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Comprehensive report by 21st Century Business Herald New Productivity Research Institute

Good morning, a new day has begun. What interesting things have happened in the technology industry in the past 24 hours? Let's take a look with 21tech.

【Giant weathervane】

1. Wang Ziru was revealed to have resigned.Recently, it was reported online that Wang Ziru, the founder of Zealer and current head of Gree Electric's channel reform project, has resigned. Several Gree employees confirmed that Wang Ziru's corresponding email could not be searched in Gree's intranet system on the afternoon of August 16. If nothing unexpected happens, it can be basically confirmed that he has resigned. When Gree employees communicate through internal emails, if they search for the name of an employee in office, they can see the employee's corresponding email; if the employee has resigned, their corresponding email cannot be searched. On August 9, Wang Ziru was subject to consumption restriction measures by the Nanshan District People's Court of Shenzhen. As early as January, Wang Ziru had been forcibly executed 33.83 million yuan for this case. Gree has not yet responded to this.

2. WeChat Ant is betting on AI app store.It is reported that WeChat's cloud development team is building an application platform called "Cloud Development AI Agent", which is a multi-platform AI agent development framework that provides exclusive agent platforms for enterprises and mini-programs. Through this platform, users can achieve 0-code development and create exclusive personalized smart assistant products. Ant Group is also developing an AI application building tool "Cheese Cake". Through this platform, users can also build AI applications without code, supporting the creation of various product forms such as Alipay mini-programs.

3. Lai Dian founder Yuan Songbing responded to the rumors via WeChat Moments.Recently, there have been reports that Shenzhen Lai Dian Technology Co., Ltd. founder Yuan Bingsong and Shenzhen Lai Dian's first-hand buyer Han Bing have been unable to contact each other. On the evening of August 18, Lai Dian Technology founder Yuan Bingsong posted a circle of friends saying, "God is fair, and everything that happens is the best arrangement. Follow your conscience, do things according to your heart, don't do evil, and God will bless you!" Later, the media learned from people close to Yuan Bingsong that the circle of friends was posted by Yuan Bingsong, and Yuan Bingsong himself can currently be contacted. (Beijing Daily)

4. MiTo AI search: No longer includes title and abstract data of CNKI documents.On August 16, Mita AI published a statement saying that the company recently received an infringement notice from China Academic Journal (CD-ROM Edition) Electronic Magazine Co., Ltd. HowNet accused "Mita AI Search and Mita AI Search APP of providing users with our company's academic literature titles and abstracts, and the amount is huge." Mita said that the "Academic" section of Mita AI Search only includes the abstracts and titles of the papers, but not the content of the articles themselves. To read the text, you need to jump to the website through the source link. From now on, Mita AI Search will no longer include the titles and abstracts of HowNet documents, but will instead include the titles and abstracts of other authoritative Chinese and English knowledge bases.

5. Apple’s mobile phone market share ranked first in the second quarter.According to the Daily Interactive Big Data Insight Report, as of the second quarter of this year, domestic 5G mobile phones accounted for 62.57%, a year-on-year increase of 25.37% and a month-on-month increase of 2.57%. Thanks to the new pricing strategy, as of the second quarter, Apple has firmly sat at the top of the 5G mobile phone brand list with a market share of 29.36%. Followed by OPPO, vivo, Honor, Huawei, and Xiaomi, with market shares of 14.94%, 12.72%, 12.47%, 11.27%, and 10.40%, respectively, but the market share of these domestic smartphone brands has slipped compared with before. The iPhone series ranks among the top ten in the market share ranking of popular 5G mobile phones. Among them, iPhone13 topped the list with a market share of 5.22%, which is the sixth consecutive quarter that the model has won this title.

6. Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: Will launch an AI face-changing fraud risk reminder function, which will only run locally on the mobile phone.On August 18, CCTV reported that AI face-changing fraud detection and warning technology is being tested. Li Kun, an expert from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's anti-fraud task force, said: "We are working with mobile terminal companies in the industry to launch an AI face-changing fraud risk reminder function. This function only runs locally on the mobile phone, which can effectively protect user data from being leaked. After user authorization, it can provide users with AI face-changing fraud risk warning reminders."

