From the "glue dispensing door" to see Xiaomi's true "triathlon"

Let’s briefly review the so-called “glue dispensing gate” incident without going into detail.

1. On September 17, digital and IT enthusiast @IT华少 posted on Weibo that the AP chip and font chip of Xiaomi 4 mobile phone were not glued and cured, and the workmanship was rough, not as good as Honor 6.

2. On September 24, Zhong Yufei, new media director of Xiaomi.com, posted on Weibo that only mobile phone chips that have problems in the structural drop test need to be glued, and it is not necessary under normal circumstances.

3. On September 26, Lei Jun, chairman of Xiaomi, learned about the incident and questioned on Weibo, "Who wrote this negative article?"

4. On September 26, Liu Jiangfeng, president of Huawei's Honor business unit, responded that quality is the self-esteem of Honor people. He believed that Lei Jun's Weibo post was a great irony and a bit like the thief crying "stop thief".

5. On September 28, Xiaomi Chairman Lei Jun pointed out on Weibo that Huawei’s terminal practices were unscrupulous, smearing Huawei’s brand, and had an unhealthy atmosphere.

6. On September 28, Huawei Terminal Chairman Yu Chengdong denied in a Weibo post that he had slandered Xiaomi, and suggested that one should stick to being oneself and have a broad mind.

During the exchange of words on Weibo, the tech media also took sides, commentators expressed their own opinions, mobile phone manufacturers expressed their views, Xiaomi summarized its "Black Rice Daily", etc. It was quite lively. My friend asked me what my opinion was. I don't take sides. I just expressed my own opinions. I have three objective thoughts.

Does the mobile phone need glue?

People who don't understand technology and craftsmanship like me can make a simple judgment in this way. Instead of looking at the practices and excuses of Xiaomi and Huawei, look at the practices of mainstream products in the industry and the statements of their common competitors.

The technology article "Into Science: Should Xiaomi Mobile Phone Chips Be Glued?" lists several mobile phone products that have been glued: Apple iPhone 6, iPhone 5s, Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Coolpad Dasheng F2, OnePlus, Meizu MX4. It can be preliminarily judged that some mainstream products at home and abroad have undergone this step.

As a competitor of Xiaomi and Honor, Coolpad Mobile Internet and E-commerce President Zhu Fanghao said on Weibo: Objectively speaking, dispensing glue will improve the reliability of the product and be responsible to the users, while not dispensing glue can reduce costs and be responsible to oneself. All Dasheng series mobile phones need to be dispensed glue before leaving the factory. The world's top mobile phone manufacturers have adopted the dispensing glue process, including Apple of course.

So, my point is: at the process level, dispensing is not a necessary option, and it can be omitted for cost considerations. However, it is a better practice to improve product reliability and avoid quality risks, and it should be done out of responsibility to users. The reason why Xiaomi chose not to do it may be due to cost considerations.

What is Xiaomi's real triathlon?

In Xiaomi's discourse system, the Xiaomi model is the "triathlon", namely "software, hardware, and Internet services". Software mainly refers to Android Rom MIYU, hardware mainly refers to Xiaomi mobile phones, accessories, TVs, bracelets, etc., and Internet services refer to various applications and services based on software and hardware. The strategic positioning of the triathlon is that Xiaomi is an Internet company.

In fact, Xiaomi is a hardware-based company, especially mobile phones. In 2013, the mobile phone business accounted for more than 95% of Xiaomi's revenue. From this perspective, the author believes that Xiaomi's real triathlon should be "products, channels, and publicity." Products are the foundation, channels are the guarantee, and publicity is the key. The characteristics and effective combination of the three have exerted a power that surpasses other mobile phone manufacturers. In terms of products, the prices of Xiaomi and Redmi mobile phones are indeed relatively low among the same configurations, and for a period of time, they really made users scream. In terms of channels, Xiaomi adopts an online and offline combination of operation methods, controlling the rhythm at low prices online and selling on a large scale at increased prices offline. This method effectively solves the problem of profitability. In terms of publicity, Xiaomi is good at creating topics and leveraging marketing, and in this regard, it has almost achieved the ultimate. The effective combination of the three has formed a unique sales model.

However, traditional mobile phone manufacturers have launched Internet brand products, such as Huawei Honor and Coolpad Dasheng, copying the Xiaomi model and innovating, which has brought increasing pressure to Xiaomi. At the product level, traditional mobile phone manufacturers have R&D strength, resource locking and lack of ability that exceed Xiaomi, and the cost performance of the Internet brand products they launched has exceeded Xiaomi. At the channel level, they use the same operating model as Xiaomi and are already on par. There is a trend of rapid catch-up in publicity, which will be the main point of confrontation in the near future and the next stage. It can be predicted that public opinion events such as "glue gate" will only increase, not decrease. In this case, everyone is not competing for who is more successful in which aspect, but who makes fewer mistakes. After being overtaken in the real "triathlon", Xiaomi may become an ordinary company, or have innovative breakthroughs in other aspects.

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.