Chapter 104: New Troubles Arise

Samsung Headquarters, South Korea.

The meeting room was packed with directors and managers from various divisions of Samsung’s mobile electronics business. At the head of the table sat Gao Zhendong, the person in charge of Samsung’s mobile electronics operations.

His job was to make Samsung’s smartphone business generate more revenue for the Samsung Group.

However, things hadn’t gone well in recent years. Following the Galaxy Note 7 battery explosion incident, market share for Samsung’s smartphone business had kept dropping.

In the Huaxia market, Samsung’s smartphone market share had hit rock bottom. It wasn’t just because of the poor handling of the recall incident that made Huaxia consumers lose trust. The THAAD incident also played a part. Most importantly, local Huaxia phone makers were rising fast.

First, Huawei and Xiaomi carved up the mid-to-high-end market. Then brands like Honor and Oppo swallowed the low-end segment. And now, a tough new opponent had emerged — the Legion Ant Company.

This was the most formidable rival in the high-end market. Its Smart Assistant technology made phones leap a whole generation ahead, ushering them into a truly intelligent era.

If the Legion Ant Company went global, it could spell disaster for Samsung’s smartphone business. Already squeezed by Apple and Huawei on both sides, adding Army Ant to the mix might threaten their position.

But, luckily, Legion Ant’s international push had failed. Now was the perfect chance for their own phones to hit the market.

Huaxia was a huge market, and Samsung didn’t want to lose it. This was their opportunity to stage a comeback.

Gao Zhendong looked around the meeting room. “Production department: speed up Note10 production. Panel division: cut off OLED supply to Legion Ant and reduce supply to Huawei. Get ready for the phone launch event. Ad placements must be prepared…”

Even though he knew it was problematic, he had no choice. Using their monopoly power to cause trouble for rivals was a tactic they often used.

After giving all the instructions, Gao Zhendong called the meeting to an end.

Like efficient gears, everyone in Samsung’s mobile division started moving.

Li Danni’s expression darkened as she dialed Zhao Min’s number. Li was the head of the production system at Legion Ant Company, overseeing the materials department, production department, and import/export division.

Moments before, her production team informed her that Samsung had suspended their OLED supply, citing insufficient production capacity.

This was bad news.

For the second-generation Butterfly Eye · Metamorphosis phone, the lower-end model used OLED from BOE (Jingdongfang), while the premium version used Samsung OLED. Samsung halting supply meant trouble for their high-end Metamorphosis models.

When the call connected, Li Danni spoke immediately: “President, Samsung has stopped supplying OLED for our phones.”

“What?” Zhao Min, reviewing a document, raised her voice.

“The Samsung team claims production shortages as the reason for suspending OLED supply to our company,” Li Danni explained.

“Connect with BOE immediately. See if they can boost supply. Also, talk to Samsung’s people. Find out when OLED deliveries might resume.”

After hanging up, Zhao Min’s face turned grim.

The Metamorphosis was selling extremely well right now. Reducing output, especially for the high-end model, would mean massive losses.

Troubles kept piling up. Damn monopolies!

Zhao Min inwardly cursed. Their failed entry into the European Market had just quieted down, and now this OLED suspension.

Was Samsung trying to kick them while they were down?

Right now, it was impossible to know Samsung’s real intentions. She’d have to wait for their reply. But she couldn’t wait long. If this wasn’t resolved permanently, they could remain vulnerable at critical moments. BOE’s advanced OLED technology still wasn’t fully mature; rushing it wasn’t an option.

News of Samsung cutting off OLED to Legion Ant quickly spread online.

Legion Ant’s failed Europe venture had just faded from public attention. This new crisis surfaced almost immediately. Once the news broke, countless media outlets jumped on the story.

Once again, it sparked talk about the dangers of lacking core technology — always vulnerable.

It wasn’t the first time Samsung had leveraged its monopoly power to disrupt the market. It wouldn’t be the last.

Once the news appeared online, countless people hoped BOE would rise to the challenge much faster.

Naturally, some companies celebrated the news.

Since Army Ant couldn’t expand globally, the multilingual version of the Smart Assistant ended up pretty similar to the bilingual one. Among the ones cheering the loudest? Huawei and Samsung. Both used the Android System and could run the Smart Assistant. Apple could not.

Now, Samsung stopped OLED supply to Army Ant, the biggest winner was Huawei, who benefited most. Huawei had multiple screen suppliers. So, while reduced supply from Samsung affected them, it wasn’t crippling.

The day after the news broke, Huawei announced a new product launch event for their M11 in one week. Almost simultaneously, Samsung said it would hold a launch event for its Note10 series in five days.

Not to be left out, Apple quickly announced a new launch event in three days. Xiaomi, which hadn’t released a phone for a long time this year, also shared plans for a launch event in five days for its new BlackMi (Heimi) series.

A while back, the Legion Ant Company’s Butterfly Eye · Metamorphosis had dominated the market, praised for its Smart Assistant and stunning design. Launching around then would have been disastrous for others.

That’s why so many phone companies kept postponing their launch events. Now, with Samsung targeting Army Ant and Honda’s sudden troubles taking heat, plus Metamorphosis supply potentially faltering? This was the perfect opening. None of them wanted to miss it.

All four companies picked their timed launches perfectly. Back-to-back announcements about new events instantly set the internet buzzing.

《Shocked! A War Conference for Smartphones?》 – Squirrel Headlines

《East: Samsung, West: Apple, South: Huwei, North: Xiaomi!》 – Sina Technology

《The Four Giants against Army Ants?》 – Global Times

《The Central Force—— Army Ant!》 – Phoenix News

…

Most media outlets described this convergence of launches as a great clash, something unprecedented.

Usually, major phone companies made careful, unspoken plans to avoid hitting their major launches at the same time, preventing wasted marketing effort. But now? Army Ant’s failed Europe journey and its OLED supply slashed? The Butterfly Eye Phone might face shortages, maybe even halted production.

Those repeatedly delayed launches finally saw an opening — like a once-in-a-lifetime chance. If they waited and Metamorphosis somehow bounced back, launching would become difficult again. Crashing launch dates no longer mattered. Getting their product out was key. Confidence in their tech outweighed head-to-head comparisons.

Because of the impact, the last stocks of high-end Butterfly Eye · Metamorphosis phones were quickly scooped up by scalpers/resellers. Legion Ant announced the high-end version was sold out and production would halt temporarily.

The event ignited the most intense discussion about mobile launch events in internet history.

“Whoa! These four guys timed this better than Yamazaki’s final sword strike! Restaurant Boss: bring me my spaghetti! I’m settling in for this battle!”

“Secretary Dakang: Fight! Fight! The GDP growth relies on this clash!”

“This place hosting a great clash? Masterful gathering! I stand in awe. My name, sir? I am Peek-A-Chink. And yours, might I ask?”

“I reply: Am Peek-A-Little!”

“Mr/Ms Catch-A-Chink right here! Who dares cause trouble?”

“The humble swordsman ChinkLightfrown salutes ever so slowly!”

“This immortal answers to Wedge-In-Just-Right — Unfolded.”

“This old Taoist is known as Yang The Mountain-Piercer!”

“Ha ha ha ha… Comments beat even the World Wars! Call me WeddingUnbeatable!”

…

The internet flooded with articles, comments, and jokes about this. It was unprecedented: several major smartphone companies facing off directly. Such a spectacular showdown might never happen again. Most netizens waited eagerly to see what exploded next.