Chapter 629 - 449: 12 US Dollars, a Good Product Demands a High Price! Chen Yansen: You Take Me for a Junk Collector?

However, ever since the successive launches of fast charging, the battery management system, Aurora Future OS, and the camera algorithm, the prices for the Orange C2, Orange C3, and Yaocheng X1 had been steadily climbing.

In Chen Yansen’s view, these products were worth that price!

High profits were necessary to support more workers, managers, and R&D personnel, which in turn would drive the healthy development of the entire industry.

As for the Qingcheng series, that was a different strategy, one aimed at increasing the market share of the Aurora Future System.

Cook fell silent for a dozen seconds, finding it difficult to make a decision.

He hadn’t expected the Deep Blue Battery to be priced so high.

He had expected a price of up to 8 US dollars to be acceptable, but Chen Yansen was completely unpredictable. The quote he gave was far beyond his expectations.

After a moment of thought, Cook cut to the chase. "Mr. Chen, if I place the battery order for the iPhone 5s with Deep Blue and commit to an annual volume of at least 30 million units, what’s the lowest price you can offer?"

"14 US dollars," Chen Yansen stated bluntly. He paused, then added, "If you exceed 50 million units, the price drops to 12 US dollars."

He knew exactly why Cook was here, and Cook knew that Chen Yansen had seen right through his business intentions.

With their cards on the table, they stopped sparring and launched into an in-depth discussion about the Deep Blue Battery’s safety tests.

When Cook learned that the Deep Blue Battery had already passed compliance, thermal safety, and mechanical safety tests, he was secretly amazed. Based on his knowledge of Hua Country, the process shouldn’t have moved this fast under normal circumstances.

But on second thought, he realized that with the Deep Blue Battery’s influence in the industry, it probably got a green light for everything. It was only natural for progress to be extraordinarily fast.

Xu Zhenhui, sitting to the side, was bored but could do nothing but sit through the entire meeting.

A subordinate from the Central Bureau’s publicity department stood in the corner of the conference room with a camera set up, its lens aimed at the group, recording the meeting.

As twelve o’clock approached, Chen Yansen invited Cook to lunch downtown. However, Cook insisted on eating in the employee cafeteria, and Chen Yansen couldn’t very well refuse.

The group took the elevator to the first floor and then headed toward the cafeteria.

Along the way, they kept running into employees from Tiangong Technology and the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Cook was surprised to see that roughly thirty to forty percent of them were foreign.

Then he saw Mike Keller. Cook’s expression darkened, and he turned to Chen Yansen. "So, you’re the one who poached Mike."

While Mike Keller wasn’t Apple’s chief scientist, he had led the development of the A5 chip, making him one of the most critical members of the chip division.

The reason he gave for his resignation was that he wanted to further his career at a more specialized company like Qualcomm or ARM Company.

And now, they had unexpectedly run into each other in Xucheng!

Mike Keller saw Chen Yansen and Cook as well. He walked over nonchalantly and greeted them, "Boss!"

In his eyes, Cook was just a professional manager. They were nothing more than former colleagues.

"Mike, there’s no Qualcomm or ARM in Xucheng," Cook said, his eyes narrowing.

"But Xucheng has Tiangong Technology, which is even stronger, so I came here," Mike replied without hesitation.

"Talent flows, wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Cook?" Chen Yansen retorted, staring at him.

"You’re right, Mr. Chen," Cook replied with a wry smile.

’So what if I poached a few of your people?’

’Google, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments don’t have a problem with it. You’re just a highly paid employee, and you’re going to put on a show for me?’

Chen Yansen couldn’t care less what Cook thought.

The group then entered the cafeteria. The dining area was visibly clean and tidy, and the lines were orderly.

Cook glanced around and noticed again that the proportion of foreign employees was quite high.

Chen Yansen led Xu Zhenhui, Cook, and the others to a table. Meng Yun asked for their preferences and then went to arrange their meals.

’He couldn’t very well make Xu Zhenhui and Cook grab trays and wait in line, could he?’

’One doesn’t always have to observe social niceties, but one must understand them.’

During the meal, Chen Yansen steered the conversation toward Apple’s phone manufacturing contracts. Cook listened, looking thoughtful.

But changing manufacturers was a major decision for Apple, so he couldn’t give an answer on the spot.

