October 30, Shanghai Oriental Sports Center
With Yu Chengdong’s shout of “Together, we can do it” and voices of thanks resounding throughout the venue, the Huawei Mate 40 series “Leap to Extraordinary” domestic launch conference came to a successful conclusion amid the applause of the audience…
Normally, this press conference is just a routine product launch conference held by Huawei once a year. However, unlike previous ones, this press conference has attracted the most attention ever, because everyone is eager to learn from the press conference about Huawei’s current situation under the sanctions, how to develop in the future, and how to overcome this difficulty.
Exterior view of Huawei Mate40 launch event
While everyone who was concerned about this matter was secretly worried about Huawei, this press conference answered most of the questions. On that day, Huawei released the powerful Mate 40 series mobile phones, WATCH GT 2 Pro watch, FreeBuds Studio headphones, Huawei Sound, in-car smart screen and HI full-stack smart car solutions.
Huawei Mate 40 launch event key visual
In these products or solutions, we can also see some new ideas that Huawei has brought to the entire industry, such as “multi-screen collaboration”, “sub-meter lane navigation”, “intelligent payment”, etc., which effectively solve the linkage between mobile phones and computers and improve productivity. With the release of these products and new ideas, we can see that although Yu Chengdong said that Huawei’s mobile phone sales have declined due to the impact of sanctions, Huawei does not seem to be what everyone is worried about. Is this true? Where does the confidence come from?
The lost confession comes from a strong belief
At the “Leap to Extraordinary” press conference, there were two touching videos: one was a short video about poplar trees, which not only expressed the origin and meaning of the new color scheme of Mate 40, but also expressed Huawei’s tenacity and perseverance in the face of difficulties; the other video was about “Together, We Can”, and the background of the story was a touching story of “fighting the epidemic” at first glance, but if you taste it in depth, you can feel that Huawei and all of its partners are also “fighting the epidemic” at present? It’s just that this “epidemic” is not a natural disaster, but a man-made one.
Huawei’s Yu Chengdong is describing the business situation
What I didn’t expect, including the author, was that Yu Chengdong did not shy away from the current situation and problems. In the last part of the press conference, he made a sad but very sincere confession. He said:
“We are trying every possible way to solve our supply problem. After the overseas launch of our Mate 40, the pre-order volume exceeded our supply capacity. We are stepping up production recently. I hope everyone can understand and wait patiently”; “For the full-scenario strategy of 1+8+N, the product supply of +8 and +N is better than 1. I also hope that everyone can give more support. We will provide you with good products through continuous innovation.”; “In the case of shortage, our sales began to decline, but I believe that no matter how difficult it is, our business must continue”, “We will also have more and better products to provide to everyone. Here, I would like to especially thank the vast number of consumers around the world and across the country for their support and love. Thank you, thank you! With your support, we are full of confidence in the future. Together, we can do it!”
The above descriptions let us know the current status of Huawei’s consumer business, and also let us see the layout and development of other businesses. So what are the businesses? How are they developing now? With these questions in mind, CNMO had a detailed understanding with Zhu Ping, President of Huawei Consumer Business and Greater China after the meeting.
Zhu Ping, President of Huawei Consumer Business Group and Greater China
Accelerate business upgrades and focus on five major industries
When it comes to accelerating business upgrades, we have to review the changes that Huawei has brought to the entire mobile terminal industry over the years.
Important performance points of Huawei Mate 40 series
Taking mobile phones as an example, we can see many shadows of Huawei, such as the well-known super night scene, plain leather version, the first integration of AI chip into SoC, the world’s first SN/NSA 5G SoC chip, wireless reverse charging, matrix rear camera arrangement, dual shooting on the same screen, etc. These have basically become standard features of various mobile phones, and they first appeared on Huawei mobile phones.
If we take the Mate series as an example, we can see movie-level lenses, the first 7nm smartphone SoC, the first 22.5W super-fast charging, and so on. All of the above provide a reference for the design and direction of future mobile phones, and also affect the direction of global product design. If Chinese Kung Fu exports culture, then Huawei exports the values of its products – values based on solving the pain points of global mobile phone users and bringing the best technology and innovation to users. Of course, this value is not limited to mobile phones. It is precisely because of this accumulation that it is much easier for Huawei to accelerate the upgrading of its own business.
Zhu Ping, President of Huawei Consumer Business Group Greater China, and CNMO shared some ideas and actions to accelerate business upgrades. These ideas and actions mainly focus on industries such as PC/PAD, wearable/audio, smart screens, and IoT.