7. The policy of car trade-in will be further strengthened.On August 16, the Ministry of Commerce and seven other departments issued the "Notice on Further Improving the Work of Auto Trade-in". Compared with the first round of implementation details released in April, the subsidy standard has been greatly increased. The "Notice" mentioned that for individual consumers who scrap old cars and buy new cars in accordance with the "Auto Trade-in Subsidy Implementation Rules", the subsidy standard will be increased from 10,000 yuan for the purchase of new energy passenger cars and 7,000 yuan for the purchase of fuel passenger cars to 20,000 yuan and 15,000 yuan respectively. In addition to scrapping and updating, this policy will also include replacement and updating in the scope of subsidies. The state directly arranges ultra-long-term special treasury bond funds to local governments to support local governments in independently carrying out replacement and updating. Not only that, this policy requires the optimization of the review and payment supervision process for scrapping and updating of automobiles.

8. S&P downgraded Intel's rating to "BBB+".On August 16, global credit rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded Intel's issuer credit rating from "A-" to "BBB+". S&P said that the negative rating outlook reflects Intel's weak revenue and profitability in the short term as Intel continues to deal with industry headwinds and competitive pressures in its core business areas. S&P said that successful execution of technology roadmaps, on-time product launches and planned cost reductions will help Intel's credit indicators return to appropriate levels for the current rating within the next two years.

9. Xiaohongshu cancels professional levels and compresses management levels.In the past, Xiaohongshu had two job level sequences: R (expert position) and L (management position). The former was divided into R1-R8, and the latter was divided into L0-L4. In the past, employees above R6 could concurrently serve as L0 and become dotted line managers. However, in a letter to all employees on August 16, Xiaohongshu announced that it would no longer set up the R sequence from now on, and simplified the management level, adopting an appointment system for managers at all levels. It is reported that the salary of Xiaohongshu employees will be more directly linked to the difficulty of the work, and the bonus will be linked to the work results.

10. BYD is recruiting front-line employees on a large scale.BYD Zhengzhou Base launched its second large-scale recruitment this year in August, and all positions are directly recruited. It is reported that the technician positions with more than 1,100 recruits have been filled. The more scarce positions are front-line operators, and the recruitment requirements are to be at least 18 years old and have a junior high school education or above. In addition to the large-scale recruitment in Zhengzhou Port, there are also positions open in Jinan, and the cumulative recruitment needs in various places exceed 5,500 people. Most of the employees recruited by BYD Zhengzhou Base this time will work in BYD's 11th Division. The division is responsible for multiple processes of automobile production, including stamping, welding, painting, assembly and quality inspection. Relevant personnel from BYD's 11th Division pointed out that the biggest constraint on increasing production capacity at present is the problem of manpower.

11. Xiaomi unveils its summer testing base for the first time.On August 17, Lei Jun, founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi, and Lu Weibing, president of Xiaomi Group, inspected the results of this year's summer test at the Xiaomi summer test base in Turpan and announced them to the market through live broadcast. Lei Jun said that at 6 pm in Turpan, the surface temperature was 70 degrees Celsius. Cars can also have accidents under extreme high temperature conditions, so extreme tests must be done and summer tests must be conducted in places with high temperature, high humidity and high altitude. Lei Jun also said that in addition to testing sun protection in Turpan, Xiaomi cars will also undergo wet heat tests in Hainan. Winter tests will be conducted in Heihe, and winter tests in Russia are not ruled out in the future. Before the official launch, Xiaomi SU7 tested 70,000 charging piles. The current test mileage has reached more than 7 million kilometers, spanning a temperature difference of more than 100 degrees. Lu Weibing revealed that Xiaomi Auto is studying to enter Europe.

【Technology Financial Report View】

1. Hikvision's net profit in the first half of the year was 5.064 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.13%.On the evening of August 16, Hikvision released its 2024 semi-annual report. In the first half of the year, the company achieved revenue of 41.21 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.68%; net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company was 5.064 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.13%; non-net profit was 5.243 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.11%. Hikvision has made positive progress in the three major areas of enterprise scenario digital transformation business, overseas revenue and innovative business, which has restored the revenue growth rate to about 10%. In recent years, Hikvision's stock price has continued to decline, and it has been halved from its "peak" in July 2021. Compared with the interim high in April 2023, it has also plummeted by more than 30%. The company's latest price-to-earnings ratio is about 18 times, and its stock price has fallen by nearly 20% so far this year.

2. Walmart China's net sales in the second fiscal quarter were US$4.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 17.7%.On August 15, local time, Walmart released its second quarter financial report for fiscal year 2025. In the second quarter, Walmart's total revenue reached US$169.335 billion, a year-on-year increase of 4.8%; net profit attributable to the parent was US$4.501 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 43%. In the first half of fiscal year 2025, total revenue was US$330.841 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%; net profit attributable to the parent was US$9.605 billion, a year-on-year increase of 0.4%. Walmart China's net sales in the second quarter were US$4.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 17.7%, and the growth rate has continued to expand for two consecutive years. Sam's Club and e-commerce businesses continue to maintain strong momentum, and Sam's Club traffic has shown positive growth. Specifically, the e-commerce penetration rate in the second quarter reached 49%, a year-on-year increase of 200 basis points. E-commerce sales increased by 23% year-on-year, the same growth rate as last year. Changes in the product mix have driven an increase in gross profit margin.

