Latest news with #KEF
Forbes
3 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Haier's Sporty TV Push Highlights Lofty Ambitions
Haier Europe CEO Neil Tunstall speaking recently at Roland Garos. Chinese brand Haier, which started life back in the 1980s as a provincial refrigerator manufacturer, has established itself - in terms of market share at least - as one of the biggest brands in consumer tech. In fact, Haier Europe - which is part of the recently re-branded Haier Smart Home - is the No. 1 company globally in major appliances, and has been for more than 15 years now. But the brand still suffers somewhat from an identity problem. And that problem is that a lot of people can't identify it at all. While other brands in the overall Haier Group - think Hoover in the UK and GE Appliances in the US - are well-known entities, the Haier name itself is one that (outside of China, at least) has nowhere near the recognition of more mainstream established appliance brands it outsells, such as LG and Samsung, as well as fast-emerging neighbors like Hisense and TCL. But that's a situation that is likely to change, given the brand's recent push into major sporting sponsorship (the likes of the Australian Open and French Open tennis majors) as well as its expansion into markets outside of appliances. I recently covered Haier's global partnership with KEF. The deal will see KEF co-engineer the sound systems for Haier's upcoming Mini LED and QLED TV lines - including the likes of the M96, M92, M80, and S90 series - which are all set to roll out across 2025. KEF, if you're unaware, make seriously high-end speakers. We're talking five or even six figure price-tags on some of the range, so it's safe to assume that Haier is going after the top-end of the TV market. That was very much the message that Haier Europe CEO Neil Tunstall gave to me, at the launch of the brand's new tennis-based web-series Road to Number One. 'We're not interesting in selling cheap, LCD, HD TVs,' he told me. "That's useless for us and there's no point in going there. 'We're doing it for two reasons. Firstly we should, of course, make money in the TV market. I think also, when you talk about the smart home then it's probably the most visible thing. 'It sits in your lounge, so let's get in there. Let's make sure it has all the apps and everything's working and complete the circle of all the products.' The high-end approach mirrors what Haier has done with its moniker on the likes of washing machines, refrigerators and cooking appliances. But the brand is well aware it needs to make much more of a dent into consumer consciousness before it's widely considered a premium brand; hence the high-profile sports partnerships. 'In the premium market, it's rare that someone will buy something that they haven't heard of,' Tunstall explained to me. 'You have to have the brand awareness and the desirability or you're not going to succeed.' Haier's clearly in this for the long game. It may already be number one in appliance sales, but in a market where perception is everything, the real match is just getting started.
WIRED
6 days ago
- Business
- WIRED
Carl Pei Thinks the Phone of the Future Will Only Have One App
Nothing's CEO speaks to WIRED about how he sees the smartphone market playing out in an era of AI, and where he thinks the competition is going wrong. Photograph: Shintaro Yoshimatsu All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. In the fiercely competitive Android smartphone market, British startup Nothing is trying to do things a little differently—from its product design to its pricing strategy. 'Remember a time where every new product made you excited?" the company asks on its website. "We're bringing that back.' There's more to Nothing than just smartphones these days, though. It's got a range of earbuds for a variety of budgets and uses, and recently teased that it's developing its first pair of over-ears—not long after announcing a new partnership with British hi-fi brand KEF. It has also developed a line of products under the CMF by Nothing sub-brand, which produces even lower-priced products, including a $69 smartwatch. But how does a brand that's keen to be disruptive remain competitive in an industry that's struggling for innovation? We asked its founder, Carl Pei. WIRED: In March, you released your latest smartphone, the Nothing Phone (3a). What do you think are Nothing's strengths, compared to what's out there already? Carl Pei: First of all, we are the only startup in the industry, so we actually have a lot of disadvantages. We are one of the smallest teams in the industry, so we have a fragile supply chain and low cash flow. However, I think where we're stronger is our creativity. We have to be—if we don't have industrial scale, we need creativity to remain competitive in this industry. Another advantage is the size of the manufacturers we compete with. When you're very big, you have to target all customers—young, old, and everyone in between. We, on the other hand, can focus on a specific group of users. Like creatives. The new 'Essential Space' feature [on Nothing Phone 3a] is aimed at them, for example, to help them store and organize new ideas as they emerge. And then there's also our software. The smartphone market is becoming very boring. We believe we are the only ones who can make it "fun" again. The Nothing Phone (3a) is the latest model of Nothing's smartphone line. Photograph: Shintaro Yoshimatsu What does creativity mean to you? Creativity is not only about design, fashion, or art, but about solving problems. Humans have a remarkable ability to connect different pieces of information to solve new problems. I think software engineers can be extremely creative. Now, in the age of AI, human creativity is even more important. In the long term, when humanity becomes a civilization that expands into space, it's creativity that's going to make us more competitive in the universe. That is why we want to make technology "fun" again, to help inspire human creativity. Personally, I was very inspired by Apple when I was younger—the first iPod, the first iPhone—that's the reason I'm in this industry. But now the creative companies of the past have become very big and very corporate, and they're no longer very creative. They're no longer inspirational for the younger generation. So we are trying to bring that back. We're also trying to be very transparent and human in our business efforts. For example, if you watch