Upon arriving at Outu Technology, Pei Qian instinctively looked around for Constant Friend and Jiang Yuan.

But they were nowhere to be seen.

Pei Qian was slightly puzzled. Hadn’t he already replied saying he was coming? Why weren’t these two department heads here?

Instead of seeing Constant Friend and Jiang Yuan, a middle-aged man with a slightly balding head and a somewhat plump figure approached him: “Mr. Pei, you’re here! All the materials are in the conference room. I’ve prepared everything, please come this way.”

Pei Qian looked at him, made an effort to recall, and then asked somewhat uncertainly: “Old Song?”

Old Song’s face bloomed with a smile: “Oh, Mr. Pei has such a good memory, you still remember me!”

Pei Qian let out a long breath, relieved that he hadn’t misremembered, and smiled: “Of course, I’ve gone through the list of all acting department heads. How could I get it wrong?”

He suddenly remembered that both Constant Friend and Jiang Yuan were department heads, so of course they had gone to experience work at the grassroots level!

As for Outu Technology, they had already appointed an acting head.

This Old Song was a veteran product manager from the mobile phone department of Shenhua Group. Previously, he had been responsible for the development of the Doubt VR glasses at Chixing Studio.

He was a very capable product manager with good ideas.

Obviously, Constant Friend wasn’t entirely at ease leaving Outu Technology without leadership, so he had found someone he considered most reliable and trustworthy to be the acting head.

Pei Qian didn’t say anything more and followed Old Song to the conference room.

“Mr. Pei, I’ve only been the acting head for a short time, so I’m not very familiar with the business yet. If there are any issues, please don’t hesitate to point them out.”

“These two sets of materials are for Outu Technology’s new phone project and new smart product project proposal.”

“Actually, the smart product projects are fairly standard and wouldn’t normally require bothering you, but there’s a slightly special situation with the phone project, so we need to consult with you.”

Old Song handed the two sets of materials to Pei Qian while speaking.

Pei Qian took the materials, leaned back on the sofa, and quickly browsed through them.

Since Old Song said there was a special situation with the phone, he decided to look at that first.

So far, the two flagship phones released by Outu Technology had been very popular and could be considered highly successful.

Outu Technology hadn’t adopted the “ocean of models” strategy like some other phone manufacturers. They basically released just one phone per year, and whenever they released one, it was always the flagship of flagships. Even last year’s flagship would still have specifications that wouldn’t be outdated this year.

Of course, the downside was that they were expensive.

Currently, they had the E1 and G1 models, the former being more premium while the latter focused on gaming, and both had received positive feedback.

Logically, Pei Qian should have provided some input before the development of a new flagship to ensure the phone wouldn’t make money. But this year, Pei Qian hadn’t inquired about it because his shallow knowledge about phones had been more or less exhausted by the previous two models, and it was becoming difficult to come up with new, well-calibrated ideas to lose money.

Phones were becoming increasingly homogeneous, which was inevitable given market preferences and trends.

It was all about higher screen-to-body ratios, stronger camera systems, continuously improving chip performance, further system optimization, and so on.

So, according to the original plan, Outu Technology would continue the E series and G series product lines, launching E2 and G2 phones—essentially minor upgrades that would maintain the previous features while upgrading the hardware specifications to meet current consumer demands.

New product lines hadn’t been finalized yet. Originally, they had considered making a small-screen, thin phone targeting women, but Jiang Yuan understood clearly that what Mr. Pei always wanted was something different. While a small, thin phone might be considered a niche category, it would be difficult to achieve the “differentiation” effect that Mr. Pei desired.

So, the new product line remained in the planning stage, continuing until it reached Old Song.

Now, the situation had clearly changed.

Pei Qian opened the phone design plan and immediately frowned.

“Outu X1?”

“A folding screen!”

Pei Qian was quite shocked.

In his impression, the flexible screen technology used in folding phones wouldn’t mature for several years. How could it exist now?

But then he realized that the hardware technology in this world was indeed quite advanced, with the era of full-screen phones having arrived several years ahead of schedule. So it made sense that folding screen technology would also be ahead by a few years.

Since it was a newly emerging technology, it certainly couldn’t be considered perfect and would definitely have various problems.

And it would be expensive.

From a pessimistic perspective, this was indeed an opportunity, but from a more optimistic view, it was also a great opportunity to lose money!

If it turned out to be one of those thick, clunky folding screens with large gaps, it probably wouldn’t make much money when produced.

Although Outu Technology had accumulated some technical expertise, they should still have a significant gap compared to those traditional major phone manufacturers in the mobile phone field, and probably wouldn’t have any obvious advantages in this area.

Pei Qian comforted himself while flipping through the design drawings of the X1 phone.

Then he froze.

This was clearly a very mature design!

