Reinventing the Millennium

Chapter 1372 Mars 8.8 (4k)

As the time gets closer to the autumn press conference, Fang Zhuo is unexpectedly calm, but the top executives of Yike and Bingxin are already agitated.

Mars 8.8, this is a generation of products that surpasses global competitors, and it is also a product that surpasses itself.

If it follows the normal iteration, there should be Mars 8, but now it has leaped to 8.8, this innovation is particularly exciting.

"President Fang, everyone is waiting for your countdown. We Yiguo have also made a countdown, just waiting to take over the event. How is it, are you nervous?"

On the morning of November 14, with only one day left before the press conference, Su Wei used her face to scan and opened the door of the president's office on 23 Yike.

"I don't seem nervous, I shouldn't be nervous, but I seem to be nervous." Fang Zhuo was drinking tea, and said with a smile after taking a sip.

"Recently, many domestic and foreign media have been discussing Yike's products. I think even Penguin has rarely given positive comments." Su Wei talked about the public reaction, "People think that Yike has been developing for so long, and the product is almost not fancy, but solid step by step. It is you, the leader, who is responsible for the work. Therefore, this Mars 8.8 is worth looking forward to."

Along with the countdown, there is also the code name of this product. The meaning of 8.8 is not difficult to interpret. The mainstream opinion is that this comes from Yike's confidence and is a transcendence in product.

Yike's autumn press conference is tomorrow at 7 pm Beijing time, and as of today, the countdown has appeared in global offline landmarks such as New York Times Square and Lujiazui in Shanghai.

Whether it is the media or consumers, everyone's expectations have been raised.

"Unfortunately, if the press conference was held a few days earlier, our Yiguo Shopping Festival could have been pushed forward again. Now we can only hold a separate event for Yike." Su Wei said again.

Fang Zhuo just listened with a smile.

Su Wei glanced at the neatly arranged documents on the desk and felt that the man didn't seem to be working before she came in, so she asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"Thinking about the future." Fang Zhuo answered very honestly.

"Are you under a lot of pressure?" Su Wei asked.

"No, it's getting less and less. I'm just thinking about what kind of decision can bring a better future." Fang Zhuo handed the teacup to Teacher Su, "Qi He has already had a brief chat with Sogou and Sohu. He said that he wanted to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, which is right."

Su Wei added hot water and listened attentively.

"I'm considering whether to let Yike hold Bingxin in the future and completely connect the upstream and downstream. If the global business shrinks, it will be more efficient to enter new fields and compete in an integrated manner." Fang Zhuo got up from behind the desk, slowly walked to the French window, and looked into the distance, "Yike and Bingxin still have a lot to do. In recent years, Silicon Valley and Shencheng have established many research and development projects. If Yike encounters strong interference, the incremental space in China will become larger in the future."

Yike's main product is consumer electronics.

In the future, the integration of Yike and Bingxin can expand the business field. First, the global semiconductor supply chain will be reshaped, and Bingxin's role and significance will be higher. Second, the sales of cutting-edge products of companies such as Intel and Nvidia may also be restricted.

These will provide more opportunities for Yike and Bingxin.

In the past ten years, Yike's core products have transitioned from players to smartphones. In the future, it may be possible to provide more solutions including hardware to the industry.

Bingxin's current 16nm is already very advanced. It is impossible to return the purchased equipment. Only the subsequent debugging will become a problem. These can be solved, and some projects that repeat the wheel have been underway.

Even if it remains at the 16nm level, this process is sufficient for many products. For example, China has intensively introduced many support policies for the new energy vehicle industry this year, and Bingxin's production capacity allocation has changed slightly.

Of course, Fang Zhuo believes that after solving some difficulties, Bingxin's process technology will not stay at 16nm, but it may be more difficult in the most cutting-edge fields.

"A behemoth integrating software and hardware?" Su Wei summed up and suddenly smiled.

Fang Zhuo saw Teacher Su's smile and guessed where the smile came from: "Right, we mentioned software and hardware integration when we made the player, but we didn't expect that it might be this form of integration in the end."

That "software and hardware integration" is not this "software and hardware integration".

"It sounds good. President Fang is far-sighted. Anyway, he has money." Su Wei gave a thumbs up.

"It's not that I am far-sighted, but someone will force us to work together." Fang Zhuo returned to his seat and twisted his stiff neck. "Come on, let's see tomorrow first."

Su Wei also looked forward to the effect of tomorrow's new product. As for the challenges faced by Yi Ke... If the sky falls, there is a man in front of you to support it. Just do your job well.

Yi Ke's autumn press conference is at 7 pm, which is also 6 am Eastern Time in the United States.

