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produced by phoenix technology's "new vision"

author/tang chen

editor/liu yukun

meizu's temperament has changed.

this is the biggest feeling i have when i come to the meizu launch conference again after half a year. the last time was in march this year, at the meizu special event held in zhuhai, meizu announced "all in ai" (comprehensive transformation to ai) and updated the "three-step" strategy of the ai ​​terminal route for the first time. (see >> "meizu's ai transformation: one mobile phone, two men and three strategies" <<) prior to this, meizu had announced that in 2023, meizu group successfully completed the transformation from a "mobile phone company" to an "ecological group".

at the press conference on the same day (september 25), meizu launched a new product series brand - star based on the "1+3" strategy, and released a number of new products at one time, including the thousand-yuan ai mobile phone lucky 8, two ar smart glasses, a smart ring, and the first flyme auto e-sports entertainment cockpit.

at the end of the press conference, meizu's new ceo su jing, coo liao qinghong, invited partners and meizu users, together lit up the world's largest spherical immersive venue, the las vegas sphere, on stage. this is a big easter egg with great power. meizu is trying to send a clear signal to the outside world: the new meizu's transformation direction is becoming clear and is also bearing fruitful results.

"one plus one minus", su jing's "big move"

regarding the internal and external changes of meizu, tang chen prefers to use the strategic combination of "one plus one minus" to summarize it.

"add" refers to the addition of meizu's business strategy and brand strategy. the former is reflected in its overseas expansion, that is, targeting the global market; the latter is to sort out the brand structure and launch the new star brand.

as early as january 29 this year, xingji meizu completed an international distribution signing ceremony with malaysia's juwei group in shanghai. the two parties will jointly expand overseas markets mainly in southeast asia and provide myvu ar smart glasses products to consumers in 11 countries including malaysia, singapore, thailand, indonesia and vietnam.

su jing, then president of xingji meizu group, said that this signing marked the beginning of xingji meizu group's expansion into overseas markets, and that more products and services would be exported in the future. she further clarified that globalization was the strategic direction established at the beginning of xingji meizu group's establishment, and in addition to the southeast asian market, it was also actively expanding into other overseas markets.

during the media communication session after the press conference, su jing, who has taken over as ceo, once again emphasized the importance of globalization to star meizu: the expansion of overseas markets will help to dilute costs and enhance global market competitiveness, bringing meizu a larger and broader development space and more business opportunities. at the same time, star meizu's products and services can reach global user groups, enhance brand influence, and attract more international partners and investors.

in fact, this is also the inherent requirement of meizu's "all in ai". artificial intelligence, especially the promotion of large models, has evolved into a global industry. meizu must take the initiative to go out in order to continue to stay at the table in this wave. at present, the globalization of smartphones, ar glasses, and cars is progressing rapidly. overseas users also like the integrated ecosystem, and shipments are rapidly increasing.

another layer is that meizu uses a new product series brand "star" to lead innovative businesses such as smart glasses and smart cars; while the mobile phone and ai device businesses are under the meizu brand. from the current layout, starv smart glasses and starauto smart cars will be different business modules under the star brand.

liao qinghong said that with the launch of this new product series brand, meizu will form an ecological layout with two major product series brands, star and meizu, and the co-development of three product categories, namely smart phones, smart glasses and smart cars.

under this new brand structure, meizu also launched the lucky series, which became the third largest mobile phone product series after the meizu digital series and note series. it is positioned as good-looking and practical, and together with the digital series that focuses on all-round flagships and the note series that focuses on performance flagships, it forms a more comprehensive and segmented meizu mobile phone product matrix. does this strategy look familiar? it's very xiaomi.

behind the "addition", meizu is also doing "subtraction". meizu is an innovative company that was established only three years ago, but its most important foundation is meizu technology, which can write a strong mark in the history of chinese science and technology. this is a rare heritage and a historical burden for meizu. if the balance between them is not handled well, it will be fatal even with the protection of geely's huge ecosystem.

a relatively easy-to-understand scenario is that most users still understand the meizu brand in terms of smartphones and peripheral products. this is the accumulation of the meizu brand over the past decade, and it is also the most core and valuable brand asset of star meizu. to this day, the industry and users are still accustomed to calling star meizu "meizu". if they want to distinguish it, they often say "new meizu".

after the new brand structure is clarified, the three parallel business lines of "mobile phone + xr + smart car" are led by the "star + meizu" brand matrix, and users have a clearer understanding of them, which can effectively avoid internal consumption of brand assets and hinder business development, especially overseas business. its significance lies in that the innovative business led by "star" has expanded the brand boundaries of starry meizu beyond the historical base, providing more room for trial and error of new businesses.

