Chapter 2857 Baseband Optimization

Zhou Buqi gave some half-truthful advice, and Intel also showed enough sincerity in cooperation.

After all, at the moment, Asda is already the mobile phone manufacturer with the highest shipment volume in the world!

The most important thing is of course the domestic market.

In the past year, Asda's global sales reached 67 million units, of which the domestic market accounted for 35 million units, mainly mid- to low-end models priced below 3,000 yuan.

Intel has just successfully developed a 4G baseband, which is much worse than Qualcomm's baseband in all aspects.

Intel is also aware of this, so their basebands are cheaper and are mainly aimed at the mid-to-low-end market, which is exactly in line with Asda's sphere of influence.

Brian couldn't help but ask: "Mr. Zhou, will you...Aisda really purchase our baseband?"

"why not?"

Zhou Buqi thought his words were a bit baffling.

Intel's baseband is not as good as Qualcomm's, but it's not terrible either. After all, this is something developed by the chip giant.

In normal application scenarios, there is actually no difference in use between the two basebands. Only in some special scenarios, the gap will show up, such as in the wilderness, in a tightly closed alone space, or when a mobile phone is about to run out of battery. , such as when the mobile phone load is too high.

But even so, this signal gap is not intolerable.

It’s enough to put it on a mid- to low-end machine!

In fact, whether you are making mobile phones or other products, there are two main ideas-either to make the quality unparalleled, or to keep the cost as low as possible.

From the perspective of market audience scope, cost factors are more important.

As long as it is cheap enough, sacrificing some quality is not intolerable.

To put it bluntly, it means cutting corners.

For example, the rise of Korean and Japanese cars in the past thirty years, the rapid rise of Chinese manufacturing, Xiaomi Ecosystem, and even Elon Musk who builds rockets and electric cars.

Zhou Buqi is pushing Asda to use self-developed processor chips. What can't be used with Intel's baseband?

Pairing Qualcomm's baseband with your own chip is a waste of part of the performance of Qualcomm's baseband.

Brian was still a little worried, so he simply spoke frankly: "I've been paying attention to the news, and you and Qualcomm seem to have some differences. I'm very worried...I'm worried that your coming here this time is just a bargaining chip with Qualcomm."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "There is nothing to discuss with Qualcomm."

Brian said sincerely: "In the past few years, we have carried out very friendly cooperation. The transaction volume between Intel and Ziweiyun has exceeded US$2 billion. Mr. Zhou, I very much hope that we can continue our cooperation." The good cooperative relationship will further promote the cooperation between Intel and Asda.”

"That's what I meant." Zhou Buqi glanced at him and smiled slightly, "Intel's mobile phone business now only consists of baseband chips, right?"

Brian said: "There are others, but the baseband chip is the most important."

Zhou Buqi said solemnly: "Then this has strategic value!"

Brian immediately understood what the other party meant and whispered: "Mr. Zhou, you can rest assured. Our 4G baseband was just launched in February, and there are indeed many immature aspects. But by February next year or In March, a new baseband will be launched, which will improve many of the shortcomings of this generation. As long as we can cooperate with Asda, we are willing to show our greatest sincerity, even... to be honest, in the first three years of the baseband business. , I have no intention of making a profit at all.”

"Well, this is strategic vision."

Zhou Buqi praised him.

It's nothing more than price negotiation, hoping that the other party will sell their baseband chips to Asda at a lower price.

Zhou Buqi added, "Asida's next strategic direction is mid- to low-end machines, especially low-end models priced under $200. If Intel and Asda establish a cooperative relationship, I believe that What is your shipment target for Intel’s baseband chip business just by relying on Asda alone?”

"Um……"

Brian hesitated.

Zhou Buqi raised his eyebrows and glanced sideways at him, "Is it inconvenient?"

Brian laughed and shook his head, and said frankly: "Three years later, shipments will reach 10 million."

Zhou Buqi smiled slightly.

"Mr. Zhou?"

Brian was cautious and leaned forward to ask for advice.

"If we reach a cooperation and there are no major problems with the new baseband next year, I believe it will be enough to help you achieve this goal next year. Even Asda's first order can be 10 million!"

Behind Zhou Buqi is not only Asda, but also Xiaomi.

Even if he is willing and communicates privately, other domestic mobile phone manufacturers, such as Lenovo, Huawei, ZTE, Coolpad, LeTV, etc., can also come forward to purchase Intel basebands. Currently, domestic mobile phone manufacturers, except for Asda, which has the strength to produce high-end smartphones, other mobile phone manufacturers are producing mid- to low-end models.

Intel's baseband is enough.

If this is really promoted, it will be a huge blow to Qualcomm. Let Qualcomm understand that technology can choke other people's necks, and the market can also choke technology. Now the whole world has nothing to do with Qualcomm. As the richest man in the world, Zhou Buqi might as well be the number one person in the world! Give it a try to those people from all walks of life who hate Qualcomm!

A mere 10 million baseband chips are nothing to Zhou Buqi.

According to Asda's plan, the demand for Intel's baseband next year will be more than 10 million.

Brian got excited, "Mr. Zhou, can Asda really place an order? An order of 10 million?"

Zhou Buqi said, "I just want to know what kind of cooperation conditions you will give."

Brian said, "15% lower than the market price."

"Not enough."

"Customized."

"Oh?"

Zhou Buqi's eyes lit up.

This is his main purpose, which is the terms that Zhou Shaoning had repeatedly urged to reach before.

For baseband chips, customization is the king.

It's not about brand new styles and designs.

Rather, it is about optimizing the baseband for the matching processor, so that the processor and baseband are more compatible, thereby improving the decoding efficiency of the baseband and making the signal smoother and more stable. After "customization", the signal strength of the baseband can be increased by at least 10%-15%.

In fact, in the mobile phone industry, customization of basebands is a common practice.

But that was the era of feature phones.

For smartphones, the processor is the most important, followed by the baseband; feature phones are different. Feature phones are not very playable. They are mainly used for making calls, and the signal is the most important, so the most important thing for feature phones is the baseband, followed by the processor.

In the past, the basebands of major mobile phone manufacturers, such as Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Philips, Sony, Hyundai, etc., were all customized without exception, and they all had to be specially optimized by chip manufacturers.

This is related to the times.

Feature phones have only a few functions, and there are too few options for optimization. The most important optimization is baseband optimization, so the basebands of mobile phones from major manufacturers are all optimized.

So there are some phenomena in the market. Even if small-factory mobile phones or copycat mobile phones use the same baseband, the signal stability is not as good as that of big-name mobile phones. This is even more true for smartphones. The signal strength and stability of expensive smartphones are far inferior to feature phones.

Because in the era of smartphones, the logic of mobile phones has changed, and there are too many parts of smartphones that need to be optimized. Optimization around the processor, system, and software level is the first choice. No manufacturer will specifically optimize the baseband.

The only exception is Qualcomm, because Qualcomm has both processors and basebands, and both are its own products, which are inherently "customized" and adapted in their genes.

If Asda uses self-developed processor chips, even if it uses Qualcomm's baseband, it is not optimized.

If Intel is willing to make concessions, based on the company's strategy, and actively provide baseband optimization services to the purchaser...

That would be great for Asda!

As a mid-to-low-end model equipped with Intel baseband, Asda's mobile phone signal can be stronger and more stable, and it will be more competitive in the market.