Why are Apple and Xiaomi always "surpassed" by LeTV and Huawei?

How to surpass Apple? This is too attractive for mobile phone manufacturers, and the difficulty is proportional to the attractiveness. Of course, this is just conventional thinking. People who are well versed in innovation theory often believe in another saying, that is, "conventions are meant to be broken", so in the end, this question can be divided into two parts:

1. Can Apple be surpassed? Of course it can, it's just a matter of time.

2. So how can we surpass Apple? Actually, it involves the question of posture.

Niu Haotian, founder of wearable device manufacturer Weloop, once told Leifeng.com, "Although Apple is always beaten by its competitors, if we look back, we will find that almost every revolution in smartphones was led by it: touch technology, retina screen, fingerprint recognition, metal craftsmanship, coprocessors, etc..."

Therefore, in his opinion, "since others are following, it (Apple) should earn most of the profits in this industry." No one would go against profits. Therefore, in the process of "not following" or even "surpassing", there are always some contestants who will make distorted moves.

▌ LeTV cuts in on Apple

On January 4, 2016, Apple's supply chain reported that the iPhone 7 would not have a 3.5mm headphone jack in order to fit a larger battery in a smaller body. (In fact, rumors had already spread that the iPhone 7 would not have a 3.5mm audio jack half a year ago.)

As we all know, over the years, the "rumors" about new iPhones have become more and more reliable. Although this change cannot be said to change the world, in the mobile phone industry where hardware differentiation is getting smaller and smaller, this move can be regarded as a legitimate innovation.

Of course, the answer will have to wait until Apple’s fall new product launch conference in September this year, which happens to leave a not-so-long time window for competitors.

On April 10, 2016, the omnipotent Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced that LeTV Superphone 2 has been "launched". It is worth noting that its headphone jack will share the same port with the charger.

Although the release date of LeTV Superphone 2 has not been confirmed, Feng Xing, president of LeTV Mobile, said in an interview that "LeTV Superphone 2 will be released in late March or early April." Therefore, it is foreseeable that LeTV will soon become "the world's first company to launch a two-in-one phone with headphone/charging port." However, it is worth noting that how long after the release of this phone will it be available for purchase?

▌ Huawei cuts in on Apple

As we all know, before the release of iPhone 6s, one of the most anticipated features was Force Touch. However, the final plot was like this:

In May 2014, before the release of iPhone 6, rumors were rife that the iPhone 6 would use a sapphire screen. As a result, Huawei preemptively released the Ascend P7 in Europe and provided a small number of (high-end) customized models with sapphire screens, hoping to steal the limelight from Apple as the "world's first sapphire screen phone".

At the IFA exhibition just now (September 4-8, 2015), Huawei released the Mate S mobile phone, and the biggest highlight is the use of force touch screen. No, strictly speaking, only a small number of the highest-end versions use force touch screen, repeating the old trick. As we all know, it is rumored that the new iPhone on September 9 will use force touch screen technology, after all, Apple has already mass-produced this technology on Apple Watch.

"This Week in Frontline: Huawei once again thinks it has stolen Apple's thunder"

History always repeats itself. Two months after the release of iPhone 6s/6s Plus, the Mate S finally went into mass production. However, even so, with both using Force Touch, the differences between Huawei and Apple are:

"For pressure touch, Apple uses an independent IC and a sensing layer under the screen, with 96 sensing channels to detect pressure. It took nearly a year to develop and countless tests were done. Do you know how many sensing channels the Mate S has? One. Look at the difference rationally."

——Mocha RQ

▌ LeTV, the company that cuts off Xiaomi

In an interview with CCTV, Lei Jun once revealed his recent troubles: "Almost all of my peers try to step on Xiaomi during press conferences. After becoming the number one company in China, Xiaomi has suddenly changed from a disruptor and challenger to a defender against attacks from others.

I haven’t quite gotten used to this mentality yet.” “Almost all of my peers” certainly include LeEco, which always cuts in on Xiaomi.

On January 5, 2016, LeEco released the world's first smartphone Le Max Pro equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2016). Perhaps the intention to intercept was too obvious, and the outside world soon questioned whether this was a "PPT phone". In the end, LeEco responded with action.

On February 22, at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) held in Barcelona, ​​LeEco announced that the Le Max Pro would be priced at RMB 1,999 and was available for sale on the same day in LeEco Mall. However, disappointingly, only 1,000 units were available for sale, and all of them were engineering models.

From the final effect, although this move did not create much of a sensation, it at least saved Lei Jun from using one more PPT at the Xiaomi 5 launch conference two days later - the world's first smartphone equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor. Now, Xiaomi 5 has been on sale for more than a month, but there is still no news about Le Max Pro.

Xiaomi and LeTV also played out the same plot in another field: on December 22, 2015, LeTV launched the "world's first curved ultra-thin split TV" - the 4th generation super TV Max65 Curved; on March 23, 2016, Xiaomi's product of the same dimension, the Xiaomi TV 3S, was finally released. Of course, this time LeTV still used an engineering machine and the release was still delayed.

▌ Conclusion

In the interview, Niu Haotian told Leifeng.com: "In fact, releasing technology first is a market strategy in itself, and there is nothing wrong with it. The key is whether the user experience has been truly improved after the technology is released first." Therefore, compared to "intercepting" for the sake of "intercepting", "the innovation efficiency of technology companies is the most essential issue."