Understand vivo's "Determination in Action" between Inaction and Action

As the Chinese New Year approaches, the competition in the Chinese mobile phone market is more intense than the festive atmosphere.

Data released by IDC in January showed that in 2025, the shipment volume of China's smartphone market reached 285 million units, a slight year - on - year decline of 0.6%. Behind the market reaching its peak, it implies a competitive state of "advance or retreat".

In particular, the market shares of the top five mobile phone manufacturers are all above 15%, and the shipment volume difference between the first - ranked and the fifth - ranked is only more than three million units. In this red - ocean market, vivo, which has always emphasized "steady progress for long - term success", has also begun to explore the future form of intelligent terminals and the boundaries of imaging technology.

Where does vivo's confidence come from? On February 3, Shen Wei, the founder, president, and CEO of vivo, published an article titled "2026, Stay Committed and Persistent", which gave the answer. Instead of talking about the changes in the market structure, Shen Wei put forward a thought - provoking proposition: Make user orientation the core ability of the organization.

"Consciousness does not equal ability, and consensus does not equal results." In Shen Wei's view, vivo needs to transform its emphasis on user orientation from a conscious level into a systematic insight, cognition, and practice system that can be reused and accumulated.

This "internal evolution" brings new thinking. In the highly competitive mobile phone industry, "putting users at the center" has long become a frequently used slogan. However, after 30 years of development, vivo is going to do something more difficult - turn the consensus into ability and the concept into an organizational instinct as natural as breathing.

I. The Wisdom of Non - action: Cultivating vivo's Calmness to Navigate Fluctuations

"Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful" - Buffett's timeless investment quote, when applied to the current mobile phone industry, seems to perfectly describe vivo.

In the Chinese mobile phone market in 2025, the uncertainty brought about by competition pressure was even greater than expected. On the one hand, the replacement cycle of users was infinitely extended to 33 months, and the incremental demand in the industry had already reached its peak. On the other hand, the sharp increase in the price of memory chips in the second half of the year began to shake the stability of the supply - chain cost.

Throughout the year, there was also the FOMO (fear of missing out) sentiment brought about by AI mobile phones. From integrating large - scale models into mobile phones to the penetration of AI into the operating system's underlying layer, intelligent agents began to reshape the human - machine interaction paradigm, and the smartphone industry witnessed a diverse display of AI functions. Just when manufacturers were convinced that their AI mobile phones represented the future, at the end of last year, an Internet giant launched an AI mobile phone that directly challenged the traditional mobile phone industry's definition of innovation.

This AI mobile phone, with the ability to perform complex tasks across apps, tore a hole in the long - standing balanced ecosystem between traditional mobile phone manufacturers and app providers: The definition of AI mobile phones is no longer solely determined by a single manufacturer but jointly participated in by large - scale model companies and ecological partners.

When users see that AI can make "ordering takeout with a single sentence" a reality, the decentralization of innovation discourse power actually means that user demands in the AI era are forcing traditional mobile phone manufacturers to rethink what true innovation is.

In the current mobile phone market, the pressure from full - fledged competition and the excitement from innovation opportunities are intertwined. For manufacturers still in the game, the competition logic has already changed. The old approach of piling up hardware can no longer guarantee a leading position in the current market stage.

This is a volatile period when innovation constantly creates imagination but is also brought back to reality by the market. However, for vivo, the more such a period, the more it needs to maintain a calm mind and focus on the "cause" of user orientation. In the view of vivo's founder Shen Wei, vivo has cultivated an attitude of "choosing not to do certain things" with a calm mind.

This philosophy of "non - action" means that vivo does not compete for short - term speed but focuses on long - term development. Facing the constantly emerging innovation opportunities, vivo shows strong strategic determination. It does not blindly enter the market to gain market attention and does not transfer the supply - chain cost pressure to its partners but chooses to achieve common prosperity.

"The change of the industry cycle is essentially the change of user demands and the shift of expectations. As we stand at the eve of innovation and in the deep - water area of the stock game, the deeper our understanding of users, the more stable the innovation achievements will be," Shen Wei said about the current cycle fluctuations.

If Buffett's inverse - cycle quote emphasizes the determination not to be affected by emotions, then vivo's philosophy of "non - action" represents the self - restraint after seeing through 30 years of industry rules.

II. The Courage of Action: Cultivating vivo's Aspiration for Upward Growth

If the wisdom of non - action cultivates vivo's calmness, then the courage of action cultivates vivo's aspiration for upward growth.

In the fragmented cycle of 2025, Shen Wei defined this dialectical relationship in the year - end summary: "Choosing not to do certain things" is determination and wisdom, which determines the bottom - line of a company's existence; "Taking action when appropriate" is responsibility and pursuit, which determines the upper - limit of a company's development.

For vivo, having only a calm mind is far from enough. The more in an uncertain environment, the more it needs to be enterprising and stay committed. Therefore, this aspiration is also driving vivo to focus on the fundamental causes. It has been persevering in four long - term technological fields for seven years.

Design, imaging, system, and performance - these technological fields have a common feature: They all directly determine the user experience and have high enough technological barriers. By choosing to persevere in these fields, vivo is essentially establishing an "innovation compound interest" system centered on user experience: the Blue Technology Matrix.

