Tech giants start by disassembling systems

Chapter 84 Counterattack

Haotai issued a statement withdrawing its lawsuit that afternoon. It was less than 150 words long, with the core message being: "Based on a reassessment following the occurrence of new facts."

Xia Kanghao issued the statement in the car on the way to the airport. Haotai's public relations director was in the passenger seat, and he and the chief legal counsel were in the back. The car was so quiet that the low hum of the engine could be heard.

"How long will it take to push forward with the sensor solution?" Xia Kanghao suddenly asked.

The chief legal counsel was startled. He thought Xia Kanghao would take a nap first—after all, he hadn't slept since nine o'clock at night.

"Joint procurement negotiations between Bosch and TDK have already begun. The joint procurement volume from Tianying and Haotai could form a significant bargaining chip in Q1 of next year. However, with Lianchuang's entry, this bargaining chip will become less substantial. It's not that it will become ineffective—but rather that it won't be able to provide a safety net."

"I don't need a safety net." Xia Kanghao looked out the window at the night view of Shenzhen's Binhai Avenue. "I just need to put pressure on them. Make Hongyuan feel that the supply chain is unstable. If they feel unstable, they'll break the contract. If they break the contract, they'll make mistakes."

He straightened his collar.

"Keep pushing on the sensor side. Use Tianying's volume to negotiate with Bosch; there's no need to explicitly demand differential pricing for Hongyuan—just hint at it. Bosch is a faction; they'll make their own judgment."

"clear."

"Also—" Xia Kanghao paused, "how are the preparations for the falcon matter going?"

The chief legal counsel didn't understand. Xia Kanghao repeated it.

"Eagle. Skyhawk's new drone."

A week later, Skyhawk Technology announced a new product.

Its name is Eagle S2 Pro.

This wasn't a typical product launch. It was a coordinated media offensive. From October 20th to October 26th, for seven whole days, Tianying and Haotai jointly spent over 15 million yuan on Google Play. They covered all major platforms, including short video platforms, WeChat official accounts, Weibo hashtags, Douyin splash screens, and industry media.

The Falcon S2 Pro has only one selling point—price.

1999 yuan.

The reason this price is so high in the industry is simple. Drones in the same price range are equipped with generic open-source flight controllers and have basic industrial designs. But the Falcon S2 Pro's configuration list prominently features: Bosch BMI088 inertial measurement unit, Sony IMX335 image sensor, Intel silicon barometer, and full binocular RGB + TOF obstacle avoidance.

These configurations would have cost over 3500 yuan a year ago. Now they're down to 1999 yuan.

Industry media immediately understood what this pricing meant—Tianying lost at least 400 yuan on every S2 Pro sold. Given Haotai's financial strength, this loss could be sustained for six months. Six months would be enough to squeeze out all other companies in this price range that were still using their own flight controllers.

And among companies in this price range, F4 happens to occupy the most prominent position.

An analysis by 36Kr states: "The pricing logic of the Falcon S2 Pro is not product logic, but strategic logic. Haotai Capital is using losses to buy time, and time to create space. This is a war of attrition against Hongyuan."

Su Chen saw the analysis in his office. That night, he and Wu Zheng were reviewing the third draft of the SDK Level 4 licensing standard.

Wu Zheng held out his phone screen for Su Chen to read an article from 36Kr. Su Chen looked at it for two minutes, then handed the phone back to Wu Zheng.

"What do you think?" Wu Zheng asked.

"As expected."

Aren't you worried?

"I'm worried. But not now."

Su Chen turned to the next page of the draft for review.

"The S2 Pro uses the PX4 open-source flight controller plus Tianying's own application layer. The core of the flight controller is open source, not self-developed. It can fly, but it cannot be iterated. The data generated by each S2 Pro flight will not flow back into Tianying's flight control algorithm. However, the data from each of our F4s will."

He made a note on the draft for review.

"Time is on our side. In six months, their losses will start to affect management. And by then, our F5 will be ready to begin small-scale testing."

Wu Zheng thought for a moment.

"But the time saved shouldn't be wasted."

"Yes. So I'm flying to Wuxi tomorrow."

Wu Zheng looked up at him.

"A slight feeling?"

"A slight feeling."

During those seven days, Su Chen did not make any public comments about the S2 Pro. Sun Chen received seventeen interview requests in a row, all of which she politely declined as instructed by Su Chen.

Hongyuan only did one thing. Zhang Lei gave an internal briefing at the all-engineer meeting on Friday:

"The Tianying S2 Pro uses the PX4 open-source flight control framework. While Tianying developed its own application layer, the core control layer follows the community version. This means they lack the ability to iterate on the underlying flight control architecture. They can only adjust parameters, not modify the architecture. The S2 Pro's performance ceiling is locked by the open-source version. Our F4, on the other hand, can be continuously iterated upon. This is the fundamental difference between self-developed and open-source systems."

None of the thirty-two engineers asked any questions. They all understood.

But the conversations outside the industry are not so calm.

The buzz surrounding the S2 Pro continues to surge on social media. Three drone review bloggers released videos immediately after receiving invitations from Tianying to test the drone. One of the bloggers, with the largest following, concluded: "The price of 1999 yuan is practically a printing error. Unless someone is pulling strings behind the scenes, I can't imagine any company maintaining this price for more than four months."

The second blogger was more direct: "The performance of the Falcon S2 Pro is significantly inferior to that of the Hongyuan F4, especially in obstacle avoidance and stability. However, it is 1,500 yuan cheaper. This is a very strong temptation for beginners with limited budgets."

Almost everyone in the industry is waiting for Su Chen's response.

Su Chen did not respond.

He boarded a flight to Wuxi at 9 p.m. on October 27.