Exclusive Interview with the Founder of Mechanical Revolution, Pan Chunjie: A Gaming Laptop Revolution Centered on "Ultimate Innovation"
How can a traditional consumer electronics industry that has been in existence for more than two decades initiate a self-innovation centered on performance?
In 2022, the PC market, which experienced a boom in demand for working from home during the pandemic, entered a cold winter. However, while the entire PC market presented a "sunset scenario", the gaming laptop segment stood out as an exception.
In recent years, with esports games officially recognized, the first Esports Olympics announced to be held in Saudi Arabia in 2025, and the rise of domestic 3A games represented by "Black Myth: Wukong", IDC's data released in the first quarter of this year shows: In 2023, the market size of gaming laptops in China reached 8.2 billion US dollars, accounting for 41.3% of the overall notebook market in China, exceeding the total of the Asia-Pacific and European and American markets.
In the nascent era of 2009, there were only a few gaming laptop brands, and at that time, they were a "luxury" exclusive to a few enthusiast gamers. By 2014, with the rapid rise of domestic gaming laptop manufacturers, traditional PC manufacturers also entered the market to launch their own gaming laptop products, accelerating the competition in the red ocean market.
As a terminal category that emphasizes performance priority, the gaming laptop market is recognized as "difficult to operate" in the industry.
This is not only because the users it faces are more demanding. It should be noted that this is a group of consumer groups who are well-versed in the performance of core hardware such as CPUs and GPUs. More importantly, based on this understanding, they will also choose different graphics cards, storage solutions, and screen solutions according to their own preferences and needs. This also means that under the same product model, gaming laptop manufacturers may need to provide dozens of shipping configurations to flexibly meet consumer needs.
However, it is precisely the consumer electronics attribute that gaming laptops possess that determines that the balance of its market always leans towards the user demand side. Mechanical Revolution, which centers on user needs and focuses on the release of extreme performance, has become a sudden and powerful force in the gaming laptop market.
According to GFK's data, Mechanical Revolution ranked third in the sales of gaming laptops in the Chinese region in 2023 and first among domestic brands, surpassing international first-tier brands such as HP and Dell; and according to Canalys' data, Mechanical Revolution's sales exceeded 1 million units in the first 10 months of 2024.
In a depressed environment with both volume and price falling, why is it that Mechanical Revolution, which has just passed its tenth year, that has taken the lead in breaking through? On December 12 in Dali, Yunnan, 36Kr带着疑问与 Mechanical Revolution founder Pan Chunjie had a chat, attempting to find the growth path of this once-new force in the gaming laptop market over the past ten years through his account.
From Being "Choked" to Dual-Track Parallel Driving, Mechanical Revolution's "Struggle for Survival"
The birth of Mechanical Revolution stems from a "struggle for survival" state.
At that time, the parent company of Mechanical Revolution, Tongfang Computer, was in a period of development pain. In February 2014, on the first working day of the new year, Tsinghua Tongfang issued a message calling on the entire PC industry to hold on. According to Gartner's data, the global PC market in that year declined by 6.6% year-on-year.
However, in such a difficult period, Pan Chunjie, who was then the general manager of the Notebook Business Department of Tsinghua Tongfang, resolutely founded Mechanical Revolution. As a person who is not satisfied with a stable job within the system, he entered the booming PC industry as early as 1999.
In Pan Chunjie's words, at that time, Zhongguancun Street in Beijing was still bustling with traffic. And the Mechanical Revolution he founded in 2014 is, in a sense, a brand-new brand. It operates independently of Tsinghua Tongfang. Except for the initial capital of the parent company, it can be said that it has no resource advantages. This also means that from marketing to products, from design to production - the construction of these core links and capability systems, Mechanical Revolution has to start from scratch.
2014 is not only the year when Mechanical Revolution was established, but also the first year of the explosion of domestic gaming laptops.
At that time, in the gaming laptop market, after Alienware was acquired by Dell and entered China in 2009, international brands such as MSI and ASUS also entered the game one after another. As a new force in the gaming laptop industry, Mechanical Revolution is facing traditional PC giants like Dell, MSI, ASUS, and Lenovo with solid foundations.
