Chapter 628 - 449: 12 US Dollars, Good Things Must Be Sold at a High Price! Chen Yansen: Do You Take Me for a Garbage Collector?

In a conference room on the second floor of the Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park.

Cook’s eyes lit up. He quickly leaned forward, picked up a battery from the display tray, and brought it close to his eyes to examine it carefully.

He couldn’t read the Chinese characters on the separator, but the ’3200mAh’ marking made his heart skip a beat.

’This thing is so thin!’

After all, the iPhone 5’s battery only had a capacity of 1440 mAh, with dimensions of 90.0 mm in length, 30.0 mm in width, and 5.45 mm in height.

Yet this 3200 mAh battery was only slightly larger than the iPhone 5’s, and even thinner.

If the data wasn’t fabricated, the Deep Blue Battery could upend the entire global battery supply landscape and rewrite the rules of the industry.

"What are its exact dimensions?" Cook asked Chen Yansen, unable to contain his curiosity.

"91.0 mm, 32.0 mm, and 5.0 mm."

Chen Yansen leaned back in his chair and replied nonchalantly.

This was the provisional battery sample for the Yaocheng X1 SE. Compared to the battery in the Yaocheng X1, its length, width, and thickness had all been reduced, cutting its volume in half.

The original Yaocheng X1 used a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen, partly to cater to the domestic preference for large screens, and partly to resolve the trade-off between battery life, body thickness, and internal space efficiency.

But at the end of the day, a 5.7-inch screen still sacrificed the phone’s portability and one-handed usability for many people.

"A lithium-sulfur battery? Then how did you solve the issues with the shuttle effect, lithium dendrite formation, and short cycle life?"

Cook pressed on, finding it hard to believe.

"That question will cost you extra!" Chen Yansen replied, half-joking.

He wouldn’t reveal a single word about the core patent details to Cook.

Cook gave a slight, awkward laugh and subconsciously folded his arms across his chest. He was already developing a keen interest in the Deep Blue Battery.

In the eyes of outsiders, Apple’s design philosophy bordered on obsessive.

To pursue the premium feel of a thin and light device, and to control costs, they were willing to sacrifice battery life.

But if they could make the phone even thinner and lighter while maintaining battery life, that was obviously the better choice.

To put it bluntly, Apple’s core users were concentrated in Europe and America. This demographic was more sensitive to portability, and light users made up the majority. Meanwhile, users in Hua Country, who clearly had a higher demand for battery life, had long been overlooked.

After collecting his thoughts, Cook asked tentatively, "Is Mr. Chen planning to incorporate this into the Orange Mobile Phone supply chain?"

"Of course," Chen Yansen replied affirmatively.

"After how many charge-discharge cycles does the capacity retention rate drop below 80%?" Cook continued to press.

"Our lab data shows it can reach 1,200 cycles," Chen Yansen answered.

Cook furrowed his brow upon hearing this. It wasn’t that he thought it was too few; on the contrary, he thought it was too many.

If a battery degrades too slowly, it weakens the user’s motivation to upgrade to a new phone.

Chen Yansen glanced at him and added, "However, its performance will degrade under normal, low, and high temperature conditions. After about 1,000 cycles, the capacity will drop to 80%."

’1,000 cycles?’

’Still too high!’

"Mr. Chen, according to a test report by TechInsights, the Mountain Star Galaxy S4 has an average cycle life of only 460, and the High Technology Corporation One is 380."

Cook pushed up his glasses, adopting the posture of someone about to give Chen Yansen a lesson in business.

Chen Yansen scoffed inwardly.

Of course he understood what Cook meant, but he hadn’t finished speaking yet.

When the time comes, Deep Blue Battery will adjust the formula of the electrolyte and MOF separator material to artificially control the battery’s cycle life, dividing the product into high, medium, and low tiers. With different performance levels, the prices will naturally vary as well.

He had spent over a decade grinding it out in the e-commerce industry. When it came to playing games and using clever tactics, he could be Cook’s grandmaster.

This practice was quite common in the industry and couldn’t be considered a malicious control tactic.

For example, with batteries for cheap small appliances and toys, cost is the primary consideration, and such a product better suits the buyer’s usage needs.

After all, if the price is too high, profit margins get squeezed.

On the other hand, batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage devices have much higher requirements for cycle life. Some even lock a portion of the capacity via a battery management system to reduce the cyclic stress on the electrode materials, increasing the number of cycles by over 50%, though this also sacrifices some performance.

Chen Yansen smiled faintly and said unhurriedly, "Deep Blue can also make a battery with a 500-cycle life."

"What’s the external supply price for this battery?" Cook asked, beating around the bush to probe for information.

"That depends on the order volume. If the annual order reaches 50 million units, the price can be 24 US Dollars," Chen Yansen replied.

’24 US Dollars?’

Cook’s mind raced as he made a rough calculation. Including materials, labor, and manufacturing costs, the material cost per battery was at most 8 US Dollars. ’This guy is ruthless.’

The iPhone 5 batteries that Desai supplied to Apple cost 5 US Dollars per unit, which included the supplier’s profit. The actual cost was only 4 US Dollars.

The Deep Blue Battery’s performance was indeed good, but its price was also indeed steep!

For the 16GB version of the iPhone 5s, the combined cost of components like the A7 chip, M7 coprocessor, display, camera, memory, storage, baseband, casing, and sensors was just over 200 US Dollars.

A simple conversion based on capacity would mean a 1600 mAh Deep Blue Battery would cost 12 US Dollars.

Accounting for 5% of the total material cost of the phone—was it worth it for Apple?

The smile on Cook’s face slowly faded as he fell into deep thought.

Chen Yansen paid him no mind, casually picking up a bottle of mineral water from the table, twisting off the cap, and taking an indifferent sip.

’Good things should be expensive!’

When the Orange C1 and Orange D1 were launched, aside from being equipped with the Aurora OS, they were no different from models by Xiaomi, ZTE, or Coolpad—all just smartphones with slapped-together components.