"Gree mobile phones are no worse than apple." Yesterday, dongmingzhu, chairman and President of Gree Electric (000651.sz), made a statement about Gree mobile phone at the annual general meeting of shareholders, which aroused heated discussion among netizens. Some netizens roast that the current maximum configuration model of Gree mobile phone is the DASONG G7 mobile phone, but it uses an old chip "Xiaolong 870". Others said that it is difficult to see Gree mobile phones in the market.
The first financial reporter learned on June 8 that ye ruiquan, the former operator of Gree's mobile phone business, had resigned in the first half of this year. At present, Meizu manufactures Gree's mobile phones, and most of its users are Gree's employees, upstream and downstream suppliers and dealers.
At the beginning of 2015, dongmingzhu said that "Gree will definitely surpass Xiaomi in making mobile phones". In March of that year, Gree launched a generation of mobile phones. So far, Gree has been involved in the mobile phone business for seven years and is still in a non mainstream position in the industry. IOT mobile phone is one of the entrances to Gree smart home. At present, it has no strong binding with Gree air conditioner in sales. Dongmingzhu's mobile phone is suffering from the "seven-year itch".
From the peak to "self digestion"
An industry veteran who has been tracking the mobile phone industry for many years told China business news that before, ye ruiquan was the director of the mobile terminal security department of Coolpad group. He joined Gree Electric in about 2017 and was responsible for the specific operation of Gree mobile phone business. In the first half of 2022, ye ruiquan left Gree Electric. An insider close to Gree Electric also confirmed to the first financial reporter that yeruiquan had left Gree Electric.
The first financial reporter found that ye ruiquan appeared in the list of inventors of many patents related to communication and Internet of things of Gree Electric in recent years. These patents include: an information processing method and device; Screenshot method and device of display interface, storage medium and electronic device; Commodity pushing method, device, storage medium and electronic equipment; A method, device, terminal device and process for controlling multiple devices to play different audio at the same time; A communication method of a mobile terminal, a mobile terminal, and the like.
According to the financial report of Gree appliances in 2021, Gree 5g mobile phone is equipped with the self-developed halo UI 6.0 operating system, which can link Gree smart home devices. Gree has laid out six technologies in the field of smart home, including intelligent connection, intelligent perception, intelligent interaction, intelligent cloud platform, intelligent energy and artificial intelligence, and has five control entrances, namely "Gree +" app, intelligent voice air conditioning, IOT mobile phone, intelligent door lock and magic cube spirit, which can cover the whole series of Gree smart products.
At present, Gree mobile phones are mainly sold in "Gree dongmingzhu store". The price is not cheap and the sales volume is not large. The first financial reporter noticed on June 8 that about 20000 pieces of DASONG 5g mobile phones have been sold at a price of 2699 yuan for 6+128g, and about 8000 pieces have been sold at a price of 2999 yuan for 8+256g; Tosot Komatsu mobile phone G7 costs 2959~3299 yuan, and about 7000 pieces have been sold.
Gree Electric used to take Gree mobile phones as year-end benefits for employees. The first financial reporter also saw that the installers of Gree air conditioners use Gree mobile phones to scan codes and activate air conditioning products. There are also some Gree mobile phones circulating in the Gree sales system.
"If a mass consumer product is digested in its own system, it is difficult to have the hope of becoming bigger." The above-mentioned senior people believe that Gree entered the mobile phone industry at the wrong time. Gree, LETV, hammer and 360 are the same group of "cross-border players" who have entered the mobile phone industry. Basically, those cross-border players have failed. The fund chain of LETV mobile phone was broken, the hammer mobile phone was sold to bytewo, and the 360 mobile phone also withdrew from the Jianghu.
"They entered the peak period of the mobile phone market, thinking that mobile phones are the largest consumer goods." The senior analyst said that unexpectedly, after entering the market, the market began to decline. In 2016, the sales volume of the mobile phone market reached the peak. In 2017 and 2018, the sales volume of the mobile phone market gradually declined. This year, the global mobile phone market still showed a downward trend. "360 mobile phones, hammer mobile phones and LETV mobile phones all died of high inventory. Gree mobile phones have no inventory, but they are only digested in their own system."
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According to Fu Liang, an independent Telecom analyst, Gree mobile phones have not kept up with the pace of the industry's technology update and iteration. Dongmingzhu's idea of making mobile phones is different from that of the industry. Dongmingzhu said that "Gree mobile phones are not bad in three years". However, mobile phones are not as stable as air conditioners and houses. The technology iteration speed of mobile phones is faster than that of home appliances. We can't compete only by quality.
Fuliang told China business news that the hardware, software and user experience of mobile phones are constantly upgraded, such as the operating system of Huawei mobile phones, Xiaomi MIUI, Apple The user interface of the is also constantly upgraded, unlike the operating system of the air conditioner, which is basically solidified. "Mainstream mobile phone manufacturers have invested heavily in hardware that has been upgraded slowly, operating systems that have been upgraded quickly, and software applications that have been upgraded faster."
From the perspective of hardware, Gree mobile phones are not cost-effective, and the new cycle is slow. Fuliang said that Gree mobile phones have been made for seven years and are now the third generation products. For example, tosot DASONG mobile phone G7 uses Xiaolong 870 chip, which was the mainstream configuration in the mobile phone market last year and the product configuration of mainstream mobile phone manufacturers 2-3 generations ago. This year, the mainstream mobile phone configuration is Xiaolong 888 plus chip. Now mainstream mobile phone manufacturers mainly focus on new models of about 2000 yuan, which is higher than the overall configuration of Gree mobile phones of about 3000 yuan.
"If Gree mobile phones start to focus on air conditioning remote control and focus on the market below 1000 yuan, it may open up more sales." Fuliang said that Gree mobile phones are now priced as medium - and high-end mobile phones, which lags behind the configuration of several generations and is difficult to attract mass consumers. The R & D cost of mobile phones is relatively fixed, from screen, software adaptation, camera to user interaction.
At the shareholders' meeting on June 7, dongmingzhu said in response to the investor's question "whether Gree wants to be an apple in the new era", that "the mobile phone I am making is no worse than it". She also said that science and technology are constantly meeting the needs of consumers for quality life. Science and technology is endless. Whether they are competitive or not depends on their own cultivation.
As the growth rate of air conditioning market slows down, Gree Electric is also accelerating the pace of diversification. Whether making mobile phones or cars, dongmingzhu showed the courage to think and work. According to the information disclosed at this shareholders' meeting and Gree dongmingzhu store, the new growth point of Gree Electric in the next few years will be new energy, intelligent equipment, parts, household appliances and other businesses, rather than mobile phones.