It used a relatively safe inward-folding design. When folded, the front dimensions were similar to a regular phone, with a mainstream single punch-hole camera and a high screen-to-body ratio. When folded, it closed almost seamlessly, very naturally. Overall, it had a wedge structure from left to right—thicker on the right, thinner on the left. When unfolded, it would be comfortable to hold with the right hand; when folded, both sides would be equal in width, minimizing the thickness drawback of folding screens as much as possible.

This design gave Pei Qian a sense of déjà vu.

He knew very well that this was probably the most perfect form for a folding screen at the current technological level!

The design didn’t look complicated, and could even be described as ordinary, but for precision digital products like mobile phones, success was all about the details.

Pei Qian felt that this design was definitely not something the current Outu Technology could produce.

He flipped to the next page, and sure enough, this was the latest achievement from Shenhua’s mobile phone department, especially the hinge structure, which had been developed with massive investment and was one of a kind.

However, Shenhua’s mobile phone department was willing to share this patented achievement with Outu Technology.

Whether you called it a transfer or collaboration, they had granted authorization for use. Of course, Outu Technology would have to reciprocate somehow, but regardless, the mere fact that they were willing to sell something like this showed genuine sincerity—it was something that normally couldn’t be bought even with money.

Pei Qian put down the materials and looked at Old Song with a complicated expression.

The mole was practically highlighted; even if Pei Qian were blind, he could see it.

Old Song quickly waved his hands: “Mr. Pei, please don’t misunderstand! This isn’t just my achievement!”

“It’s mainly because Tenda Group and Shenhua Group have always had a relatively close relationship. Mr. Pei, you’ve been very helpful with Chixing Studio and many other matters, so Director Lin Yu thought about continuing to develop in-depth cooperation with Tenda.”

“The mobile phone department of Outu Technology and Shenhua’s mobile phones have business positions that don’t directly compete but rather complement each other to some extent, so they planned to continue developing deep cooperation in this area.”

“As for me, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Since I became the acting head of Outu Technology, I naturally had to play a small role in facilitating connections…”

Pei Qian mentally responded with a sneer.

They’re making it even harder for me to lose money!

Shenhua’s folding screen solution was indeed the most mature solution currently available. If this phone were actually produced, wouldn’t it be snatched up like crazy?

But Pei Qian was powerless to refuse. How could he reject such an excellent proposal?

He couldn’t think of a reason!

Old Song was right—there really wasn’t any direct competition between Tenda and Shenhua’s mobile phone departments. Strictly speaking, Outu Technology’s phones didn’t directly compete with any other domestic phone manufacturers.

This was because other phone manufacturers fought most fiercely in the low-end market, struggled to establish a foothold in the mid-range market, and only a few manufacturers like Shenhua and Apple could stand firm in the high-end market.

As for Outu Technology… they were directly in the ultra-high-end market.

A notch above even the high-end market!

Because Outu Technology had taken a personalized approach, creating models directly targeting Tenda fans and bundling phones with numerous Tenda-exclusive benefits. They truly weren’t on the same track as other phone manufacturers.

It would be quite difficult to convince someone accustomed to Outu phones to switch to something else.

It would be quite advantageous for Shenhua’s mobile phone department to collaborate with Tenda and jointly compete for other phones’ market share. Such a large primary market could certainly support more than one company.

Moreover, Tenda also had game projects and possibilities for deep cooperation with Shenhua Group in mobile games and other fields.

So this cooperation was way too suitable, leaving absolutely no reason to refuse!

Pei Qian thought for a moment. Since there was no reason to refuse, he could only grit his teeth and go along with it.

Find a way to turn opportunity into crisis!

The folding screen solution provided by Shenhua was indeed quite mature. Pei Qian couldn’t make changes to the overall framework because doing so would make his intentional sabotage too obvious.

But tweaking some details wouldn’t be a problem.

It was precisely these details that determined success or failure, and could truly showcase Mr. Pei’s real capabilities!

After considering for a moment, Pei Qian said: “There’s no major issue with the plan, but…”

“I think we need to make some detailed modifications.”

Old Song was somewhat surprised: “Oh? Please go ahead, Mr. Pei.”

He hadn’t expected that Mr. Pei would actually be able to offer suggestions.

Because this plan was meticulously crafted by Shenhua Group’s designers, everyone thought it had already reached perfection with no room for further improvement.

Could Mr. Pei offer some unique solutions from a different perspective?

Old Song didn’t dare to be negligent and listened attentively.

After all, Mr. Pei had personally designed the Fully Automatic Smart Debate Machine and the Smart Fitness Clothes Drying Rack, and had also provided critical guidance for Outu Technology’s previous two flagship phones and Chixing Studio’s Doubt VR glasses.

All these directions had later proven to be highly successful.

Pei Qian confidently said: “I believe that although Outu’s X1 phone and Shenhua’s folding screen phone have nearly identical internal structures, we must create significant differences in external details.”