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author | chen helin

editors: liu yukun, yang ruiqi

phoenix technology news: on september 8, at the international consumer electronics show (ifa2024) in berlin, germany, phoenix technology and other media had a dialogue with li yongping, general manager of tcl industrial european marketing headquarters, and zuo bo, deputy general manager of tcl industrial pan-smart screen bu and general manager of global product operation center, to conduct a comprehensive interpretation of the new products brought by this exhibition. when the media asked "tcl's newly launched 50 smartphone has been greatly improved compared to the 20 smartphone. will there be any plans to expand into the domestic market in the future?zuo bo said bluntly,the chinese mobile phone market is now an overly involutionary market.tcl mobile phones maintain good competitiveness in design, technology and manufacturing, and have made great progress in the construction of intelligent background.however, it is still necessary to further evaluate the domestic market, select operating markets that can generate more positive returns or roll over, and then "inform" consumers.

in addition, they mentioned the application cases of tcl and ai technology, which played a role in optimizing picture quality, improving interaction and generating content. all products are supported by ai. ai has become a topic that the entire industry and even the entire industry cannot avoid.

summary of key points of the conversation:

1. the new products brought to this exhibition include: x11 series of tvs, a300 art tv smart screen products, second-generation thunderbird ar glasses, integrated central control car system in cooperation with tcl huaxing, and other 11 categories of products.

2. in the first half of 2024, tcl developed rapidly overseas, and its revenue growth was much higher than its sales growth, reflecting the effect of product structure adjustment.

3. ai is essentially the third explosion after the combination of digital technology and internet technology. all tcl products you see now have ai applications and support behind them.

4. tcl's mobile phone business has a certain amount of shipments to domestic operators, but it has not yet decided whether to turn to the open market or the 2c end, which requires further research.

the following is a transcript of the conversation between li yongping, general manager of tcl industrial european marketing headquarters, and zuo bo, deputy general manager of tcl industrial pan-smart screen bu and general manager of global product operation center, and phoenix technology (part of the conversation has been deleted):

media: this exhibition brought many new products. can youbriefly introduce the innovativeness of the new products and talk about how innovation can help the company's development through the development of new products?

left wave:this year, we brought 11 categories of products to the entire ifa exhibition, with about 120 innovative products. i will first pick out a few key ones to give you a brief introduction.taking the smart screen as an example, the first product on display is the x11 series of tvs.this is also our qd-mini led product that will be launched in 2024. in china, we call it the "ceiling of picture quality". this product is also the industry's first 10,000-level partition feature with 14,000 partitions. it has a brightness of 6,000 nits, a contrast ratio of one million, and ultra-high color rhyme, basically leading the entire industry. this is also tcl's qd-mini led that once again leads the development of the entire industry's technology, specifically the technology that leads the world in the display field. this technology comes from tcl's many years of research on backlight technology to create this product. the x11 series of products have been launched in china and overseas markets.

zuo bo, deputy general manager of tcl industrial's pan-smart screen bu and general manager of global product operation center

in addition to the smart screen, the second new product we saw in the exhibition hall is the a300 art tv.we call it a "walking art gallery". the core feature of this product is "light and elegant". light means the entire product can be 27mm and can be attached to the wall. this thickness is because we have integrated all electronic components into the whole machine. unlike some competing products or other brands, which need to be connected to a box or a speaker, tcl has integrated all the components together and can be hung on the wall. it is very light and thin.

second, this time we have also collaborated with b&o (bang & olufsen) to bring together the world's top light luxury speakers. when you turn on this product, the beautiful sound will fill the entire room.

third, it is also equipped with the spirit control system 2.0. the operation of the spirit control desktop is very simple, and the artistic desktop and the regular desktop as well as the desktop for the elderly and children can be switched very conveniently. it is also equipped with a new generation of remote control, which simplifies the tv interaction and is very flexible and smooth to operate.

fourth, it is equipped with a movable base. in many users' homes, the tv may be used in the living room, and sometimes in other places, such as the kitchen, dining room, bedroom, study, etc., which can be pushed directly over through the movable base, which is very convenient. therefore, with the help of an art tv, users can fully enjoy good content in different spaces. whether listening to music or working on screen projection, it can be completely solved. this is the second product i want to introduce in the exhibition.

the third product is ar glasses.in addition to making large screens and displays in home scenarios, we may also need some large-screen displays when on business trips or for personal leisure, so ar glasses are provided as personal devices. this time we launched the second-generation thunderbird glasses, which weigh 67 grams and are very comfortable to wear. you can see a 130-inch high-definition picture when wearing it on your head. it is especially suitable for scenarios such as playing games or watching movies on an airplane. it can also be used for personal office use. it is very convenient to use on the go by connecting it to a mobile phone.

