Editor | Produced by Paul Yu Pin | Chaoqi. com "See the column"
In 22, it will be a difficult year for Huawei, especially for glory. On May 15th, the U.S. issued an order to upgrade Huawei's chip control. TSMC has stopped producing Kirin chips for Huawei, and Qualcomm, Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron will no longer supply chips to Huawei.
on September 15th, the ban came into effect, and Huawei's chips were completely cut off, with glory bearing the brunt. As a result, Huawei and its glory sub-brands are both stuck in a deadlock, and as the official reply says: there is no Plan B.
Now, glory has been spun off from Huawei for more than four months, but judging from its market feedback, the glory behind the sale still faces many development variables, and its fate is like a duckweed floating in the sea compared with that under the protection of Huawei before.
Finding the right position will determine the life and death of glory
Recently, Zhao Ming, CEO of Glory, said in an interview that glory may be the largest startup company in China, and it has been developing as a startup company without the protection of big companies.
"For Ren Zong (Ren Zhengfei, founder of Huawei), the best way to respect Huawei is to honor its own development and truly become its own glory." Zhao Mingru said.
It is understood that Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co., Ltd., which took over the glory, was established by Shenzhen Smart City Science and Technology Development Group and more than 3 Rongyao agents and distributors, including Tianyin Communication Co., Ltd., Suning.cn Group Co., Ltd., Beijing Songlian Technology Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen Shundian Industry Co., Ltd.
After being spun off from Huawei, Glory took away more than 8, elite soldiers of Huawei, so it was also considered by Zhao Ming to be the largest startup company in China. Moreover, glory's revenue is about to exceed 1 billion. This also means that the glory after independence is expected to gain a place in the world's top 5.
However, after "divorce" with Huawei, glory seems to have never found its own position, and it is still unpredictable whether it can really enter the world's top 5. Earlier, when Huawei Ren Zhengfei bid farewell to glory, he said frankly that he hoped that one day glory would become Huawei's opponent and even surpass Huawei. However, according to Li Ming, the opponent of glory may be on the other side of the ocean. Benchmarking Apple may become its future development strategy.
However, in the cruel reality, the market that originally belonged to glory is being further eroded by foreign Apple, Samsung, domestic Xiaomi and OPPO.
the rise of Huawei can be traced back to 216, when the smart phone market was in full swing. With the dual-brand strategy of Huawei and Glory, Huawei has a second-to-none market share in the high-end, low-end and mid-range markets. Coupled with the blessing of its technical strength, the quality of mobile phones is impeccable.
as a result, its market share continues to occupy the top spot and keeps rising. In 219, Huawei entered its peak period, with domestic sales reaching 14 million units and a market share of 38.4%. Among them, the contribution of sub-brand glory is self-evident. For a while, Huawei's glory can be described as no different.
However, after the highlight moment, Huawei also ushered in the darkest moment in its development history. The turning point appeared in the fourth quarter of 22. With the entry into force of the US ban, Huawei Kirin chips could not be produced, and chips from Qualcomm and MediaTek could not be purchased, and the sales volume of Glory dropped sharply. You know, things are not over yet. With the implementation of the ban, glory has also accounted for 2% of the market share at the bottom of the list. From the peak to the trough, glory also deeply felt the pain before and after stripping.
In terms of global market share, according to the latest data, in February this year, Samsung and Apple ranked in the top two with 2% and 17% respectively, while Xiaomi, a domestic mobile phone brand, jumped to the third place with 13% market share. You know, at this time, Xiaomi's market share has reached 13%, which is only 4% worse than the second apple's 17%.
It can be seen that the so-called benchmark apple of Glory needs to surpass Xiaomi, the hot rival in China, at least in terms of technology after leaving Huawei and in the terminal market. Moreover, the smart phone market has always been you chasing after me and scrambling. Aside from Apple Samsung, domestic mobile phone manufacturers are also giants. After catching cicadas and yellowbirds, the strength of developing sub-brands and attacking global OPPO and VIVO should not be underestimated.
Therefore, if glory wants to break through the tight encirclement, it may need to find a correct positioning, not just a slogan of marking Apple, which can rest easy and solve psychological anxiety.
The new product release failed, and the market side continued to be anxious
It is true that after being spun off from Huawei, Glory basically solved the problem of chip supply side. In recent months, glory has also received many good news about resuming cooperation with Qualcomm and TSMC.
In fact, as early as January this year, according to Zhao Ming, CEO of Glory, almost all supply chain partners have fully resumed the supply of Glory, including AMD, Intel, Micron, Samsung, Qualcomm, Microsoft and MTK. It has also signed a cooperation agreement with Qualcomm, and Qualcomm's chip products are already under development. The subsequent choice of hardware will be more flexible.
