Source: Oriental IC

3-second fast reading

1. Gree has produced a 5G mobile phone. When someone regards Gree's mobile phone as a joke, Dong Mingzhu is serious and persistent. She never thinks that Gree's mobile phone has failed.

2. Half a month after its launch, the sales volume of Gree 5G mobile phone in official website only broke 2, units, and the third-generation Gree mobile phone launched in 218 has also been removed from the shelves in official website. This mobile phone has been on the market for three years, and only sold more than 1, units, even losing to the sales volume of some models of Xiaomi mobile phone in a month or a day.

3. Why is Dong Mingzhu obsessed with mobile phones? Is it angry with Lei Jun, or is it necessary to lay out the entrance of smart home? Gree 5G mobile phone, another serious joke?

people who like to catch up with the trend will definitely smell the tide of 5G replacement. Whether it is the hot iPhone 12 or the grounded thousand yuan machine, they have been prefixed with 5G.

However, when Gree Electric, a star enterprise, also caught the last bus of the first year of 5G and launched a 5G mobile phone named after its sub-brand Dasong, it was greeted by another sales failure in the mobile phone industry.

The famous saying of fashion circle, "Trends are perishable, but styles last forever", seems to be quite applicable to Gree leaders in manufacturing industry. Dong Mingzhu, chairman of Gree Electric, who became a topic only last month because of a master's thesis on CEO narcissism and its economic consequences-taking Gree Electric as an example, was recently taken to the hot search of "Dong Mingzhu doesn't think Gree mobile phone failed" by Dasong 5G mobile phone, which has just been listed.

making cars, mobile phones and chips, even though Gree's many cross-border attempts have caused a lot of public controversy, Dong Mingzhu has never questioned his decision. Since the release of the first mobile phone in 215, Gree has never made its name in the industry. If the Gree 5G mobile phone is also "overturned" this time, what will be the reason for diss?

in November 219, Gree Electric revised its articles of association, deleting "operating telecom business and value-added telecom business". For this adjustment, the outside world can't help but guess that Gree Electric is ready to give up the mobile phone business.

However, the official response said that they did not give up making mobile phones, but only handed over the mobile phone business to its subsidiaries. Gree will not only continue to make mobile phones, but also make 5G mobile phones.

over the past year, gree has hobbled to fulfill the promise of 5G mobile phones. On December 7th, Gree official mall launched a Dasong 5G mobile phone made by its sub-brand Dasong.

screenshot of Gree Dasong 5G mobile phone on December 8th. Source: Gree official mall

It is equipped with Snapdragon 765G ultra-fast 5G chip, supports 4-band dual-mode 5G full netcom, supports up to 8GB+256GB memory, and is equipped with a 6.81-inch FHD+ full screen and a rear-mounted flagship four-camera with 64 million pixels. The price is divided into two grades: 2699 yuan and 2999 yuan.

Snapdragon 765G is a mid-range processor, which is widely used in cost-effective models, such as Redmi K3, vivo Z6, Xiaomi 1 Youth Edition, etc. The price is mostly in the range of 2, yuan.

Take the Redmi K3 as an example, its main configuration is the same as that of Dasong 5G mobile phone, and its price is only 1999 yuan, which is cheaper than that of Dasong 5G high-end version of the same grade by 1 yuan.

According to media reports, the sales volume of Dasong 5G mobile phone was less than 3 units on the first day, and it failed to break 1, units a week after it was put on the shelves. As of December 21st, 15 days after listing, the sales volume of Dasong 5G mobile phone in Gree official website was 1,956, and the sales volume of Gree Dong Mingzhu store applet was 2,284, among which the sales volume of two mobile phones, Aurora, and applets were exactly the same as those in official website.