Is there no opportunity at all? In Pan Chunjie's view, "The pain points of users are the source of our entrepreneurship". He found an opportunity in the needs and expectations of a group of passionate young people.
At that time, the gaming laptop products generally faced the problems of being "big, black, clumsy, and heavy", and could not meet the needs and expectations of users in terms of appearance and portability. A more crucial point is that those traditional PC manufacturers who aim to reduce costs and control power consumption阉割 the performance of CPUs and GPUs.
Pan Chunjie told 36Kr: "They think these brands don't understand them at all, then I'll create a brand that does understand you".
Based on the user-centered values, Pan Chunjie communicated and conducted research with a large number of young people, and even learned a lot from his own child who loves playing games. Through continuous research and development and efforts, this led to the first gaming laptop product of Mechanical Revolution released in March 2014: MR X5 equipped with Intel Core i7-4700MQ processor and NVIDIA 8-series graphics card.
As the debut work of Mechanical Revolution, MR X5, which was first launched on the JD.com e-commerce platform, achieved a successful start with the result of 5,000 units sold out in 8 minutes. Pan Chunjie, who saw the market data at that time, was very excited, and this allowed Mechanical Revolution to gain its first batch of users. But after the excitement, he also felt anxious and confused, "Can we deliver the products to users as soon as possible tomorrow? The answer is no".
After 5,000 units of MR X5 were sold out, he immediately placed another order with the foundry. However, an accident occurred, and the foundry rejected the demand of Mechanical Revolution. Pan Chunjie explained the reason behind it: " Obviously, our good sales affected the foundry's support for other brand customers, so they cut off our supply at that time". What should be done if no supplier is willing to OEM for Mechanical Revolution? Pan Chunjie's answer is: Solve it independently.
The "choking" incident on the day it occurred made Pan Chunjie realize the importance of building its own capabilities. From the sold-out of the first batch to the supply of the second batch of products, in these more than two months, Pan Chunjie negotiated with the supplier about the product delivery issue on one hand, and on the other hand, began to seek the construction of its own capabilities. "The entire process is simultaneous and parallel, and not a moment can be delayed." Until September of that year, after the release of the second-generation product MR X6, the delivery problem was basically solved.
With the construction of its own capabilities from research and development to manufacturing and other links, Mechanical Revolution has gradually formed a development route driven by both OEM and ODM.
There are many dual-track enterprises in the PC market, but few like Mechanical Revolution can achieve parallel driving. In Pan Chunjie's view, OEM that can obtain upstream design and R & D resources and ODM that needs the brand to put forward user needs and is relatively weak can empower each other. "When the wheels of the two tracks become larger and larger, the entire running train will also be faster and more stable. It can be said that the dual-track parallel driving supports the development of Mechanical Revolution."
With this dual-track parallel driving development model, Mechanical Revolution has launched several technological innovations that lead the industry in the past ten years: From direct connection of graphics cards to full-blooded ultra-narrow bezel design, from silicon carbide power supplies to water cooling.
It is worth mentioning the water cooling. In Pan Chunjie's view, today's fan design can no longer fully meet the heat dissipation needs of users, and this industry-first technology can not only maximize the performance of the gaming laptop, but also achieve a thin and light design and quiet use.
"Turning accidents into stories", Pan Chunjie summarized the initial "choking" in this way. Even though many people did not看好 this huge investment in its own capabilities at that time, if the "choking" incident had not occurred, perhaps there would not be the construction of its own capabilities today, let alone the development route of dual-track parallel driving.
It can be said that Mechanical Revolution, as a new force in the industry, is essentially a revolution against the traditional gaming laptop industry. "We want to make the best products that Chinese users want, need, and are the best, and without R & D and factories, none of this can be achieved", Pan Chunjie told 36Kr.
From a Single Gaming Laptop to a Full Product Family, Mechanical Revolution Continues to Advance
2024 marks the tenth anniversary of the establishment of Mechanical Revolution. Although Mechanical Revolution has now launched multiple series such as Unbounded, Glorious, Pterosaur, and Aurora, covering three product forms of thin and light office, mobile esports, and innovative desktop, and has more than 3 million fans across the entire network, in Pan Chunjie's view, this journey has not been smooth sailing, and the setbacks, anxiety, hesitation, and confusion along the way are greater than the joy brought by development.
