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On September 21, at NIO IN 2023 Lai Innovation and Technology Day, NIO Phone officially released and announced the price of the new phone. There are three versions of the new phone, with a price of 6499-7499 yuan, which supports part of the payment of Lulai points. It will be on sale from now on and will be delivered one after another from September 28th.

As the first mobile phone launched by a Chinese automaker, the NIO Phone carries a leading version of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8Gen 2 chip, which uses an 8-core CPU configuration of 1 X3 super large core + 2 A715 large cores + 2 A710 large cores + 3 A510 small cores, which should be the most powerful chip in mainstream Android phones. Glory Magic V2 and Xiaomi MIX Fold3 phones both carry this chip.

In terms of storage, NIO Phone provides 8G, 12G and 16G running memory, as well as 256G, 512G and 1TB body memory of consumer choice. At the same time, the machine with 6.81in Samsung E6 material 2K screen, support 120Hz LTPO high brush, the highest brightness 1800nits. In terms of battery, NIOPhone uses 5200mAh large battery, which supports 66W wired charging + 50W wireless charging + 10W wireless reverse charging.

As a flagship machine, the camera function is also of concern to users. It is understood that the NIO Phone is equipped with three cameras, the main camera, ultra-wide-angle and periscope telephoto are all 50 million pixels, the main sensor area is 1.28 inches, the wide-angle and telephoto use a 1.56-inch sensor, all three cameras can be used as the main camera.

Li Bin explains why NIO wants to build mobile phones, "not because mobile phone companies are building cars, nor because NIO does not make money to make money from mobile phones, but because NIO users need a mobile phone that connects seamlessly with Lulai cars.

In fact, Li Bin only mentioned one of the reasons. Li Bin has revealed that 50% of car owners are using Apple phones and 40% are using Huawei phones. After Huawei was suppressed by the United States, the proportion of car owners using Apple phones has further increased, reducing the proportion of the Android camp, but "Apple is very closed to the automobile industry, such as the standard UWB for the second-generation platform models of Xilai, and Apple does not open the interface, which makes us very passive."

Here we need to mention UWB, which is an infinite carrier communication technology, which was originally used in the development of military radar technology, and then was widely used in the field of home digital entertainment, which can realize the connection and interaction between intelligent devices. In the NIO mobile phone, its biggest role should be the vehicle-machine interconnection, that is, the seamless connection between the vehicle and the mobile phone.

NIO Phone can be said to be a mobile phone for NIO car owners, which has made a number of innovations in the car-centric mobile phone experience. First of all, NIO Phone is equipped with UWB ultra-wideband technology, which can completely replace car keys and support no electrolytic lock within 48 hours. Secondly, the left side of the fuselage has a NIO first NIO Link car control button, 30 drivers interconnection functions with one button, such as quick check the status of the vehicle, parking location, easy to complete the vehicle unlock, fall window, trunk open, air conditioning remote adjustment, etc., even in the case of no mobile phone network can also achieve unlock, open the trunk, flashing lights whistle, vehicle summoning, remote parking and other functions.

In addition, NIO Phone has an "administrative island car control mode", which can be automatically converted into a car control interface if the mobile phone is placed on the middle island of the car. At the same time, NIO Phone supports "Sky Windows", which can operate mobile applications on the car (not directly on the screen and can be operated independently), NIO Link can play mobile games on the big screen, and support super meetings, and you can use the car's camera, microphone and audio to participate in video conferences.

Therefore, the release of mobile phones by NIO is not to enter the mobile phone market, but to realize the interconnection between cars and machines and to build the ecology of Lulai cars. This is one of the reasons for the release of Xilai mobile phone.

Another reason, to a large extent, stems from anxiety about the uncertain direction of mainstream technology, and the background is that more and more car brands are starting to join forces with mobile phone brands to explore in depth the car-machine interaction, such as ideal car, Xiaopeng Automobile and OPPO, Nahang Automobile and BlackBerry, Jianghuai, Chery, BAIC, Selis and other car companies and Huawei.

The most radical is Geely, which directly acquired Meizu Technology and set up Star Meizu Group, which specializes in the integration and coordination of mobile phones and cars. On March 30, Meizu released the Flyme Auto operating system, which will be the first to be installed on Lengke 08, while Meizu 20 also has the function of UWB car keys, which matches Lecker 08. In Meizu's view, in the future, the mobile phone will enter the car as a "component" and become the mobile phone domain. Coupled with the rapid iteration of the mobile phone, it can bring continuous innovation experience for the car, and upgrading the mobile phone can upgrade the car.

Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Automobile, said at the press conference: "the technological innovation and ecological integration of the consumer electronics industry and the automobile industry is imperative. In the future, the smart car and smartphone industries will no longer go their own way, but the integrated relationship of multi-terminal, full scene and immersive experience facing users. "

"one mobile phone is not built well, to build a car, another car is not built, to build a mobile phone," netizens commented. In fact, from the point of view of NIO, there is no problem that the mobile phone is exclusively for the owners of the car, but in practice, it is not easy for iPhone users to pay for the mobile phone only by relying on the interconnected experience of the car and the phone.

Before building mobile phones, the bigger problem that NIO faced was how to survive. On September 15, the price of the new EC6 was announced, and the purchase price of the whole car was 358000 yuan and 416000 yuan respectively. With the mass production and launch of the new EC6, Ulai has completed all the product switching based on the second-generation technology platform. After the full launch of the eight second-generation models, it will be able to cover 80% of the needs of users in the high-end market, and no new models will be launched in the following year.

Total revenue from NIO fell 3.74 per cent year-on-year to 19.448 billion yuan in the first half, while delivery increased 7.35 per cent to 54600 vehicles, according to the financial report. The loss in NIO was even more serious, with a net loss of 10.926 billion yuan, an increase of 139.08% over the same period last year, the highest loss among the three enterprises.

For the third quarter, the delivery guidance given by NIO is 5.5-57000 vehicles, and the revenue guidance is 18.9 billion-19.52 billion yuan, which is the highest delivery and revenue guidance in the history of Lulai. Judging from the current sales situation, it is not difficult to achieve this goal. The delivery volume in July and August is 39791, which means that Xilai will deliver 1.52-17200 in September. After that, Ulai will enter a stable period and is expected to follow the path of an ideal car. It is reported that the NIO brand will not launch new cars next year, focusing on the Volkswagen brand.

Chen Yudong, president of Bosch China, once said that automakers go to make mobile phones because they have "nothing to do when they have enough to eat." Perhaps for NIO, a mobile phone is not a mobile phone, but a more experiential tool for car owners and an initiative to master the ecology, but we should also consider clearly how many mobile phones come to pay the bill.

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