Zhu Ping believes that in the next two to three years, the domestic IoT market capacity will exceed one trillion yuan, which is much higher than the scale of the mobile phone industry. The domestic notebook/desktop industry combined has a market capacity of hundreds of billions, the smart screen industry is also hundreds of billions, the wearable market is several hundred million, and the audio market is also huge. In Zhu Ping’s view, the development layout of these industries is Huawei’s next major strategy.
This grand strategy, judging from the results of its implementation, is still very encouraging. For example, in smart wearables, Huawei has already occupied the first place in market share, and its market share in notebooks in China has also jumped to second place. The number of smart screens is also climbing, and the development of audio and IoT is also improving. All of this has actually made Huawei people and partners busier than before. In the past, internal staff and partners only needed to understand mobile phones, but now, not only must they understand mobile phones, but they must also understand the product features and characteristics of the remaining four industries. In the words of Zhu Ping, “None of us can say that you only understand mobile phones, smart screens, and PCs. We require everyone in the five major industries, or N major industries, to master basic capabilities so that this scenario-oriented capability can be built.”
After a deep understanding of the scenario mentioned by Zhu Ping, we can feel that Huawei has paved a sunny road for itself, its partners, and the industry that is not only in the five major industries, but also beyond the five major industries!
Full coverage of all scenarios
Full scenario means that people are at the core and cover all aspects of life. Huawei’s full scenario strategy was not proposed in a short period of time, but started before 1+8+N.
Looking at global technology companies, Huawei is currently at the forefront of the full-scenario people-centric approach. In terms of home scenarios, Huawei has the HiLink ecosystem and smart selection products, which include most home life products other than dishes, chopsticks, grains and oils, such as smart screens, air purifiers, routers, lights, smart speakers, sensors, etc., which have fully met the necessary conditions for whole-house intelligence. In terms of office scenarios, Huawei’s notebooks, Pads, cloud, printing, smart computing, etc., include the key elements of digital office. In terms of travel scenarios, HiCar, Hi full-stack smart car solutions, in-car smart screens, sub-meter lane navigation, etc. In terms of consumer entertainment, Huawei Hetu, Smart Sense Payment, FreeBuds Studio, Devialet speakers…
Huawei HiCar Ecosystem Coverage
If it weren’t for the early preparation and continuous advancement, I believe that not only Huawei, but any technology company in the world would not be able to launch products, collaborative systems and solutions covering so many scenarios in less than a year. Regarding the advancement speed of all scenarios, Zhu Ping said with a smile: “When everyone thinks Huawei people are very idle now, we are actually busier than before.” What is Zhu Ping, President of Greater China and in charge of marketing and channels, busy with? Of course, he is busy upgrading.
Full-scenario service means that the stores used to display and sell products need to be upgraded, the service experience needs to be upgraded, the knowledge structure of the staff needs to be upgraded, and the industrial chain needs to be upgraded. Zhu Ping revealed: “Huawei is about to open a service flagship store in Yingke Center near Sanlitun, Beijing. This service flagship store has a usable area of more than 750 square meters and is the largest store. In this store, we want to try out some of our personalized or advanced services, including hardware, software, and environment, so that we can promote them to other stores across the country.”
Regarding being busy, Zhu Ping also gave an example: “In the past, whether it was the store manager or the staff, or the material content, or the products, or the ability of a single product, you only knew this, he only knew that. Now we use 100 days to work hard for 100 days to complete the transformation of the knowledge structure, and everyone has the basic ability of the entire industry. For exams, young people are eager to learn. We provide them with a platform, they are willing to learn, and with good methods, in 100 days, by the Spring Festival next year, we will see if we can really improve our ability to face the entire industry by a big step, so that consumers can vividly understand and accept the functions of our full-scenario products and the benefits they bring to life. This is a challenge at the operational level. Work hard for 100 days, just 100 days, three months to solve this challenge.”
Together, we can
5 major industries, all scenarios, store upgrades, service upgrades, industrial chain upgrades, personnel knowledge structure upgrades… Is this the Huawei under sanctions? Yes, it is Huawei!
The sanctions did not stagnate Huawei’s consumer business, but instead accelerated Huawei’s progress in covering all scenarios. Some Huawei merchants I have contacted before were all worried about whether they could continue. At that time, due to insufficient understanding, they could only comfort them by saying “You have to trust Huawei”. After watching the press conference and chatting with Zhu Ping, I can pat my chest and assure the merchants who have asked me before that not only can they do it, but they will also grow bigger and bigger!
For consumers, there is even less to worry about. Now you may only use Huawei phones, but by next year, you may use more high-quality Huawei products, such as consumer entertainment, smart home, etc.
For the supply chain, the procurement volume of the five major industries may be higher than before. For the industry, Huawei is still a weather vane, and a weather vane in more aspects.
As the two videos tell us, when we have the resilience of poplar trees and unite together, what can’t we do?
Together, that’s it!
