“After 2 years, Huawei mobile phones are back.” On September 6, Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei’s consumer business, said that Huawei officially released a new generation of Mate series flagship Huawei Mate 50. “The Mate series was born in 2013, and it has gone through ten years. For ten years, Huawei has been innovating in the mobile phone industry. Only the Mate can surpass the Mate.”
On the eve of the release, Yu Chengdong took the initiative to reveal the innovative technology that the new mobile phone will “pierce the sky”. On September 6, Yu Chengdong revealed the mystery, the so-called “piercing the sky”, that is, Huawei Mate 50 series will support Beidou satellite news hardware capabilities, is the industry’s first mass smartphone that supports Beidou satellite news, and supports the latest Hongmeng 3.0 system. Moreover, this phone precedes the iPhone 14 and becomes the world‘s first consumer-grade phone with satellite communication technology.
Huawei’s move caused waves in the secondary market. On September 6, the A-share satellite communication concept stocks were active, and many stocks such as 3D Communication and Yunding Technology reached their daily limit.
satellite communication technology
For the first time in consumer mobile phones
Beidou Communication, XMAGE, Kunlun Glass, emergency mode… are the keywords of this Huawei Mate 50 series mobile phone, and it is also Huawei’s breakthrough in the new generation of smartphones.
“The biggest feature of Huawei’s latest high-end mobile phone is that it supports Beidou satellite news for the first time.” Yuan Bo, a researcher and communications engineer at the Institute, told the Securities Daily reporter. “In addition, a smoother operating system, a low-power screen, support for 3D face payment (wearing a mask), and Kunlun glass that improves the anti-drop ability of the whole machine by 10 times, etc., are all Huawei’s new Mate series compared to the previous generation. Phone upgrades.”
Yu Chengdong said that when people are in desert and no-man’s land, in distress at sea, earthquake rescue and other environments without ground network signal coverage, they can send text and location information through the Mate 50 mobile phone Beidou satellite technology Changlian App to keep in touch with the outside world. And support multiple locations to generate track maps. “Compared with the iPhone 13 Pro Max, the wireless signal of the Huawei Mate 50 is over 2.5db.”
“At present, Huawei has accelerated its layout in supply chain, chips, satellite communications, etc., and launched innovative products incorporating satellite communications technology earlier than expected. In addition to mobile phones, Huawei will integrate satellite communications related technologies with VR terminals, smart cars in the future. It will be further integrated to realize the linkage of car-machine and smart home.” A Huawei engineer revealed to a reporter from Securities Daily.
There are different views on the development and application of innovative technologies that Yu Chengdong called “piercing the sky”.
Yuan Bo believes that the use of satellite communication technology in Huawei Mate 50 series mobile phones has two important meanings: it is the world‘s first mobile phone to support satellite communication technology, and it uses China’s independent Beidou satellite navigation system to realize communication without dead ends, creating satellite communication. The technology is a precedent for large-scale civilian use, and it is also a preliminary attempt for mobile phones to not rely on mobile communication base stations. As a true “all-weather” mobile phone, it is the first in the world to realize communication with electricity, which is of great significance; when 5G evolves to 6G, it will involve “integration of heaven and earth” communication. This time can also be seen as Huawei’s initial attempt to 6G . With the continuous development of mobile communication technology, the combination of satellite communication and fixed base station communication will be a long-term trend and a prelude to the development of mobile communication into space.
According to Xiang Ligang, a high-level consultant on high-quality development of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, at present, the development of smartphones as a whole is facing stagnation or bottlenecks, and there is limited space for innovation, and Apple is no exception. The Huawei Mate 50’s innovation and upgrade in imaging and communication technology is a big step forward. “The value of satellite communication technology in extreme weather, mountainous areas and other specific scenarios will be more obvious, which is an important direction for the development of mobile communication technology.” However, some analysts said that the maturity of related technologies needs to be further improved.
Manufacturers follow up and implement related technologies
The industrial chain has entered a state of “preparation”
The innovation and upgrade of Huawei Mate 50 series mobile phones will drive other mobile phone manufacturers to follow up and implement related technologies, and promote the further development of the industry chain. Wang Yong, CEO of Geely’s Xingji Times recently said that the Xingji Internet mobile phone launched in the future will be the world‘s first consumer-grade mobile phone directly connected to low-orbit satellites, realizing the integration of heaven and earth and unbounded connection. Two months ago, Xingji Times announced the acquisition of a 79.09% controlling stake in Meizu Technology.
In fact, in March of this year, Xiaomi Mobile Software, a Xiaomi-based company, also obtained a new patent for a “satellite-based communication method, device and storage medium”. In addition, some mainstream mobile phones of vivo also support Beidou navigation.
“At present, China’s self-built and independently operated global satellite navigation system has been fully completed. 5G, satellite communication, near field communication may become the basic configuration of future high-end smartphones, and it is even expected to become an opportunity for domestic mobile phones to overtake in corners. At present, Xiaomi, vivo and other manufacturers are also making arrangements.” A professional analyst in communication technology told reporters: “When mobile phones enter the stage of homogenization, the market urgently needs innovative terminals to break the game. In the future, mainstream mobile phone manufacturers will link mobile phones with satellites. This will also Promote the application and development of satellite communication technology in more fields.”
According to Zhiyan Consulting data, in 2021, my country’s satellite communication market will reach 75.77 billion yuan, of which the market size of mass consumer communication services in subdivisions will be 61.49 billion yuan, and the market size of satellite mobile communication services will be 2.98 billion yuan.
According to the analysis of the research report of CITIC Construction Investment, the Mate 50 is equipped with Beidou short messages to realize satellite communication functions. The development of satellite communications and satellite Internet has received widespread attention and may even become part of 6G. The domestic Tiantong satellite has been commercialized before, the operator is China Telecom, and the terminal providers include Huali Chuangtong, Higer Communications, Gosuncn, etc.; China’s global low-orbit satellite Internet constellation construction is also expected to speed up, and the initial focus can be on satellites Manufacturing and rocket launch links. However, analysts believe that the entire industry chain is currently in a state of “preparation” on the eve of the large-scale development of applications. At the same time, it is also necessary to pay attention to the risks that satellite communications may have such as unclear charging mode and full-scale implementation obstruction.
5G chip problem
still to be broken
Huawei Mate 50 can share cellular communication capabilities with terminals such as tablets through the latest HarmonyOS 3 distributed communication. On this basis, Huawei also announced the Hongmeng 3 upgrade plan for Huawei devices. The first batch of upgraded devices includes Huawei P50 series mobile phones, smart screens, watches and other smart terminal products.
“At present, Hongmeng has made progress in terms of end users, but it still takes time to meet social expectations. Open source Hongmeng is still in the promotion period, lacking enough industry applications, and the enthusiasm of manufacturers to participate needs to be improved; according to the relevant progress plan, this year’s Hongmeng OS It will usher in a critical period of large-scale and independent development.” Talking about the development of the Hongmeng system, Zhang Xiaorong, an expert at the Chinese Society of Artificial Intelligence, told the “Securities Daily” reporter, “Huawei has entered a state of forced Long March, don’t worry at this time, Try to survive first. The future opportunities for Hongmeng lie in future terminals such as new energy vehicles.”
In addition, from the current situation, the 5G chip problem of Huawei mobile phones has not been completely solved. According to Lin Zhi, chief analyst of Wit Display, Huawei’s 5G mobile phone chips are still temporarily unsolved, but with changes in factors such as technological innovation and upgrading, Huawei’s mobile phone 5G chips will still return.