As of 14: on December 21st, official website showed that 1956 sets of Dasong 5G mobile phones were sold. Source: Gree official mall

The slogan of "low price and high price" has never stopped since the first generation of Gree mobile phones came out in 215.

the first-generation mobile phone of gree uses snapdragon 41 quad-core processor, 1GB+8GB memory, 8 megapixels and Android 4.4.4 operating system, and the price is 16 yuan.

such a price/performance ratio can't even compare with the first generation of Red Rice Note released in 214. The enhanced version of Red Rice Note is equipped with Mediatek MT6592 eight nuclear processor, 2GB+16GB memory, and 13 million pixels, for only 999 yuan.

in 218, the configuration of Gree third-generation mobile phones still lags behind the market in the same period. On the hardware level, at that time, Snapdragon 855 processor and 6GB+128GB mobile phone were all over the street, but Gree's third-generation mobile phone still used the Snapdragon 821 processor released in 216 and the storage combination of 4GB+64GB. The models using Snapdragon 821, such as LeTV Pro3 and Xiaomi 5S, were being eliminated by the market.

On the software level, the Android 7.1.2 system adopted by Gree's third-generation mobile phones is also two generations behind the Android 9. system that was prevalent at that time.

another big difference of Gree mobile phone is that it is pre-installed with a photo of Dong Mingzhu, the head of Gree.

after the first generation of Gree mobile phones came into the market, Dong Mingzhu's photo was taken as the boot screen.

Source: Network

In this regard, Dong Mingzhu said: "Why does Gree mobile phone use my photo as the boot screen? Not because of saving advertising fees, but because I want to tell consumers that I am the founder of Gree mobile phone, which is to respect consumers. " In her view, Gree mobile phones do not rush sales at price wars, which is the performance of being responsible to consumers.

without market and word of mouth, is it too early to talk about being responsible to consumers?

In the face of bleak sales data, the "Iron Lady" adopted the way of "self-production and self-marketing" to digest. At the beginning of 217, Gree's second-generation mobile phone was included in the year-end award of employees. After the Spring Festival, all employees were also required to use Gree mobile phones, otherwise they could not enter the company.

Source: Network

In addition to employees, Gree mobile phones have also been "bundled" to suppliers who purchase air conditioners, and forced to "Amway" to installation workers, otherwise they would not be able to log in to the system normally to receive work orders, making the latter call "I can't afford it".

Source: Network

Chen Zili, then Marketing Minister of Gree Electric, once said that Gree did not force suppliers to purchase mobile phones, but only cooperated for mutual benefit. Dong Mingzhu's response is even more domineering: "You are my employee. Why don't you use my mobile phone? You have no confidence in your products. Why should the market recognize you?"

The "bad outlook" of the outside world has not shaken Dong Mingzhu's determination to make a mobile phone. She believes that Gree mobile phone has not failed, and making mobile phones can bring many technical extensions. Gree has always insisted on independent research and development, and success is only a matter of time.

where will the technical extension of gree mobile phone point? The boot screen seems to be the answer. Below the photo of the head of the company is an "ambitious" greeting: "This is one of the first mobile phones launched by Gree after it entered the global top 5. It can not only have interpersonal communication, but also open the door to Gree's" smart and environmentally friendly home ".

when did gree, who is mainly engaged in air-conditioning business, begin to participate in the blueprint of smart home? In 218, "Gree Zero Carbon Health Home" was launched in the world, integrating two smart home systems, namely "energy saving" and "intelligence", which enabled the home to realize one-stop energy control independently.

As early as the 214 annual report, Gree indicated that it would enter the smart home field in the future, and it would use Gree mobile phones as the center to connect smart homes.

Source: Gree's annual report in 214

According to the calculation of the Household Appliance Industry Information Center, by 22, the intelligent rates of white goods, household appliances and kitchen appliances will reach 45%, 28% and 25% respectively, and it is conservatively predicted that smart home appliances will bring 1.2 trillion yuan of market demand in the next three years.

Source: Prospective Industry Research Institute

Gree didn't choose the wrong course, but in contrast, Midea and Haier, which have more successful product diversification, may have more say.

In Midea Group's revenue composition, HVAC and consumer appliances account for 43.12% and 35.72% respectively. In 218, Midea launched COLMO, a high-end brand of AI technology household appliances. According to the official war report, COLMO's sales in double 11 increased by 29.94% year-on-year, and it has gained prominent share in some high-end markets.

Haier relies on COSMOPlat, an industrial internet platform, to let users participate in the intelligent manufacturing system in the whole process. Haier Zhijia App was launched in December 219, turning "selling single items" into "selling scenes", so that consumers can not only buy goods online, but also control smart home appliances.

