Some rejoiced, while others worried.
Meanwhile, as Phantom Projectors were selling like hotcakes at Shenma Technology Company, the same was true of the official flagship stores on JD.com and Taobao.
At that moment, the livestreams for the major TV and monitor brands were looking rather deserted.
In the livestream for Changhong TV's official flagship store, the young presenter was earnestly introducing the company's products.
"Product number seventy, product number seventy is a great-value item we've specially launched for Double Eleven.
It's seventy inches, with a 4K high-definition screen, an ultra-thin full-screen design, and your very own big-screen home theater. It has a bezel-free design, an AI voice assistant, phone screen mirroring, and 2+16 GB of storage.
For Double Eleven, it's now just 1,999 yuan, with free shipping right to your door!
This is the lowest price ever for a seventy-inch LCD TV. The manufacturer has made great sacrifices to reach this price, just to boost sales. There's almost no profit in it at all.
What are you waiting for? Hurry and place your order! If you order today, you'll also get a special gift: a kettle from our Changhong Brand. No tricks—every customer who buys a product will get one!"
But no matter what the presenter said, consumers could see the truth for themselves.
There were only a handful of people in the livestream. The comments weren't nearly as lively as those for other home appliances. No one asked about the product's details, and no one said they'd placed an order. The viewers' chat had a completely different feel.
"I just ordered a Phantom Projector Generation 2 from Shenma Technology's flagship store. I've been trying for days and finally managed to get one. What a struggle! Shenma Technology Company doesn't have a livestream, so I came here to take a look."
"It's so quiet in here. Anybody actually order a TV?"
"Wake up, it's a new era! Why would you still buy a TV? And they're not even good value. Wouldn't you be better off buying the Phantom Projector Youth Edition with that money?
For just 1,399 yuan, you get a two-hundred-inch screen! Sure, the picture quality is much lower than the Phantom Projector Generation 1 and Generation 2, but it's more than good enough for watching TV. Even the Youth Edition's operating system runs more smoothly than the systems on TVs or TV boxes from other companies!"
"Shenma Technology Company is the one that truly cares about its customers. The TV's memory is already up to 8+128 GB, more than my phone has. Can you believe it?
And it's powered by a Snapdragon 855. Sure, that CPU is two or three generations old, but it still runs smoothly. People are still using phones with the same CPU today!"
"The Phantom Projector is the real deal. They said they were lowering the price, and they did. They were already selling well, and people would've bought them even without a discount, but the manufacturer lowered the price anyway and passed the savings on to customers. No tricks at all!"
"Hehehe, I bought three Phantom Projectors in one go: one Generation 2 and two Youth Editions. I'm going to replace the screens in my bedroom and living room, and my computer monitor too!"
"So everyone bought one? Same here. Now I'm just waiting for delivery!"
"I checked out several TV stores. Prices have come down a fair bit, but they still aren't good value. If they want to sell their stock, I think they should price a seventy-inch TV at 699 or 999 yuan.
If you've got 2,000 yuan, why buy a TV? Wouldn't the Phantom Projector Youth Edition be better? It's easier to carry around and gives you a better experience!"
The viewers in the livestream were all talking about other things. Nobody was buying anything!
The presenter was helpless. She couldn't kick them out, so she could only pretend not to notice and carry on with her work.
Whenever someone placed an order, the presenter got as excited as if it were New Year. It was so hard to get a sale!
But then the TV buyer would send a message saying they hadn't managed to get a Phantom Projector, so they'd had to buy a TV to tide them over.
The presenter could only go cry in the bathroom. She'd never imagined things could get this bad. In the past, livestreams for big-name TVs had been lively, and they could sell thousands of sets in minutes.
From midnight on November 1 until three in the afternoon, the presenters in the livestream were switched out one after another. Yet TV sales remained steady, with about one customer placing an order every hour.
In other words, the Double Eleven sale had been underway for fifteen hours, and despite TV discounts being much steeper than before, they'd sold only fifteen sets!