At the time, Apple’s main contract manufacturers were Foxconn, Heshuo, Quanta, Flextronics, and Mountain Star. The first two manufactured iPhones, and Heshuo had been brought in to prevent Foxconn from gaining a monopoly.

Quanta and Flextronics were responsible for Mac production, while Mountain Star handled chip fabrication.

However, Mountain Star was also Apple’s competitor in the mobile phone market. As its chip fabricator, it negotiated from a position of strength, often being even more assertive than Apple.

Some shareholders were already unhappy with this arrangement and were planning to switch fabricators, possibly to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) or MediaTek.

When Chen Yansen saw that Cook wasn’t budging, he wasn’t too concerned. He was certain that, sooner or later, they would have no choice but to come to him.

Once more and more phone manufacturers started using the Deep Blue Battery, the iPhone’s poor battery life would become increasingly obvious.

Other phones could last two days on a single charge even with heavy use, while the iPhone had to be charged twice a day.

Aside from the die-hard fans, most customers wouldn’t put up with that.

As a result, neither was willing to concede. Even after talking for the entire afternoon, they failed to reach a preliminary agreement.

Chen Yansen wanted to sell at a high price, rip Apple off, and snatch some manufacturing orders from Foxconn while he was at it.

Cook, on the other hand, wanted a 20 or even 30 percent discount on the purchase price to swap out some of the iPhone 5s batteries for Deep Blue Batteries and improve its battery life.

As the sun began to set, Chen Yansen’s patience wore thin. "Since Apple isn’t negotiating in good faith," he said drily, "let’s shelve this matter for now."

’There was only half an hour left in the workday, and the whole day had been wasted on Cook. President Chen had no intention of working overtime.’

Cook felt a surge of panic. His trip to Xucheng was framed as a visit, but he had really come to strike a deal for the Deep Blue Battery.

He wasn’t an idiot. He knew that the more market share the Deep Blue Battery captured, the greater the negative impact on Apple would be.

When every other smartphone on the market had double the battery life, even Apple’s superior power efficiency couldn’t make up for its smaller battery capacity.

He quickly said, "Mr. Chen, I need a week to think it over."

"No problem," Chen Yansen replied with a casual laugh, unfazed.

The last person who’d said he needed a week to think was Huang Renxun, and that was almost two months ago. There hadn’t been a peep from him since.

Chen Yansen had already given up hope of acquiring a stake in NVIDIA on the cheap.

In the spirit of hospitality, he invited Xu Zhenhui, Cook, and the others to the Sky Garden.

Many of Xucheng’s local entrepreneurs, having pulled strings and called in favors, also came over to join them.

At eight o’clock sharp, Chen Yansen stood up and excused himself.

Seeing Chen Yansen leave, Cook saw no reason to stay. He said his goodbyes to Xu Zhenhui and took a car to Hu City to prepare for his store visits the next day.

「Meanwhile.」

Chen Yansen got into his car. Lao Huang drove him to the Delta Villa District. Just as he stepped out, he received a call from Huang Renxun.

"President Chen," Huang Renxun began, "Senlian Capital’s proposal for a strategic investment in NVIDIA has been approved by our board. We can transfer a maximum of 2% equity, but Orange Technology must purchase 200 million US dollars’ worth of Tegra processors."

’What’s the meaning of this?’

’Are they taking me for a scrap collector?’

The Tegra 4 used ARM’s A15 architecture and had severe overheating issues. Its measured peak power consumption was over 5W, compared to the Snapdragon 800’s 3.5W. This led to performance throttling, poor battery life, and it also used an external baseband.

All in all, its total cost was much higher than the Snapdragon 800.

The Tegra 4i had an integrated baseband, but its CPU was a downgrade, with performance that couldn’t match the Snapdragon 800. Its only advantage was its low cost, with a single chip priced around 18 US dollars.

The Tegra 3’s performance was better than MediaTek’s A7 or Qualcomm’s A5 chips, but it had no baseband and suffered from major power consumption issues. Chen Yansen wouldn’t even consider putting it in the Qingcheng Mobile Phone.

He stopped in his tracks and refused decisively. "I can acquire the 2% equity at market price, but I will not agree to purchasing Tegra processors."

"Does President Chen feel the order value is too high? The purchase can be made in batches," Huang Renxun said cautiously.