Sweet pastry of communications giants. Editor’s note: This article is from ”
Future car Daily “(micro-channel public number ID: auto-time), Author: Ding unique.
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Author丨Ding Youyi
Edit丨Wang Yan
A new player has been added to the “mobile phone building” army.
On March 3, according to a report from Tencent Technology, yesterday ZTE announced that the company will set up an automotive electronics product line, responsible for coordinating related R&D and business units, and directing the implementation of major external principles, corporate standards and overall operations in this field. .
In addition, in conjunction with the automotive electronics product line, ZTE will set up an automotive electronics team, which is subordinate to the System Product Technology Planning Department, responsible for unified business planning and operation in the automotive electronics field.
A director-level employee of ZTE told Future Auto Daily (ID: auto-time) that this approach is similar to the operation of Huawei’s establishment of a smart car BU, with similar functions, but “the scale is not yet So big”.
Automotive industry analyst Lu Yao analyzed: “As an ICT company, ZTE has a certain technological accumulation in vehicle-road collaboration, in-vehicle communication, etc., combined with the vast market of the intelligent vehicle industry, it is not surprising that it is involved in the automotive electronics field. .”
In recent years, the entry of mobile phone manufacturers into the automotive industry has long been nothing new, but by 2021, this cross-border “car building” feast will also be pushed to a climax.
First, Apple and Xiaomi have announced the news of building cars, and manufacturers such as Huawei, Samsung, and ZTE are also deploying in the field of Internet of Vehicles and autonomous driving. Even the “Tier 1” Foxconn in the mobile phone industry has also begun to move into the automotive industry, and has joined hands with Byton and Geely in an attempt to transform into a foundry of new energy vehicles.
In Lu Yao’s view, “in the near future, as Huawei, also a friend of ICT, has clearly become an incremental component supplier for smart cars, it will inevitably have a greater impetus for ZTE’s decision to deploy smart cars.”
In fact, ZTE has already had a layout in the auto industry. In 2008, Yang Lei, then deputy general manager of ZTE IOT, said that ZTE launched the first 3G front-mounted module based on LGA packaging in China that year, opening in-vehicle information to many customers including Changan Automobile and Geely Automobile. D. Then in 2016, ZTE also successfully acquiredZhuhai Guangtong Bus established ZTE Intelligent Automobile Co., Ltd.
Behind the change of mobile phone manufacturers, it is first based on the changes and squeezing of market sectors. According to data from consulting firm Gartner, global sales of smartphones sold to end users totaled 366 million in the third quarter of 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 5.7%. The global sales of mobile phones sold to end users totaled 401 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 8.7%.
Compared with the decline in global mobile phone sales, new energy vehicles are gaining momentum. According to EV Sales data, the global sales of new energy passenger vehicles (including plug-in hybrid, pure electric, and fuel cell) reached 3.124 million in 2020, an increase of 41% year-on-year. Not only that, but new energy car companies represented by Tesla, NIO, BYD, etc. are also very prosperous in the capital market.
When the global automobile industry is undergoing unprecedented changes, mobile phone giants have also begun to covet the new opportunities brought by new energy vehicles and take actions.
Lu Yao believes that in the era of smart electric vehicles, the advantages of mobile phone manufacturers’ technical capabilities, mature software and hardware ecosystems, and brand influence have become more prominent. As for the lack of automotive engineering capabilities, it can be solved through foundry.
In 2021, Apple’s secretive car building plan for many years has begun to surface. And adopted the foundry model, and successively negotiated with Hyundai, Kia and Nissan on foundry matters. Although the negotiations were suspended, according to a report from Reuters on February 26, Apple and Kia still have the possibility of cooperation.
Similar to Apple’s car manufacturing path, Xiaomi has continuously applied for car-related patents since 2015, and the chairman of Xiaomi Technology Lei Jun has also invested in it himself or through Shunwei Capital’s investment in Weilai and Xiaopeng in recent years. Make investments. Industry insiders speculate that Xiaomi’s car manufacturing is more likely to choose the foundry model.
On the other hand, mobile phone manufacturers such as Huawei and ZTE are trying to find technological breakthroughs in the industry chain, focusing their “smart car” business on ICT technology.
“The automotive industry has a large space, and it is in the early stage of turning to the new track of smart electric vehicles. The core value is concentrated in ICT technology.” Huawei employee Duan Yi told Future Auto Daily. “The core of ICT technology includes chips, OS, algorithms, communications, and Internet content and services. These are the advantages of mobile phone manufacturers.”
Although in the past 2020, China’s new energy vehicle market has undergone a lot of reshuffle, with some taking root and some leaving the market, the pattern seems to have stabilized. But in Lu Yao’s view, it is not too late for mobile phone manufacturers to join.
“At present, the penetration rate of smart electric vehicles in the entire car ownership is still very low.” Lu Yao believes, “As the subsidy has just entered the market, the price of electric vehicles has begun to be the same as that of fuel vehicles. Smart driving Begin to enter the stage of tackling L3 and L4, which happens to be a mobile phoneA point in time that the manufacturer can enter. “
(At the request of the interviewee, both Luyao and Duan Yi in Wenzhong are pseudonyms)
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