222: Chapter 222 Redmi Launch: An Interview with a Master of Editing

The technical lead braced himself to explain, but he couldn't really say much, ultimately having to resort to a technical explanation:

"Mr. Kwon Oh-hyun, their technical route is different from ours. We use FMM evaporation, while they use a different method. We previously thought this method couldn't be mass-produced, but now it seems..."

"Now it seems what?"

"Now it seems we underestimated them?"

Kwon Oh-hyun sank into his chair and didn't speak for a long time.

Transsion's second-phase production line claims a monthly capacity of 100,000 units, but based on their plans, it's at least 200,000... Adding the first phase, that's at least 200 to 300 million screens per year.

While this figure doesn't yet match Samsung, they are no longer a small player that can be ignored.

More importantly, the Chinese government is fully supporting them. Getting land for one yuan is definitely not normal business behavior; this is national will.

"Notify the Strategic Planning Office?" Kwon Oh-hyun stood up. "Re-evaluate our investment strategy in France. If Transsion continues like this, we might have to consider..."

"President, are we really going to invest in Guangzhou?"

After all, internally, that was just a pie in the sky meant to disrupt their plans... Real investment was absolutely impossible.

"What other choice is there? Either invest for real, or lower prices?"

Lower prices? Samsung had monopolized the OLED field for years and had never proactively lowered prices. Because there was no need. Others couldn't produce screens of equal quality, so they could sell them for whatever price they wanted.

Now, they had to consider lowering prices. Because someone had managed to do it, and they had done it even better than them. After all, according to the screens sent over from Lenovo, Transsion's screens were several times better than theirs.

...Just as Samsung was panicking, Xiaomi was diligently preparing for its launch event. Although this was a launch event destined to lose money, it could cultivate a large number of Mi Fans, and Lei Jun felt it was worth it.

October 28th, Beijing National Convention Center, 4th-floor grand hall. This time there were 3,000 seats, but at least 5,000 Mi Fans showed up, with another one or two thousand people unable to get in at the entrance.

Security could only block them on-site, preventing them from rushing in, as the occasion was indeed different. Blocking people was one thing, but not dampening the passion of the Mi Fans was truly a difficult problem.

Some people were already posting on Weibo to promote it: #The First Redmi Will Change the Hundred-Yuan Market#. With organic promotion, Redmi had already taken multiple trending spots today. #New Hundred-Yuan God# #Breaking the Enjoy Monopoly#

Backstage, Lei Jun stood watching the countdown on the screen, silently counting in his heart. 10, 9, 8, 7... Lei Jun smiled slightly and walked calmly onto the stage.

This was Xiaomi's first appearance at the National Convention Center. Previously, they were all in various small venues with hundreds or thousands of people, but this time, it was straight to 3,000 people. Because everyone knew that Redmi was a life-or-death battle for Xiaomi.

At Lin Bin's reminder, Lei Jun adjusted his image again. The lights hit him, and a round of applause erupted from the audience.

"Hello, Mi Fans, good afternoon."

"Good!"

"Today, I'd like to report to everyone on Xiaomi's achievements over the past two years."

Lei Jun walked to the center of the stage, and a set of data lit up on the screen. It was very surprising data.

The cumulative activation volume of the Mi 1 Phone, Mi 1s, and Mi 2 had exceeded 18 million units, and MIUI users had exceeded 20 million.

Many Mi Fans in the audience began to cheer excitedly. 20 million and 18 million activations in just two years was already a miracle for a brand-new brand.

But Lei Jun knew that compared to the honor 3, this number was still far behind. That product he considered trash had sold 1.5 million units in half a month after launch. Enjoy was even more exaggerated, currently pushing towards the 50 million mark.

Lei Jun began walking on the stage again, his face filled with heaviness and melancholy. For this launch event, he had crafted a very moving story for the first Redmi.

"The success of the Xiaomi series has kept me thinking about one question..." Lei Jun suddenly stopped on stage. "How many more people cannot use, or rather, cannot afford a Smartphone?"

"To that end, we conducted an offline investigation; after all, without investigation, one has no right to speak on this matter." The big screen switched, and a video appeared.

In the video, Lei Jun was wearing casual clothes, walking in an alley in an urban village. The shops on both sides were densely packed, selling vegetables, repairing shoes, and making keys—full of the atmosphere of everyday life.

He walked into a mobile phone store; the storefront was not big, only about 10 square meters. Dozens of mobile phones were displayed in the counter, most of which were Feature phones, and there were a few Smartphones, all of which were miscellaneous brands. As for Enjoy? They filmed the backward distribution channels; why would they put such advanced devices there?

The shopkeeper, a woman in her 40s, was like most owners of small rural shops; she was both the manager and the boss. Lei Jun picked up a miscellaneous brand Smartphone and asked her: "Big sister, how much does this sell for?"

"1,200."

"Does it sell well?"

"Not well?" The woman shook her head, her eyes full of disdain. "It's too expensive, no one buys it. The people around here only make two or three thousand a month in wages; spending over 1,000 to buy a Smartphone is something they can't bear to do."

In the original video, after saying this, the woman enthusiastically took out an Enjoy for him and introduced it as a big brand, saying that games and videos could be played smoothly... However, this reflected the importance of editing; the footage on the screen directly switched to Lei Jun saying: "Then what sells well?"

"This one, 300 yuan."

Of course, a sentence was cut in the middle: "Except for that one." It can make calls, send text messages, and access QQ. Whether it's young people or the elderly, they all like it, and many units can be sold in a day.

Lei Jun held the phone, shook his head slightly, his eyes filled with melancholy. The video ended there.

Lei Jun stood on the stage, his voice becoming low.

"That urban village is not somewhere else; it is right here in Beijing. It is not far from this venue, about an hour's drive. But the people there live a generation apart from our lives."

Many people in the audience showed expressions of shock. They had thought this shop was in some underdeveloped area, but they didn't expect it to be in Beijing. This is the capital, the most important place in all of China, and they didn't expect that there were still...

"This can't be true, right?"

"Eh? This place seems a bit familiar?"

"Why does it look more and more like it?"

Lei Jun looked up and looked at the audience: "It's not that they don't want to use a Smartphone; they can't afford it."

"A mobile phone costing over 1,000 yuan is, for them, a month's rent, their children's tuition, and the family's living expenses. It's not that they don't want to buy it; it's that it's not necessary."

"Therefore, I have been thinking, can we make a Smartphone that everyone can afford?"