That afternoon, a meeting was held at the headquarters of Changhong Electrical Group.
The company's president sat at the head of the conference table. Below him, department heads from the various appliance divisions reported their Double Eleven sales.
The air-conditioning department manager reported first. "The Double Eleven sale has been underway for fifteen hours. During this period, we've sold over 15,000 air conditioners across the major platforms, with sales revenue of more than 42 million yuan."
"Changhong Refrigerator has sold over 9,000 units, with sales revenue of more than 22 million yuan."
The washing machine, phone, and small-appliance departments—fans, heaters, kitchen and bathroom appliances, rice cookers, induction cookers, and solar water heaters—reported their sales in turn. All had achieved decent results.
But the TV department manager, whose products were the flagship of Changhong Home Appliances and had once accounted for more than eighty percent of the company's sales, kept hesitating to report his numbers.
Finally, after all the other department heads had finished, the TV department manager could only stand and give his report. "As of today, since the Double Eleven sale began, our forty-seven official stores across the major online shopping platforms have sold a total of 157 TVs, with sales revenue of 300,000 yuan."
The room fell silent.
After hearing the report, the president furrowed his brow. He'd expected Phantom Projectors to affect sales, but this was far worse than he'd imagined!
The other department heads also looked grim. Some even whispered among themselves.
"Only 300,000 yuan? TVs are one of our flagship products. If things go on like this, the company could be in trouble before long."
"We've been a well-established name in the domestic TV industry for decades. This may be our worst sales day ever. I never would've dreamed we'd end up like this."
"It's not our worst day, actually. Sales were even lower over the past two days. We've had days when we sold fewer than ten sets!"
"It's all because of the Phantom Projector. To be honest, I bought one for my own home too. It's far better than our products. If even our own employees think so, then consumers obviously know what to buy."
"Maybe the TV era is coming to an end, and the projector era is beginning. Projectors look better than TVs, respond faster, take up less space, and are much better for your eyes. Anyone who takes a close look knows which one to choose."
"Sigh, I don't know if I'll be able to keep my job. I've been with the company for over twenty years. I worked so hard to get where I am, and now the company might go under."
"You're not the only one. Look how prestigious the TV department used to be. Its manager had far more seniority than the other department heads and could speak directly with the executives. If things keep going like this, the future's going to be difficult. Still, you can't blame the TV department manager. This is just what comes with technological progress."
As those below him murmured among themselves, the president finally spoke, his brow still furrowed. "All right, everyone, quiet down. The company is working hard to find a way forward in this difficult situation. We hope to get through this crisis. That's all for this meeting."
After the meeting, the president hurried off to another conference room, weighed down by a sense of impending crisis.
A few minutes later, in another office in the same building, technical staff had already filled the room.
As soon as the meeting began, the president impatiently asked, "It's been half a month since the Phantom Projector came out. How's the work to crack its technology going?" He asked with great anticipation.
The engineers glanced at one another. Then the chief engineer reluctantly stood and replied:
"The Phantom Projector's components are all standard parts found in conventional projectors. There's hardly anything difficult about the components themselves. The real problems come down to two things.
"The first is the driver software. Our company has been developing driver boards for TVs and projectors for decades. But we've never seen software like the Phantom Projector's, which can get one hundred percent of a device's performance out of its components—or even two hundred percent. We'd never even imagined it was possible.
"Even with all our relevant engineers working together, we still can't understand how the Phantom Projector does it. We can't make sense of the underlying logic or code, and simply copying and pasting it doesn't work either.
"The second problem is the tuning. It's like the way different cars can be tuned differently. They may be the same model, but they can feel completely different to the driver.
"Even if we try to imitate it, we can only get fifty or sixty percent of the Phantom Projector's performance. There's still a huge gap."
The president hadn't received the good news he'd hoped for. He clutched his head in frustration, then finally said, "So the main problem is the driver software?"
