Together with traditional photography manufacturers, Chinese mobile phone brands are going to the world

"China Economic Weekly" reporter Zhou Qi

How long have you not used the camera to take pictures?

When asked about this question, the answer was basically "10 years ago" -except for some "players" with SLR or micro -single cameras in their hands. Nowadays, the card machine has basically withdrawn from the historical stage. People want to take pictures and record videos, and they can be done through their mobile phones. Even the previous SLR camera, which was previously known as a "professional", has gradually shrinking.

The previous professional imaging market was monopolized by brands in Japan, Europe and the United States. With the continuous development of mobile phone hardware, the rise of mobile photography gave mobile phone brands the opportunity to leave names in the professional imaging market. There are people in the industry bluntly: In the eyes of many consumers, good camera effects are the most important considerations when they buy mobile phones.

Can Chinese mobile phone manufacturers take this opportunity to take a path of advanced and advanced their own characteristics and become a business card for China to go to the world?

Leica executives and Xiaomi mobile phone Western European team exchanges

Photography manufacturer "Put down"

The mobile phone that can take pictures has appeared around 2000, but the time of the real change of mobile phone photography is probably in 2010. This year, Apple's iPhone 4 was born, and the camera experience and imaging quality of the mobile phone has made a leap since then. At the same time, Instagram, which provides a sharing platform for mobile phone photography, is coming in the social era. This year, 3G networks have also begun to popularize, providing guarantee for the efficient transmission of pictures. Mobile phone photography has begun to glory.

In the opinion of the author of "Mobile Photography Notes" and member of the Chinese Photographers Association, the evolution of photography equipment from SLR and card machines to mobile phones has a lot of common points -they are all products of people's pursuit of lightweight, and the price of the price, the more The cheaper; it is inferior to the "hard picture quality", but it can make up for this shortcoming with richer functions; the product form is more rich and diverse, and the works are more easy to spread and share.

"The evolution speed of mobile phones is far faster than the 135 camera of that year. In just over 10 years, its shooting function has been dependent on the sensor performance of the camera, and the transition to the" era of the combination of software and hardware ". In the trend of the mobile phone market, I think it will be a coexistence of both, and we will grow up with each other. "Li Shuo said.

More and more traditional photography manufacturers have begun to cooperate with mobile phone manufacturers to provide hardware from the beginning to providing technical support and cooperative research and development. Photography manufacturers and mobile phone manufacturers have gradually become "comrades" in an industrial chain.

In February 2016, Huawei reached a strategic cooperation with Leica; in the same year, the Huawei P9 series became the first smartphone with Leica dual -lens, which caused a sensation for a while. Since then, with the continuous improvement of the brand power, Huawei mobile phones have gradually become the best in domestic mobile phones. Although this has a lot to do with its own chips and operating systems, industry insiders believe that the improvement of the photography effect of Huawei mobile phones is also its improvement. A very important part of rapid rise.

"Traditional photography equipment manufacturers have begun to cooperate with cross -border brands with mobile phone manufacturers. It seems to" put down the body ', but in fact to better meet the needs of user needs and seek a win -win situation for both parties. For traditional photography equipment manufacturers, and emerging from emerging The cooperation of mobile phone manufacturers can make its own brand more young and vibrant; while mobile phone manufacturers can use the technical accumulation and brand foundation of traditional photography equipment manufacturers, which can enhance the advantages and even breakthroughs of products in the image. "The Executive Director of the China Information Association and the New Economic Research Institute Dean Zhu Keli said.

On May 23, 2022, another news shocked the industry: Xiaomi announced that Xiaomi and Leica reached a global image strategic cooperation. The first work will be released in July.

The outside world has speculated that Xiaomi can carry the banner of domestic high -end mobile phones to the world with this high -end mobile phone?

Those who have high -end Leica

In fact, photography manufacturers and mobile phone manufacturers, under the name of "certification", have appeared more than ten years ago. "China Economic Weekly" reporter used Nokia N78 in 2008, and its lens is the certification of optical manufacturer Carl Zeiss. At that time, the "Zeiss certification lens" was also the "big selling point" of Nokia's various models, helping Nokia to sweep the domestic mobile phone market half of the country.

From the beginning of the cottage and low -end machines, domestic mobile phones have now occupied 80 % of the domestic market, and a number of good -looking international brands have emerged, and they are inseparable from the cooperation with traditional photography manufacturers.

For example, the cooperation between Huawei and Leica in the previous article was called the "textbook" level by the industry. The quality of Huawei P series and Mate series mobile phone photography has repeatedly refreshing the DXOMARK score record, becoming an important code for Huawei to occupy the high -end market.

In 2020, vivo officially confirmed the image as one of the core long tracks of the company's development in the next 10 years. At the end of the year, Vivo announced its global strategic cooperation with Zeiss. After the cooperation between the two parties, the first product Vivo X60 series, the first sales won the sales champion of multiple channels such as Jingdong. OnePlus also cooperates with the camera brand Hasu, like the previous two manufacturers. "Hasu Color" has become the focus of OnePlus mobile phone publicity.

Of course, there is a failure if there is success. In May 2021, Sharp launched the Aquos R6 mobile phone participating in the camera adjustment. As a result, once it was released, it was spit out by many consumers, and even the media questioned whether it could "be worthy of the Leica logo."