this is su jing's work, which is pragmatic and strategic. she said that after taking over as ceo, she mainly focused on three things: strategy, talent and products. this combination of "one plus one minus" is also rapidly pushing meizu into the "star era" era.

one more detail needs to be added. some media have noticed that in august this year, according to weibo, wechat and other platforms, multiple official meizu accounts were renamed "xingji meizu", including xingji meizu technology, xingji meizu meiyou home, xingji meizu care, etc. this also means that the zhuhai meizu that everyone was familiar with has been completely transformed into xingji meizu, and the main body is wuhan xingji meizu technology co., ltd.

based on this, meizu has greater confidence and courage to go overseas. according to su jing, meizu's external shipments have been growing rapidly since august, but the premise is that all the company's strategies have been sorted out.

of course, it is possible that su jing, who has a background in finance, is expanding the "skeleton" of meizu and clarifying its business context to accelerate meizu's progress in the capital market. although in her conversation with the media, when faced with similar questions, her colleagues "ghosted" and replied: there is no more news to be announced.

"aii in ai", the new understanding of star era meizu

it is worth mentioning that although the official did not indicate the sales market of the lucky series launched at this conference, tang chen speculated that the overseas market may become its largest "granary" based on its price positioning, configuration and launch rhythm. in contrast, according to a recent report from market research agency counterpoint, xiaomi surpassed apple in august and became the second largest mobile phone brand in global shipments for the first time in three years.

the agency emphasized that xiaomi has demonstrated strong market competitiveness in the mobile phone market below us$200. products such as the redmi 13 series and the note 13 series are popular due to their high cost-effectiveness, which has effectively helped xiaomi to significantly expand its market share in india, latin america, southeast asia, the middle east and africa. in other words, the lucky 08, which starts at 1,599 yuan and is equipped with more than 100 ai functions, may become a new dark horse for chinese mobile phone brands to go overseas if it is sold overseas.

looking back, there is a logic behind su jing's push for meizu to accelerate into the "star era": star era meizu is at the forefront of the smart travel track and is committed to the cross-border integration of the consumer electronics industry and the automotive industry. therefore, it was the first in the industry to propose the concept of "mobile phone domain", determined to truly integrate mobile phones into and become a part of the car, allowing consumer electronics to empower smart cars.

therefore, meizu has also made a judgment internally: the core of future industrial competition will inevitably be platform and ecology, rather than a single technology or product; it will no longer be limited to single-line technology or product innovation, but a multi-technology integration innovation and ecological competition that combines artificial intelligence, seamless interaction, space-ground communication, and cross-border interconnection capabilities.

this is also the cornerstone for the implementation of meizu's "1+3 strategy", which is to use flyme aios as the core to achieve full-scenario interconnection of terminals such as ai mobile phones, smart glasses, and smart cars, bringing users a multi-terminal, full-scenario, immersive integrated experience and building a global smart travel technology ecosystem.

among them, the flyme system is the foundation for meizu's software and hardware to move towards ai in an all-round way, that is, the foundation of "all in ai". only by laying a solid foundation can we build richer products in multiple scenarios of smart travel and connect a series of terminals such as smart phones, ar smart glasses and smart cars.

of course, the concept of ai is very popular, but there is also a lot of false hype. for example, when it comes to meizu's ai mobile phones, many people still think that the gimmick is greater than the substance. the delay in the implementation of apple's ai is a vivid example. the essence of ai mobile phones is to turn mobile phones into a super platform with intelligence. whoever understands users best and who truly understands the product can maintain differentiation and stand out in the competition.

meizu also has a clear understanding of this. for example, liao qinghong told tang chen at a press conference that ai is a huge ecosystem that cannot be completed by a single company. "in the ai ​​ecosystem, there are comprehensive giants such as bytedance and alibaba, as well as specialized technology companies such as zhipu and minimax. there are also countless ai product innovation companies, and even more large-model and small-model hybrid ai application companies."

the same is true for making cars. liao qinghong's meaning is also very clear. to summarize, meizu will continue to make cars, but will no longer try to follow the route of xiaomi or huawei. it will build cars for users and build cars that users need.

for xingji meizu, the current situation is just like what su jing said at the press conference: what is more important than arriving is setting off. this sentence is said in "black myth: wukong": embarking on the journey to obtain scriptures is more important than arriving at lingshan.