Review Kill Nothing
In the global digital technology industry, there have been various waves of events recently. Despite their apparent differences, I believe that they share some similarities.
Overseas, the renowned tech reviewer, MKBHD, who has a significant following on Youtube, recently reviewed the new AI product Ai pin from Humane - an AI startup company. In his evaluation of the product, he stated that it was “The Worst Product I’ve Ever Reviewed… For Now”. However, due to his popularity and influence among viewers, some felt that this review had a negative impact on the innovative spirit of the startup. As a result, there has been widespread discussion surrounding this incident. MKBHD also posted a video titled “Do Bed Reviews Kill Companies?” in which he expressed his views on the matter.
In China, The Huawei Pura 70 was released without any information about its phone performance or the chip it carries. However, upon its release, it sold out immediately.
As far as I know, Chinese media cannot or do not evaluate the performance of Huawei phones. On the occasion of the release of the first “purely domestic” chip Kirin 9000s, digital evaluation media “Geekerwan” posted a deep review of this chip on bilibili (China’s YouTube) and YouTube. The video pointed out that the chip performance of Huawei’s flagship phone to be released in 2023 (with flagship prices) is similar to that of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 released in 2020. After being online for about a day, bilibili platform removed the video, while on YouTube platform, even after seven months later, the video still exists and has nearly one million views. The reason for removal is unknown. If it was due to confidentiality issues, as an international company, Huawei should also have been removed from YouTube. So what is the reason?
To my knowledge, Chinese media either cannot or choose not to evaluate the performance of Huawei phones. In 2023, digital evaluation platform “Geekerwan” released a comprehensive review of Huawei’s first domestically produced chip Kirin 9000s on both bilibili (China’s YouTube) and YouTube. The video revealed that the chip performance of Huawei’s upcoming flagship phone in 2023 is comparable to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 released in 2020. However, after being online for only one day, the video was removed from bilibili while it remains available on YouTube with nearly one million views even seven months later. It is unclear why the video was taken down; if it were due to confidentiality concerns, as Huawei is an international company, the video should have also been removed from YouTube. Therefore, what could be the reason behind this removal?
Huawei is considered the “future of China’s autonomy” in contrast to other Chinese brands that have become mere assembly machines. Although Xiaomi and OPPO attempted to manufacture chips, they eventually abandoned their efforts. This could be due to their inability to produce advanced chips or the high cost of R&D investment which cannot be evenly shared by consumers due to the outdated chip under market economy conditions. However, Huawei succeeded where others failed. Both outdated chips and research and development costs are now shared by consumers.
The Huawei Mate 60 is being marketed with the claim that “every part is domestically produced”. However, it appears that only chips are restricted while other supplies such as screens are not. As a consumer who paid a flagship price, I expect to have the best screen available (such as Samsung or LG), rather than domestically produced screens used solely for marketing purposes. From the supplier’s perspective, their screens are inferior to those of other companies and therefore sold at a lower price. This begs the question: who benefits from this price difference? If supporting domestic industry chains means sacrificing quality and paying less for subpar components, perhaps Huawei could consider donating money directly instead.
Do bed reviews kill companies? The reviews do not, but without reviews, it will definitely kill consumers(people).