In the cooperation between many mobile phone manufacturers and traditional photography manufacturers, why is Leica "the stars holding the moon" and become a fragrant fragrant fragrant? "Leica is indeed a special existence in the photography industry. The 135 camera was made by Leica first. It can also be said that the reason why modern photography is like this is very important. But it is the cornerstone of the Leica brand status and influence. For a photographer, Leica's products represent more than just high prices, but also more high value. "Li Shuo said that among all image brands, in all image brands He believes that only Leica is really "out of the circle". Many people think that Leica is a luxury brand. When a product is hit with the word "Leica", it shows that it is different. Leica represents high quality, design sense and maverick, which is the representative of the ultimate industrial products and the art of a product.

Even Jobs said at the iPhone 4 conference: It's Beautiful Just Like A Leica Camera (iPhone4 is as good as a Leica camera).

Therefore, there is also a saying in the industry: those who have high -end Leica.

After breaking up with Huawei, Leica needs a more powerful partner. After experiencing cooperation with Sharp, Leica has formulated a very high threshold for the next partner: this partner must have a high accomplishment in the field of mobile phone imaging, with a large number of channels and strengths of shipping worldwide, which can quickly improve the user experience. , Also have huge potential.

Xiaomi appeared in Leica's vision.

The industry generally believes that old -fashioned photography manufacturers have deeply accumulated physical technologies such as optics, and mobile phone manufacturers often have new advantages in software technologies such as AI and algorithms.

"The two of the optical and algorithms are complementary and mutually reference. From the perspective of the short term, the effect of the algorithm will be more intuitive, but as the mobile phone sensor increases, the requirements for lens optical technology are gradually increasing." Li Shuo said.

Leica and Xiaomi reached a cooperation, perhaps the two parties found a fit point.

Lei Jun, the founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Group: "Xiaomi has always hoped to discover the ability of mobile phone photography to the extreme. This cooperation will provide a strong help for Xiaomi's image strategy. Orientation, the innovative technology, product philosophy and video concepts of both sides have experienced unprecedented deep collision and integration. "

The Leica Camera CEO Matthias Harsch believes that Xiaomi and Leica are high -end brands of globalization, and both parties are committed to creating a new era for mobile photography users. "We will provide consumers in the field of mobile photography with excellent imaging quality, classic Leica aesthetics and infinite creativity."

Go to a high end

In the Chinese mobile phone market, whether it is Xiaomi, or domestic manufacturers such as Huawei, OPPO, vivo, OnePlus, have repeatedly mentioned a word: high -end.

Although "high -end" has also shouted in the mouth of domestic manufacturers for many years, there are very few "high -end" domestic mobile phones in the eyes of consumers.

Can the cooperation with traditional photography manufacturers be a magic weapon for domestic mobile phone manufacturers to "high -end"?

"I have asked people of several mobile phone manufacturers in the industry. Everyone said that mobile phone photography functions are the most important features of consumers to choose mobile phones. There is no one. It is the largest proportion. I have also visited many offline mobile phone stores, and businessmen often introduce the most photography functions of mobile phones. "Said Ning Sixiao, author of" Photography Note ".

Zhu Keli believes that the high -end of domestic mobile phones is inevitable. In the cooperation with old -fashioned photography manufacturers, it should focus on more accurate adaptation with user needs in terms of quality and tone. Resonance to form its own unique advantages. "High -end can be reflected in photography, or on other structures or sections. Therefore, this cooperation model in the future can also be copied to other aspects, which will become an important source of high -end. Drive to technical changes, and then redefine high -end. "

Some people in the industry have pointed out that for Xiaomi, the real value of its cooperation with Leica should be that Xiaomi has set up a benchmark for the new machine to open up the product space. On the beginning, the demand supply under the ability of the benchmark product capacity, and then achieve a breakthrough in shipments in the entire system.

In the first quarter of this year, the average price (ASP) of Xiaomi global smartphones increased by 14.1%year -on -year to 1189 yuan. Data show that Xiaomi Mainland China is priced at 3,000 yuan or more in RMB, and high -end smartphones in overseas pricing at 300 euros or more, reaching nearly 4 million units; reports released by the trendy think tank showed that at 600-799 US dollars In the market share of the best -selling models, Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi are ranked among the top three.

According to market research agency Counterpoint Research, Xiaomi has raised its brand awareness to a new level. From a regional main cost -effective smartphone brand, it has changed into the top three high -end mobile phone brands in the world.

The industry generally believes that from the perspective of Leica's strength, Xiaomi's high -end investment continues to increase. However, everyone is more concerned that after reaching a strategic cooperation with Leica, can Xiaomi have a higher strength with the iPhone in the future? Some netizens have published a classic evaluation: precisely because Apple is strong enough to give domestic mobile phone manufacturers a motivation to improve.

Compared with Apple's "squeeze toothpaste", today's domestic mobile phones have enough strength to match the iPhone's targeting strength, and began to integrate from the hardware "stacking" to the integration technology. Milai's cooperation is one of the representatives of domestic mobile phones to high -quality development. Some people in the industry expect that Xiaomi will further deepen the cooperation research and development of the leading enterprise of the industrial chain in the first place, becoming a pioneer in domestic mobile phones and the iPhone's target.

According to the information released by Lei Jun, the founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Group, the first joint flagship mobile phone of the two parties will meet the public in July. The performance of people's conviction has become a milestone for the Xiaomi brand to stand firm and high -end.

(This article published in "China Economic Weekly", No. 11, 2022)

The cover of the 11th issue of "China Economic Weekly" in 2022

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