In addition to hardware, many people in the industry are optimistic about glory software development. It is understood that because the glorious business was packaged and sold at that time, part of the original R&D team also followed the buyer. In order to make these people move steadily, the company increased their salary by four months as a signing reward. The original team allowed the research and development direction of "Glory" to continue all the time, and Glory also obtained a number of technical authorizations from Huawei, which had many inherent advantages after taking over.
however, the seemingly seamless team delivery made glory break away from Huawei's market performance and encounter waterloo. It is understood that the glory after independence is also non-stop in the release of new machines. However, in the end, it ended in a word-of-mouth collapse and a fiasco in sales.
Take the glory V4 and the glory V4 luxury edition as examples. In the past, the "high price and low distribution" that has been vomited on OV series products has also become the focus of users' criticism. Now, with glory, the same style of play is exactly the same as OV, which also makes it a target of public criticism.
What netizens criticized and pointed at was that last year's almost outdated mid-range configuration, glory could be priced at 3,599 yuan, and even the configuration of a friend's thousand yuan machine was priced at 2,999 yuan. In such a contrast, the reputation of the Glory V4 series can be described as extremely poor, which also indicates that the first battle to hit the high-end market failed after Glory became independent.
of course, the glory of being born with a halo will not stop there. Its executives have also expressed their views one after another that the glory is not only flagship machine Emperor, but also some independent sub-brands, and they will continue to enlarge their efforts, which will greatly roll up their sleeves and make a great impact on the high-end market.
according to glory executives, the Magic series and glory digital series will return to the high-end market and meet you as the flagship and high-end. Some insiders also confirmed that the market trend released by glory executives is not groundless, and its attack on the high-end market is not a slogan.
It is understood that Magic, owned by Glory, will serve as a sub-brand and become the starting point for its high-end brand. At the same time, the trademark registration of Magic X is also in full swing.
at the end of February, some media reported that glory terminal co., ltd. had recently registered three trademarks, namely Magic X, HONOR Eva and HONOR Mega.
for this reason, the industry speculates that the glory Magic X may correspond to the glory folding screen smartphone, which is expected to be the benchmark Huawei Mate X folding screen mobile phone. Undoubtedly, this will also be a strong signal for glory to further break through the high-end market.
However, we should know that the competition in the mid-to high-end market is very fierce now. Xiaomi and OV have already started to compete in the high-end market, and Apple's influence in the high-end market is self-evident. Even the giant Samsung has now lowered its posture and pushed the price of Samsung S21 to 4,999 yuan, trying to get a share in the mid-to high-end market in China.
on the other hand, in China, the smartphone market is also filled with smoke and fire. In 22, Xiaomi 1 series gained a foothold in the high-end market, followed by Xiaomi 11 in 221, and won market recognition again. Compared with the first battle of the glory V4 series, Xiaomi has obviously taken the lead in the high-end market.
Despite the repeated public statements made by glory executives, glory will not stop there and give glory fans a shot in the arm, but the cruel reality lies ahead. No matter at home or abroad, without Huawei as the backing, the market environment facing glory has long been different.
on the one hand, glory is squeezed by many competitors in the low-end market, and the market that should belong to glory is gradually infiltrated and carved up. On the other hand, glory is unfavorable in the high-end market, and I am afraid it will be difficult to save the overall situation in the short term.
Moreover, with the strategy of international giants moving from high-end to low-end, the pressure on glory comes from all directions.
Conclusion
Glory seems to be more radical after leaving Huawei. However, it is obviously inappropriate to try to promote its brand positioning by means of "high price and low distribution". Some netizens said that at present, a new machine with a network access license in glory shows that it is equipped with a processor of Tianji 8, which seems to be even worse, obviously losing its core competitiveness.
"Yu Jian column" thinks that at present, it may only be regarded as a glorious future ideal to rival Apple and surpass Huawei. But taking it as a positioning now seems to be a bit of a boost to glory. After all, without the blessing of Huawei brand, technology and marketing, glory's original market position will be greatly reduced. Moreover, after the release of several so-called high-end mobile phones, the market feedback is not satisfactory.
therefore, if glory wants to return to the peak, it may need to find its own position among many smartphone brands. And its strategic starting point may not be who to surpass or defeat. But in the terminal market demand, maximize their own advantages, foster strengths and avoid weaknesses. In this way, although its impact on the high-end market is unfavorable, it is also born with its own aura and golden key, which not only has the potential to overtake other competitors, but also has a huge opportunity to turn over.