Chapter 584 - 418: The Great Budget Phone Melee! Zhang Chaoyang: What a Sweet Talker, I Don’t Even Want to Talk to You

Over the next three days, sales of the Orange E1 climbed steadily, with daily sales surpassing 100,000 units.

However, the Orange Fan Factory’s production capacity was completely unable to keep up with market demand. In-stock units quickly sold out and became pre-orders, with delivery times extending to as long as a month later.

Dai Zhanhong rushed to purchase more production lines and recruit assembly line workers. It was the first time he’d discovered that doing business was so simple.

The Orange E1’s popularity far exceeded his imagination.

In reality, it wasn’t hard to understand. Given Chen Yansen’s abilities, a motor he personally designed, high-quality materials, an excellent aesthetic, and a powerful sales network, it was only natural to achieve such results.

In its first week, a total of 761,000 units were sold, generating 124.043 million Hua Yuan in revenue. The delivery date for the latest orders was pushed all the way to June 25.

Concerned about the user experience, Chen Yansen took the initiative to contact Jin Junhua, the chairman of Luzhou Rongshida Electric Appliances.

They had met once before at a dinner in Luzhou Prefecture hosted by Xu Minggang.

After hearing Chen Yansen’s request, Jin Junhua readily agreed to take on some of the contract manufacturing orders for the Orange Fan Factory.

Chen Yansen felt he had no other choice. ’I can’t just let customers wait until July or August for delivery. Summer would be more than halfway over by then.’

The customers might be willing to wait, but he couldn’t run his business that way.

As it happened, Rongshida Electric Appliances had several production lines in Luzhou that were suitable for producing the Orange fans.

If it were anyone else, Jin Junhua would never have agreed, but Chen Yansen was different.

Last year, Rongshida’s online sales had grown by 26% year-over-year, and he knew full well it was entirely thanks to Pinbei Mall’s Ten Billion Subsidy program.

He could have refused, but on second thought, Jin Junhua remembered that this Chen Yansen fellow had a notorious reputation for holding a grudge over the smallest slight. If the man became vindictive, Rongshida could forget about ever getting extra traffic support from Pinbei again.

Thus, behind Jin Junhua’s seemingly magnanimous gesture lay both a sense of obligation and cold calculation.

The very reason Chen Yansen had approached him was that he knew Jin Junhua would be easy to manipulate.

If he had approached brands like Midea, Gree, or Airmate, he likely would have been snubbed.

「At the same time.」

Lei Yijun eagerly took to Weibo to announce the date for Xiaomi’s new product launch event. It was set for May 28, once again at the 798 Art Center.

Ten minutes later, Zhou Hongyi posted nine high-definition photos of the 360 F1 with the caption: "Tomorrow at 10:00 AM, the 360 F1 will have a limited release on the 360 and Pinbei Mall platforms, priced at 899 yuan!"

The detailed specs were included in the ninth photo: a MediaTek MT6589 quad-core 1.2GHz processor, a PowerVR SGX544 GPU capable of handling light gaming needs like *Angry Birds* and *Temple Run*.

It had 1GB of RAM and 4GB of ROM, with MicroSD card support for expansion up to 32GB, a 4.7-inch IPS touchscreen, a 13-megapixel rear camera, and a 2-megapixel front camera.

It was dual-SIM, featured a polycarbonate back cover, and ran on either the Aurora Future OS 1.0 or the Aurora OS 1.6.

Compared to the Qingcheng D2, the 360 F1 cut back in some areas but optimized the performance of its rear camera.

Of course, it was also 100 yuan more expensive, but the 899 yuan price tag still attracted a huge amount of attention.

People were already setting their alarms, ready to jump on the flash sale the next day.

Although the Qingcheng D2 offered better value, let’s be honest—an Orange Mobile Phone isn’t Gold or a pile of Hua Yuan; it can’t be expected to please everyone.

The 360 F1 naturally had its own niche to fill.

Zhou Hongyi’s move was clearly a provocation.

Lei Yijun clicked on the 360 F1’s spec sheet and let out a cold snort. ’Compared to my Redmi 1, the 360 F1 is a step behind on both price and processor.’

’Except for that 13-megapixel rear camera, which is better, the Redmi 1 is the clear winner.’

’For budget phone users, a slightly worse camera doesn’t matter. The price just has to be cheap.’

’As if the 799-yuan Redmi 1 would have any trouble competing with the 360 F1?’

’What’s more, every Redmi 1 will come equipped with Aurora Future OS 1.0. Unlike Zhou Hongyi, who’s playing both sides, I’m betting big this time, going all-in on supporting Orange Technology’s in-house OS.’

Seeing that Lei Yijun knew how to play ball, Chen Yansen returned the favor. Leveraging his position as a major shareholder in Jingdongfang and Desai Battery, he helped Lei Yijun get the bill of materials down to 520 yuan per unit.

In reality, after factoring in production, shipping, after-sales service, and marketing costs, Xiaomi wasn’t even making a 5% gross margin on the hardware.

The lion’s share of the profit was going straight to Orange Technology!

Lei Yijun was well aware of this, but his hands were tied. With Xiaomi’s current shipment volume, there was no way he could negotiate the same supply prices that Orange Technology received.

The bargaining power you have with suppliers when ordering a few million units a year is vastly different from when you’re ordering tens of millions.

