A "Bestie Machine" costs 4,000 yuan. Making money from middle-class women, the giants are serious. | Zhiliao
Author｜Huang Nan
Editor｜Yuan Silai
Vlog blogger Zhang Qin has been somewhat troubled recently. At the beginning of this year, taking advantage of the falling housing prices, she decidedly purchased a "small, old, and dilapidated" house of less than 60 square meters in Yuexiu District, Guangzhou. The house is currently being renovated, but because the living room area is not large, and she doesn't watch TV very often, Zhang Qin is very hesitant about whether to spend money to design a TV background wall.
Zhang Qin sought advice from her fans on Xiaohongshu. In the comment section, she saw an interesting new name - Bestie Machine.
If only looking at the appearance, the Bestie Machine seems to be just a miniaturized mobile TV. But its differences from a TV are not small. The common Bestie Machine sizes range from 18 to 32 inches, with a small volume. It can move and rotate the screen, support long-term wireless use, and can perform various interactive operations through voice, touch, and other methods.
Back to the product itself, the Bestie Machine has an independent intelligent operating system that can run pre-installed applications and install third-party applications. It combines some functions of tablet computers, TVs, smart speakers, and fitness machines, covering multiple usage scenarios such as entertainment, fitness, office work, learning, and even education. Therefore, as an emerging intelligent display device, the Bestie Machine market has seen a very rapid growth in sales and users since it gradually emerged last year.
According to the transaction data of e-commerce platforms, during the 618 Shopping Festival in 2024, the Bestie Machine achieved significant sales growth on multiple platforms. Among them, the overall sales of the Bestie Machine on the Tmall e-commerce platform increased by 350% year-on-year, and the sales of brands such as Tiantian and KTC exceeded 10 million; the transaction volume of the Bestie Machine on JD.com increased by 150% year-on-year. During the Double Eleven period, the sales of the Bestie Machine on various e-commerce platforms also showed an overall growth trend.
Lotu Technology predicts that in 2024, the sales volume and sales amount of China's Mobile Smart Screen (including the Bestie Machine) category will reach 400,000 units and 1.52 billion yuan.
At present, the domestic Bestie Machine products that have been launched can be roughly divided into three categories: One is the intelligent hardware brands led by Xiaodu, Tmall Genie, and Dangbei; the second is the black electricity giants represented by Hisense and Skyworth, as well as the ODM manufacturers of electronic foundry.
In recent years, the development of the traditional TV industry has entered a downturn period, with insufficient product innovation driving force. The fluctuation of TV sales mainly relies on renewal or replacement demand, rather than new demand. According to the data of Aowei Cloud Network, in the first half of 2024, the retail volume of the Chinese color TV market was 13.51 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 7.9%.
From TVs, projectors to the current Bestie Machine, not only the form of the equipment has changed, but also the way and demand for people to accept and use display content have also changed. In the face of the fatigue of traditional home appliances, for black electricity giants, exploring more innovative categories has become an inevitable choice. A thin interactive screen with a movable bracket, the Bestie Machine may bring a breakthrough opportunity to the industry.
Behind the explosion of the Bestie Machine, user needs have changed
The expansion speed of the Bestie Machine category far exceeds the imagination of practitioners. The person in charge of the Hisense Bestie Machine business told Yingke that according to the Lotu survey data, in the first half of 2024, more than 40 new domestic Bestie Machine manufacturers were added, and the number tripled compared to the end of 2023.
In the home scene, in the past, TVs and projectors were mostly installed in a fixed form on the TV background wall, with certain viewing environment requirements. After the emergence of the Bestie Machine, it has occupied the ecological niche of such playback devices.
Compared with the previous generation of audio-visual appliances such as TVs, the innovation of the Bestie Machine mainly includes three aspects. The first is the morphological change. Based on the floor-standing movable video player, the multi-angle adjustment of the screen is added on this basis, which can be used with a high degree of freedom in multiple viewing perspectives such as standing, sitting, lying, and reclining; the second is to target the entire scene of entertainment, fitness, office work, learning, etc., with one machine for multiple uses to meet diverse usage needs. The third is the development of AI technologies such as language large models, multi-modal perception, and multi-round intelligent interaction, which has greatly improved the intelligent capabilities of the Bestie Machine.
