Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

According to data from the fourth quarter of last year, Xiaomi’s factory return-for-repair rate was only 1.5%, which demonstrated Innolux’s stable production quality and excellent product delivery capabilities.

But handing over Xiaomi’s manufacturing contract to a competitor? Even if Lei Yijun were a gambling man, he wouldn’t dare take that risk.

What if the Orange Phone Factory decided to stab them in the back at a critical moment? Xiaomi’s losses would be enormous.

At this thought, Lei Yijun shook his head.

”President Chen, it’s not that I don’t trust you, but our contract manufacturing price isn’t very high. Including the fees for SMT, testing, assembly, and packaging, it’s only 32 yuan per unit. After deducting equipment depreciation and labor costs, the profit is only 4 to 5 yuan per phone.”

His message was clear: given the Xiaomi Mobile Phone’s sales volume, even if the Orange Phone Factory took the entire contract, they would only make a little over 20 million yuan a year.

To refuse Chen Yansen, Lei Yijun had even gone so far as to reveal Innolux’s pricing structure.

”I don’t mind,” Chen Yansen said flatly.

’But *I* mind!’

Lei Yijun gave a wry, speechless laugh. He desperately wanted to shout, ’We’re competitors!’

Handing over the manufacturing process for the Xiaomi Mobile Phone to the Orange Factory was tantamount to standing naked before a rival company.

If that happened, Xiaomi’s core industrial and hardware designs would be completely exposed.

”President Chen, this partnership is not up for discussion,” Lei Yijun said in a firm tone.

”If you’re willing to agree, President Lei, I can license a more effective memory-cleaning algorithm patent to Xiaomi. It will help alleviate the stuttering and overheating problems with the Xiaomi Mobile Phone.”

Chen Yansen laid his bargaining chip on the table with a smile.

A flicker of embarrassment crossed Lei Yijun’s face. He knew Chen Yansen was speaking the truth, and the truth often hurts the most.

To be frank, he had been drooling over the Aurora OS’s memory cleaning algorithm for a long time.

He had tested both the Orange C2 and Orange D1 phones. The Orange D1, in particular, which was equipped with a MediaTek MT6573 processor and 512MB of RAM, still performed slightly better than the Xiaomi Mobile Phone. After six hours of heavy use, it also experienced issues with heating up and system stutter, but it handled it better.

This was despite the fact that, in terms of both processor and memory configuration, the Xiaomi phone easily smoked the Orange D1.

This demonstrated that the Aurora OS system’s management of hardware resources, memory, and battery life was far superior to Xiaomi’s MIUI system.

”President Chen, while we may get along personally, I really can’t agree when it comes to my company’s core interests. It’s like we both sell steamed buns. You’re asking me to hand over my secret recipe for the filling, let you handle all the production, and have me just be in charge of sales. How is that reasonable?”

Lei Yijun replied with a wry smile, fighting the temptation.

’What ”secret recipe” does Xiaomi even have?’

Chen Yansen was momentarily stunned and couldn’t help but scoff inwardly.

’Perhaps in a decade or so, Xiaomi will own some patents in 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, camera hardware design, image signal processing, and camera algorithms.’

’But this is 2012. Xiaomi is just getting started. What do they possibly have that’s worth my coveting?’

”In that case, let’s just forget it,” Chen Yansen said with a carefree smile. After all, he still had other options like Meizu, OPPO, Coolpad, and Newman.

Seeing this, Lei Yijun breathed a sigh of relief and quickly changed the subject. ”It looks like Nokia’s era is coming to an end. Last year, their domestic smartphone shipments still ranked second, but this January they’ve already fallen to seventh.”

”Every era has its king. The next might be Apple, perhaps Huawei, and of course, it could even be Xiaomi.”

Chen Yansen shrugged and said nonchalantly.

”Hasn’t Orange Technology ever thought of becoming that king?” Lei Yijun paused for a second, then asked with a smile.

”Orange Technology’s goal is to cultivate more kings—trend-setting brands like Nokia.”

Chen Yansen replied calmly, barely looking up.

Lei Yijun gave an awkward laugh. ’This kid... why does he sound so much like Ma Liyun?’ he thought.