Recently, the smell of gunpowder in the mobile phone circle has been a bit strong. What attracts the most attention is that several mobile phone manufacturers are fighting each other, and the competition among the manufacturers has not had any impact on themselves, but some big Vs were injured first and were "involved". Take a quick look at the timeline:
Xiaomi on January 3
Wang Teng, Redmi marketing general manager and brand spokesperson, confirmed the news from a blogger, which revealed that the leader of a mobile phone manufacturer’s troll team was arrested.
Wang Teng said: "As far as I know, the descriptions are true. Create a healthy public opinion environment and give the Ministry of Justice @小米brandsecurity a thumbs up."
OnePlus on January 5th
Today, the recently opened OnePlus Legal Department account released its first piece of content.
OnePlus said that in response to the frequent malicious smearing of OnePlus’ new products after the release, the public security organs have opened an investigation and have taken criminal coercive measures against Gu Moumou and others involved. Gu Moumou and others have taken the initiative to admit the illegal facts and apologized to the company.
The OnePlus Legal Department stated that the case involves more clues and more people and is still under further investigation.
Almost at the same time, both sides claimed to have taken legal sanctions against the navy, and some people were caught.
Although neither party specifically said who the other party was, most netizens had their own guesses.
Just last month, when OnePlus released the OnePlus 12, various issues such as gaps and glue dispensing were questioned.
Lu Weibing posted a Weibo post, saying that "gap" and "glue dispensing" accidents are becoming more and more popular, and more users have chosen to cancel their phones. Although he was not named, everyone knew it.
On December 7, 2023, Li Jie, President of OnePlus China, issued an article saying that there are many rumors and slanders about OnePlus 12. "In the past two days, someone has been organizing large-scale slander against OnePlus 12." He also said that he has reported to the Dongguan police and has verified the clues of several companies behind it. Some evidence is currently being solidified, and "will synchronize with everyone in time" for the latest developments.
Li Jie even said bluntly, "Some brand executives frequently end up maliciously misleading the public. This is a very rare and bad behavior. Especially this point makes them feel like they have found a treasure. They dare not compare their product capabilities and only dare to make small moves."
In fact, as we all know, mobile phone manufacturers have been competing secretly for a long time. In the past, they may have been more tactful. It is not new to compare products of "friends" without naming them at press conferences or to say a few words on Weibo.
But recently, the competition among mobile phone manufacturers has become more obvious and has begun to take serious action. The specific performance is as follows.
Machinery Circle Legal Department is online
From previous hints, mobile phone manufacturers have now begun to take action head-on.
The above-mentioned police arrests by Xiaomi and OnePlus are obvious examples.
In fact, there is another manifestation, that is, mobile phone manufacturers have also imitated car companies and opened official legal department accounts one after another.
Xiaomi was the first to establish a legal department, and it has done a lot over the years.
On November 16 last year, some netizens posted on Weibo that they had received private messages from strangers on the Internet. If they could provide video materials of Xiaomi phones freezing, heating, frame drops, etc., they would be rewarded with transfers, and the video materials would be posted on social media platforms.
Lei Jun forwarded the post on Weibo and @xiaomibrandsafety.
In addition, in 2022, a self-media person was sued by Xiaomi for spreading rumors, smearing and misleading the public. Later, the court ruled that the self-media person should immediately delete relevant articles and videos he published on relevant social media platforms.
Also in 2021, Xiaomi Technology sued an Internet celebrity for reputation infringement, claiming 1 million.
The OnePlus Legal Department was only recently opened, and it feels like it won’t be long before the legal department of the mobile phone industry will be everywhere.
“Big V” suffered heavy casualties
The computer industry is one of the most lively industries in the Internet circle. Self-media Vs are also important publicity channels for manufacturers. There are topics, but self-media can easily be swayed by traffic.
In the past, everyone lived in peace, and if someone occasionally touched the boundary, it seemed to be okay. After all, we both need each other.
But the forest is big and there are all kinds of birds. In addition, mobile phone manufacturers have gradually gained their own relatively stable fans, so it is inevitable that there will be cases of taking sides.
"Big V" has become a means of public opinion warfare for mobile phone manufacturers, and has naturally become a breakthrough for mobile phone manufacturers to counterattack.
Mobile phone manufacturers no longer tolerate the behavior of some self-media that crosses the line. The Ministry of Justice is now directly taking action, causing heavy casualties to the "big Vs".
And we found that many of them are Weibo influencers. This is not surprising. Weibo is the most active social media platform and the main battlefield for many big Vs.
Content such as gossip breaking news is suitable for posting on Weibo. Weibo is also an important marketing channel for mobile phone manufacturers. Information is timely, disseminated quickly, and has many users.
Nowadays, Internet company executives also like to use Weibo as a marketing position, almost as a circle of friends.
As for the legal department actions of Xiaomi and OnePlus this time, it is estimated that a group of people will get involved.
From secretly poking to directly attacking
At mobile phone manufacturers’ press conferences, comparisons with rivals are nothing new.
However, it is rare to see a detailed comparison of a product from a competitor during an entire press conference. The OnePlus Ace3 press conference was almost entirely devoted to comparisons with the K70.
This targeted comparison has also been dissatisfied by Xiaomi executives. Wang Teng has posted many responses on Weibo, and his words are very sharp and full of gunpowder.
From secret comparisons at previous press conferences, to current parameter-level benchmarking, and then to online online alignment among executives, the shift from rhetoric has evolved into direct confrontation.
And last month, at Huawei’s annual pollen meeting, Yu Chengdong talked about plagiarism by friends and renamed it “Keel Axis”.
Subsequently, Xiaomi officially responded that Yu Chengdong made unfounded and untrue remarks about the keel shaft technology, which were seriously inconsistent with the facts. Please Yu Chengdong follow the basic rules of "science and rigor" and stop discrediting his colleagues and misleading the public.
What do you think about the tit-for-tat confrontation between mobile phone manufacturers?
To understand this change, I think we can look at these aspects.
First of all, the mobile phone market is very mature, there are not many revolutionary innovations, and the brand structure is relatively stable. It's easy for everyone to crash in some areas.
Secondly, the explosive period of the mobile phone market has long passed, and the market has entered fierce competition from the incremental market to the existing market.
A big change is the trend of high-end mobile phone industry, which is an obvious manifestation and also brings competition into a new dimension.
From the perspective of the global smartphone market, according to Counterpoint forecasts, global smartphone shipments are expected to be 1.2 billion units in 2023, the lowest level in the past decade.
The IDC report shows that in the third quarter of 2023, China's smartphone market shipped approximately 67.05 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 6.3%.
Judging from the data of major manufacturers, the top five smartphone manufacturers in China in the third quarter were Honor, OPPO, Apple, vivo, and Xiaomi.
In the second half of 2023, both Huawei Mate60 series and Xiaomi Mi 14 series have a good response in the high-end market. The Chinese smartphone market has entered the second half of high-endization and ushered in an escalation of competition.
In short, the mobile phone industry is getting more complicated, and various frictions are inevitable.
In the era of incremental growth, everyone could still tolerate "peaceful coexistence". After all, good and bad people had something to eat, but in the second half of the bayonet fight, there was no room for sand.
Finally, I would like to say that the big Vs are not having a hard time either. If they don’t pay attention, they will be sued for tens or even millions, so they should just take it easy and cherish it.