Vivo Huang Tao: The X Fold series is made at a cost, and the price/performance ratio is definitely high

[Gearbest Technology]At the just press conference, vivo officially brought the latest generation products of tablet computers, TWS headsets and folding screen series. There is no doubt that the vivo X Fold 3 series of folding screens are the products that have received the most attention this time, especially since the X Fold series is divided into standard and Pro versions, which has never been seen in large folding screen products in the past.

Giving users more choices, or being the first to make a Pro version is one of the reasons, but in my opinion it can also be understood from another perspective, that is, you cannot have both thinness and lightness and a true all-round flagship. This is not only true for vivo, but also for other products from other companies that are constantly refreshing the record of thin and light folding screens. If you want to be absolutely thin and light, you are destined to sacrifice some functions or experiences.

Of course, there are still many netizens and media paying attention to the vivo X Fold3 series. After the meeting, vivo product vice president Huang Tao and vivo product line general manager Hong Yi also accepted interviews. I sorted out the questions and summarized and retained the content that I think is more valuable.

In the first part, let’s take a look at the folding screen series itself. The first question is about weight. We all know that among the folding screen products last year, vivo X Fold 2 is indeed a “heavyweight” player as mentioned at the press conference. So how did vivo successfully lose weight in such a short period of time from the 2nd generation to the 3rd generation?

Huang Tao said that although it seems that the time of one year for two generations of products is relatively short, “the blue factory does not only look at what needs to be done in this one-year cycle. Many things have been related to it a long time ago.” “Technical layout”, that is to say, in vivo's product line planning, this generation of products itself uses various new materials and new technologies to make large folding products slimmer.

And Huang Tao also said that the current total number of folding screens is not very large, but it is the carrier of very advanced technology in the current mobile phone industry, so it is more difficult to advance the speed and final implementation in this process, “I make products. For nearly 20 years, past experience has shown that as long as the product has a very tortuous process, the results are usually very good. If the product goes smoothly from product planning and definition to final implementation, then you must be uneasy, and the results are often not particularly good. ”

<img alt="Huang Tao, Vice President of Product at Vivo” title=”Huang Tao, Vice President of Product at Vivo” align=”1″ src=”https://img.cnmo.com/2203_600x375/2202306.jpg”>
Huang Tao, Vice President of Vivo Products

The second question was actually mentioned at the beginning of the article. Does the launch of the standard version and the Pro version mean that under the current technical conditions, there is no way to achieve both thinness, lightness and versatility on a large folding screen?

In this regard, Huang Tao believes that “some things are technical issues, but some things may be market strategy issues.” The X Fold 3 series is divided into two versions to consider actual user needs and meet the expectations of different users. In previous market research, users who buy large foldables are more business-oriented men and those over 30 years old. These consumers do not have that high demand for taking pictures, but they are more interested in thinness, lightness and battery life. They all value it, so we have to make such a product to meet the needs of this type of users; for another group of people, they not only value battery life, but they are also photography enthusiasts, so “we also have to prepare a product that is also good at taking pictures. This is the most important thing s reason.”

The second part is about topics related to the vivo X Fold3 series and some past product ID designs. I believe this part is actually what many netizens are most concerned about and curious about. There are actually three questions at the beginning of this part, from three different media, but they can actually be summarized as progressive questions, so I put them together. The design of the X Fold3 series is younger than the previous generation. What are the considerations for this? Will the design language continue? Will there be other new colors besides black and white?

Let’s talk about the first point first. Hong Yi said, “For X Fold3, why do people think they are younger? This really proves that we are doing the right thing” because when the price range starts to drop, there will be more young users. Choose a large fold, including some consumer groups who are willing to try new things.

