227: Chapter 227 Design Exhibition: It Still Feels Somewhat Familiar.

Perhaps fearing that he would be outmaneuvered by Shen Fei, although Cook liked this chip very much, after looking at it for a while, he put the communication baseband aside.

He walked over to a display case on the side...

But that lingering look was keenly captured by Shen Fei. It happened to confirm his inner suspicions, though Shen Fei did not bring it up directly.

"Is this the next generation of the Taishan 900?"

"Yes. The research and development codename is Taishan 910."

"The process isn't still the 28nm process, is it?"

"28 nanometers. We haven't made a breakthrough in this area yet..."

Cook nodded, still not knowing what to say, but it was still ahead of the 45nm process expected to be used in the Apple A5.

However, he did not believe that the process Shen Fei mentioned had no breakthroughs...

"What about performance?"

"50% better than the Taishan 900."

Cook did not ask further; there was no need to humiliate himself again regarding Chip Design.

He continued walking forward and arrived in front of a display case.

There were several chips inside the display case, with their research and development dates marked next to them. The earliest one was from 2008; its packaging was very rough, looking like a toy.

The two newest spots in the display case held the Taishan 900 and Taishan 600. Both chips had very exquisite packaging and extremely high circuit density.

"In less than three years," Cook shook his head, "starting from scratch to reach this level. Especially in this country, Mr. Shen, how did you manage to do it?"

Shen Fei smiled.

"It's very simple: poaching talent, throwing money at it, and luck."

Cook looked at him and also smiled: "You are the most candid opponent I have ever met."

Even so, Cook did not believe that luck could solve the 28nm process and the corresponding Lithography Machine process issues.

If it were just simple chip research and development, perhaps luck could solve it.

But those mysterious enhanced chips, the 28nm process that came from who knows where, and those equally mysterious "stockpile chips."

Yet luck was also very important; what the semiconductor industry lacks is exactly that bit of luck.

After visiting the chip center, the group came to Changying's design department. This was the department responsible for mobile phone exterior design, and the walls were covered with various design sketches.

Cook's gaze was drawn to a sketch.

That was the design draft for the already released transsion s2. He had originally felt it was a bit familiar, but now that he looked at it... it really did feel familiar.

The same metal body, the same rounded corners, a large screen on the front, and a circular home button at the bottom.

"This design..." Cook looked at the design drawing on display and finally asked the question he was most curious about, "It's a bit like our iPhone, but it's not a complete imitation."

Shen Fei smiled.

"Mr. Tim, I think this is a meeting of minds. Good designs all have commonalities, right?"

Cook didn't speak, just took a few more looks at the sketch. But he always felt like his heart was bleeding... Could it be that some fortune had been snatched away again?

That's right, what he didn't know was that the sketch didn't just depict the S2.

In the drawer next to it, the design drawings for all Apple products from before Shen Fei's rebirth were locked away, such as the Apple 6s, Apple 7, Apple 8, Apple XR, Apple 11, 12...

Patents had been applied for every single generation.

Not just Apple's, but also Samsung's.

Of course, he hadn't given up on Chinese manufacturers either; for his own 'godsons'—Dami Company, as well as the blue and green brands—he had registered patents for all mainstream mobile phone designs for the next 20 years, from full screens to foldable screens, from notch screens to punch-hole screens, Shen Fei had registered patents for them all.

Of course, he had also registered some "ugly" designs.

For example, the triple-camera "bath heater" design of the Apple 11; honestly, Shen Fei had always thought that design was ugly. But since Apple was going to make it, he decided to register it first just in case.

Anyway, the registration fee wasn't expensive. Shen Fei only adhered to one principle: better to have it and not need it, than to let it slip by.

Cook, of course, didn't know about any of this, so his heartache was only natural.

After visiting the relevant designs, both parties entered the conference room.

This was the real main event.

As soon as they entered the conference room, Cook couldn't wait to get straight to the point.

After all, they didn't have any technological advantage, and beating around the bush would only waste both parties' time; it would be better to use a large order to see if he could drive the price down.

"Mr. Shen, the purpose of my visit to the Chinese market this time is very simple: besides meeting the Apple fans, it is to purchase your company's communication baseband."

Shen Fei leaned back in his chair, looking at him, his face not revealing any expression of surprise.

This made Cook feel a tightening in his heart.

"Where will it be used?"

Cook also understood what Shen Fei meant by his question and quickly replied: "The iPhone, exclusively for the Chinese market."

Shen Fei frowned. Exclusively for the Chinese market meant that the volume of this order was not as large as he had imagined.

After all, this wasn't his previous life.

Although Apple still had the reputation of being a 'kidney phone,' it was no longer that crazy... The transsion s2 series was the truly high-end mobile phone.

"Why can it only be for the Chinese market?"

Cook was stumped by this.

He couldn't exactly say that he had just taken office and his foundation was currently not particularly stable.

If they changed the communication baseband on a large scale, it would affect Apple Inc.'s profits, and at the same time, they would be caught by the relevant authorities...

After thinking for a long time, he finally...

"Because the network environment in the Chinese market is the most complex. The standards for China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom are all different. Qualcomm's baseband can be used, but the signal is unstable. We have disassembled the S2 and found your communication baseband has over 50% better performance than Qualcomm's."

Shen Fei nodded, not saying anything, essentially agreeing to this proposal.

After all, this was a major client...

"What are the conditions?" Cook asked anxiously.

He had been worried about the signal issue for a long time, with all kinds of complaints on the internet...

If it weren't for this ready-made solution, he might have waited for a while and then comforted the Apple fans, saying that Apple had already started a self-developed plan and would officially launch it on next year's products...

"Mr. Tim, the communication baseband can be sold. As for the price, we are not people who take advantage of others' misfortune, and both parties will certainly be able to reach a consensus. Therefore, our condition is that it cannot be supplied only to the Chinese market."

Cook's expression changed; he knew Shen Fei's appetite was large, but he didn't expect it to be this large.

The Chinese market, a market with an annual mobile phone shipment volume of hundreds of millions of units, and the other party was actually still not satisfied.

"What do you want?" Cook asked, frowning.

"The entire Asian market, as well as parts of the European market?"

Cook stared at Shen Fei, and Shen Fei stared back at Cook; the two of them stared at each other like this for over ten seconds. Neither one wanted to back down.

"Mr. Shen, you know this is impossible." Cook finally "took a step back" first, "Apple cannot hand over the lifeline of its Asian market supply chain to a Chinese enterprise? This is not a question of market size, but a question of security."

Shen Fei naturally understood what Cook meant; in just a few sentences, he had already eaten up the European market. He wouldn't let it go so easily, so he decided to bring up the sore spot.

"What about the European market?"