Although Gree's sub-brands include Dasong, which specializes in household appliances such as heaters, rice cookers, humidifiers and electric fans, and Jinghong, which focuses on refrigerators, washing machines and kitchen and bathroom appliances, the market volume is not large. Aside from air conditioning, Gree's household appliances revenue accounted for only 3.19%.

Gree Electric's operating income is divided into products. Source: 22 semi-annual report

It is still difficult to expand the territory of home appliances, so how can we pry open the door of smart home by mobile phones?

gree's obsession with mobile phones is more like a "tragedy" caused by "one billion bets" than seeing the prospect of smart home.

Source: Network

In 213, Dong Mingzhu and Lei Jun made a bet of one billion, and it was agreed that whoever had a high turnover five years later would win.

Since then, Gree has officially entered the field of smart phones, but unfortunately, with the label of "low price and high price", Gree mobile phones have not been able to occupy a place in the market so far.

In the official shopping mall "Gree Dong Mingzhu Store", the total sales volume of Gree third-generation mobile phones starting from 3,4 yuan in the three years to December 16th was only over 1,, which was even less than the sales volume of some models of Xiaomi mobile phones in one month or one day.

nevertheless, gree never gave up in the competition with Xiaomi.

according to the "global smart home invention patent list in the first half of 219" jointly released by IPRdaily, an intellectual property industry media, and incoPat Innovation Index Research Center, Gree ranked second in the world with 219 patents, first in China, and third in Xiaomi with 121 patents.

in August this year, Dong Mingzhu also talked about "one billion bets" in CCTV's "Relativity" dialogue program, saying that Xiaomi products are basically produced by OEM, which belongs to light assets, while Gree's household appliances have always insisted on making their own, which belongs to heavy assets, and the two are not on the same plane. In the five-year period, Gree won.

Source: Network

Interestingly, in the second year after the gambling contract expired, Xiaomi's revenue surpassed Gree. However, Dong Mingzhu did not regard the sixth year as a narrow victory for Xiaomi, laughing that this was the beginning of the second "five years".

If the second "five years" is really counted from 219, the story of Gree's smart home has just begun. Can it be snatched away by the core technology of air conditioning?

CMB International's research report in December pointed out that the current competition pattern of smart home market is relatively scattered, and both Apple and domestic mobile phone brands (Huawei/Xiaomi /OPPO/vivo) have layouts, among which Xiaomi enjoys the first-Mover advantage, and adopts the "smart phone +AIoT" two-wheel drive mode to build a perfect product structure, and aims to expand the series of home appliances represented by smart TV in the next stage.

does gree, which claims to connect smart homes with mobile phones, imitate Xiaomi?

Throughout the industrial chain layout of Xiaomi, mobile phone manufacturing, intelligent hardware, daily consumables, communication, chips and finance are all involved, covering almost all IoT products.

The mobile phone manufacturing ecological chain alone includes many enterprises including screens, batteries, display motherboards, glass, ceramic appearance, ODM, etc.

Source: Network

According to Xingye Research, by Q2, 22, Xiaomi had invested in more than 3 upstream and downstream industrial chain companies, and its after-tax net profit was RMB 1.16 billion, up 413% from the previous month. Now it has entered the "harvest" period from "sowing". Even with the decline in smartphone sales, IoT revenue still maintained a positive growth rate of 2.1% year-on-year.

On the other hand, Gree has not invested in mobile phone technology and industrial chain, even though it has frequently crossed the border in recent years. Recently, its foreign investment has focused on medical equipment and energy.

Therefore, there are always doubts about "Gree's making mobile phones for nothing". In view of the latest Dasong 5G mobile phone, although Gree Electric calls it the deployment at the group level, we hope to better push its secondary sub-brands to the foreground.

I'm afraid it's hard to say when I'll see Gree's "masterpiece" of mobile phones, considering Dong Mingzhu's announcement that Gree will invest 5 billion yuan in the field of independent chips, and the rhetoric that "Huawei (mobile phones) sell first, and we'll be second".

Editor/Kicked Sister

Typesetting/Huang Jian

Picture/Oriental IC, Gree Official Mall, Gree Financial Report, Prospective Industry Research Institute, Network

Source/IT Times WeChat official account vittimes