Regarding the continuity of ID design, Hong Yi said, “Under the X series, whether it is the X100 candy bar or the X Fold3 folding machine, our overall design language direction is the same, or the most important elements are the same.” All models use the element of “circle” and are constantly optimized so that this element can reflect different characteristics in different products and meet the needs of different types of users. “I don’t know whether vivo’s next-generation X200 and X Fold4 will change, but we will maintain the characteristics of vivo. I think this should be in the same line and we will continue to do it. It has the characteristics of vivo, and everyone will know it at a glance. Vivo’s mobile phone.” This answer actually confirms that the next generation of the X100 series will most likely be named after the X200 series. In terms of color matching, Hong Yi made it clear that “everyone can look forward to it”, but did not give a specific time point. However, it can be seen from this answer that some special editions and limited editions will be launched at some time points or special points in the future. Edition and other color matching.

<img alt="Hong Yi, general manager of vivo product line” title=”Hong Yi, general manager of vivo product line” align=”1″ src=”https://img.cnmo.com/2203_600x375/2202307.jpg”>
Hong Yi, general manager of vivo product line

The next question is actually related to the color matching, but it is not about the new color matching, but about why the red color matching is no longer available? The plain leather that Vivo has always liked is no longer available?

Hong Yi said that the response to the red color of vivo X Fold+ was very good when it came out, and it happened to coincide with the National Day. The reason why it was not available this time was that users would be tired of aesthetics, and there would be no freshness in using the same color. On the other hand, just like the overall price range mentioned just now, vivo’s goal is to let more people choose large folding products, and there will be more and more young users, who are more willing to choose colors that suit them. My favorite color, this is also the conclusion reached after conducting in-depth user research.

As for plain leather, first of all, the X Fold3 series uses cloud fiber + UPE fiber materials. If plain leather is used, it will not be lighter than it is now. “In order to achieve ultimate thinness and reliability, we have to use this The material must, of course, be good-looking. The cloud fiber + UPE fiber back cover we currently choose is the most suitable and can meet the needs of users in these three aspects. “

The next question is very interesting. Friends who are familiar with vivo should know that starting from the X90 series, the words “xtreme Imagination” have been permanently on the back of the fuselage. Why must this line be engraved?

“I think this is the gene of vivo, or whether it is vivo or other brands. I believe that everyone can feel the product's imaging capabilities on the X100 standard version or Pro. The entire vivo X series, with the X Fold series as the The most important and most important capability of the representative product is its imaging capability. We hope that this product will eventually exceed your expectations and imagination.” Regarding this answer, I directly quoted Hong Yi’s answer in full. , and there is no other room for interpretation.

Then comes the third part of the questions I summarized. This part of the questions focuses on the next product planning or long-term product strategy. In this part, I will try to simplify the core content that the two guests want to express. The first question is, is it possible that the price of Big Folding will continue to drop below 6,999 yuan?

Huang Tao gave a negative answer, “If we don't stick to the product experience, we can explore it further, but Blue Factory will not do this. When making folding products, we always insist on 'flagship first, then folding'.” He also said, In fact, I originally wanted to share something with you at the press conference, but I didn’t say it in the end, that is, vivo has always used money to make folding screens. “In the end, we should lose a lot of money.” “We are making products with money. , the price/performance ratio is definitely very high.”

For the new TWS earphones at this conference, users who know vivo will know that the previous generation was divided into vivo TWS 3 and vivo TWS 3 Pro. Will TWS 4 be followed by a Pro version this time.

Hong Yi said that the reason why we divided it into normal and Hi-Fi versions this time is because “the price of the previous generation 3 Pro was indeed too high, which led to the final scale being too small.” Vivo hopes to truly popularize Hi-Fi, but if the price is too high, the popularization effect will not be good, so this time it chose a Hi-Fi version with a relatively low price. “Unless the purchasing power of the entire TWS increases significantly in the future, we may also make some more extreme niche products.”

The last question is an Easter egg. Will vivo’s small foldable products be updated? Hong Yi's answer is actually quite clever. At the beginning, he expressed that the product form of small folding has its unique market value and significance. He also thought deeply about what kind of experience this form of product can bring to users. The real value is What? How can we make users continue to use it? And repurchase and reuse. Then the topic changed and he said, “At an appropriate time in the future, vivo will continue to launch small folding products.”

To sum it up in one sentence, vivo may still launch small folding products in the future, but for now, it will not update the small folding product line.

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