The usage experience of the Bestie Machine is closely related to its battery life, lag, picture quality and other dimensions.
Take the new product Dabai X7N released by Hisense in August as an example. First of all, in terms of battery life, Dabai X7N is equipped with a large-capacity high-density battery and an energy-saving algorithm, which increases the battery life by 30% and can continuously watch movies for more than 10 hours. In terms of computing power, it is built with a high-computing power chip. It is also the first Bestie Machine in the industry to achieve 8GB + 256GB storage. Based on the self-developed JUOS system, it can solve the problems of lag and unsmooth use. In terms of picture quality, Dabai X7N uses the same-source picture quality technology as Hisense's 10,000-yuan-level TV, which can intelligently identify the picture scene and content, and automatically adjust and optimize the brightness, contrast, hue, etc. Its soft light eye-protecting paper-like screen is also more friendly to user groups such as children and the elderly.
Hisense Dabai X7N (Source: Official website)
Xiao Ning, an investor who has been paying close attention to the intelligent hardware track for a long time, believes that compared with TVs and projectors, the most typical advantage of the Bestie Machine is that its mobile attribute increases the usage scenarios. Moreover, the compatibility and adaptation of the software ecosystem are also better. For example, there are relatively few applications for TVs, but the Bestie Machine App account can be directly linked to the mobile phone end.
The characteristics of the entire scene and high degree of freedom also make the Bestie Machine more in line with people's viewing habits. Xiao Ning told Yingke, "Compared with tablets or mobile phones, we need to manually adjust the viewing angle; while the Bestie Machine not only has a large screen, but more importantly, it allows the screen to adapt to your sitting and lying viewing angles. The consumption logic of the two for the product is completely opposite."
Hisense Dabai X7N, multi-angle adaptation (Source: Official website)
According to the official data of Xiaodu, among the first batch of users who used the Bestie Machine, the average daily usage time was 245 minutes, the average daily active user ratio was 78%, and the user retention rate on the second day was 89%.
Hisense's market research also found that users' demands for audio-visual products are undergoing obvious changes. The person in charge of the Hisense Bestie Machine business analyzed that in terms of the product itself, consumers will pay attention to the changes in mobile performance and screen size. The consumer portrait shows that currently, the core users of the Bestie Machine are mainly high-net-worth individuals in first- and second-tier cities and young family women. "Therefore, how to achieve a bestie-like companionship. From an emotional demand perspective, users have shifted from focusing on relatively rational needs to today, where emotional companionship is increasingly valued by users, not just a pure product function."
But a realistic situation is that since the launch of the Bestie Machine, there has been no shortage of controversy about this new category on various social media channels. The most representative view is that the Bestie Machine is a movable and larger-screen tablet computer, which is an IQ tax product with no innovation.
In response, the relevant person in charge of Hisense admitted that the main reason for this misunderstanding is that the current Bestie Machine products on the market are still in the early stage, and there is a problem of homogeneity. "Even for different products of different manufacturers, their functions are largely the same, and there has not yet been a significant difference in selling points. Therefore, for users who have not used the Bestie Machine, they feel that the Bestie Machine is the same as a tablet or a smart TV in perception."
It can be seen that at present, the major mainstream manufacturers entering the Bestie Machine market, in terms of technology iteration and product research and development, the common practice is to cut in from the direction they are good at based on their own technical accumulation and hardware advantages. For example, Xiaodu introduces the AI capabilities of Baidu Wenxin Large Model, Tmall Genie focuses on the audio-visual experience and interactive feeling, and Hisense highlights the picture quality technology and mature supply chain capabilities, etc.
"But in fact, whether it is hardware or software, there are some hard thresholds, and with the subsequent development direction and product characteristics of the manufacturers, the differences will gradually become more obvious." The person in charge of the Hisense Bestie Machine business said.
