The smartphone industry is already a fiercely competitive market, with only a few top brands remaining in the brutal arena. New players entering now are likely to become part of the "Others" category. Nevertheless, every now and then, new contenders emerge, eager to join the smartphone market.
In 2021, a new smartphone brand called Nothing was established overseas and achieved 3 million sales in three years. In 2023, the well-known new energy vehicle company NIO released its first smart phone. Recently, the mobile phone industry has welcomed an unexpected guest from the audio field.
On April 25th, the first smartphone product from the audio brand Shuiyueyu officially went on sale. Priced at $2499, with luxurious audio features and relatively modest performance, this product stands out as unique. Its introduction begs the question: Why is Shuiyueyu venturing into smartphones? Who is their target market for this phone?
(Source: Shuiyueyu)
More like a cellular HiFi player than a phone, the Shuiyueyu phone stands out.
Let's start with the basics: it features a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 2460*1080P, not quite 2K but decently sharp, supporting a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. It comes in a single storage variant of 12GB+256GB, with LPDDR4x RAM and UFS3.1 storage, skipping the 8GB RAM, 128GB storage version often seen in budget models, a commendable choice.
In the camera department, it sports a 64MP main rear camera paired with an 8MP secondary lens, and a 32MP front camera, a common setup for mid-range phones. Shuiyueyu is straightforward about its capabilities, stating it can "at least scan codes and take clear photos," emphasizing honesty over exceptional imaging performance.
Under the hood, the Shuiyueyu phone is powered by the Dimensity 7050 chipset. The Dimensity 7050 features an octa-core CPU with two A78 cores and six A55 cores, along with a Mali-G68 MC4 GPU. Positioned for the mid-range market, it may not match up to flagship or upper mid-range chips in performance, but should handle games like Honor of Kings without issues. Representative models with the Dimensity 7050 include the Realme 11 series and OPPO A3 Pro, not aimed at performance enthusiasts.
As for the 5000mAh battery and 33W fast charging, they are standard for entry-level phones, lacking any standout features.
(Source: Shuiyueyu)
When viewed through the lens of a conventional smartphone, this product may seem lackluster in terms of overall configuration. However, the standout feature of the Shuiyueyu phone lies not in its standard specifications, but in its audio capabilities.
Equipped with dual flagship decoding chips and a 6-layer gold-plated independent shielded audio circuit board, it also offers both 4.4mm and 3.5mm audio interfaces. If we momentarily overlook its identity as a smartphone, it could easily be seen as a powerful HiFi player in the realm of audio.
Moreover, many design details of this phone are tailored towards enhancing the audio experience. In addition to the two audio interfaces mentioned earlier, the Shuiyueyu phone even supports TF card expansion, allowing for the insertion of a storage card with a maximum capacity of 2TB. This is understandable, considering the large file sizes of lossless audio files that far exceed the storage capacity of the phone's 256GB flash memory.
(Source: Shuiyueyu)
Moreover, the Type C data port of the Shuiyueyu phone supports USB 3.1, surpassing high-end phones still using USB 2.0. With the high-spec transmission protocol, it not only enhances efficiency when copying large audio files but also provides greater support for OTG functionality, allowing for more audio accessories to be connected to enhance audio capabilities.
Clearly, if the Shuiyueyu phone is viewed as a regular smartphone, then at a price of 2499 yuan with mid-range specifications, it lacks much appeal. However, if seen as a smart HiFi player that supports 5G networks and can make calls, it can demonstrate strong competitiveness.
(Source: Shuiyueyu)
Perhaps because of this, on the official website of Shuiyueyu, this phone is not called the XX phone, but rather the "5G Mobile Internet HiFi Audio Terminal," a name that accurately describes and summarizes it.
Why make a music player into a phone?
With the rapid development of smartphones in the past, not only did it replace feature phones, but it also marginalized a large number of consumer electronic devices, including music players. With the popularity of smartphones, portable music players like MP3 quickly lost their market, with Apple discontinuing the entire iPod product line being a typical example. The main reason MP3 players were phased out is that the functions and use cases they offered could easily be covered by smartphones.
