NIO Phone 2: Can Weilai’s Cross-Border Success Continue?

2024-07-20 05:28:00

When it comes to “cross-border car manufacturing,” I believe one of the most successful cases in many people’s minds is Xiaomi. Market data shows that Xiaomi SU7 has received more than 80,000 pre-orders within 24 hours of the announcement, which is quite fast.

At the same time, many car companies are trying to enter the smartphone market For example, NIO released its first NIO smartphone at the NIO IN 2023 event, which also caused a huge discussion. But contrary to the car maker Xiaomi, the market is quite worried about the arrival of NIO Phone The most important question,.Many consumers do not believe that car companies can make a good cell phone.

(Source: Weilai)

NIO CEO Li Bin is actually quite serious about building mobile phones. NIO ecosystem. Recently, NIO Phone 2 has quietly received a network access license. Maybe we can wait for it to arrive at this year’s NIO Innovation Day.

Although NIO Phone is not as successful as Xiaomi SU7, it is one of the most successful cases of cross-border mobile phone manufacturing by car companies Its iterative model is about to be released, so NIO Phone 2 can let NIO its Find yourself a position in the mobile phone market?

Prices are no longer trusted,

NIO Phone 2 is the ultimate phone for car owners

In fact, the first-generation NIO Phone is not as bad as everyone imagined. Whether it is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 flagship version, 16GB + 1TB storage configuration, or 50 million triple-camera solutions, they are mainstream mainstream hardware configurations. all. Therefore, as an iterative model, the configuration of NIO Phone 2 will inevitably evolve towards the “top level”.

In terms of core configuration, NIO Phone 2 is expected to be equipped with the initial version of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. This version is currently selected on the Red Magic 9S Pro series, the core frequency is slightly increased and the theoretical performance is released It will also be tougher.The storage solution should offer a new version of 24GB + 1TBafter all, large memory has started to become popular, and it is not impossible to use 24GB memory if you want to “accumulate wild contents”.

The biggest change to the design of the NIO Phone 2 is still the home screen.The curved screen of the previous generation has been replaced by a curved screen with equal depth on all four sides for the specific style, please see Xiaomi Mi 14 Ultra. It must be said that although NIO Phone has received a lot of “pumping”, the design and aesthetics of NIO is still decent online. The screen size is still similar to the previous generation at 6.78 inches The display panel of the Samsung E7 has a 2K resolution and supports LTPO dynamic refresh rate.

(Source: 9to5Google, NIO Phone 2 test plan)

In addition, the 100W fast charging is mentioned in the network certification Although it is not explicitly stated that NIO Phone 2 will support wireless charging, considering that wireless charging is a necessary function for NIO car owners, charging without wire. theoretically in this generation.

In the imaging department, NIO Phone 2 will most likely use the three-camera solution of the previous generation, which is a 50-megapixel main camera, a 50-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 50-megapixel telephoto camera. However, this year, all flagship models are rolling out telephoto lenses, and the first-generation NIO Phone’s main camera and telephoto lens have clearly fallen behind the mainstream If NIO wants to maintain its flagship phone status, imaging must also be taken seriously. .

The biggest problem with the first generation NIO Phone is the pricing The starting price of 6,499 yuan is much higher than the 5,999 yuan of the same generation Xiaomi Mi 13 Ultra Even if NIO car owners can use points for deduction , it does not add up. According to reports, NIO Phone 2 will add a storage solution, which will reduce the initial price and bring it back to the average level of flagship phones.

(Source: Weilai)

Together, the competitiveness of NIO Phone 2 is not too clear especially this year, all ultra-large models are accumulating materials and prices Some brands, mainly OPPO and vivo, have also launched new AI technologies many consumers of their change phone, and this naturally includes some NIO car owners. Li Bin once mentioned that NIO’s idea of ​​making a mobile phone is to give iPhone and Android owners a better choice However, if the NIO Phone product itself is not strong, even NIO owners may find it difficult to be willing to pay for it.

