86: Chapter 86: Not Competing on Specifications, But on Battery Life

Inside the container house.

Old Zhang's water cup stopped mid-air as he looked at Chen Xu.

Making mobile phones.

Driving Fruit Phones out of China.

This wasn't a business decision.

This was an incredibly crazy idea.

"Boss."

Old Zhang was the first to speak.

"In the mobile phone industry, we are complete outsiders."

"It's not something you can just enter with money; the water runs too deep."

He struggled to organize his words, trying to make Chen Xu understand the difficulty of the task.

"For processors, we have to look at Qualcomm and MediaTek."

"For screens, we have to look at Samsung."

"For cameras, we have to look at Niso."

"We can't manufacture a single one of these things; we'd have to rely entirely on imports."

"Furthermore, every single aspect is riddled with patent landmines; the moment we step in, we'll be sued to bankruptcy by foreign giants."

"This isn't like electric cars where you can disrupt the industry just by changing a battery. The mobile phone supply chain is too complex and interconnected; as newcomers, we won't be able to squeeze in at all."

After Old Zhang finished, he looked at Guan Yi, hoping she could persuade the boss from a market perspective.

Guan Yi did not disappoint him.

"Boss, Old Zhang spoke about the supply chain. I'll add some points from a market perspective."

She took a step forward.

"Mobile phones are fast-moving consumer electronics, not durable goods."

"Users replace them every year, or even every six months, which means extremely high marketing and channel costs."

"Huawei, Xiaomi, and OV—their annual investments in advertising and channels are in the tens of billions."

"The money we earn from selling electric cars might not even make a splash if we throw it in there."

"Most importantly, our brand recognition is zero."

"In an already saturated red ocean market, it's too difficult for a brand-new brand to survive."

Every word of Guan Yi's analysis pointed to one fact: this path was a dead end.

Chen Shiyi and Chen Shier also walked over.

"Boss," Chen Shiyi began, "mechanical structures, material processes, and precision machining—these are our specialties. We can make the phone casing and internal metal frame the best in the world."

Chen Shier followed up.

"However, we know nothing about the internal circuit boards, chip packaging, RF antenna design, or screen driver circuits."

"We are mechanical engineers, not electronic engineers."

"These are two completely different fields."

They could build the world's sturdiest phone casing, but they couldn't light up its screen.

Silence fell inside the container once again.

The opinions from three sides—supply chain, market, and technology—all pointed to the same conclusion.

This was an impossible mission.

Chen Xu listened to everyone, his face expressionless.

He stood up, not refuting anyone's point of view.

He simply walked to the whiteboard hanging on the wall.

He picked up a black marker.

He uncapped it.

Everyone's gaze focused on him and the whiteboard.

Chen Xu raised his hand, his arm steady.

The tip of the pen touched the whiteboard, making a slight scratching sound.

He wrote down two words.

Battery Life.

The handwriting was powerful and well-structured.

Just those two words.

He put down the pen, turned around, and looked at the crowd.

"Everything you've said is correct,"

Chen Xu began.

"We don't have chips, screens, systems, a brand, or channels."

"If we wanted to make a product just like a Fruit Phone or a Huawei phone, we wouldn't stand a chance."

"But who said we were going to make a phone like theirs?"

He pointed to the two words on the whiteboard.

"What is the biggest pain point for all smartphones on the market today?"

No one answered.

But the same answer surfaced in everyone's mind.

"It's battery life," Chen Xu answered himself.

"Charging once a day, or even twice a day."

"Power banks have become a necessity for everyone."

"So-called flagship phones can't even satisfy the most basic standby needs."

"This is their weakness, a fatal flaw that the entire industry cannot solve."

"We don't need to surpass them in every aspect."

Chen Xu spoke slowly.

"We only need to achieve perfection in one area. We will use an advantage they can't possibly match to break through the entire market."

"Using our super battery, we will manufacture a smartphone that can be used continuously for a week, or even half a month."

"When users no longer have battery anxiety, when power banks become history—do you think they'll still care if a processor is a fraction of a second faster or if the screen resolution is slightly higher?"

No one spoke in the container.

Old Zhang, Guan Yi, Chen Shiyi, Chen Shier.

All their previous analyses and difficulties were based on the existing rules of the mobile phone industry.

But what Chen Xu wanted to do was flip the table and rewrite the rules.

Using an industrial mindset to launch a dimensionality reduction strike on consumer electronics.

Chen Xu watched their expressions begin to shift and issued his orders.

"Guan Yi."

"Here."

"Immediately register and establish 'Starry Mobile Communication Technology Co., Ltd.', and you will serve as the CEO of the new company."

"Yes, Boss."

"Your first task is to build a team. Go headhunt people from the market; no matter the cost, bring me electronic engineers, software engineers, and structural engineers."

"Your second task is to sort out the supply chain. Except for the battery and the body, use the most mature solutions on the market for all other components."

Guan Yi didn't ask what to do if they wouldn't sell.

She simply recorded all the instructions.

"Understood."

Chen Xu looked at Chen Shiyi and Chen Shier again.

"You two, drop all the projects you have on hand."

"Yes, Boss."

"I'm giving you a new task."

Chen Xu's instructions ran completely contrary to conventional mobile phone design.

"Forget all the mobile phone forms currently on the market."

"I want you to design a brand-new industrial structure for a mobile phone, with only four core design concepts."

He held up three fingers.

"First, durability. The target lifespan for the entire device is ten years."

"Second, ease of repair. A user should only need a screwdriver to replace the battery, the screen, and every modular part themselves."

"Third, and most importantly, it must serve extreme battery life. With the same battery size, our standby time must reach one week."

A light began to appear in the eyes of Chen Shiyi and Chen Shier.

This was their area of expertise.

Using the logic of industrial manufacturing to build a brand-new product.

"Understood!" the two replied in unison.

The meeting ended.

The previous doubts and anxieties were replaced by a clear objective.

Old Zhang looked at the words "Battery Life" on the whiteboard, still processing this breakthrough point.

Chen Shiyi and Chen Shier had already begun discussing materials and structural plans in low voices.

Chen Xu walked to the door and pulled open the container door.

The noise from the construction site outside flooded in.