The efforts have finally paid off. Taking the most representative imaging field as an example, in 2025, the X300 series, which further strengthened its position in professional imaging, redefined the system fluency and the new standard for flagship imaging from the underlying technical architecture through the combination of the Dimensity 9500 chip and vivo's self - developed imaging chip V3+.

This is due to a complete set of imaging capabilities. By continuously delving into the three underlying technologies of optics, algorithms, and computing power, vivo has self - developed the Blueprint sensing technology, the Blueprint algorithm matrix, and the Blueprint imaging chip. From sensors, optical systems to the synergy between imaging chips and algorithms, vivo has disassembled imaging capabilities into a complete system project.

More importantly, this set of capabilities is constantly getting closer to users' life scenarios. In scenarios such as concert shooting, night - scene shooting, and portrait shooting, the X series has become the "magic camera" for countless imaging enthusiasts and young users.

This aspiration is also driving vivo to grow from a traditional mobile phone manufacturer into a platform - type technology ecological company.

At the Boao Forum for Asia in May 2025, vivo announced the establishment of a robotics lab and an AIoT intelligent terminal division, officially entering the robotics industry and targeting home robots as the future main development direction, with a team of thousands of people. At the same time, vivo also unveiled its first - generation MR headset, the vivo Vision Explorer Edition.

As a bet on the next - generation computing platform, it marks vivo's official entry into the mixed - reality field, challenging global tech giant Apple.

These forward - looking technological layouts clearly signal that vivo has already stepped out of the comfort zone of the traditional mobile phone industry. At the same time, it refuses to blindly follow the trend of innovation but chooses fields such as XR and robotics, which have huge potential for imagination and can shape a new industry, to start the future.

As Shen Wei said, vivo still needs to maintain the strategic determination of "making fewer but heavier bets", "steadily expanding multi - scenario ecological products beyond mobile phones, reserving core key technologies such as XR and home robots, and gradually moving towards an ecological technology platform company."

Vivo's upward growth is essentially a pursuit of user experience driven by aspiration. For vivo, the light in users' eyes is the key indicator to test innovation. "Innovation is not only our response to users' expectations but also the ultimate yardstick to test whether we have thoroughly implemented user orientation."

III. Internal Evolution: Letting "User Orientation" Penetrate into Every Corner of the Organization

A great company not only has great innovation but also has the organizational instinct to continuously produce great products.

Apple's functional architecture, including the design department, hardware department, and software department, allows professionals to handle professional matters. Under this architecture, no single department can independently complete an iPhone, and the organizational power reaches the extreme in this high - frequency and high - pressure collaboration.

On the other hand, Huawei spent 4 billion yuan learning from IBM. By introducing management systems such as IPD and ISC, it transformed personal experience into organizational assets, thus avoiding the loss of capabilities due to personnel turnover. To some extent, the real business watershed lies not in products or marketing but in whether a company has built the organizational ability to cross the cycle.

In terms of internal organizational evolution, vivo has gone a step further. In Shen Wei's view, user orientation should never stop at a slogan or a concept but needs to be implemented as an organizational instinct.

"User orientation must penetrate all areas of the system and become the air and water of the vivo ecosystem," Shen Wei set a new goal for vivo in the year - end summary: In the new year, vivo should implement "user - oriented innovation" in every product and every decision.

From product definition, design, and technology R & D to procurement, manufacturing, marketing, sales, quality control, and even public administration and warehousing logistics, every department in every area of the entire system should return to its own business scenario and design and implement it with the 7S model, so as to build a sustainable user - orientation practice system.

This is a breakthrough in the unity of knowledge and action, a leap from concept to ability, and a key step for user orientation to truly transform from a value into an organizational instinct.

For vivo, user orientation is more like an invisible yardstick for self - restraint. In an era when almost all mature companies are prone to the "big - company disease", letting user orientation penetrate into every corner of the organization is essentially introducing a long - term and effective external coordinate for the organization to continuously calibrate decisions and actions.

Only in this way can vivo achieve 30 years of hard work and long - term development. As Shen Wei said, only by solidifying the concern for users into the organization's systems, processes, and methodologies and letting it penetrate into every corner of the organization can user orientation truly take root.

Then, the final question arises: Where will user orientation lead vivo?

The answer is gradually becoming clear in vivo's newly proposed "Imaging Technology Strategy". In vivo's view, imaging technology is no longer just an upgrade of mobile phone shooting capabilities but a "platform - type core ability" that can be reused across devices, scenarios, and industries. From mobile phone imaging and mobile imaging to professional creative equipment and medical imaging, and then to the external empowerment of optics and algorithms, imaging technology is becoming the key fulcrum for vivo to build a "platform - type technology ecological company".

Therefore, the outside world's expectations for vivo's next - generation flagship products are changing. Regarding the next - generation "V - series" X300 Ultra, the market is no longer just concerned about the further upgrade of imaging configuration but whether vivo can realize its years of accumulated imaging technology capabilities with a human - centered approach.

The most beautiful form of technology must carry the warmth of humanity. As Shen Wei envisioned, when users get a product with extremely simple and elegant design, they will exclaim "This is so vivo"; when users experience a service that deeply understands and cares about them, they will say "This is so vivo"; when users see technology overcoming obstacles and transmitting warmth, they will sincerely feel "This is so vivo".

Thirty years later, when vivo evolves into an adjective symbolizing excellence, warmth, reliability, and even surprise, "This is so vivo" will also become an indelible mark of this era.