Sprint into the mobile phone market,

It’s time for Weilai to give it a try

After Weilai, many car companies have started to enter the mobile phone market, such as Polestar and Hongqi Although their models are similar, the latter depends on the Meizu mobile phone team and hardly needs they spend too much on manufacturing mobile phones. But NIO is different Although NIO Phone has some shadow of OPPO, it is a complete and independent product line.

Looking back at the market performance of the first generation NIO Phone, it is not difficult to find NIO’s dilemma in the mobile phone market and technology enthusiasts.As a first-generation product, NIO Phone still has some shortcomings in hardware configuration and software optimization, which has made it fail to occupy a larger share in the fierce market competition.

(Source: Weilai)

More importantly, the sales model of NIO Phone has hidden dangers to NIO’s development in the mobile phone market Unlike Xiaomi, which makes cars, even non-Xiaomi users can buy them as they want Yes significant restrictions on its sales. We also mentioned earlier that NIO Phone is a relatively independent product line, which means that it also requires investment in design and research and development funds. Hardware supply and algorithm development must be operated independently, which undoubtedly increases costs.

Li Bin also answered the NIO Phone sales problem.

It can be said that this is really a big difference between the intersection of car companies and the intersection of mobile phone manufacturers in comparison, the demand of car companies to manufacture mobile phones is to serve the existing customers who develop or radiate ordinary consumers in the mobile phone market It seems that the person has little interest. However, NIO Phone’s plan is to update it every year. If this product line is never profitable, it will also affect NIO itself.

Xiaolei said that the NIO Phone 2 sales method may not have the same strict restrictions as the previous generation For example, the official center will be opened so that ordinary consumers can also try to buy NIO phones.The best way to learn from the successful experiences of other technology brands and expand market coverage is through a sales model that combines online and offline sales.

The advantage of NIO Phone itself is that the system is quite pure It is a zero advertising system in the current mobile phone market still guaranteed. If NIO chooses to open it for sale, then the NIO Phone can still attract some consumers with pure system requirements to buy it, and then gradually change it in the target group of NIO Auto. In fact, Xiaomi SU7 can reach more than 80,000 reservations within 24 hours, which is inseparable from rice fans accumulated over the years.

(Source: Weilai)

If NIO wants to continue launching a new mobile phone every year, it’s time to think of a new way out.

It all depends on the “car fans” to pay for it.

Can the NIO Phone plan still work?

The update rhythm of the NIO Phone is consistent with that of the iPhone Although there will be no standard and Pro versions, a new phone will still be launched every year. However, Li Bin later also revealed that NIO Phone will currently try to make the third generation whether it will succeed depends on the specific performance.

As mentioned before, NIO car owners still have the current scope of NIO Phone’s main service, so what Li Bin said “look at the performance” probably refers to the sales numbers of NIO cars, and the opinions of NIO phone owners on NIO Phone. How high is the support rate.

NIO’s 2023 annual financial report showed its total revenue to be RMB 55.618 billion, a year-on-year increase of 12.9%. In 2023, NIO delivered a total of 160,038 vehicles, an increase of 8.2% on the previous year.Judging from the delivery data, NIO’s growth continues, which lays a strong foundation for the development of the NIO Phone.

(Source: Weilai)

However, Xiaolei also found that a lot of information about the first-generation NIO Phone appeared on second-hand trading platforms, judging by the information on these sellers, most of them are NIO car owners. This shows from the side that the NIO Phone doesn’t seem to be able to be used by NIO owners as their main phone, which is somewhat contrary to the original intention of making NIO a mobile phone.

(Source: Xianyu)

If NIO Phone wants to keep updating, the key lies in two aspects on the other hand, we still need to understand the basic needs of NIO car owners, such as other aspects besides car-machine interconnection that Weilai does well, such as imaging, AI , game performance, etc.

In the final analysis, as a mobile phone, NIO Phone might not have too many faults. We also believe that with continuous iterative upgrading, NIO will become more familiar with making mobile phones, and technological innovation and services will consider the actual feelings of consumers more wait until the release date to find out.