the fourth product i want to introduce to you is the vehicle-mounted system.this is also an integrated central control developed together with tcl huaxing. it has three screens of different sizes. the content behind the integration is shared, including the display on the car dashboard, the operation interface of the central control, and the screen for the co-pilot's entertainment in the secondary screen. therefore, it can take into account the display of the car instrument, the operation of the central control, and the entertainment of the co-pilot. such a complete solution system provides a complete vehicle solution for the development of the new energy vehicles that have recently emerged. of course, there are also products such as fresh air air conditioners, washing machines, nxtpaper tablets, as well as smart phones, photovoltaics, etc. in the exhibition. everyone is welcome to visit our exhibition area to experience them.

media: what kind of advantages do chinese consumer electronics companies, represented by tcl, need when they are planning to expand into europe? what development trends have chinese consumer electronics companies shown in recent years?

li yongping:chinese companies have done very good innovation in europe. we have brought china's extreme cost, industrial efficiency, and the expansion of new products and new technologies to the european consumer market. for tcl, after the merger of thomson and alcatel in 2004, the entire european operation has been localized. after 20 years, whether in product output and chinese manufacturing, including the global extreme operation advantages of the supply chain, have been brought to europe. in the past 20 years, because of localized operations and localized manufacturing, we have strengthened the construction of localization capabilities. we still need to operate in europe, including the supply model to achieve better cost reduction and efficiency.tcl has been operating in europe for 20 years. its original products focused on tvs, but in recent years it has expanded into air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, wearables, mobile phones, and photovoltaics in the past two years. the addition of new products has also improved the scale and quality of its operations in europe.tcl's operations in all product categories in europe are in a period of vigorous development.

li yongping, general manager of tcl industrial european marketing headquarters

media: what is the development of tcl's overseas markets like?

left wave:in the past two years, we have all seen tcl's development in overseas markets, which can be described as rapid and with very good momentum. in the first half of this year, when the global market did not grow much, although there was incentive or traction from the event, the overall global market only had a sales growth of 1.9%. tcl's growth in the first half of the year was 9.2% globally. in the first half of the year, we shipped 12.52 million units, basically ranking second in the world. at the same time, more importantly, our revenue growth reached 23.2%, far higher than the sales growth, which benefited from the structural adjustment, especially the sales of large-size, mini led and qled categories, especially the 75-inch and above overseas sales increased by 78% year-on-year, and the mini led growth basically reached 125%. the growth of these categories has driven a substantial increase in the overall revenue, which also fully demonstrates that in the overseas market, our main large-size and mini led products have been highly recognized by consumers and have also been generally recognized by global consumers. with the advancement of our globalization, there may be better development in these products in the future.

media: there are so many domestic companies at this exhibition, which basically makes it the home field for domestic companies. why are there so many companies? is it because of the advantages of the manufacturing industry or other factors?

li yongping:domestic enterprises are still relatively competitive in china, so many brands or enterprises want to find new growth points overseas. although the entire european market has been under pressure in the past few years, or the speed of new demand updates is relatively not as fast as other markets. however, europe has a large consumer volume and a high consumption structure. we can achieve better value-added or differentiation in brands, products and services, and the value space we can obtain will be higher. therefore, we can still achieve a relatively large scale in europe, which may bring better profit value. this is also because everyone sees this opportunity and space, and more brands will enter this market.

of course, this market requires high investment and long-term persistence. you may have to spend a lot of money on making products and investing a lot of money on branding. it will not only radiate to europe itself, but also to the middle east and africa, including some countries in latin america. the attributes of the entire brand highland can not only cover europe, but also most regions in the world.

media: is it harder than in china? or is it easier?

li yongping:each market has its own characteristics and challenges, but i think europe may still be a relatively large barrier for chinese companies. this is because the entire channel is relatively dispersed, unlike the united states or latin america, which are relatively concentrated. we have more than 1,000 channels of all sizes in europe, one or two thousand, and the outlets are also relatively scattered. it takes a lot of time and energy to build a good retail management system.

media: ai doesn't seem to be widely used in tvs at present. what do you think about this issue? and what are some good ai-related products that tcl has at this exhibition?

left wave:ai is indeed a very hot topic. it seems that if you don’t talk about ai in the industry or the entire industry, you will feel out of touch with the times. according to my personal understanding, ai is the third step from digital technology to internet technology. in essence, it is the third explosion after digital technology is combined with internet technology.