"That's right. We haven't got the slightest clue," the chief engineer said, looking just as grim. He'd worked at the company for decades and didn't want it to go bankrupt either. Recently, he'd been working around the clock with his team, without a moment's slack. But technical problems couldn't always be solved just by working harder.
The president waved a hand. They were all long-time employees, and he knew them well. With the company's survival at stake, all he could do was reassure them. "I understand. Keep doing your best. We don't know how much time we have left. If we can't find a way out of this, the company could go under."
The chief engineer couldn't make any promises. All he could say was, "We'll do everything we can."
After the meeting with the engineers and technicians, the president still hadn't gotten the answer he wanted.
There's no way a company this big is going to go under on my watch, is there?
The president found himself entertaining a thought that had never crossed his mind before. He shook his head and hurriedly tried to banish it.
The company was at a life-or-death crossroads.
Back in his office, the president thought for a moment, then called an emergency meeting of the company's shareholders.
Two hours later, night had fallen, and most of the company's employees had gone home.
In the company conference room, major and minor shareholders—people rarely seen together—had gathered for a meeting about whether the company would survive.
Once the meeting began, the president outlined the company's recent predicament: the sudden emergence of Shenma Technology Company, its Phantom Projector, and the crisis caused by the sharp drop in sales of TVs, the company's mainstay product.
The chairman sat at the head of the table. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Have we looked into Shenma Technology Company in depth?"
"Not yet."
"Start a thorough investigation as soon as this meeting ends. If we have the chance, I'd like to acquire all of Shenma Technology Company. Do we have a rough estimate of what the company is worth?"
"The company's engineers have assessed the profit margins on all three Phantom Projector models.
"The components for the Phantom Projector Generation 1 can all be found on the market. The total cost is about 2,000 yuan, or around 1,500 yuan if ordered in bulk.
"Then there's labor. Since the components are ordered directly, labor costs are low, at around 100 yuan per unit. Add in the factory, water and electricity, the workers' food and lodging, taxes, and so on.
"At the current selling price of 3,999 yuan, each Phantom Projector Generation 1 makes around 2,000 yuan in profit.
"The Phantom Projector Generation 2 is currently on sale for 4,999 yuan, with about the same profit per unit.
"The Youth Edition makes about 400 yuan per unit.
"On the very first day of the Double Eleven sale, Shenma Technology Company took preorders for 200,000 Phantom Projectors, making roughly 300 million yuan in profit."
Three hundred million yuan in profit. The chairman rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on.
"With profits this high, a valuation of tens of billions, or even over a hundred billion, wouldn't be unreasonable. Even though Changhong Company has been around for many years, it would be difficult for us to come up with that much money all at once.
"But Phantom Projector technology is critical. If we can get the patents, Changhong Company will have room to grow. We could earn back the money we spent on the acquisition in no time.
"On the other hand, without projector technology, the company could really be in trouble.
"There's also the engineer who developed and manufactured the Phantom Projector for Shenma Technology Company. It would be ideal if we could recruit them.
"All right. In the coming days, we need to contact the owner of Shenma Technology Company and find out whether they're interested in raising funds or going public, whether they'd be willing to sell the company, and whether they might license the technology patents.
"That's what we'll do openly. Behind the scenes, send people to look into the company thoroughly. It would be best if we could get in touch with their engineers. Even if it takes an annual salary of ten million yuan, we have to poach them.
"If our TVs can't compete with projectors head-on, then we'll find another way around it. As long as we have the same product, that's all we need.
"That's our main priority for the company going forward. We can't just sit around and wait for disaster to strike."
When the meeting ended, the president got busy again, making arrangements for everything that had been discussed.
Similar meetings were being held all across Daxia Country. Dozens of companies whose flagship products were TVs, projectors, or monitors had called meetings of their own.
Meanwhile, several major overseas companies with keen instincts had also convened special meetings about Shenma Technology Company's Phantom Projector.
They all reached much the same conclusions.
Before you continue