Chapter 940 Apple's Situation

Samsung has been in the US market for a while, and it has indeed put pressure on Apple. In addition to Samsung fans, this is also an option for Vientiane fans, and the price discount will always be tempting.

Apple had to warm up this year's new machine in advance to prevent more users from buying Samsung Glow T1.

But just when Apple realized the crisis, LG also released the latest smartphones. LG had always been the top five sales brands in the United States before, and it was also because of the wrong system camp that it failed miserably.

And this time, the new product launched by LG also uses the Vientiane system. After all, Samsung and LG are both Korean companies. While competing, there will always be some consensus. As for the chip, it is also Huawei's 5nm chip, and even the sales The policy is also taking the cost-effective route.

The only difference with Samsung is probably that LG did not invite Dafeng Group to take a stake.

For Samsung and LG, it is unrealistic to directly go high-end now, and it is the most conservative approach to hit market share through cost performance.

The addition of LG has made the smartphone market in the United States more lively. However, the matter is not over yet. Seeing that Korea is making efforts, Sony also hastened to launch a new phone, which is also a combination of Vientiane + 5nm processor, but Sony uses Dafeng Group chip.

As for why Samsung and LG didn't use the chips of Dafeng Group, because they couldn't order them.

In the face of the impact of the three brands, Apple’s announcement of the new phone in advance did not have a good effect. It had to start discounting the old models. Apple still has a price advantage in the United States. After the discount, it can slightly resist the first resistance. Sudden stress.

In addition to the US market, in mid-March, the spring conference of smartphone manufacturers in China began.

Chinese mobile phone manufacturers are now popular in four seasons press conferences, spring, summer, autumn and winter each hold a conference, each of which will have a corresponding new product launch.

At this year's spring conference, ZTE, Xiaomi, OPPO and other brands are also standard in Vientiane + 5nm chips.

Except for Xiaomi, all Chinese mobile phone brands have basically given up on the US market, and because they have given up on the US market, they can spend more energy on other markets.

Apple's press conference was originally brought forward to the end of April, but it turned out that the situation was brought forward again, and it was directly mentioned to the beginning of April.

But on the day Apple released the news, Williams came to Cook's office anxiously, "Cook, I just received a piece of news, a... not very optimistic news."

Cook's hand, which was signing the document, paused, "What news?"

"Our subsequent chip supply is likely to encounter some problems."

Cook's hand couldn't help but pause, "What do you mean by that?"

"Our first batch of chip orders TSMC will supply normally according to the contract, but subsequent orders are likely to be delayed, which means that subsequent chip supply is difficult to guarantee."

Cook put down his pen, somewhat annoyed, "Why? Didn't TSMC say before that it would maintain a good cooperative relationship with us? Could it be that Dafeng Group is putting pressure on it?"

"Judging from the current news, it is mainly because only Dafeng Semiconductor and TSMC are capable of producing 5nm processors in the world. Recently, the demand for processors has surged, and TSMC has launched a ladder production system, but our current order volume is too large. Less. We are no longer a big customer in TSMC, and we have never signed a long-term contract with a big customer before.”

"There will still be some subjective factors in it." Cook pushed his glasses, and it must be uncomfortable to hear Williams say that Apple is not a major customer in TSMC now, "or, because the Vientiane camp has With so many brand insurance policies, TSMC feels that the controllable profit of prioritizing our orders is relatively low? In other words, what promises did Dafeng Group and Huawei give TSMC.”

Williams tried to keep calm, "Galewind Group and Huawei are now cash cows for TSMC, and Qualcomm's current orders are a bit out of reach compared with these two companies. This is based on the premise that Gale Semiconductor can also produce itself. .

Even if they really promise something to TSMC, from a business point of view, we really have nothing to do.

We can only think about how to give TSMC something they want now. "

Cook stood up from his chair, "Then we will become extremely passive in front of TSMC, and what can we give TSMC? If they really want to get something from us, it is nothing more than profit, but recently you have also seen At this stage, those companies in the three East Asian countries are still fighting price wars at this stage, and we don’t have much room to fight price wars. If the cost of chips rises again, if other suppliers learn from TSMC and threaten us in the future, what should we do?”

Williams stammered, "We...we do now"

Cook reached out his hand to signal Williams to stop talking, "I just can't figure it out, can't we in the United States have a foundry that can produce 5nm chips! What are those companies doing?"

"I heard that they are already cooperating to tackle tough problems, and the government is also very supportive, but it will be the end of this year at the earliest."

"Intel has been really trash these past few years!" Cook complained with disgust on his face, "Those guys know how to hack now, and Silicon Valley is almost ruined by them!"

"Anyway, everyone still attaches great importance to these things recently. I believe that many problems will be resolved in the next two years. The key is how we should face the pressure from China in the next two years."

"Let's do something with profits and corporate expenses first." Cook couldn't come up with a good solution immediately, "Go to TSMC and talk to them in person."

"Okay." Williams went out and asked his assistant to book a plane ticket, and asked his wife to bring her luggage to the company.

An hour later, Williams was about to leave when Cook called him back to his office.

"What's wrong?"

Cook spread out a stack of lawyer's letters on the table, "Look for yourself."

"This is." Williams walked in and looked it over, "Gale, Huawei, Xiaomi, Samsung, LG, Sony...all come to sue us for infringement?

What's going on? "

Cook sat down on the sofa, "I said when the Google accident happened, Meng Qian is an extremely cruel person.

As long as Meng Qian catches a chance, he will do everything for his purpose and make his opponent's bones disappear.

Now, we are his target! "

Williams' mood quickly became heavy, "What kind of person is this? He is so magnanimous when promoting new globalization."

Cook smiled, "Do you think Meng Qian can easily understand everything that Meng Qian has created in nineteen years?"

"But...why did Nihongo Enterprise and Korea Enterprise help him? Don't they worry about their future after seeing what Meng Qian is doing now?"

Cook couldn't help laughing, "Meng Qian is saving Samsung. What's more, once Apple falls, Samsung, LG and Sony will rush up and bite our corpses faster than Dafeng Group."

"But what they get is short-term benefits. They can't beat the Dafeng Group even if we fall. What Meng Qian gets is long-term benefits."

Cook looked up at Williams, "The smartphone market already belongs to China, and its long-term interests are destined to belong to China, they just decided to accept a reality.

Do you really believe that Samsung is the return of the king? Samsung just wants to be a bastard who will live for a thousand years.

Meng Qian knew that they would definitely accept this reality, otherwise, they would lose even short-term benefits.

And there is one more point here, do you really think that Meng Qian only controls the Dafeng Group? He controls far more than you or I can imagine. "

Williams was silent for a while, not knowing what to say.

Cook patted the dust on his legs and got up, "You should go to TSMC first, and have a video conference with us on the way, and we will sit and chat together.

Apple, the biggest crisis may be coming. "