our YouTube videos, you'll see that we try to introduce the Nothing team, like our designers and software developers, so that you can get to know them. This is our way of doing things and our way of thinking. We hope it will encourage more young people to express their creativity. Carl Pei has long emphasized that he wants to make technology 'fun' again. Photograph: Shintaro Yoshimatsu Is your strategy working? How's business? Looking back on the last four and a half years, I think it is working. We face a lot of problems on a daily basis, but we cannot survive in this industry if we follow the same strategies as other companies. We have to be different. And the business is growing rapidly. Last year, we grew about 150 percent. However, we still only reached about 0.1% share of the global market, so there is plenty more to do. How do you plan to get there? What's the growth plan? I think the big trend we are all seeing right now is AI, and I think everyone is very stressed wondering what kind of AI functions they should launch. But I think they're looking at it wrong. Before the introduction of the iPod, it was common knowledge in the industry that an MP3 player with a hard drive would be the next big thing. At the time, companies such as South Korea's iriver and Singapore's Creative had also launched MP3 players with hard drives, but iPod became the market leader because it got everything right. Apple had the best design in the iPod, it had the best interface with the scroll wheel. It had the best integration of hardware and software, with iTunes for music management, and it had the best business model. All of a sudden, you could buy one song for $1 instead of having to buy the whole album! So it had the best overall package. I think there's a lot of similarities with AI today. We all know it's the next big thing, and everyone is trying to figure out exactly what's important there. But all we want to do is create the best product for our users. It is not about working quickly to create something and shoving AI into it to tick a box. If you look back, the iPod was not launched as 'an MP3 player with a hard disk drive.' The hard disk drive was merely a means to a better user experience. AI is just a new technology that enables us to create better products for users. So, our strategy is not to make big claims that AI is going to change the world and revolutionize smartphones. For us, it's about using it to solve a consumer problem, not to tell a big story. We want the product to be the story. In that respect, Apple today is very different from the Apple when I was younger. Last year, they told a very big story about Apple Intelligence. Now, a year later, it's not much more than some generated emojis. So it's made consumers very skeptical. Photograph: Shintaro Yoshimatsu Do you think more can be done with AI? I think the way we use devices will change in the future. In the short term, I don't think we will see new forms of hardware really taking off. People are trying with different things like smart glasses and the Humane AI Pin, but I don't believe in these form factors right now, because the market is so small. Smart glasses are about 1 million units per year, and devices like the AI Pin are about 5,000 units per year. A smartphone is like 1 billion units per year. It is the largest and most diverse market. We use smartphones for everything, and the key to good AI is data. I don't think any other device will be as important for AI as the smartphone for the foreseeable future. The back of the Nothing smartphone is transparent and features a 'glyph interface' with glowing LEDs. Photograph: Shintaro Yoshimatsu And how do you see smartphone use evolving in that time? It will change dramatically. I believe that in the future, the entire phone will only have one app—and that will be the OS. The OS will know its user well and will be optimized for that person. However, we need to pay close attention to user privacy. We need transparency in how data is handled and clarity about whether it resides in the cloud or is stored on the device. Users must also be able to control who has access to their data, and of course, they must be able to delete it. The next step after data-driven personalization, in my opinion, is automation. That is, the system knows you, knows who you are, and knows what you want. For example, the system knows your situation, time, place, and schedule, and it suggests what you should do. Right now, you have to go through a step-by-step process of figuring out for yourself what you want to do, then unlocking your smartphone and going through it step by step. In the future, your phone will suggest what you want to do and then do it automatically for you. So it will be agentic and automated and proactive. The ultimate benefit to the user is that they will spend less time doing boring things and more time on what they care about. But to get there, we need to take it one step at a time. At this point, if we said, 'We have eliminated apps from smartphones,' no one would buy it. So we have to ship a little bit, look at the data, look at the feedback, iterate, and then ship again. Gradually make suggestions over and over again. We could do this quicker, but we need to bring the user with us on the journey. Carl Pei says that in product development, it is important to move slowly and listen to feedback. Photograph: Shintaro Yoshimatsu How long do you think it will take to realize such a vision? I would say seven to 10 years. I think many people would like to see it happen sooner, but in reality I think people love using apps, so I don't think it will happen that fast. What kind of company will Nothing be by then, and what kind of products will it offer? At that point, the OS will be fairly mature and connected to all the important devices. And I think there will be more forms of hardware that are important to users. The market for smart glasses is very small at this point, but seven years from now it will be a big category. There might be other product areas that will catch on, but we are researching which product categories to start planning for. And hopefully, on an emotional level, we can also offer something to the world, because the last few years have not been very positive. All the companies that were once creative are now big corporations, everyone is afraid of AI, the economy is bad. There's war. In the midst of all this, I hope that we can bring some positivity and inspiration to the world.