It is the support, encouragement, and tolerance of imperfection from young users that have inspired Pan Chunjie to never stop the innovative pace of Mechanical Revolution.
From once a stable civil servant within the system to switching to the PC field to sell notebook computers, and now leading Mechanical Revolution into the next ten years, he is still on the front line and insists on visiting more than 100 users every year to understand the products that these passionate young people really need. He not only contacts loyal users who have accompanied Mechanical Revolution along the way, but also talks with users who have not used Mechanical Revolution products with an open mind. No matter how busy his work is every year, Pan Chunjie will also go to the dormitories of university campuses and humbly accept the criticism and suggestions of every user.
All of this is to enhance the user experience.
In 2019, Mechanical Revolution began to build an Internet service system. In Pan Chunjie's view, it is not realistic to build several service outlets following the practices of traditional PC giants. Therefore, he chose to rely on the R & D and manufacturing advantages of Mechanical Revolution and adopted an innovative model of original factory visual Internet service to build five major Internet service centers across the country in Beijing, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Wuhan, which can respond to users quickly and professionally from pre-sale consultation to after-sales service.
As a product with a heavy purchasing decision, the gaming laptop often requires the empowerment of physical experience. In order to allow more users to experience the product before purchasing, Mechanical Revolution has also opened more than 150 offline store experience centers across the country, covering various retail formats such as university town stores, Shopping - mall, and JD.com Super Experience Store.
From the initial launch on online e-commerce to the offline retail experience, the innovation of Mechanical Revolution centered around users is not only limited to technology and products, but also wins the word-of-mouth of college students with the closed loop of user experience.
Pan Chunjie told 36Kr, "When I visited the dormitories before, only one computer was Mechanical Revolution, but in September this year, I suddenly found that in one dormitory, all six computers were Mechanical Revolution". This word-of-mouth has been reflected in GFK's data, and the user loyalty of Mechanical Revolution has been on par with that of Huawei.
The continuous fermentation of the brand word-of-mouth brings the rapid development of Mechanical Revolution.
When Mechanical Revolution sold 1 million units of products in 2023, Pan Chunjie felt that the direction was right. At that time, he believed that behind this rapid growth was the opportunity brought by performance and quality. But when looking at the sales in the first 10 months of 2024, which exceeded the full-year sales of 2023, Pan Chunjie believes that the user's demand has upgraded from being usable to being easy to use, coupled with the social status symbol brought by mobile portability, the value of the once performance-oriented gaming laptop is still expanding.
In fact, long before its rapid rise, Pan Chunjie had the confidence to expand the product line. In the highly competitive and brand-mentality-driven thin and light notebook market, Mechanical Revolution has also made a "small trial", releasing the first thin and light notebook S1 as early as 2018, and then the Unbounded 14Pro and Unbounded 14X were sold out as soon as they were listed;
In Pan Chunjie's view, this represents that the market users are also willing to give Mechanical Revolution opportunities in other notebook categories. Today's Mechanical Revolution is no longer limited to the single category of gaming laptops. For high-performance office users, Mechanical Revolution has launched high-performance thin and light notebooks; for hardcore gamers, it has also launched an innovative gaming desktop; for enterprise users, there are also mini hosts and commercial series.
The love and loyalty of users towards Mechanical Revolution exceeded Pan Chunjie's expectations. This is where the brand effect brought by the continuously fermenting user word-of-mouth lies - it can bring an overwhelming advantage in the fierce competition in the PC market by occupying the user's mind. Thus, every passionate young person and Mechanical Revolution are no longer just linked by a single product purchase, but achieve a long-term brand companionship and pursuit through Internet services and continuous expansion of category innovations.
How Does Mechanical Revolution Open a New Chapter of Innovation as a Chinese Brand Going Global?
From the "struggle for survival" when the PC industry was in decline ten years ago to now selling 1 million laptops and becoming the top domestic brand, Pan Chunjie believes that the most successful aspect of Mechanical Revolution is that it has won the love of a group of market users and accompanied them from the gaming life in the university campus to the work laptops needed when they officially enter the workplace, "As long as users like (Mechanical Revolution's products) more and more, whether to make money and survive are issues to be considered later".