Chapter 204: A 100% Domestic Mobile Phone
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
They had destroyed themselves with their own game. Samsin’s plan of “killing three birds with one stone” had totally fallen apart. Samsin company’s official Weibo account was flooded with rants from netizens.
“I’ll never buy any product from Samsin again!”
“Resist Samsin!”
“Samsin, get out of Z country!”
“Take your memory chips and screens with you and scram!”
The vast numbers of parents also rained a torrent of abuse on Samsin.
“This d.a.m.n Gorean company deserves to die. You’re too wicked!”
“You think to damage us in such a way that my child can’t get into a good university!”
“Let’s go and trash Samsin!”
“I’ll never go to Gorea for holiday again or buy their cosmetics. If my child continues to pay so much attention to their idols, I’ll beat them to death!”
Everyone in Z country was venting about Samsin as they heaped abuse upon abuse on the company.
The company had no choice but to suspend its Weibo account. They did not make any responses or comments as they hid their heads like a tortoise when faced with danger. Even so, the personnel in charge that was stationed in Z country received a beating from a random young man. In addition, the company’s factories in Z country suffered attacks and tras.h.i.+ngs from many angry netizens. The Z citizens working in the Samsin factories could not bear the great pressure from public opinion and many chose to resign. Many customers requested that mobile retailers withdrew Samsin’s products from their business showrooms, or else they would smash every single Samsin product that they saw.
Samsin’s profits faced a battering, and the losses were huge. But this was far from enough!
Although many expressed that they would resist various products from Samsin and took videos of themselves smas.h.i.+ng their products, people would always forget after some time. They would continue to buy what they needed to buy, and go where they wanted to go. These people had a short-term memory.
As for the more determined netizens, they were not unwilling to fork out the money or support domestic products. But, where were these products? They wanted to buy a 100% domestically manufactured mobile phone, with the CPU, screen and memory chip produced by local companies, but they could not find such a phone on the market. This world was marked by a globalized economy and industrial cooperation. Even the superpower Merica could not accomplish something like producing all the core components in a product. Therefore, no matter how much those nationalistic netizens wanted to support domestic products, the mobile phone that they bought would, in the end, still contain Samsin-made components. They would very likely still contribute to the revenue of their most hated company… Unless they did not buy mobile phones at all.
However, Chen Jin had decided to change this current state. He would take this opportunity to stab Samsin where it hurt the most! He picked up his phone and called Brother Lei to explain his idea.
Brother Lei was shocked as he listened! “You’re saying that you want Da Mi to produce a 100% domestic mobile phone that uses locally sourced and produced CPU, screen, memory chip, and storage, as well as other essential components? And you want to introduce this product on the market so that consumers who support domestic products can buy a real domestic phone? Brother Chen, are you joking. Even Hua Yao, with its powerful technological prowess, can’t produce a 100% domestic mobile phone. The company has its own Kirin CPU and is a shareholder and strategic partner of Oriental Crystal. However, in terms of its essential mobile phone components, Hua Yao has only achieved full domestic production for its CPU and screen. It still has to purchase memory chips and storage from Samsin. Brother Chen, please stop joking. Da Mi did attempt to produce our own independent CPU, but that project was simply too expensive. In the end, I had no choice but to give up on it. The Kirin CPU from Hua Yao is very powerful indeed, but it’s based on technologies that were authorized by foreign parties. They can’t sell it to other companies. So, Da Mi can only use Qualcomm’s chips. There are domestic alternatives for the memory chips and storage chips, but their performance is terrible. They are at least one or even two generations behind their foreign counterparts because of the poor yield. There are no price advantages to making this type of pure domestic mobile phone. With their poor value for money, they cannot compete in the market. Such an endeavor will be destined to fail!”
Lei Xiao Jun shook his head. “Brother Chen, I fully understand your feelings. But, mobile phones are a totally different thing from the learning machine and robots that your company makes. The consumer demands even higher performance and better user experience! For sure, the rampant patriotism will bring about a certain amount of sales, but it won’t be able to sustain the long-term growth of the company. The real crux depends on the compet.i.tiveness of the product.” Therefore, he had to politely decline Chen Jin’s idea of making a 100% domestically produced mobile phone.
Chen Jin expected that he would respond in this manner, so he revealed some facts that made Brother Lei widen his eyes. For example, the technology of the virtual factory, and the project of the 7nm chip that Zhongxin International was tackling at that moment. These helped to put to rest some of the bigger worries that Lei Xiao Jun had.