However, the audio capabilities of most smartphones are far from matching those of HiFi players. Therefore, HiFi players focusing on the high-end market survived the wave of smartphones and maintained their niche market. At the same time, HiFi players are gradually becoming smarter. Nowadays, music players introduced by brands like Sony are mostly equipped with the Android system, similar to smartphones in terms of basic hardware architecture, except for the lack of a camera and baseband.
(Source: Sony)
Of course, the core focus of such products is still on audio, with smart features being more of an added bonus. Therefore, these products often come with low-end chips and small memory capacities.
Since HiFi players and smartphones cater to different audiences, why would one want to combine a music player with a phone?
In fact, Sony has explained the reason behind this. They state that with the maturity of online music streaming services like Hi-res music stores, Apple Music, QQ Music, etc., which offer digital tapes or lossless music, it has become easier for us to access higher quality lossless audio.
(Source: Apple)
However, most smartphones currently do not support lossless audio well. Firstly, most phones have removed the headphone jack, making it difficult to listen to lossless audio with wired headphones. Secondly, popular TWS earbuds today, limited by factors like power supply, cannot reproduce high-quality master recordings. Despite Apple's strong push for lossless music on Apple Music, the company itself does not have a wireless earbud that supports lossless audio transmission.
Furthermore, traditional HiFi players, even with smart operating systems, cannot stream audio in real-time from the internet due to the lack of mobile communication modules.
So, equipping HiFi players with smartphone chips and 5G basebands seems to solve these issues. For audiophiles, whether it's a HiFi player with 5G capabilities or a smartphone with full HiFi capabilities, as long as it meets their music needs, it would be a suitable product.
The idea is bold, but the future may not be necessarily bright.
In fact, HiFi smartphones are not a new concept, with many phone manufacturers attempting them years ago. The Xiaomi Note released in 2015, for example, featured a HiFi chip that provided a high-quality audio experience. Brands like vivo and Meizu also introduced similar products at that time. However, the trend of HiFi smartphones didn't last long and quickly faded.
Looking back now, the reason HiFi smartphones didn't become popular lies in the fact that high-quality audio remains a niche demand. Smartphones target the mass market, and most users are not willing to pay for niche features that don't concern them.
Of course, Shuiyueyu is not a mainstream phone brand and doesn't expect its phone to appeal to the general public. Clearly, it targets the HiFi user base. However, there are still challenges.
According to Xiaolei, the core competitiveness of the Shuiyueyu phone lies in its audio capabilities, while other features like performance, camera, charging, and screen are average at best. This means the phone may not provide an outstanding experience in daily use. In other words, it may not be suitable as a primary device.
So, if it's used as a backup device or a HiFi player with cellular network capabilities, what then? The issue is that smartphones are the most mainstream consumer electronics, and most phone users won't buy a HiFi player, but most HiFi users will definitely have a smartphone. For Shuiyueyu to appeal to HiFi users, the experience must at least be better than what they get from their current phones, which is currently challenging.
For HiFi users, the most rational choice is to own a mainstream smartphone and additionally purchase a traditional HiFi music player. Even if there's a need to stream media anytime, anywhere, using a phone as a WiFi hotspot suffices.
Similar to tablets, most people opt for the WiFi version rather than the more expensive cellular version. For occasional outdoor internet needs, they can simply use their phone as a hotspot.
Certainly, there may be a few individuals with high demands for mobile internet on tablets who would buy the cellular version. However, the market size for tablets is several orders of magnitude larger than that of HiFi players, making it much harder for Shuiyueyu to target an even smaller niche group.
Regardless, Xiaolei admires and supports Shuiyueyu's venture into making phones. On one hand, there are fewer unique phone products on the market, so its presence offers a new choice. On the other hand, the proactive exploration by HiFi brands like Shuiyueyu is expanding possibilities in the niche HiFi market. At the very least, the launch of the Shuiyueyu phone has sparked discussions among HiFi users and attracted many ordinary users, introducing HiFi products to a wider audience.
While Shuiyueyu is aware of the risks involved, its expressed attitude is certainly commendable:
