Is there a leap for Xiaomi, which has teamed up with Softbank? Pros and Cons of Career Monopoly

　Xiaomi and SoftBank jointly held a press conference in Tokyo last year and officially announced the new smartphone "Xiaomi 12T Pro".

　Although this machine is "monopoly" by SoftBank, it is only an MNO . SIM-free models for the "open market" will be sold at MVNOs and home appliance mass retailers at the same time, although they will not be available at DoCoMo, au, or Rakuten Mobile.

　As the separation of communications and terminals advances, what should carriers commit to? The answer may lie in SoftBank's current "monopoly".

　Until now, Xiaomi has continued to make smartphones since its founding in 2010, and has grown into a general home appliance manufacturer. Although it is a young manufacturer that has only been in the Japanese market for three years, it has the technical capabilities to catch up with users' opinions and is making good products.

　However, it cannot be said that the brand power and recognition in Japan is that high . In contrast to OPPO, which is also a Chinese manufacturer, has succeeded in increasing its presence in the Japanese market. It's not the number of sales, but the main users' survey of user trends, but it can't be said that Xiaomi is still high. April 21-24, 2022 MMD Research Institute Survey.

　Until last year, OPPO was successfully promoted by the entertainer Rino Sashihara and successfully expanded its recognition, and was able to successfully break into a carrier that still has a strong influence in the domestic market. 

The introduction of Xiaomi 12T Pro to SoftBank has the potential to compensate for　these weaknesses of Xiaomi in Japan .

　Xiaomi's Steven Wang cites the similarity between SoftBank and Xiaomi, which advocate the information revolution, as a background for their active partnership with SoftBank. Redmi Note 9T and Redmi Note 10T introduced by SoftBank are compatible with FeliCa, which is essential for success in the Japanese market. This Xiaomi 12T Pro is also FeliCa compatible.

　This time, the Xiaomi 12T Pro will be marketed with the slogan " God Juden ". God Juden, which can be charged in just 19 minutes, is catchy, isn't it?

　This is led by SoftBank. TV commercials featuring entertainers Ryo Yoshizawa and Hana Sugisaki will also be aired. The promotion part that was lacking in Xiaomi's brand recognition will be supplemented by partnering with carriers .

　Even after the introduction of the separation plan, the sales channels of major carriers still have a strong influence. Together with the commercials, it seems that we can expect a positive impact not only on the people with high literacy but also on further expansion to the general public .

　By the way, the definition of God Juden is "less than 20 minutes charging time".

　For me, the great thing about the Xiaomi 12T Pro is that ``Battery life can be solved by increasing the capacity, but normally a large capacity of 5000mAh takes time to charge, but 120W quick charging can be completed quickly.'' I think so, but the definition of God Juden is to omit such a slightly difficult part. In other words, even mid-range smartphones with slightly lower fast charging performance and less battery capacity may come out with models that claim to be God Juden.

　According to the question-and-answer session at the presentation, Mr. Kanno suggested that smartphones compatible with God Juden will appear from other manufacturers in the future. The second is under discussion after next year.

　There is still room for improvement in quick charging, and Mr. Kanno said, "I'm talking to Steven about whether we can bring it together like cup noodles (with a charging time of 3 minutes or 5 minutes) ." In the future, I would like to expect that Xiaomi will come out with a more powerful model as a model compatible with God Juden.

　As Xiaomi's high-end terminal, there is also a flagship model that is higher than the cospa high-end "T" series. Regarding whether such models can be released in Japan without delay, Mr. Steven said that if they can be selected for the sake of the market, it would be convenient for consumers . I explained that it would be one or two months behind the global market due to the need for customization .

　The drawback of Xiaomi 12T is the price. The price is $1,029 . It's expensive even though it's half price with the new support.

　This will not be a big problem for those who have traditionally recognized Xiaomi. Because you just buy the cheaper open market SIM-free version. There is an understanding that the carrier version, which is purchased by people with low literacy, is expensive, including support fees, and that the open market version is sold at a more reasonable price. In fact, the manufacturer's suggested retail price of the open market version is $788, and the MVNO is in the $646 range. By the way, there are cases where MNP is in the $502 range.

Although there has been an increase in the number of open market models that use MVNOs/electronics mass retailers as sales channels, major carriers/sub-brands are still strong and are thought to account for about 90% of the entire domestic market. Nonetheless, being evaluated in the public market can lead to the refinement of products and the expansion of handling by major carriers/sub-brands, so it can be said to be an important position.

　Until now, Japanese carriers have long had a business model of subcontracting manufacturers to make terminals, buying them in bulk, and distributing them. The carrier is the main, the manufacturer is the subordinate.

　However, with the advent of the smartphone era, manufacturers, not carriers, have taken the lead in the world, and after the separation plan in 2019, the situation has changed even in Japan.

　After the introduction of the separation plan, the relationship between SoftBank and manufacturers seems particularly ideal. Examples of SoftBank's "monopoly" are emerging one after another, such as boosting the partnership between Sharp and Leica to raise the camera image quality of manufacturers to a different level, matching Balmuda and Kyocera, and Motorola's challenge with folding smartphones. increase. Setting up a manufacturer or brand, the career is just a form of support. Exclusive razr 5G, BALMUDA Phone, Xiaomi 12T Pro will be released in parallel for the public market and Sharp has not put AQUOS sense7 plus and Leitz Phone on the public market.

　Can we see that the increase in these "monopolies" is successful? Mr. Sugano of SoftBank said that it was established by partnering with a manufacturer that wants to challenge the Japanese market, and while admitting that "sometimes there are failures," he evaluated it as almost a success. I would like to look forward to the second version of Balmuda, whose first one was an indecisive one, and the surprising newcomers.

　"Monopoly" has pros and cons. The tougher it is, the more motivation SoftBank will sell, but the options for users are limited. Among enthusiastic users, there is criticism of DoCoMo's Huawei P20/30 Pro, which has a complete domestic monopoly on models that already exist overseas, but there is no problem as long as it appears in the open market.

　Especially in this Xiaomi 12T Pro “exclusive”, it will be a loose monopoly “as an MNO” and will also be deployed in MVNO. This would create opportunities for manufacturers and brands in other industries, and manufacturers would have a chance to make a leap forward using the sales channels and advertising power of their carriers. I think Other careers will have lessons to learn.　

There is also the view that the fact that domestic manufacturers have significantly delayed the release of direct sales is out of consideration for DoCoMo. KDDI, SoftBank, and Rakuten Mobile are tolerant

SoftBank's parent company, the SoftBank Group, is also an investment company, but it also has an aspect similar to an investment from the perspective of supporting challenges that are likely to grow in the future. SoftBank's terminal prices are often higher than those of other companies and the public market, but in fact SoftBank is also making a large profit in the terminal sales business.