Chen Jin explained, “Brother Lei, after Purple Ray’s memory chip production lines improved using the virtual factory, the work frequency of the current production of LPDDR3 memory chips has been raised to 2,133 MHz. Compared to the previous frequency of 1,600 MHz, it has risen by 33%. Moreover, there is less than a 20% difference in terms of performance compared to Samsin’s LPDDR4X. There’s no great difference in user experience. Xing Hai Technologies has been working with Teng Xun Corporation recently to develop a model of a mid- to high-end mobile phone CPU chip called ‘SX-800’. It uses the 14nm technology from Zhongxin International and OEM processes. It has an Antutu benchmark running score of 210,000 with a performance that’s comparable to the Snapdragon 725 that was launched by Qualcomm last year. This is adequate for everyday use. The technology of the domestic NAND memory chips has the smallest difference with the overseas chips. We have ample production capacities for the NAND chips. I’ve heard that the Da Mi company is already using universal flash storage chips produced by Da Jiang’s storage chips factories in a portion of your mid- to high-end range of mobile phones. As for their performance, I’m sure you know best. And with the screens from Oriental Crystal…”
Chen Jin paused for a moment, smiling. “Brother Lei, if your Da Mi company could launch a mid-range mobile phone that is 100% domestically produced, I’m sure that many people would buy it as long as the price is reasonable. I would even say that the image of Da Mi will greatly improve in the public’s eyes in the instant that you announce you’ll be producing a 100% domestic phone!” It might even redeem Da Mi’s reputation, which suffered severe damage when it was issued a huge penalty last year by the EU!
Brother Lei’s eyes brightened with this reminder. He was motivated by the potential rewards and nodded. “Brother Chen, you have made an excellent suggestion. I’ll get someone to immediately announce that Da Mi will be making a 100% domestic mobile phone!”
Chen Jin continued to pump up his spirits. “There is no need for apprehensions. If Samsin places any sanctions against Da Mi and bans the sale of Da Mi’s mobile phones, Xing Hai Technologies will help you solve the problem. With the virtual factory, we’ll catch up with the technological difference in two years and produce a higher performing chip! Da Mi simply has to establish the reputation of a 100% domestic mobile phone. This will surely bring about great benefits to your company.”
Brother Lei nodded. “Yes! This is very good!” Due to the lack of innovation, the business performance of Da Mi’s mobile phones had weakened in the past two years. Their sales volume was less than half of Hua Yao’s. If he did not think of a way to remedy the situation, the market share of Da Mi’s mobile phones would only get smaller. Chen Jin’s suggestion for Da Mi to make a 100% domestic mobile phone could be the best plan to reverse the decline in their fortunes.
On that very same night, Brother Lei, who had accepted Chen Jin’s suggestion, announced on various platforms that Da Mi would be producing a 100% domestic mobile phone with fully independent core components!
Once this news was announced, the netizens gave an enthusiastic response!
“Support Brother Lei, support Da Mi!”
“As long as Da Mi introduces a 100% domestic mobile phone and Brother Lei doesn’t try to play his cheap marketing tricks, I’ll buy one for sure!”
“There’s no need for me to get a new mobile right now. But, I must get a 100% domestically produced mobile!”
“I’m a Mi Fan from the company’s early years who have returned back into the fold. I hope that Brother Lei can deliver on his promise and not waste our patriotism on nothing!”
“Eh, Da Mi Company has already made their statement. What about Hua Yao? Did Hua Yao not say if they are going to do a 100% domestically produced mobile phone?”
Countless netizens enquired on Hua Yao’s official Weibo account, “Even Da Mi Company, who doesn’t have much in the area of essential technologies, has announced that they are making a 100% domestic mobile phone. Where’s your action, Hua Yao?”
The vast number of Hua Yao fans also hoped that the company could produce a pure domestic mobile phone so as to thoroughly eliminate its dependence on core components from Sansim.
A few days pa.s.sed, and Hua Yao Company did not make a clear statement. They merely said that they were still conducting research.
Chen Jin made a personal phone call to the Executive Chairman of Hua Yao, Zhao Ming, and enquired if Hua Yao would like to collaborate with Xing Hai Technologies to create a 100% domestically produced mobile phone
Zhao Ming replied in a euphemistic tone, “We will consider this but will not take any action in the meantime. Thank you for your kind intentions, President Chen.”
Chen Jin was extremely doubtful. Could it be that Hua Yao was really uninterested in a 100% domestically produced mobile phone?
Brother Lei was the one who answered his doubts. “Hua Yao is a transnational company with a large market share in Europe. If Hua Yao offends Samsin, they could likely lose their profits in the European market. The profit margins of Da Mi mobile phones in the European market are negligible. It does not matter if the company sells a few million units less. But that is not possible for Hua Yao. In order to ensure the excellent user experience in European markets, Hua Yao can only procure chips from Samsin, which have a better performance.”
Unless there was a local company who was able to produce better performing memory chips and storage, Hua Yao would never announce that they were making a 100% domestically produced mobile phone. (The upper management of Hua Yao did not know about the technology of the ‘virtual factory’. Chen Jin had no intentions to tell too many people about it. But, he thought that Hua Yao would have a greatly different att.i.tude if they knew about that particular technology).
So, that was the reason. Chen Jin nodded. Then, he gave a slight shake of his head in dismay.