ZTE 2022: Three major brands will leverage their respective strengths to achieve a 200% increase in domestic revenue

       News on the morning of January 20th, ZTE Terminal held a media communication meeting recently. Ni Fei, senior vice president of ZTE Corporation and president of the Terminal Business Unit, Zhang Lei, general manager of products for the China region of ZTE Terminal Business Unit, Yu Hang, senior vice president of Nubia Technologies Co., Ltd., and other senior executives communicated with the media online.

　　The conference focused on introducing the achievements of ZTE Terminal's three brands, ZTE, Nubia and Red Magic in the past year, as well as their strategies and specific actions in 2022.

　　This past year

　　In his opening remarks, Ni Fei mentioned that in 2021, ZTE terminals achieved rapid growth, with terminal shipments exceeding 100 million (including smartphones, home terminals, wireless Internet devices, etc.), consumer business shipments increased by 60%, domestic shipments increased by 150%, and overseas shipments increased by 50%.

　　When mentioning these data, Ni Fei admitted, "Of course, we also clearly recognize that ZTE's current size still lags behind that of our leading competitors, and we will continue to work hard."

　　Among these data, the chip part is particularly noteworthy. The global "chip shortage" in the past two years has made this industry the focus of widespread attention.

　　Among the more than 100 million terminal shipments mentioned above, ZTE's self-developed chips accounted for 50% of its shipments, which is already a very high proportion among various domestic manufacturers. At the same time, Ni Fei also mentioned that in the coming year, the outside world will "see more and more ZTE self-developed chips."

　　In addition to self-developed chips, ZTE has become the world's No. 1 brand in the field of mobile Internet. Ni Fei further explained that the first place mentioned here includes technology first, ZTE's 5G patents have achieved the first place in product performance in the entire industry; second, the global market share of CPE products has reached the first place in the world.

　　In addition, in the smartphone product line, the three brands also achieved different results.

　　The creation of three brands

　　In the past year, ZTE Terminal has shaped the brand personalities of its three brands, "ZTE", "Nubia" and "Red Magic", and let them move in different directions. The representative nodes are 1) ZTE's first launch of the highest resolution under-screen camera technology (reaching 400ppi), 2) Nubia Z30 Pro's industry-first multi-main camera computational fusion photography, 3) Red Magic gaming phone introduced the 165Hz refresh rate screen to the smartphone industry for the first time.

　　These are the different technical directions of the three brands, and what the entire industry has been pursuing in the past year, and what consumers care about most. After ZTE, more manufacturers are indeed following suit. For example, under-screen camera (full screen) is currently the most perceived external manifestation of consumers' attention; mobile phone photography has always been one of the most important user experiences. ZTE connects the algorithm with the picture, rather than simply pursuing the number of cameras; high refresh rate is the standard for gaming phones, and 165Hz is still rare, but Red Magic has maxed this number.

　　From Ni Fei's perspective, the three brands of ZTE terminals have clear division of labor and differentiated characteristics. For example, ZTE is positioned as a "creator" with both innovation and action; Nubia, individuality is a life attitude; Red Magic, born with passion, is only for gamers.

　　In the current industry context, users are no longer satisfied with a comprehensive mobile phone, and they demand more individuality on this basis. In layman's terms, they want "both and more". These three brands combine their different focus areas and audiences to give users more choices.

　　When talking about the future, Ni Fei mentioned that "we will continue to increase brand investment in 2022" and strengthen channel construction at the same time. In this way, ZTE Terminal's better and more creative products will be able to be known and used by more users.

　　In the future, ZTE Terminal has set itself a goal: to increase domestic revenue by 200% and internationally by 50% in 2022. Ni Fei said, "Only in this way can we have the opportunity to narrow the gap with leading manufacturers in smartphones as soon as possible."

　　In addition, ZTE's strategy not only includes improvements in smartphones, but also includes cooperation with the mobile Internet home terminal, which is the concept of "1+2+N" full-scenario smart lifestyle established by ZTE before. 1 refers to the mobile phone, 2 refers to personal data and family data, and N refers to peripheral ecological products.

　　Specific tasks for 2022

　　In the future, the three brands will further integrate their advantageous resources on the large platform of ZTE Terminal. For example, the management and operation of the Nubia brand will be placed in the ZTE Terminal team and operated by a team led by Zhang Lei, while Yu Hang's team will focus on the operation of the Red Magic gaming phone.

　　For big brands, this is inevitable. In the past, more than one mobile phone manufacturer has separated a group of people from the original foundation to create a new brand. The trend in the past two years is to return to the past. These changes are due to the need to work together in a fiercely competitive environment, and to the fact that each party can take what it needs on a large platform and have the opportunity to play to its own strengths.

　　Yu Hang introduced that the Red Magic brand will also launch new products in the field of hardware games for console games, such as e-sports screens, mice and keyboards. At the end of last year, they also formed a VR team to develop related software and hardware. Although the concept of "metaverse" is only in its infancy, Yu Hang still clearly understands the importance of early investment and will "determine to invest."

　　Moreover, all three brands will move very quickly. Zhang Lei mentioned that the flagship phone of the Nubia series will be released in February, which is after the Spring Festival, and the ZTE Axon will be a little later; the new Red Magic product is also expected to be released in February and go on sale in February.

　　There is also a little bit of "Jingxi"

　　During the communication meeting, Ni Fei also announced a "Beijing Joy". In 2022, ZTE Mobile invited Wu Jing as its spokesperson, which was launched together with the brand keyword "Using technology to empower the brave", becoming a key action for brand upgrading.

　　There is no need to say much about Wu Jing's popularity. Ni Fei believes that he is more compatible with ZTE's "Innovator" tone and is in line with the ZTE brand spirit of "self-improvement, courage to face the unknown, and create the future."

　　When asked by the media at the scene about his feelings about the cooperation results with previous spokesperson Liu Haocun, Ni Fei said that both teams were very satisfied, and we will communicate with Haocun's team in the future and do not rule out the possibility of continued cooperation.

　　2022 is a year of more specific challenges. The epidemic is still recurring, the supply chain will continue to be tight, and the market saturation may be higher. ZTE is cautiously optimistic about its 2022. The confidence mainly comes from the user stratification and coverage base of the three brands. Another important reason is that ZTE's supply chain foundation has always been strong, and it has a relatively good cooperative relationship with the world's leading supply chain manufacturers. It is for this reason that ZTE can still maintain relatively good supply chain cooperation in the state of such a shortage of supply chain in 2021.

　　In addition, ZTE's market is not only in China. Over the past 30 years, its global channel network has been improved. It currently has business operations in more than 180 countries and offices and branches in more than 100 countries. "I think the overall uncertainty will continue to increase in 2022, but I remain cautiously optimistic." This is Ni Fei's summary of his expectations for 2022.