Forbes
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Haier Turns To Hi-Fi Specialist KEF For TV Sound Boost
Haier TV M96 Series, 4K QD-Mini LED, Audio Co-engineered with KEF Haier Smart Home has announced a global partnership with KEF, that will see the British hi-fi specialist tweak the sound on a bunch of its 2025 TV models. The deal will see KEF co-engineer the sound systems for Haier's upcoming Mini LED and QLED TV lines - including the likes of the M96, M92, M80, and S90 series - which are all set to roll out across 2025. KEF is famous for audiophile-grade speakers like the Reference and Blade, and the partnership will, we're assured, see the same engineers tuning the sound on Haier TVs. It's not the first time that KEF and Haier have teamed up for an AV assault; in November last year Haier's Casarte brand announced that KEF's audio smarts and renowned acoustic engineering were used in the likes of the Casarte Art TV Mural. Back to the new TVs though, and flagship M96 series headlines the lineup - a model that was revealed during the Chinese brand's recent sponsorship of The Australian Open Tennis Championship, where Haier was the official TV and appliance partner. The 100-inch model in the series boasts a 6.2.2-channel setup, that will be tuned by the same engineers who obsess over KEF's $30,000 speakers. Even the smaller 75- and 85-inch M96 sets get a 2.2.2 system, promising far more spatial detail than your average built-in TV speaker bar. The Australian Open partnership will be followed up with an official partnership at the next tennis major, the French Open, which kicks off in Paris next week. It's clear that, following its official name change last year, the big push into major sporting events and partnerships such as the KEF hook-up, that Haier Smart Home is on the march and keen to establish itself as a major player.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Haier and KEF Announce Global Partnership to Co-Engineer Immersive Audio for Haier Smart TVs
QINGDAO, China, May 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Haier, a global leader in household appliances, today officially announces a strategic partnership with KEF, the world-renowned audio technology brand. Haier and KEF will jointly engineer the audio systems for Haier's latest Mini LED and QLED TV models, including the Haier TV M96, M92, M80 and S90 series. These models[1] will be launched throughout 2025, covering key markets such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Spain, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Together, Haier and KEF will deliver an unparalleled home entertainment experience to consumers around the world. Under this exciting partnership, the sound systems of these Mini LED and QLED TV series are co-designed by Haier and KEF, and have been meticulously tuned by the same KEF engineering team responsible for their flagship loudspeakers, including Blade and The Reference. Leveraging KEF's over 60 years of acoustic engineering expertise, these Haier TV models seamlessly integrate high-end audio experiences, making it more accessible and convenient for home entertainment scenarios. The Haier M96 series of 4K QD-Mini LED TVs, the flagship model for 2025, made its debut at the 2025 Australian Open earlier this year. Its enhanced visual and audio capabilities captivated millions of tennis enthusiasts at Melbourne Park and central Melbourne through Haier TV's fan engagement booths and activities. Benefiting from KEF's expert tuning, the M96 series boasts a 2.2.2-channel audio system for the 75-inch and 85-inch models, and an impressive 6.2.2-channel system for the 100-inch model, delivering a truly high-fidelity audio experience, right in the living room. The Haier M80 series of 4K Mini LED TVs, which officially launched in India in April, is scheduled to roll out across key markets in the coming months. Co-engineered with KEF, the Haier TV M80 series delivers clear highs, rich mids, and deep, elastic bass through its 2.1-channel speaker system. Available in multiple sizes—85, 75, 65, and 55 inches—the M80 series caters to a variety of home entertainment needs. "We are honored to partner with KEF on a global scale," said Junguang Liu, Vice President of Haier Smart Home, General Manager of Audio-Visual BU. "This collaboration seamlessly merges our smart home expertise with KEF's renowned audio technology, delivering an immersive and high-quality