to the salesperson: "I have a China Unicom mobile number. Remember to get me the China Unicom version. Don't get it wrong."

The sales assistant sighed helplessly: "Sir, I'm very sorry, but there is no stock of the China Unicom version for the Mate2 this time."

"Isn't this a flagship store? How can you not have the China Unicom version?"

"It's not that we don't want to stock it, it's that headquarters didn't produce the China Unicom version. Production capacity is a bit tight at the moment..."

"Then..." The customer stared at the phone, feeling a bit hesitant. Based on his experience just now, this phone was indeed a good thing.

But... he had an old China Unicom number, and the number even contained three 6s—definitely a high-value number. He was hesitant to change numbers.

The sales assistant also saw his worry and quickly offered a backup plan: "Sir, how about this? We can open a China Telecom card for you for free. This number might not be as good as your previous one."

"But the authorities are currently discussing a pilot for mobile number portability. It might be launched as early as the second half of the year, so it won't be long. As long as you agree, we will subsidize your phone bill, 58 yuan per month."

"You can change that card to the minimum consumption, and then handle the mobile number portability later. We will then process the corresponding plan for you. This subsidy will continue until mobile number portability is launched. As soon as it comes out, we will contact you immediately and then help you cancel this card. How does that sound?"