Chapter 141: 1999 Yuan? If You Don

August 6, 9:15 a.m.

Outside the entrance of the Sky Garden Hotel in Xucheng, luxury cars lined up and crowds surged.

A banner hung in the lobby: “Chengzi Tech New Product Launch — Let Technology Change Life!”

Journalists present raised their cameras and snapped photos of the entrance materials, silently pondering the meaning behind the slogan.

If targeting ordinary people, Chengzi Phone’s price likely wouldn’t exceed 3,000 yuan;

if aimed at a niche segment, Chengzi Phone might be positioned as a flagship model, priced at 3,499, 3,699, or 3,999 yuan.

Chen Yansen, Wang Teng, and Wang Zihao stood in the lobby, greeting visiting competitors, suppliers, and media scholars.

“Sen-ge, Principal Tang is here!”

Wang Zihao nudged Chen Yansen, who was speaking with Huang Zhang, and whispered a reminder.

“Huang Zong, excuse me for a moment. Zihao, take Huang Zong to the banquet hall.”

Chen Yansen instructed Wang Zihao.

Then he turned and walked toward the entrance, Wang Teng following behind.

Wang Teng felt that as Product Director of R&D, he shouldn’t be handling brand or marketing duties, but since his boss assigned him here, he had no choice but to stay.

“Professor Tang, I didn’t expect you to arrive so early — let me take you upstairs.”

Chen Yansen smiled, adopting the demeanor of a good student, stepping forward to greet Tang Qingshan.

“You go on with your work. My colleagues and I are just here to enjoy the buzz — no need to bother with us.”

Tang Qingshan smiled broadly at being called “Professor” by Chen Yansen, his grin stretching nearly to his ears.

Who wouldn’t be proud to have a student as accomplished as Chen Yansen?

Now, whenever he attended meetings and entrepreneurship came up, he’d bring up Chen Yansen as his favorite talking point.

Chen Yansen glanced at the group accompanying Tang Qingshan — all department heads — and insisted on escorting them to the banquet hall.

But Tang Qingshan feared delaying him and waved him off repeatedly; under the hotel staff’s guidance, he sidestepped Chen Yansen and walked straight into the elevator.

He often dined here — he knew the place well.

Chen Yansen smiled and let it go.

Soon after, Chen Yongming from OPPO arrived with his assistant, striding forward.

Wang Teng watched Chen Yongming approach, feeling dazed — half a year ago, he was still a product manager at OPPO’s R&D center; now he was the product lead at Chengzi Tech.

“Chen Zong, thank you for coming to Xucheng — please go upstairs!”

Chen Yansen stepped forward, shook Chen Yongming’s hand warmly, and greeted him enthusiastically.

Chen Yongming smiled back, secretly sizing up Chen Yansen, and couldn’t help but reflect: today’s young entrepreneurs are far more aggressive than our generation.

In fact, Chen Yongming was only in his early forties — quite young among entrepreneurs.

After brief pleasantries at the entrance, Chen Yongming followed Wang Teng toward the banquet hall.

At this moment, Wang Zihao had finished settling Huang Zhang from Meizu and returned to the first floor.

A commotion erupted outside — Xiaomi’s Lei Yijun and Li Wanqiang had just entered.

“Lei Zong, welcome to Xucheng! After the launch, let’s have a proper chat.”

Chen Yansen gripped Lei Yijun’s hand, speaking with obvious familiarity.

Nearby journalists quickly snapped photos, puzzled: these two rivals seemed to get along well.

Lei Yijun, seeing Chen Yansen’s warmth, immediately lost whatever little hostility he’d harbored.

Whether one more or one fewer competitor mattered little.

No need to be cold or hostile!

Besides, Chengzi Phone’s ultra-narrow bezels and fully virtual buttons made Lei Yijun secretly think: this move was too bold — users might not accept it.

“Why did you choose to build your own factory?”

Lei Yijun asked, standing still.

At this time, aside from OPPO considering building its own production base, Xiaomi, Meizu, and Coolpad all relied on partners like Yinghuada, BYD, and Foxconn.

First, management costs were lower; second, contract manufacturers had rich supplier networks, better controlling procurement costs, quality, and delivery cycles; third, smartphone production lines were extremely expensive — initial equipment investment alone required hundreds of millions.