【Cutting-edge technology】

1、The CUHK team has developed a flexible vibrating thin film motor, which is expected to be used in virtual reality interaction and thin film headphones.The Sun Yat-sen University team has developed a flexible vibrating film motor. They innovatively designed an electric field induced mechanical flapping (EFIMF) motor based on the electroviscous effect. This design uses the electroviscous effect to deform the motor diaphragm, converting electrical energy into the elastic potential energy of the diaphragm. When the electric field disappears, the diaphragm releases the elastic potential energy, thereby generating vibrations. Associate Professor Ji Xiaobin of Sun Yat-sen University, co-corresponding author of the paper, said: "The EFIMF motor has promoted the flexible drive unit from experimental research to practical application. From a cost perspective, this technology has great prospects for industrial development. If the mass production scale is expanded, the cost of related devices is expected to be reduced by an order of magnitude."

2、Apple is secretly developing an AI home robot, which may be released within 2-3 years, with a target price of about $1,000.Apple appears to be secretly developing a new smart home device in the hope of entering the field of home robots. The product, codenamed "J595", is described as a multi-functional device that integrates a smart home control center, a video conferencing system, and a remote home security tool. The core is a large-screen display similar to an iPad, paired with a robotic arm. Through built-in actuators, the robotic arm can achieve 360-degree rotation, up and down tilt and other movements, providing users with a flexible and changeable experience. . The company has reportedly formed a team of hundreds of people to be responsible for the development of this new device.

3、Scientists have developed a new fluorescent probe that can monitor the binding process of opioid peptides in real time by fusing fluorescent proteins with opioid receptors, which can be used for pain management and addiction treatment.Dong Chunyang, a direct Ph.D. graduate from the University of California, Davis, and currently a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University, has co-developed a new type of genetically encoded fluorescent probe, which provides an innovative tool for studying neuropeptide dynamics. The core idea of ​​this study is to fuse fluorescent proteins with opioid receptors and reflect the binding process of opioid peptides in real time through changes in fluorescent signals caused by changes in receptor conformation.

4、Scientists develop adhesives that prevent the immune system from attacking, providing a solution for medical devices to work long-term in the body.Recently, Professor Xuanhe Zhao and Dr. Jingjing Wu of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology discovered for the first time a non-fibrotic adhesive material that can bond medical implants to surrounding tissues to prevent fibrosis after implantation, just like putting on an "invisible cloak" for the device, which blocks the immune system's attack and thus prolongs the service life of such devices. This study inhibits fibrosis formation through hydrogel adhesives, and is expected to provide solutions for the clinical application of more medical devices implanted in the body for long-term work. The related paper was published in Nature under the title "Adhesive anti-fibrotic interfaces on diverse organs".

【New Products】

1. iPhone 16 Pro Max may add bronze color.Sonny Dickson posted a tweet on the X platform on August 16, sharing photos of Apple's iPhone 16 Pro Max mockups, of which the most noteworthy is the newly added bronze color. Apple's official website in China shows that Apple's iPhone 15 Pro Max has the following 4 colors: primary titanium, blue titanium, white titanium, and black titanium (more inclined to dark gray). In the photos of the iPhone 16 Pro Max mockups exposed this time, there are a total of 4 colors: white titanium, black titanium (looks more like black, not ruled out due to light), primary titanium, and bronze titanium. Judging from the exposed mockup photos, Apple may abandon blue titanium and introduce bronze for the iPhone 16 Pro Max this year.

2. Xiaomi MIX Flip small folding phone received the Surge HyperOS 1.0.11.0 update.It is reported that Xiaomi Mi MIX Flip foldable screen phone has been updated with Surge HyperOS 1.0.11.0 UNICNXM, and the system update package size is about 625MB. Specific upgrades include: adding external screen smart hanging window-focus notification card, supporting the display of travel, takeaway progress, verification code and other information; adding support for clicking on external screen widgets to open applications; adding external screen support for Mijia and Happy Candy Crush applications; optimizing system stability; optimizing the external screen dark mode input experience; optimizing the adaptation effect of external screen WeChat, Douyin and other applications; fixing occasional abnormal problems in some scenes; fixing occasional external screen switching application restart problems; incorporating August 2024 security patches to enhance system security.