sound experience. Together, we are bringing next-level home entertainment to our consumers worldwide." Grace Lo, president and head of global marketing at KEF, commented: "We are delighted with our partnership with Haier TV. By combining KEF's acoustic technology with Haier TV's innovative capabilities in the field of home appliances, we are poised to provide users with a new immersive audio-visual experience with their latest TVs. We look forward to collaborating on more breakthrough audio-visual products together in the near future." This partnership marks the beginning of a shared journey. Both Haier and KEF are dedicated to elevating home entertainment and delivering unparalleled experiences. As a result of this innovative collaboration, consumers can anticipate more Haier TV products featuring KEF co-engineered audio in the near future. [1] The availability of specific models in certain markets may be subject to change. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Haier Smart Home Sign in to access your portfolio
Cision Canada
20-05-2025
- Business
- Cision Canada
Haier and KEF Announce Global Partnership to Co-Engineer Immersive Audio for Haier Smart TVs
QINGDAO, China, May 20, 2025 /CNW/ -- Haier, a global leader in household appliances, today officially announces a strategic partnership with KEF, the world-renowned audio technology brand. Haier and KEF will jointly engineer the audio systems for Haier's latest Mini LED and QLED TV models, including the Haier TV M96, M92, M80 and S90 series. These models [1] will be launched throughout 2025, covering key markets such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Spain, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Together, Haier and KEF will deliver an unparalleled home entertainment experience to consumers around the world. Under this exciting partnership, the sound systems of these Mini LED and QLED TV series are co-designed by Haier and KEF, and have been meticulously tuned by the same KEF engineering team responsible for their flagship loudspeakers, including Blade and The Reference. Leveraging KEF's over 60 years of acoustic engineering expertise, these Haier TV models seamlessly integrate high-end audio experiences, making it more accessible and convenient for home entertainment scenarios. The Haier M96 series of 4K QD-Mini LED TVs, the flagship model for 2025, made its debut at the 2025 Australian Open earlier this year. Its enhanced visual and audio capabilities captivated millions of tennis enthusiasts at Melbourne Park and central Melbourne through Haier TV's fan engagement booths and activities. Benefiting from KEF's expert tuning, the M96 series boasts a 2.2.2-channel audio system for the 75-inch and 85-inch models, and an impressive 6.2.2-channel system for the 100-inch model, delivering a truly high-fidelity audio experience, right in the living room. The Haier M80 series of 4K Mini LED TVs, which officially launched in India in April, is scheduled to roll out across key markets in the coming months. Co-engineered with KEF, the Haier TV M80 series delivers clear highs, rich mids, and deep, elastic bass through its 2.1-channel speaker system. Available in multiple sizes—85, 75, 65, and 55 inches—the M80 series caters to a variety of home entertainment needs. "We are honored to partner with KEF on a global scale," said Junguang Liu, Vice President of Haier Smart Home, General Manager of Audio-Visual BU. "This collaboration seamlessly merges our smart home expertise with KEF's renowned audio technology, delivering an immersive and high-quality sound experience. Together, we are bringing next-level home entertainment to our consumers worldwide." Grace Lo, president and head of global marketing at KEF, commented: "We are delighted with our partnership with Haier TV. By combining KEF's acoustic technology with Haier TV's innovative capabilities in the field of home appliances, we are poised to provide users with a new immersive audio-visual experience with their latest TVs. We look forward to collaborating on more breakthrough audio-visual products together in the near future." This partnership marks the beginning of a shared journey. Both Haier and KEF are dedicated to elevating home entertainment and delivering unparalleled experiences. As a result of this innovative collaboration, consumers can anticipate more Haier TV products featuring KEF co-engineered audio in the near future.
