Under the background of mobile phone giants "invading" the car-making industry, Geely's mobile phone attracts attention
What is the intention of car companies to reversely build mobile phone drunkards
In order to build an ecosystem, to integrate vehicles and machines, to build software capabilities, and to make smart cars more competitive, "the mobile phone business has far-reaching significance to the entire Geely auto industry."
——Li Shufu on why he built a mobile phone
"Software capabilities, including autonomous driving, will become the core of smart cars. In this regard, mobile phone giants have a natural advantage. In addition, traditional OEMs are also significantly behind technology giants in terms of content operation capabilities and user experience insights."
——Industry people are worried about the prospect of Geely mobile phones
In order to connect everything, Geely chose to build mobile phones.
In September last year, Hubei Xingji Times Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xingji Times") founded by Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, officially announcing its entry into the mobile phone field.
The total investment of the project exceeds 10 billion yuan, targeting the high-end smartphone market.
At the end of January this year, Geely was also rumored to be negotiating acquisitions with Meizu.
Why does Geely make mobile phones?
Li Shufu's answer is: in order to build an ecosystem, in order to integrate vehicles and machines, in order to build software capabilities, in order to make smart cars more competitive.
Industry insiders told the Red Star Capital Bureau that in the face of the general trend of automobile intelligence, Geely must seize the intelligent entrance of mobile phones, and seize the high ground of car-machine coordination and interconnection of all things.
"Traditional OEMs like Geely must polish their software capabilities, otherwise they will become hardware foundries of technology companies."
However, the Red Star Capital Bureau noticed that some consumers and dealers are worried, "Will Geely mobile phone be the next Gree mobile phone?"
Why entering mobile phones is the core of smart ecology
Li Shufu once publicly expressed his views on mobile phones: "The mobile phone business has far-reaching significance to the entire Geely Automobile (00175.HK) industry. The better development of mobile phones will lead to better development of automobiles, and the better development of automobiles will be able to Promote the continuous improvement of the level of smart cockpits, which can help the competitiveness of smart electric vehicles continue to improve."
He believes that the mobile phone is a portable mobile terminal with rapid iteration, and it can transfer some of the safe and reliable results to the car for application, realize the close interaction between the car and the mobile phone software technology, and provide users with a multi-screen interactive life experience of the Internet of Everything.
The relevant person in charge of Geely Automobile also stated to the Red Star Capital Bureau that the mobile phone business will give full play to the experience and advantages of Geely’s industrial chain, and at the same time empower each other in terms of automotive intelligence, software capacity building, and technological transformation to achieve synergy.
Obviously, from fuel vehicles to new energy smart cars, Geely has realized that smart cars are the future mobile terminals, and mobile phones are the core of this intelligent ecology.
If you don't want to give up your "soul", you must master this wisdom entrance yourself.
Tesla (TSLA.US) founder Elon Musk has repeatedly mentioned the need to build mobile phones in public.
Although Tesla's mobile phone has no shadow, the business ecology of Tesla's combination of soft and hard has already begun to take shape.
Recently, according to overseas media reports, Tesla may be developing an application store similar to Apple's App Store, creating a unique in-car ecosystem and allowing customers to enjoy a variety of software services.
In the era of intelligence, hardware is only a one-time consumption, and software is a steady stream of income.
For traditional car companies like Geely, hardware manufacturing is not a problem, but software system development and content ecological operation are big problems.
This is also the main reason why Geely is likely to acquire Meizu.
Although Meizu has fallen, it has brand awareness, mobile phone R&D and manufacturing experience and perfect channels, as well as ready-made Flyme OS operating system.
Meizu also has a certain accumulation in smart home, smart wearable devices, etc., plus the luxurious staffing of Xingji era: CEO Wang Yong was the vice president of ZTE, and supervisor Zhang Yadong was the general manager of ZTE's PHS mobile phone product line. The vice president of mobile phone research and development, and Wang Wenjun, the former chief MIUI architect of Xiaomi, all contribute to the realization of Geely's ambition to connect everything.
Acquired Meizu
Can Geely phones sit back and relax?
Why does Geely make mobile phones attract attention?
The reason is that only mobile phone giants have entered the car manufacturing industry before, while it is rare for traditional car companies to make mobile phones.
