Xiaomi electric car, Polestar smartphone… Chinese companies seeking synergy by destroying the electric vehicle and smartphone sectors

‘Xiaomi’s electric car, Polestar’s smartphone… ‘

Chinese smartphone companies are entering the electric vehicle market in earnest. Chinese electric vehicle brands have recently been challenging the smartphone market one after another. The reason why this kind of domain destruction is happening is because the linkage between cars and smartphones has emerged as a competitive edge in the automobile industry. The response from consumers is not bad, so this trend is expected to spread in the future. TechRadar recently reported, “The boundaries between the automobile and smartphone industries are beginning to blur.”

◇ Xiaomi successfully debuts its first electric vehicle ‘SU7′… Cumulative sales exceed 70,000 units

Xiaomi, which makes smartphones and home appliances, first unveiled its electric car ‘Xiaomi SU7 Max’ on the 28th of last month. This vehicle reaches 100 km/h in 2.78 seconds. Xiaomi founder and chairman Lei Jun said, “As of the 20th, the cumulative order volume for SU7 has reached about 70,000 units,” and added, “Our goal is to become one of the world’s top five automobile manufacturers through 15 to 20 years of effort.”

Huawei, a communications equipment and smartphone manufacturer, has developed an electric vehicle operating system (OS) and is collaborating with automobile manufacturers. Huawei introduced ‘AVATR’, a joint electric vehicle brand with China’s Changan Automobile and CATL.

◇ Electric vehicle company Polestar collaborates with smartphone manufacturer Meiju

Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers are making a splash in the smartphone market.

Polestar, an electric vehicle company jointly established in 2017 by China’s Geely Motors and Sweden’s Volvo, unveiled the ‘Polestar Phone’ developed for the Chinese market on the 23rd of this month (local time). The Polestar phone was developed through collaboration between the Swedish Polestar design team and Meizu, a smartphone manufacturer under China’s Geely Automobile Group. Polestar previously referred to Volvo’s high-performance lineup, but after the launch of the joint venture, it has become known as a high-priced electric vehicle brand. In an interview with economic media outlet CNBC, Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenrath said, “Both (electric vehicle) Polestar 4 and the new smartphone will use a dedicated OS created by Meizu,” adding, “We are eliminating the boundary between cars and mobile phones.” “If we connect, (the system) will transition really smoothly,” he said.

Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Nio also introduced its self-developed ‘Nio Phone’ to the market at the end of September last year. At that time, Nio also introduced an operating system (OS) for electric vehicles along with NioPhone, with the ambition to become an electric vehicle company that integrates cars and mobile phones. NioPhone is equipped with Samsung Display’s organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel. “The goal is not to compete with existing mobile phone manufacturers,” said Ravinnio founder. “The goal is to provide the optimal experience to drivers by using mobile phones as a platform.”

◇ Combining hardware-based software competitiveness

The purpose of electric vehicle companies releasing smartphones is not to compete with strong players in the smartphone market such as Samsung Electronics and Apple. The strategy is to increase competitiveness by implementing interconnection between cars and smartphones using the company’s own OS and system. Some interpret it as the result of the Chinese government and companies’ efforts to increase software competitiveness based on hardware.

Recently released new cars are equipped with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which implement the smartphone OS on the car screen. In addition, functions utilizing wireless communications such as LTE (4th generation mobile communication) and 5G (5th generation mobile communication) are also being actively applied. However, it is assessed that a complete software-driven vehicle (SDV) has not yet been implemented.

TechRadar said, “Unlike existing vehicles, which are equipped with hardware and customized software designed by various suppliers, SDVs have fewer hardware elements designed by the manufacturer themselves, but control all functions of the software.” “SDVs are “We call it a smartphone with wheels,” he said.