In most people's impression, MediaTek is still the king of the copycat and the source of the flood of copycat machines in Huaqiangbei. However, the actual situation is that MediaTek's consolidated revenue in 2012 was close to NT $100 billion, accounting for more than 60% of the domestic smartphone chip market. The shipment of smartphone chips increased 11 times compared with that in 2011, about 110 million. MediaTek, how did this loser in 2011 turn out to be Gao Fu Shuai in 2012? What kind of impact does MediaTek bring to our mobile phone makers, markets and mobile phone manufacturers?

According to the monitoring data released by AIDS Media Consulting, In the third quarter of 2012, smart phones between 1000 yuan and 2000 yuan accounted for 45.2% of the overall market, and sales of smart phones below 1000 yuan reached 33.7%. The combination of the two means that there are about 80% of smart phones in the Chinese market, and the price is below 2000 yuan, occupying the absolute mainstream.

And below 2000 yuan is the main market range of MediaTek chip! For the market, the resurgence of MediaTek has gradually reduced the price of smart phones. Mobile phone manufacturers have relatively small profits on thousand yuan smart phones and are very sensitive to the cost of chip platforms. The logic in the thousand yuan smart machine market is that the price can be lower, but the configuration can only be higher. The battle in the Red Sea has made the price of smart phones in the market lower and lower, but the configuration has accelerated the arms race.

Consumers in the Chinese market generally have a common idea that they want to try the latest technology, but do not want to spend high prices or cannot afford high prices. Consumers with this idea dominate the sales of this mobile phone market, especially among consumers who purchase smart phones for the first time. The one-stop solution of MediaTek makes a large number of domestic mobile phones cheap and of good quality, which is just in line with the needs of such consumer groups.

It can be said that the repeated counterattack of MediaTek has made the price of smart phones in the market, like the price trend of counterfeit phones in the past year, gradually decline, and will again and again fall below the new lower limit. While the price has set a new lower limit, more and more smart phones use MediaTek chips, such as the recently released Fenghua 2 of Jinli and Y900 of TCL.

And in Love to play computer games In the previous series of reviews:

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In fact, we can easily see the problems that have already been highlighted, Homogenization!

When the manufacturer cooperates with MediaTek, the main design task of the manufacturer is to make the software easier to use, or have a distinctive brand, and make the appearance and texture of the mobile phone more in line with customer requirements. As a result, the more smartphones using MediaTek chips in the market, the more serious the homogenization problem will be. We can't help thinking that if we continue to develop like this, there will be more and more indistinguishable sibling tires for smartphones in the market, and they may only differ in body appearance, screen size, structural materials, and system icons.

In the long run, with the repeated counter attack of MediaTek and the popularity of Android in the intelligent system platform, the imperial dynasty of counterfeit computers may be established again!

Because of the chip platform of MediaTek, the price of smart phones is gradually bottoming out, and the threshold for computer operators to enter the smart market is lowering; For manufacturers, cooperation with MediaTek also lowers the threshold for manufacturers to enter the market.

For example, the chip platform of MediaTek is well decorated, so you can live in it with simple luggage. MediaTek's counter attack is based on the "turn key" mode of chip platform created by its functional machine era.

In addition to the processor and baseband chip, the chip platform of MediaTek also integrates Wi Fi (wireless transmission), GPS (positioning), FM (radio), Bluetooth and other functional modules, and even applies them. In the rapidly changing market, this can help mobile phone manufacturers quickly launch products and seize market opportunities. At the same time, the high integration of MediaTek chips reduces the difficulty of subsequent development of mobile phone manufacturers, as well as the investment of engineers in product development and testing. The author believes that, from this perspective, mobile phone manufacturers can use the R&D costs saved by using the MediaTek chip platform as R&D funds for shape design, manufacturing process, system optimization and other aspects to upgrade, optimize and improve accordingly. On the one hand, it is to avoid the homogenization problem that the market has begun. On the other hand, it is also to lay a firm foundation for the long-term development of the brand.

In terms of the overall environment, the biggest beneficiary of using MediaTek's chip platform is our computer operator.

Many machine operators can see from the stores, from the Internet, and from TV that the price is lower and the configuration is higher than each other, and our lower and upper limits are refreshed every day. In this way, the threshold for us to engage in mobile phones for the first time is lowered, and we can easily experience the convenience of smart phones. It seems that we have nothing to worry about as we reap the benefits of the fisherman?

The answer is no.

When I learned that the smart phones equipped with the MediaTek chip platform began to be sold in the market, I thought of the copycat emperor. The market price floor has been refreshing. The low price strategy pursued by mobile phone manufacturers will inevitably reduce their profits again. In order to save costs and improve profits, mobile phone manufacturers may not necessarily adopt the method of cutting corners. As in the imperial dynasty, the counterfeit machine can also be sold from 500 yuan to 80 yuan. The after-sales problems and security problems caused by it are thought-provoking.

On the other hand, the quality and safety of products caused by the price reduction also have to be considered. Will manufacturers use their brains on software when hardware can no longer make profits? The opening of Android platform has enabled the development of all kinds of ROMs, and built-in fee sucking software or rogue software in ROMs. Do we still hear little about such news?

As I write here, I can't help asking the computer operators a question, Do we really need such low price mobile phones?

In my opinion, MediaTek, wearing the hat of a fake machine and carrying the name of the source of the fake machine, is actually lying down and being shot. The original intention of the "turn key" mode of MediaTek chip platform should be to help mobile phone manufacturers run faster, reduce costs and seize market opportunities. The source of the proliferation of counterfeit phones should be the mobile phone manufacturers, and even the operators have some responsibility!

Mobile phone manufacturers are desperate to invest because of the hot smartphone market. Without market research, there is no stable development planning route. A large number of people poured into the market and could only blindly carry out price slaughter. Reduce quality in other aspects or abandon some after-sales services to reduce costs and improve profits. This has led to a series of counterfeit machine scandals, which has accelerated the future of counterfeit machines. Moreover, mobile phone manufacturers did not think about building their own brands. Maybe a group of mobile phone manufacturers have made the first bucket of gold at the beginning of functional phones moving towards smart phones, thinking that the way to make money is bright. In fact, they are digging graves for themselves, the market and the future.

Although the ups and downs of the market and the manufacturers seem to have little to do with the operators. But in fact, the ultimate profits and losses are those of the machine operators. In the author's opinion, machine operators should have their own characteristic requirement model, rather than simply chasing down and choosing products with low prices. It's about thinking about price, performance, brand, appearance and after-sales. We must not make breakthroughs in any aspect or blindly follow the market trend.

The author has always believed that only when you find a good machine can you make good use of it!