Because it is Yi Ke and the confidence shown by Yi Ke, this press conference can be said to be eye-catching in the industry. Almost all senior executives of mobile phone brands have set alarms in advance to pay attention to the appearance of the annual flagship.

And many European and American media reporters have arrived in Shanghai in advance, wanting to present the news from Yi Ke as soon as possible.

At six o'clock in the afternoon, many guests had entered the "Yike Center", which has gradually become the regular venue for Yike press conferences. In addition to employees, partners, and media reporters, Fang Zhuo's personal friends also came this time.

Like Zhang Chaoyang, the head of Sohu...

Domestic reporters are very familiar with this person, but they think that the lighting at the Yike venue today may not be very good, and the lighting makes this person's expression flicker.

Wang Xiaochuan, who was sitting next to Zhang Chaoyang, probably had a good angle, and his expression was very bright.

However, like them, including Xiong Xiaoge of IDG and Wang Fengyi of Shenxin Kechuang, they were sitting in the second and third rows. Sitting in the first row were Bingxin executives who had never attended the press conference before. Liang Mengsong, Hu Zhengming, Qiu Ciyun and others were all present.

As usual, the press conference was still live broadcast at home and abroad. While the time was not up, the camera and screen were being debugged, but the countdown that was still on was very conspicuous.

10, 9, 8, 7...

3, 2, 1!

The countdown entered the last ten seconds, and all the lights in the venue went out, with only one beam of light shining on Fang Zhuo, the head of Yike, who stepped onto the stage.

I don’t know who shouted the countdown at the scene, but in the last three seconds, the whole audience had gathered their voices.

When the countdown ended, the screen of Yike Center burst out the flagship "Mars 8.8". At the same time, the billboards of Yike official website, New York Times Square, London Piccadilly Circus and other places all showed the same words.

Mars 8.8 is here.

The lights of the press conference were on the stage.

Fang Zhuo raised his hand to look at the smart watch, and smiled at the guests and the global audience: "Hello, everyone, see you again."

He continued without waiting for applause: "The company asked me to talk about the smart watch on my wrist first, but I was chatting with friends before going on stage just now, and everyone was particularly concerned about this year's mobile phones, so I adjusted the order and talked about Mars 8.8, which we are very satisfied with."

Some cheers rang out at the scene.

Still before the cheers and applause got louder, the head of Yike took out this year's flagship Mars 8.8 from his pocket.

A black 5.1-inch full-screen Mars flagship standard version.

Compared with the previous generation Mars 7, its four corners have become rounded and shiny under the light.

"We still have to thank our screen supplier. Since we released the full-screen mobile phone, it has been loved by consumers all over the world. Sharp has also worked hard on it in the past two years. Last year, we solved the production capacity problem, and this year, we made the screen more beautiful."

Fang Zhuo did not open the screen with his hands this time, but directly picked up the front camera and unlocked the screen directly.

He observed it for a while, as if he was looking at the resolution on the full screen.

"Sharp exclusively provided us with a 2560X1440 pixel screen this year. I think the display effect is still amazing. You can try it out after you get it. The picture is very delicate."

"Oh, yes, I seem to have said last year that we have developed a facial algorithm. This year, I think it is mature enough to show you. Just like I just did, you can unlock it by swiping your face. It's very smooth."

Fang Zhuo locked the screen, swiped it, and locked it again. This time, he switched to fingerprint unlocking. The difference between the two methods is not visible to the naked eye.

He talked about the security issues of facial recognition and the efforts made in this regard, and continued to introduce this year's small changes: "This year we used a better vibration motor, which can bring more operation possibilities to everyone, including the presentation effects of some mobile games. I tried it when I was bored on a plane before, and I think it's pretty good."

"This vibration effect can be turned off, including when you tap the screen with your fingers..."

Fang Zhuo tapped the phone screen twice with his knuckles, the body vibrated slightly, and a successful screenshot popped up on the screen.

He then pulled down from the top of the screen with two fingers and took another successful screenshot.

"We have made some small designs this year to facilitate your daily use, such as gestures, which can reduce the tediousness of clicking into the function menu and can also be customized."

"Of course, you can also call Siri, which can also be done."

Fang Zhuo introduced the functions of Mars 8.8 step by step.

It's just that the screen has improved, face recognition is available, and gestures seem to be more convenient, but...are these Mars 8.8?

Are these the flagships presented by Yike with a one-month countdown?

It seems that it can be named Mars 8 directly.

It's not that the screen is not delicate, and the face unlocking is not smooth, but the one-month-long publicity has raised the expectations of many consumers to a very high level.

