Shockingly, a counterfeit factory has produced a 3-nanometer chip.

Chapter 28 Waveguide's Competitors!

More importantly, these repaired chips can be used internally or sold to other counterfeit phone manufacturers to build their own ecosystem.

However, this is contingent on having a sufficient source of discarded mobile phones.

Shen Fei dialed the marketing department and issued an order: "Issue an announcement tomorrow that Transsion will globally recycle used mobile phones, regardless of brand, age, or whether they are still usable, as long as the modules are intact."

The buyback price will be 20% higher than the average market price.

"Mr. Shen, this will significantly increase costs..."

Do as instructed.

After hanging up the phone, Shen Fei walked to the window and saw the logo of the waveguide branch building in the distance. It was still as impressive as ever, and GG was still beating loudly.

What kind of waveguide phone, the one inside a phone...

But this former king of knock-off phones is now on a downward spiral.

Although the channels are still there and brand awareness continues to expand, the times are changing much faster than they realize.

If Waveguide also sets its sights on the African market... it will make a large-scale entry.

A mischievous smile flashed across Shen Fei's face. That would be interesting.

At this moment, Huang Tianya sent a message that perfectly confirmed Shen Fei's thoughts.

"President Shen, I received a message. Li Xiangdong said he got angry at an internal meeting at Bird, saying that Transsion poached two of their teams, which was too much."

Their hatred towards us has intensified, and Bird is preparing to launch a special edition phone for Africa, with similar specifications to the T1 but priced one dollar cheaper. It is expected to be available in the second quarter of 2009.

Shen Fei smiled as he read the message. This really was...

…………

Hangzhou, the headquarters building of Bird.

The CEO's office was filled with smoke. Li Xiangdong stood by the window, his face ashen.

Behind him stood a row of heads of the marketing department, R&D department, supply chain, and research institute, not daring to breathe loudly, for fear that the anger would be transferred to them.

"You fought back for more than two months and it was all useless. In the end, the other party made a move and poached two of your teams in less than a month."

Li Xiangdong turned around and slammed a stack of resignation reports heavily on the table.

"The baseband RF team, 14 people all jumped ship. We finally managed to poach a few gems, and now they've all been taken by someone else."

The image algorithm team, Transsion, relied on this tactic to thrive in Africa, but as a result, all nine of them were taken away.

What are you all good for?

The marketing manager muttered under his breath, "It's all because you're unwilling to pay me. Just sign a non-compete agreement and that'll be fine."

At this point, he could only bite the bullet and explain, "President Li, the compensation offered by Transsion is too high. The base salary has doubled, and there are also project stock options. Given the current situation at Bird, it's really difficult to retain employees."

"If you can't retain people, then offer more money!" Li Xiangdong roared.

"President Li, there's really no need to be so angry. Those people are basically all useless."

"We've had the graphics algorithm team for two months, and they haven't even written a few lines of code, let alone made any breakthroughs. They've already taken them away; what's the point of this?"

This self-deceptive attitude, while acknowledging his own incompetence, did indeed ease Li Xiangdong's anger. He said irritably, "Let's just forget about this matter, but Transsion sells knock-off phones in Africa. Where would they get so much money?"

Did they check the background of that Huaxin Investment company?

"I checked... It's registered in the Cayman Islands, and the actual controller is unknown. But it has plenty of funds; after investing 2.8 million in Transsion, it continues to acquire upstream and downstream companies, and it's quite generous with its spending."

Li Xiangdong waved his hand irritably. He knew that he wouldn't be able to find anything out with these useless people.

"Alright, we'll talk about swearing later."

How's the product preparation going at the market?

The R&D director quickly reported: "The prototype is finished. It has dual SIM dual standby, a 1200mAh battery, and a 200-megapixel camera, focusing on photography. The design is based on the Transsion T1, but with some differentiation. The cost is approximately $36."

With an expected price of $98, this Bird phone is sure to be a hit.

However, they overlooked an important point: Transsion's explosive success in Africa, besides its hardware solutions to their problems, was primarily due to its camera algorithm.

Pixel count is only one aspect; to truly capture a beautiful image, algorithms are also essential.

"Why didn't Transsion include the quad-SIM quad-standby function? It's just two SIM card slots, why save that money?"

The R&D manager was also speechless. When did CEO Li become so technically inept?

Is this a matter of two card slots?

"Mr. Li, in fact, we also considered this option in the early stages of the design process."

But Shen Fei is a cunning guy; he applied for all the patents. If we use them, we'll be giving them leverage.

Li Xiangdong nodded, then asked, "What about the pricing?"

"The Transsion T1 sells for $99, and we plan to price it at $98, a dollar lower. But our configuration is stronger than theirs, and we are confident we can win."

The profit margin was slightly lower.

There is still plenty of room for price reduction. Even if we lose money, it would be a good solution to crush Transsion. After all, we are a large and powerful company that can afford to lose money.

"We'll crush them, take over the African market, and even losing hundreds of millions is perfectly acceptable."

Li Xiangdong looked at this fool and pondered his plan. Not bad at all; it seems he's not completely stupid after all, and he does know how to use his brain.

"Sure, but what about the supply chain?"

"MediaTek's platform, Desay's batteries, Sunny Optical's camera modules... are all mature suppliers and long-term partners, so there are no issues with production capacity."

The supply chain director paused briefly, then continued, "However, Mr. Li, Chuanyin has been buying up large quantities of used mobile phones lately. What are they planning to do with them?"

"Used cell phones?" Li Xiangdong frowned slightly. These kinds of trash are quite troublesome to dispose of. Although they can make money, the profit is very small.

"Why would you collect that stuff? To dismantle it for parts? How much is that scrap metal worth?"

"They must have found some new approach. Transsion is offering 20% ​​more than the market price, making more money than dismantling it themselves, and it's also less troublesome. Now, all the recyclers in Huaqiangbei are sending their goods directly to Transsion."

Li Xiangdong thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled: "I understand. Transsion sells low-priced mobile phones in Africa with meager profits, so they want to salvage some parts from discarded mobile phones to reduce BOM costs."

Clever tricks.

"This gives us a perfect opportunity, a chance to easily crush them?"

He lit a cigarette and took a deep drag... Oh...

"Since they're accepting it, we'll accept it too. We'll increase the trade-in program, since someone will reimburse us anyway."

While we're at it, let's also send them the remaining 100 million-plus old phones from our trade-in program.

Originally intended for disposal as e-waste, which would have cost a fortune, selling it to Transsion now not only saves money but also generates a profit.

"But Mr. Li, many of those phones won't turn on, and some even..."

"Didn't Shen Fei say that as long as the outer shell is intact, it's fine?" Li Xiangdong exhaled another smoke ring.

"He wants to cut costs with these little tricks? I'll let him have his fill. Can he handle over a million phones?"

"Even if we can't eat it, we have to. We'll take everyone else's broken phones, so why should our Bird company make an exception for us...?"

The executives in the conference room exchanged glances, all seeing the hesitation in each other's eyes, but no one dared to object.