Even vivo mobile phones can't be sold. ...

It stands to reason that without Huawei, a strong opponent, the domestic mobile phone leader should be like a duck to water, but this is not the case.

Recently, the market research organization CINNO Research released a report saying that in February, the sales volume of smartphones in China market was about 23.48 million units, down 20.5% year-on-year and 24.0% quarter-on-quarter, both of which contracted year-on-year.

On the other hand, according to the information of the Eye of the Sky survey, vivo disclosed the patents of automatic driving method, vehicle-mounted equipment, mobile equipment and vehicle-mounted electronic equipment on April 1 day. After Xiaomi and OPPO come to the end and Huawei "helps car companies build cars", does vivo's move mean that it will also join the army of car makers? Is this a compromise to reality after the decline in sales?

1

Conservative body

In the past many years, domestic mobile phones have developed wildly with low-end products, channels, cost performance and marketing advantages, in exchange for very beautiful performance. Vivo is a typical example.

However, this "sea tactics" that relies heavily on marketing is not invincible. On the one hand, the profit of low-end smartphones is extremely low, and it has to be eroded by layer-by-layer distribution; On the other hand, the high cost of domestic mobile phone endorsement and release further reduces the profit margin.

Therefore, with the gradual maturity of the smart phone industry, major manufacturers have begun to change their strategies, reduce the release of models, and abandon this tactic of "wasting people and money".

After all, the most important purpose of doing business is to make money.

What about vivo at this time? According to last year's situation, it is not difficult to find that vivo is still sticking to this ancient tactic.

According to public information, in 2002 1 year, Xiaomi, Redmi and Black Shark * * * released 25 mobile phones, OPPO released 21model, Huawei and Glory released 12 and 23 models respectively, while vivo released 36 models, not including/kloc-0 of its iQOO.

Although this ancient tactic made vivo the champion of domestic mobile phone sales in 20021year with the sales volume of 710.5 million units, it was the sacrifice of profit that affected the sales volume.

According to the smartphone revenue data released by Counterpoint in 20021year, the revenue of the top five smartphones in 20021year was * * * 448 billion USD. Among domestic mobile phones, Xiaomi increased by 49%, OPPO increased by 47%, and vivo was at the bottom with a growth rate of 43%.

It is worth mentioning that in 20021year, vivo ranked first in the price increase of mobile phones. This growth rate lower than that of peers is still based on frequent price increases.

Insist on "backstroke" in the ocean of airplanes. At present, it is indeed unwise for the old school to choose vivo.

2

The dilemma of focusing on one thing and losing another.

Strategically conservative and slow, vivo is also exhausted in product layout.

On March 3rd, Jia Jingdong, vice president of vivo, said at the Weibo that "everyone's expectations of NEX can be answered in the new X series". This means that the nex series that once undertook the mission of high-end vivo has been permanently pressed the pause button.

This example of direct abolition is rarely heard in the mobile phone industry, but when it comes to nex, everything seems to be reasonable again.

In 20 18, nex series was born, leading the industry with more than 90% front screens, but from the market performance, nex obviously failed to successfully talk to high-consumption groups. The lift camera it has always insisted on not only affects the thickness of the mobile phone, but also weakens the waterproof function of the mobile phone, which runs counter to the "sense of technology and futurity" advocated by vivo. In addition, the design of waterfall screen with large curvature has been criticized as "flashy" because of its incomplete display and side color deviation.

After failing to hit the high-end market, vivo launched its sub-brand iQOO, which is targeted at e-sports and young people.

However, the pursuit of performance by stacking materials will inevitably raise the cost, so the high price also discourages young people. IQOO 3, released in early 2020, was drastically reduced in price, and only 6 18 was cleared a few months later 1000 yuan. The iQOO9, priced at 3,999 yuan, also did not cause much sensation, and the sales volume could only stay at around 3 million units. The vivo X70 series equipped with Vivo's first self-developed professional video chip V 1 is even close to 7,000 yuan, which is also considered by netizens to be the high price brought by blind stacking, so few people buy it.

Even more deadly, vivo does not have high enough technical barriers at the product and technical level, so it is difficult to be carefree.

Today, Huawei MatePad Pro and Glory Tablet V7 are listed one after another, Xiaomi Tablet has launched the fifth generation, and OPPO's first tablet OPPO Pad was also released on February 24 this year. Last August, vivo put forward the strategy of "1+3+N", in which "3" is a tablet product to be released soon. At present, Huawei, Apple and Xiaomi have begun to take shape in ecological construction, and all of them have launched laptop wearable watches, smart speakers and smart homes. However, there are only four types of intelligent hardware on vivo official website, which are far from competitors in terms of types and quantity.

It is undeniable that the smart phone market in the past was an attractive cake, but times have changed and this cake has long lost its original delicacy. If we can't open up a new battlefield, the ending of vivo falling behind people will soon be staged.

three

Build a car and break it?

The future has come, and vivo may be trying to change.

With the cross-border between automobile manufacturers and mobile phone giants, vivo has also made new moves.

As early as the middle of last year, the news about vivo entering the car was rampant. At that time, the recruitment information of automobile-related talents in OPPO official website also increased the credibility of this news. But then the denial of OPPO and vivo lowered market expectations. Until recently, the open patent of vivo brought people's eyes back.

In fact, as early as 20 19, vivo was laid out in the automotive field and established cooperation with Baidu, Great Wall and other enterprises; At the developer conference at the end of 2020, vivo also released the car networking brand-Jovi Incar; A few months ago, the smart car open alliance ICCOA led by vivo with OPPO, Xiaomi, Changan Automobile, Geely Holding, SAIC, Yuanfeng Technology, Zhongke Chuangda and China Automotive Institute Intelligent Network was formally established.

Today, when the global shipments of mobile phones are decreasing, it is indeed a good business to build a perfect car-machine ecosystem. For vivo, it is better to take the initiative and seek more room for growth by building a car, which may break the game. However, in the face of late start and slow response, vivo had to be anxious.