’Let Zhou Hongyi be smug for a few more days!’

’Once the Redmi 1 launches, I’ll give him a hard slap in the face!’

Lei Yijun narrowed his eyes, stewing in his thoughts.

Seeing no reaction from Lei Yijun, netizens couldn’t help but flood his comments section. "President Lei, Zhou Daqiang just dropped a new phone. Don’t you have anything to say?"

"President Lei, can Xiaomi win this round?"

"Just say something! If you don’t respond, Sect Leader Zhou’s one-man show will be no fun."

Plenty of people were trying to fan the flames.

Before, watching the two of them trade insults online had started to feel a bit old.

Now that they had stopped fighting, the netizens were actually starting to miss it.

Lei Yijun couldn’t even be bothered to look at the comments. He was determined not to say a single word until the Redmi 1 launched.

「Meanwhile.」

When Zhou Hongyi saw that Lei Yijun wasn’t taking the bait, he grew suspicious. Knowing Lei Yijun, he would never just swallow his pride and stay silent. ’Is he drafting a long-winded takedown piece?’

At this thought, Lao Zhou grew excited, already plotting how he would clap back to generate even more buzz.

To his surprise, by midnight, there was still no activity on Lei Yijun’s Weibo or Toutiao accounts.

His plan foiled, Zhou Hongyi thought for a moment before deciding to call him out directly by name: "President Lei, giving up on the sales competition? You scared?"

He then waited another half hour, but there was still no response from Lei Yijun. Even the notoriously hot-tempered Li Wanqiang was completely silent.

’Did they actually chicken out?’

Zhou Hongyi wondered in confusion.

He didn’t know much about Xiaomi’s new product.

But he was certain Chen Yansen knew. Zhou Hongyi had tried to probe for information, but Chen Yansen hadn’t revealed a single thing.

Instead of being angry, Lao Zhou was actually pleased.

It meant that Chen Yansen was a man of principle who understood professional boundaries. If he wouldn’t reveal Xiaomi’s product information, then he surely wouldn’t leak 360 Mobile Phone’s business secrets to Xiaomi, either.

Zhou Hongyi was very satisfied with this.

「The next day, May 26」

The 360 F1 went on sale right on schedule. The first batch of 100,000 units sold out in just over nine hours.

This included 10,000 units of the Aurora Future OS edition of the 360 F1.

The success of the 360 F1 once again proved a simple truth: for a budget smartphone, as long as it has a large screen, takes clear photos, operates smoothly, and doesn’t lag, it will win the favor of the market.

It was a crude but effective strategy, no fancy tricks required.

At 8:00 PM that night, less than a minute after the in-stock listing for the 360 F1 was taken down, a new pre-order link went live.

Customers placed orders in a frenzy. On its launch day, a total of 144,000 units were sold. While this couldn’t compare to the Qingcheng D2, it was enough to easily place 360 Mobile Phone among the top ten smartphone brands in the country by shipment volume for 2013.

The following morning, Chen Yansen led Gao Weilin, Meng Yun, Song Yuncheng, and others to Yanjing. They were there to attend the 2013 Global Mobile Internet Conference and, while they were at it, Xiaomi’s new product launch event.

After all, the Redmi 1 was only the second smartphone in the world to come fully equipped with Aurora Future OS. For the sake of his own ecosystem’s expansion, Chen Yansen had to make an appearance to support Lei Yijun.

As for what Zhou Hongyi might think, he couldn’t care less.

Every time Lao Zhou boasted online that "Chen Yansen is my closest friend," Chen Yansen never denied it, but he never confirmed it, either.

In his opinion, if you went by Lao Zhou’s standards, the man had if not five hundred "closest friends" in the industry, then at least four hundred and eighty.

Of course, if the 360 F1 had gone all-in on Aurora Future OS like the Redmi 1, then a friendly online interaction with Lao Zhou might not have been out of the question.

At 2:30 in the afternoon, not long after his plane landed, Chen Yansen was scooped up by Zhang Chaoyang and ushered onto his private jet. From there, they flew straight to Jinmen Harbor, where the group boarded a boat to go sea fishing.

"I’ve got the whole evening planned," Zhang Chaoyang said with a smile. "First we’ll catch a few fish, then we’ll head to Jingzhao Prefecture for dinner, and after that, the bars..."

Chen Yansen heaved a long sigh and nodded in resignation.

His schedule was packed, one event flowing seamlessly into the next.

From Xucheng to the Bohai Bay, his feet had barely touched the ground.

"We’ve been making a lot of noise lately. No objections from the higher-ups?" Chen Yansen asked casually.

"See? That’s how it is," Zhang Chaoyang said pointedly. "Once you get too big, there will always be people who want to knock you down. Qian Du is a perfect cautionary tale."

"So, is that why Sohu has never managed to take off? Because you don’t want it to?" Chen Yansen shot back.

Zhang Chaoyang’s face stiffened. He turned his head away, looking uncomfortable. He really didn’t want to talk to Chen Yansen anymore.

’Is it that I don’t want to?’

’You think I haven’t tried? Sohu’s performance in the social media and e-commerce spaces has been an unmitigated disaster.’

’He’d love for someone to try and suppress Sohu—at least then he’d know someone considered it a threat! But no one even gives it a second look!’