Giant companies enter, mature channels and after-sales system
It is undeniable that the Bestie Machine is an experience-oriented product.
Different from brands that mainly rely on online sales channels, after the release of the Bestie Machine Dabai X7N, it was the first to enter the offline experience stores of Hisense. The relevant person in charge of Hisense told Yingke that when the sales staff were working offline, they found that after many users experienced the product, their willingness to consume the Bestie Machine increased significantly. "They will find that the Bestie Machine seems to be really not as simple as imagined, not just a combination of TV and tablet."
Aware of this characteristic, Hisense, based on its channel accumulation over the past many years, mainly in first- and second-tier cities, combined with the contact points where the target population is more concentrated, increased the number of Bestie Machines in offline stores and agent channels. Currently, nearly a thousand devices are available for consumers to try in multiple city stores.
In the after-sales link, the installation, testing, and maintenance involved in the Bestie Machine have a large degree of repetition with the home appliance 3C category, and Hisense has a mature sales channel and after-sales service system that can be reused.
Yingke learned that Hisense now has more than 2,000 after-sales service outlets in China. After the user places an order, the outlets will deliver and install the product; when the Bestie Machine is damaged and needs to be repaired, the outlets can directly come to the door for inspection and provide repair services, without the need to send the product back to the factory or platform for waiting, which greatly shortens the after-sales process and time.
At present, the sales of the Bestie Machine are still mainly shipped online. Although the offline sales proportion is relatively small, it is showing a rapid growth trend overall, and the share is increasing rapidly. "As a 3C new category with a heavy emphasis on experience, the offline market of the Bestie Machine may be a very core competitive field in the near future." The person in charge of the Hisense Bestie Machine business said.
Hisense Dabai X7N (Source: Official website)
As an emerging intelligent display device, the Bestie Machine is gradually changing people's lifestyles. But Zhang Qin told Yingke that The price of the Bestie Machine is generally in the range of 4,000 - 7,000 yuan RMB, which is not very friendly to users who have the intention to try it.
After all, a 50-plus-inch 4K smart TV on the market usually costs around 1,000 - 2,000 yuan. After the first wave of early adopters buys it, the big manufacturers need to convince more people to buy it.
At present, Xiao Ning believes that in the early stage of the industry's development, the product advantages of the Bestie Machine are mainly reflected in hardware design and quality control.
Take Hisense as an example. Except for some ODM manufacturers, Hisense's Bestie Machine is one of the few enterprises that independently researches and develops and uses its own factory for production. Based on the supply chain advantages and product development capabilities formed by the main business accumulation, it has a stronger control over product quality.
In terms of the specific production process, the self-research cost does not necessarily have an advantage. "When the Bestie Machine has not been able to ship stably, we need to specially open modules and production lines for this new category. The fully self-research and manufacturing is actually a cost-increasing thing. Among them, some brands may come from the same foundry and the same mold, and the cost may be more advantageous. Considering the best user experience, Hisense still chose the self-research mode that is more costly but more responsible to users." The relevant person in charge of Hisense revealed.
As a new form of intelligent terminal product, the Bestie Machine has attracted the entry of many manufacturers and brands. With the release of more and more new products and the increase in sales, the voices of controversy about the Bestie Machine have not decreased. This is also the test of product power that a new category must go through from the early stage to the marketization.
Tmall Genie Wow Bestie Machine (Source: Official website)
Putting aside the cold hardware parameters, the Bestie Machine satisfies the value of companionship. Imagine that after a day of work, when you come home, you move the Bestie Machine to the kitchen and watch a drama while cooking dinner; after dinner, you open a fitness video to check in and practice; before going to bed, you lie in bed, and the Bestie Machine can be rotated to a 60-degree super-large pitch angle to fall asleep while watching a documentary...
This all means that the delicate user insight is more subtle and more difficult to control than upgrading the hardware.
"Does the Bestie Machine necessarily have a fixed form like a large tablet? In terms of content production and human-computer interaction, what emotional value can the large model provide to the Bestie Machine? At present, there are still many possibilities waiting for us to explore." Hisense said.