Old Song felt confused.

Internal structure and external details… weren’t they essentially the same thing?

Mobile phones were highly precise technological products where every millimeter of internal space was valuable. For any high-quality design proposal, the internal structure must have undergone rigorous planning, considering various factors and making trade-offs to achieve the optimal solution.

For example, if you wanted wireless charging coils, you would definitely need to compress the battery capacity a bit. If you wanted both, then you’d have to increase the thickness and weight of the device.

After all, technology only went so far—it was impossible to have everything and create a product that completely transcended the era.

You could only meticulously craft it to satisfy the requirements of the majority as much as possible.

Only after the internal structure was determined could the external details be defined.

Moreover, external details weren’t easy to change either. At the end of the day, wasn’t it just about the casing?

Phone casings only came in a few materials, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Most phone manufacturers now used glass, plastic, or ceramic, with a few using metal, but regardless of the material, each had its own strengths and issues.

Other phone manufacturers weren’t stupid; they would only choose a certain material after thorough analysis.

Mr. Pei was indeed a business genius, but he wasn’t a materials scientist. He couldn’t conjure up a new material that other phone manufacturers hadn’t discovered, could he?

That would be too fantastical.

Besides materials, what else could be changed? Colors? Collaborations? Custom shells and themes?

Hmm, that’s all there really was.

Old Song asked, “Mr. Pei, are you suggesting we release a game co-branded version? And then raise the price above the original?”

Pei Qian nodded slightly: “Yes… but not exactly.”

“The casing and system definitely need to have some distinctive features, but that alone seems insufficient.”

“Let me think… yes, we also need to release another phone case, bundled with the phone!”

“Furthermore, we should try to continue some of the advantages of the E1 and G1 phones.”

Pei Qian’s idea was simple. The plan for this phone was already quite mature and difficult to modify. How could he convince Old Song to abandon a good plan in favor of one that looked terrible at first glance?

So Pei Qian’s approach was to nitpick as much as possible on some insignificant details.

This way, he could justifiably raise the price of the phone.

For consumers, Outu Technology’s folding screen phone and Shenhua’s folding screen phone were essentially the same thing with minor differences! So why would anyone buy the more expensive Outu phone instead of Shenhua’s?

After all, Shenhua phones were undoubtedly superior to Outu phones in terms of system ecosystem and brand value.

Outu phones were mainly targeted at Tenda fans. As long as they could prevent this phone from breaking out of its niche and spreading to other groups, the situation would remain relatively optimistic.

Just creating a co-branded version wasn’t enough.

Because even selling a co-branded version at a higher price wouldn’t be sufficient to differentiate it from Shenhua’s folding screen phone or discourage enough customers.

So Pei Qian’s solution was to make another phone case and bundle it with the phone!

Currently, almost all phones came with a case out of the box, but these cases were typically of average quality. To control costs, manufacturers generally didn’t make them particularly perfect—just good enough to be functional.

If customers wanted better-looking cases, they could buy them separately.

If the included case was too expensive, it would inevitably make the phone lose its price advantage.

Pei Qian figured that by creating an expensive custom phone case, forcing it to be bundled with the phone, making the phone itself a co-branded edition, and adding in Tenda’s benefits…

The price of this phone would have to increase by at least four to five thousand yuan above the original price.

This price point would be quite unfavorable.

As for how exactly to continue the advantages of the E1 and G1 phones, Pei Qian had just said that casually without thinking about the specific details.

He’d leave that for Old Song to figure out on his own.

Old Song scratched his head slightly: “Mr. Pei, we already include a phone case. Are you saying we should redesign a new one?”

Pei Qian nodded: “Of course! How could we include such an ordinary case with such a high-end phone?”

Old Song defended: “Mr. Pei, this case isn’t ordinary at all. It’s made of vegan leather, much better than the cases that come with other phones.”

Pei Qian was very dissatisfied with this: “Just this? Obviously not good enough!”

“It doesn’t meet customers’ diverse needs at all! Not expensive enough!”

Old Song thought for a moment: “Then… what about making a genuine leather business protective case? The fully-covered type? The price could reach three to five hundred yuan, which should be high-end enough.”

Pei Qian shook his head again: “That won’t work. Shenhua definitely has similar products. Besides, this business style doesn’t match our target customer group at all. I refuse!”

“Let me give you an idea to consider. Combine the phone case, screen protector, and stand all into one! Then redesign its appearance according to the co-branded theme.”