my understanding of this is a bit like a metaphor. maybe digital television and digital technology invented electricity at that time, the internet had electric lights that could illuminate the space, and ai had more electrical appliances that could solve many different scenarios. so ai was applied to television very early. tcl has always been an ai technology, which was originally called internet technology. as a promoter of applications in televisions including home appliances, tcl made internet tv 20 years ago and was also the first internet tv company in china. at that time, we called it internet tv. so far, the application of ai intelligence mainly includes the following aspects:

the first is the improvement of image quality.ai technology can be used to improve display, such as optimizing picture quality. we have aipq adjustment. for example, some applications such as ai enhancement of picture quality, we can do super-resolution. such applications of technology use ai technology to improve display. including in sound, through the use of algorithms and ai technology, the sound quality repair effect is improved, including some low-definition images, through ai compensation, so that it can be displayed more clearly. these are already widely used on tvs, and this is an application of ai technology.

the second is the improvement of interaction.we started to introduce voice into television in 2011 and 2012. tcl was also one of the first companies in china to launch voice interaction, including ai voice recognition, gestures and face recognition, which made the interaction more convenient and provided intelligent recommendations. the application of these technologies makes our interaction with televisions and devices more convenient.

the third is content generation.recently, everyone has heard of the popular aigc application, which generates some content that did not exist before and realizes it through tv or these devices. for example, the a300 product launched this year generates many art paintings through ai. these contents did not exist before, but ai can make them appear on the screen. we have a research institute in north america that specializes in using ai to generate videos and short films. several of them have been released. i was watching them two days ago. they can be used as content playback. this is an application for the tv itself.

of course, this is called local intelligence. the second application of intelligent ai is called interconnection, because it is based on the development of the internet. the second level should be the interaction between more devices, just like us humans, each person has his or her own characteristics and abilities, and can solve these problems. of course, more people can be organized together to form a team, which can bring about other things, which is called ai interconnection.

ai-based applications, including home appliances, link various devices together to create a better living environment. tcl probably proposed the strategic direction of aixiot around 2017, and we have been promoting it this way. all the products we see now have ai applications and support behind them, it’s just a matter of whether we want to talk about it this way.

media: in terms of smart screens, how does tcl combine technology and art to bring users a better visual experience? what other technologies do you think tcl will break through in the next few years to achieve better interaction with users?

left wave:i think that for tv or smart screen products, they are more about bringing users, especially at home, the enjoyment of watching videos like in a movie theater. video itself is an entertainment or relaxing device. it is different from mobile phones and other devices. for example, mobile phones are more used for processing information and communication, while pcs are used for office work.

as for tv, how to build a better video experience? the first thing is to make the screen bigger, which is what we are promoting now. the screen in the cinema is generally 300-500 inches, and there is a c position or golden seat in the cinema, which is about 8 to 10 meters away from the screen. in other words, the current 300-500 inches in the cinema is about 100-150 inches from the 3-5 meters or 3-4 meters at home, which is consistent with the size of the cinema.

at present, even though the average size of the chinese market has reached about 60 inches, there is still room for improvement compared to the cinema, and the space overseas is even greater. of course, we cannot say that all homes will be like cinemas, but some people have already achieved this. for example, many users now use 115-inch and even 163-inch products at home. so they have moved the cinema to their homes and can enjoy the audio-visual effects of the cinema at home, but more freely and conveniently.

on the other hand, how to reach consumers with more content involves different content providers in different regions. we maintain an open and cooperative strategy, including building content services with an open system and open applications overseas, providing consumers with a space to enjoy these programs. in the future, we will use the ai ​​technology mentioned earlier to push these programs more accurately, interact more conveniently and naturally, and access content playback more easily. there is also a combination with art. in addition to the continuous improvement of the appearance and craftsmanship, we are also pursuing more artistic processing in content, including design. for example, in the series of products launched in 2024, we have integrated the overall backplane design. this design has also been greatly recognized and welcomed by consumers around the world, and has also brought substantial growth this year.

media: tcl's newly launched 50 smartphone is a big improvement over the 20. do you have any plans to expand into china? what are the specific communication nodes? china's smartphones are very popular now, so what are the advantages and competitiveness of our smartphones?

left wave:as for the domestic mobile phone market, we have some shipments to domestic operators, but we have not yet determined whether it will be sold in the open market or on the 2c side. we will inform you once we have confirmed it.

at present, tcl mobile phones still have strong advantages. in addition to maintaining good competitiveness in design, craftsmanship, and manufacturing, we have also built up this capability very well through the construction of an entire intelligent backend in recent years, including great progress in polishing the interactive ui.

the chinese mobile phone market is now an overly inward-looking market. whether we should do this may require us to conduct a business evaluation. we may give priority to markets that can generate more positive returns or have rolling operations. once we have confirmed the chinese market, we will inform you at that time.