Some people in the industry expressed their concerns about the prospect of Geely’s mobile phones to the Red Star Capital Bureau, “Software capabilities, including autonomous driving, will become the core of smart cars. In this regard, mobile phone giants have natural advantages. In addition, traditional OEMs are operating in content There is also a clear gap between technology giants in terms of capabilities and user experience insights.”
A report released by McKinsey pointed out that the relevant data shows that the car software currently accounts for 10% of the entire vehicle value of large passenger cars, and it is expected to grow at an annual rate of 11% in the future. By 2030, car software will It accounts for 30% of the content of the whole vehicle, and the overall market size will reach more than 400 billion US dollars.
In the future, data and software will become the core of smart car profits, and hardware manufacturing, which traditional car companies are good at, will have to withdraw.
The acquisition of Meizu has certainly eased doubts about creating a high-quality smartphone that is closely integrated with smart cars, but Geely still has a long way to go.
In addition, Geely Mobile chooses to take the high-end route, which is a bigger challenge.
According to CINNO Research data, in November 2021, Apple accounted for 85.6% of the sales of models above 5,000 yuan in mainland China, Huawei accounted for 7.9%, and other brands accounted for 6.5%.
In the same period in 2020, this figure was 60.6% for Apple, 31.1% for Huawei, and 8.3% for others.
In other words, almost all of the high-end mobile phone market vacated by Huawei has been eaten by Apple.
Some car dealers told the Red Star Capital Bureau that it is too early to talk about the sales channels, pricing and sales methods of Geely mobile phones, but it does not rule out the possibility of bundling with cars in the future. It becomes a car purchase gift, and the cost is borne by the OEM or dealer.”
Consumers can choose not to buy or use mobile phones from car companies.
For Ms. Wang, the owner of a new energy vehicle, the mobile phone is the "remote control" for using the car system, and the focus is on the software rather than the mobile phone itself.
Nearly half of her household appliances are Xiaomi brands. "Even if it is for a smart home, I will not buy a mobile phone from a car company unless it will affect the driving experience."
In the eyes of industry insiders, it is unlikely that Geely mobile phones will become free benefits.
Geely is "short of money", and Geely phones burn money.
Geely Automobile's 2021 semi-annual report shows that the operating income in the first half of the year was 45 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22%; the net profit was 2.41 billion yuan, and the profit growth rate was only 3.67%.
In the same period in 2019, Geely's net profit was 4.01 billion yuan, which will be nearly halved in 2021.
Geely Auto plans to sell 570,000 new energy vehicles in 2030.
If every car comes bundled with a phone, that's a gold mine.
Will Geely phone be the next Gree phone?
Some consumers and dealers are worried that Geely mobile phone may be the next Gree mobile phone.
Since 2015, Gree has successively launched a number of mobile phones, but the configuration basically lags behind mainstream mobile phone manufacturers such as Huami VO, and the price is not cheap.
But Dong Mingzhu insisted that Gree mobile phones must be made, and must be made.
She pointed out that in the future smart home era, it is impossible to control it without a mobile phone.
Gree Electric once stated on the investor interaction platform that mobile phones, as an important connection center for the Internet of Everything, are one of the five control portals of the "Gree Zero-Carbon Healthy Home".
The company attaches great importance to the independent and controllable core technologies, and strives to build a Gree smart home ecosystem.
This is similar to what Geely Heroes sees.
In 2016, the second-generation Gree mobile phone was released, equipped with the Snapdragon 820 processor, and the price was as high as 3,599 yuan; in 2017, the Gree mobile phone was unveiled, still equipped with the Snapdragon 820 processor, priced at 3,200 yuan; in 2019, the third-generation Gree mobile phone was released , using the long-behind Snapdragon 821 processor at that time, the price is still as high as 3600 yuan; in December 2020, Gree's first 5G mobile phone was put on the shelves, the brand was changed from Gree mobile phone to Dasong mobile phone, equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G processor, The price starts from 2699 yuan.
Gree mobile phone sales have always been a mystery.
The outside world has estimated through e-commerce data that by 2019, Gree mobile phone sales will be about 100,000 units in three years.
The 2020 annual report shows that Gree Electric's smart equipment segment revenue only accounted for 0.47% of total revenue.
Gree mobile phones have also been exposed to force employees and dealers to buy them.
Gree Electric responded on its official Weibo account that this was false news.
However, some Gree employees and distributors said that "almost one (Gree mobile phone) is in hand."
Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star News reporter Wu Danruo