The introduction of the head of Yike on the stage is still continuing, from Siri to wireless charging.

To be honest, wireless charging is indeed quite advanced nowadays, but this is not unique to Yike. P has already provided such a function, well, Apple did not.

Such Mars 8.8 does not seem to give a big enough surprise.

The guests in the audience were somewhat disappointed. It wasn't that the flagship wasn't good enough, but the improvement was not beyond their expectations. Just as Mr. Fang said, he mentioned facial recognition last year, and this year it was just a supplement.

Are there any other improvements?

In the current competition of smartphones, the flagship-level technology, whether more or less, does not seem to bring too much choice to the majority of consumers.

From the end of the countdown to the halfway point of the introduction, the performance of Mars 8.8 was not as shocking as the full-screen display that Yike brought to consumers before.

"Mr. Zhang, I saw a lot of disappointed voices in the YouTube comments."

Zheng Jingjie, the vice president of Taiwan Journal, accompanied the leader Zhang Zhongtong to watch Yike's press conference today. He was also watching the real-time feedback and noticed that too much publicity may have caused backlash.

"Product innovation is difficult. The innovations that Yike has come up with in recent years are not easy. Therefore, it is the leader of high-end mobile phone brands." Zhang Zhongmo shook his head slightly, "It's pretty good, but it seems to be just good."

Zheng Jingjie nodded and said with a smile: "I see that Fang Zhuo has not introduced this year's Zhurong chip for a long time. I wonder if Yike will have any comparison parameters after getting Samsung and Apple."

"There is a problem with Qualcomm's design this time." Zhang Zhongmo frowned when he heard about the other two brands. "Users already have Trump's heat dissipation problem, but Apple's is good enough."

He does not believe that Zhurong chip can surpass Apple's A8 in terms of parameters. In order to successfully pry Apple as a major customer from Samsung, Taiwanese journalists participated in the design of Apple's A8 a year ago.

Therefore, the A8 can better reflect the profound knowledge of Taiji’s 20nm manufacturing process than the Snapdragon 810.

Zhang Zhongtong feels that Qualcomm may have been affected by the recent turmoil and has become somewhat self-conscious.

He looked at the young head of Yike on the computer screen, listened to his introduction of the Android system update, and shook his head slightly: "Turn it off, wait until the news reports are ready, let's go to the meeting first."

The reporter’s meeting was at 7:30. Zhang Zhongyan postponed the time because of Yike’s press conference, but now, he does not think that Yike Mars 8.8 has too much technology to surpass its competitors.

This time the Mars 8.8 seems to be a bucket phone that integrates advanced technologies. It has facial recognition and wireless charging, and the front camera that was previously limited to a full screen has been enhanced... and so on.

Zhang Zhongtong and Zheng Jingjie entered the conference room while walking and chatting. Because the Snapdragon 810 equipped by Samsung has some performance flaws, this meeting is to discuss cooperating with Qualcomm to launch the new Snapdragon 811 in an attempt to solve the currently criticized problems.

As for whether it can be solved... At present, it seems that Qualcomm is not sufficiently prepared to abandon its own architecture and use the public version.

The theme of the meeting is Qualcomm, and it is inevitable to talk about the extraordinary shareholders' meeting to be held today.

"Qualcomm's Jacobs is relieved this time, Yike's mobile phone will not have too much impact." Zhang Zhongmo commented.

Everyone at the meeting laughed. Everyone was basically sure that Yike was behind the Qualcomm turmoil, and the activities of the two companies on the same day were inevitably suspicious.

However, the laughter is not over yet.

Vice President Zheng Jingjie glanced at the silent mobile phone screen and saw the sudden increase in comments on YouTube. He scrolled up and down and couldn't help but uttered in surprise: "Huh?"

Zhang Zhongmo turned his head and asked with his eyes.

Zheng Jingjie held the phone in front of his face and said at a loss: "8.8 is a 16nm chip..."

The strong wind swept through the conference room of the reporter, destroying the mood of everyone present. Everyone's face was filled with shock and disbelief.

Impossible, no, no, no, no, impossible...

Various thoughts came to Zhang Zhongtong's mind, and he ordered a beat later: "Turn on the live broadcast."

Zheng Jingjie hurriedly turned on the sound and heard the thanks from the head of Yike coming from inside.

“Thank you to Ice Core International for its efforts in this chip!”

The strong wind rolled up the dark clouds, and the name of Bingxin International was like lightning in the clouds, and then the rumble of thunder reached my ears.

Zhang Zhongtou didn't know where he was for a moment, but he felt that the storm was hitting his face.