Lei Yijun had money, but before Xiaomi’s IPO, he lacked the confidence to build a phone factory — the cost was simply too high.

If production-line technology advanced too quickly, you’d have to buy new equipment — which phone maker could bear that pressure?

Xiaomi only built a 10-million-unit-per-year factory in Changping, Yanjing, six years later when funds were plentiful — but its mid- and low-end models were still outsourced.

“Building our own factory is more expensive, but it lets us control production schedules and ensure stable quality and output.”

Chen Yansen smiled, offering a casual excuse.

Lei Yijun nodded — Chen Yansen’s reasoning made sense, but he sensed it wasn’t the real reason.

He didn’t press further; if the other side didn’t want to say, asking was pointless.

Chen Yansen had Zihao escort them upstairs.

By 9:40 a.m., attendees had gradually arrived.

Chen Yansen had greeted dozens of people at the entrance — he now deeply felt such events required a brand manager who understood people and knew proper etiquette.

Unfortunately, Ye Qiuping wouldn’t join until mid-August.

“Sen-ge, it’s about time — the host is urging us.”

Wang Teng came downstairs and reminded Chen Yansen.

“Let’s go.”

Chen Yansen replied, followed Wang Teng into the elevator, ascending directly to the top-floor banquet hall.

Unlike last time when he attended the annual meeting, this hall now held rows of chairs instead of round tables.

The first three rows seated representatives from Qualcomm, Sharp, and Sony; representatives from Xiaomi, OPPO, Meizu, and Coolpad; and the university president and department heads from Xucheng University.

The middle rows were for media personnel; the back rows were for Aurora OS fans, including Weibo contest winners and FoxTao Diamond-level users.

At exactly 10 a.m., the host handed the stage to Chen Yansen.

Though Sky Garden Hotel was the most luxurious in the city, it still fell short of a professional conference center — barely fitting over 500 seats.

Some print and self-media outlets without invitations stood along the side corridors, staring at the central stage.

Chen Yansen took the microphone and walked onto the stage with calm confidence.

This was his first product launch, but he’d attended countless financing talks, all-hands meetings, and corporate year-end gatherings.

For someone like him, nervousness didn’t exist.

After stepping on stage, Chen Yansen didn’t speak immediately; he calmly scanned the room from left to right, then smiled lightly and said: “Thank you to our competitor colleagues, partners, media friends, and Aurora OS users for attending the Chengzi Phone launch.”

“Today’s theme is: Let Technology Change Life! Before the launch, I’d like to share the original motivation behind Chengzi Phone.”

Standing on stage, Chen Yansen spoke clearly, as if chatting with friends, his tone warm and approachable.

“An iPhone 4 with 16GB storage sold for 4,999 yuan; the 32GB version cost 5,999 yuan. At the time, I wondered: how long would a young man from a small town like me have to work to afford a smartphone?”

“One month? Two months? Three months? Too expensive — and it takes too long! I believe phones shouldn’t cost this much!”

“Bring down the price! Let technology serve the masses — let everyone benefit from technological progress, not just a few.”

Chen Yansen’s few words instantly energized the atmosphere.

Those present — especially media and fans — weren’t all able to afford iPhones; many earned less than 5,000 yuan a month.

Besides phones, daily expenses included food, clothing, housing, and transportation — all cost money.

After speaking, Chen Yansen didn’t immediately reveal the Chengzi Phone’s price; instead, he pressed a remote, switching the display.

On the large screen appeared three Chengzi Phones in different colors: black, white, and silver.

“First, let’s look at the ‘brain’ — the processor. We chose the Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 dual-core processor, Cortex-A9 architecture, with a clock speed of 1.5GHz.”

“Simply put, performance is stronger — multiple apps can run simultaneously without lag, and high-demand games like ‘Black Pegasus’ and ‘Auto Academy’ run smoothly.”

As Chen Yansen described the processor, Lei Yijun tensed slightly, then relaxed.

In 2011, the Snapdragon MSM8260 was a best-selling S3-series chip, widely used in many domestic models.

The difference? Prices varied — 2,999 yuan, 3,699 yuan — but Lei Yijun’s price was 1,999 yuan.

“Next, memory: 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage, expandable up to 32GB via microSD card.”

