Behind Vivo’s amazingly thin new product: Is the phone even “thicker”?

The persistence of domestic mobile phones in striving to make their products as thin as "cleavers" is admirable. From 5.15mm, 4.85mm to 4.75mm, once they make up their minds, they can't stop.

Recently, Vivo released its new ultra-thin product X5Max. The thickness of 4.75mm once again refreshed people's visual perception. Coupled with Vivo's "Ultimate Hi-Fi", it is simply a new generation of fashion weapon.

But, something seems wrong.

Thinner? Or thicker?

Judging from the hardware configuration, Vivo X5Max is well-deserved of its flagship status.

5.5-inch 1080p Super AMOLED display, 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 64-bit octa-core processor, 2G RAM+16G ROM, supports up to 128G expansion card, provides 5-megapixel front camera + Sony IMX214 photosensitive element 13-megapixel rear camera, plus support for 4G network and dual SIM dual standby. Yes, despite the extremely thin body, the parameters of Vivo X5Max still maintain the appearance of the current mainstream smartphone.

It looks great, but what about the battery capacity?

This is undoubtedly a bit regrettable, because the X5Max with a 5.5-inch large screen is only equipped with a "small battery" with a capacity of 2000mAH, which is rare in smartphones with 5.2-inch or even 5-inch screens.

Although the Super AMOLED material may make the screen more power-efficient, our previous test of the similar-style OPPO R5 shows that the battery life of the OPPO R5 with the same 2000mAH battery capacity just barely reaches the mainstream level acceptable to smartphones. The AMOLED screen of the R5 is only a smaller 5.2 inches. Facing the 5.5-inch Vivo X5Max, perhaps we can only hope for a special mode within the system that claims to allow a full day of Internet access on a single charge.

If electronic products have no power, no matter how good their performance is, it is all in vain. This is just like “Uncle Xu, the gatekeeper, turned off the power on Singles’ Day and saved the community hundreds of millions of dollars in losses”. No matter how thin the smartphone is, if it has no power, isn’t it just a “kitchen knife” that can’t cut vegetables?

Of course, there is a solution to the problem. You can hang up a "urine bag" (power bank) to revive the device. But even the power banks produced by the "feverish" Lei Jun are only 9.9mm thick at the thinnest, 4.75mm+9.9mm. Do you think such a mobile phone is still thin?

Awesome? Or panic?

To be honest, it is quite impressive that domestic mobile phone products are constantly challenging "foreign brands" and repeatedly breaking the record for the world's thinnest mobile phone. However, if the domestic brands use the "nuclear war" attitude of the previous processor to make the appearance of the mobile phone extremely crazy, perhaps the domestic brands' actions are still out of inner panic.

Take Vivo as an example. After removing BBK from its name, it immediately took the "high-end" route. Currently, under the guidance of the "Hi-Fi&Smart" concept, the Xplay series focusing on large-screen audio and video, the Xshot series focusing on photography and imaging, and the X series focusing on ultra-thin products constitute the three pillars of Vivo's product line.

But in today's smartphone market, the "delicate" Apple has begun to produce large-screen iPhones, and improving the performance of the lens has become a must for almost all manufacturers. Even Vivo's proud Hi-Fi and even Luo Yonghao's Hammer have begun to pay attention to product adjustments in this area. This has made Vivo, which has established a foothold in the high-end market with product differentiation, turn its attention to body thickness.

But the appearance of Vivo X5Max with a thickness of 4.75mm is still a bit too hasty. After all, the impressive ultra-thin products in the mobile phone industry are all ultra-thin in moderation while ensuring normal use. Back then, the 7.1mm Motorola DROID RAZR not only had excellent performance, but its 1780mAH built-in battery capacity was even higher than that of Samsung Galaxy SII of the same period. This year, the thinnest iPhone 6 in the history of Apple mobile phones has a "conservative" thickness of 6.7mm only while ensuring that the battery life is not reduced compared to the iPhone 5s.

Do we need ultra-thin phones? Of course we do. We all wish that some manufacturer could make a smartphone as thin as a screen, but if ultra-thinness only makes the product lose value, then the role of ultra-thin phones will not be obvious.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.