“We need to create a tailor-made, unique protective case!”

“I think this case should sell for at least five hundred yuan. Your task is to make this case worthy of its price.”

Pei Qian’s thought was that since the phone itself was already co-branded, making the phone case with a similar co-branding would be redundant.

The phone and the phone case would have the same theme—you remove the outer layer, look inside, and it’s the same thing!

Who would be crazy enough to buy that?

Just thinking about it, he could imagine how amusing customers’ expressions would be.

Old Song’s expression became somewhat troubled: “Mr. Pei, could you provide a bit more detail…”

Pei Qian shook his head: “That’s enough information. Figure it out yourself.”

He had already said all that needed to be said.

Pei Qian’s guiding principle was simple: take Shenhua’s phone as a base, add some useless or even counterproductive features, and then sell it at a higher price than Shenhua’s. This way, who would still buy Outu Technology’s phone?

This approach shouldn’t have any major issues; it just depended on whether Old Song could execute it well.

Old Song clearly had many more questions, but after hesitating for a while, he didn’t ask any more.

As a Tenda department head, he needed to have this level of awareness.

He noted down everything Mr. Pei had said, planning to contemplate it all carefully later, and then said: “Mr. Pei, there’s also the new smart product proposal for you to look at.”

Pei Qian nodded and picked up the second proposal.

This proposal contained prototypes for several products, including wearable devices like watches and bracelets, as well as other common smart products such as new smart speakers, earphones, and even TVs and microwaves.

They hadn’t started making them yet, but if they wanted to, they just needed to create designs and find manufacturers.

Pei Qian briefly skimmed through it and then frowned.

They all looked… too feasible!

These smart devices were being made by other manufacturers as well, which showed there was a market for them.

Tenda had at least two major advantages in making these things: first, the synergy between the Fully Automatic Smart Debate Machine, Outu phones, and AEEIS; second, the advantage of brand reputation.

AEEIS, as an intelligent assistant terminal, had become quite sophisticated after improvements by the Noma Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Both the Fully Automatic Smart Debate Machine and Outu phones were equipped with it. If Tenda really released smart devices, there would likely be many people who would decide to buy them.

This was clearly a very dangerous situation.

Therefore, Pei Qian was dissatisfied with all the options here!

“I think… they’re all too ordinary.”

“They don’t give me that eye-opening feeling like previous smart products did.”

Pei Qian handed the materials back, indicating that none of these proposals were acceptable.

Old Song looked troubled: “Mr. Pei, so many companies are making smart products now—it’s already a fiercely competitive red ocean. Everyone is trying their hardest to make a splash and find gimmicks. Creating something truly eye-opening involves a large element of luck. How can we just produce something like that on demand?”

“I think the most important thing right now is to secure our position, cooperate with manufacturers, and establish our own ecosystem.”

Pei Qian shook his head: “I don’t agree.”

“Anyone can make products with contract manufacturers. Do you think just adding AEEIS will immediately set us apart from other manufacturers?”

“The reason Outu Technology continues to receive attention is because it consistently launches new products that impress everyone. We can’t abandon this tradition.”

Old Song’s expression became conflicted.

It was easy for Mr. Pei to say, but actually doing it was extremely difficult!

With a product manager’s normal thought process, he really couldn’t imagine how to develop what Mr. Pei called an “eye-opening new product.”

After all, Mr. Pei’s “eye-opening” was equivalent to “different from all products on the market”—essentially the highest possible requirement.

Suddenly, Old Song realized something and asked: “Mr. Pei, do you already have an idea?”

Pei Qian was silent for a moment: “Hmm… I have a small idea.”

Old Song was elated: “Please tell me, Mr. Pei! I’m all ears!”

Pei Qian paused slightly, then said: “This just occurred to me. Have you heard of something called…”

“A game console?”

Old Song’s eyes lit up, as if a door to a new world had opened: “Yes, a game console! Other companies making these would be pointless, but Tenda would definitely succeed! And it perfectly fits the characteristics of a smart product!”

Pei Qian gestured for him to stop: “Let me finish. It’s a game console, but… not entirely a game console.”

“Have you heard that… a game console has another name, called a router?”

Old Song: “Huh?”

He felt his common sense being overthrown.

Game console and router… how could they possibly be alternative names for each other? They were completely unrelated products!

Pei Qian smiled slightly: “If we combine the two… doesn’t that make perfect sense?”