This specification would be considered e-waste over a decade later, but in 2011, it was flagship-tier memory.

Many were guessing Chengzi Phone’s price.

Despite Chen Yansen’s lofty words, no businessman operates without profit.

Most judged from the processor and memory and assumed the price would be between 2,999 and 3,299 yuan.

“The screen is a 4.5-inch TFT panel supporting multi-touch, with a resolution of 960×640 — delivering clearer, finer image quality and an excellent experience for video viewing and photo browsing...”

Chen Yansen introduced each feature in the style of a future product launch.

He then detailed the 8-megapixel camera, LED flash, 2,200mAh battery, and core sensors: gravity sensor, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor.

Lei Yijun’s brow tightened further, filled with confusion.

From the battery capacity, Chen Yansen hadn’t cut corners — but where were the screen driver circuits and flex cables placed?

Thinking of this, Lei Yijun glanced at Li Wanqiang.

Li Wanqiang shook his head — several ideas flashed through his mind, but all seemed too risky or too costly.

As if reading minds, Chen Yansen shifted from hardware to software.

He discussed the technical challenges of narrow bezels and their solutions.

To media and fans, this segment was dry; to engineers, it opened new perspectives.

Aside from Aurora OS optimization details, he shared insights on COF packaging and rear cover material changes.

After listening, Lei Yijun finally understood.

"As a result, the material cost of the Orange Phone exceeded the original plan by 200 yuan, but I believe it's worth it—abandoning touch buttons in favor of full-screen gestures is the future of smartphones."

Chen Yansen stood on stage, swiping left and right across the screen, the pages scrolling smoothly.

To exit an app, a simple upward swipe suffices.

With fewer steps, the experience improves.

"What do you think this phone should sell for?"

Chen Yansen looked around and saw everyone waiting for him to announce the price; he merely smiled and tossed the question to the audience.

Many raised their hands, eager to participate.

The host, seeing this, handed the microphone to one of the fans.

Of course, to ensure smoothness and avoid surprises, this young man who looked like a white-collar worker was in fact an engineer from Orange Tech.

"I think 2999 yuan is more appropriate," the pre-arranged 'plant' said seriously.

Meizu's M9, released earlier this year with an 8GB version priced at 2499 yuan, was far inferior in screen, processor, RAM, and camera compared to the Orange Phone.

Thus, the branding team had prepared the 'plant' with the script: 2999 yuan—500 yuan more than Meizu's M9.

"2999 yuan—do you all think that's acceptable? Can everyone afford it?" Chen Yansen asked with a smile.

Many reporters had never seen such an down-to-earth launch event and couldn't help laughing.

"I still think it's too expensive! Drop it another 1000 yuan, and it might just be reasonable!"

When the laughter subsided slightly, Chen Yansen said seriously.

Lei Yijun's mind buzzed.

He felt everything Chen Yansen said was exactly what he had planned to say at Xiaomi's launch—Xiaomi's date was already set, and the price had long been decided internally.

Compared to the Orange Phone, Xiaomi clearly lagged in system and storage RAM, yet the price was identical, making it easy for users to compare.

At that point, Xiaomi might end up becoming the Orange Phone's stepping stone.

Should he drop it another 10 or 20 yuan?

Lei Yijun silently calculated in his mind.

The moment Chen Yansen spoke, the CEOs of Meizu, OPPO, Coolpad, and other manufacturers immediately frowned.

This configuration of the Orange Phone, sold for only 1999 yuan?

Then who would buy their phones? How could they make easy profits anymore?

"But personally, I still think 1999 yuan is a bit too high."

Chen Yansen paused, then added lightly.

Damn!

What the hell is this kid trying to do?

Lei Yijun's face lost all trace of a smile—if they lowered the price further, no one would make any profit. How could they even play the game?

He had intended to be the one to flip the table, but Chen Yansen had already flipped his entire table!

The representatives from the first row of phone manufacturers now had ashen faces.

Chen Yansen's pricing decision had offended every domestic first- and second-tier brand—everyone's material cost was 700 to 800 yuan, including R&D and production expenses.

Why not just puff it up at the launch and sell it for 2999 or 3999 yuan?

If you don't want to make money, don't cut off everyone else's livelihood!

(End of chapter)