1. Lack of Customization: PCBs typically have standard designs and configurations. When competitors have access to the same or similar PCBs and parts, it's easier for them to replicate your product quickly, especially if it's a relatively simple design. Having your own hybrid can help your lack of customization.

2. Less Differentiation: PCB-based products often lack unique features or specialized capabilities because they rely on readily available components. This makes it challenging to stand out in a crowded market where competitors can offer similar or identical functionalities. Having your own hybrid can help your lack of differentiation.

3. Ease of Reverse Engineering: PCBs are more accessible and easier to reverse engineer compared to hybrids. Competitors can readily examine the circuitry, component placements, and connections, allowing them to duplicate your product more easily. Having your own hybrid makes it difficult and expensive to reverse engineer.

4. Shorter Time to Market for Competitors: When using off-the-shelf parts on PCBs, your product development time may be shorter. However, this also means that competitors can catch up quickly, as they can acquire the same parts for their PCBs and components to create similar products in less time. This is as if you had given them their first engineering sample. Having your own hybrid can help lengthen the time for your competitors to catch up.

5. Lower Barrier to Entry: The availability of standardized PCBs and components reduces the barrier to entry for new competitors. They can enter the market with relatively low development costs and minimal technical expertise, further increasing the risk of duplication. Having your own hybrid can help you increase the barrier to entry to your competitors.

6. Price Competition: With similar or identical products in the market, price competition often intensifies. This can lead to thinner profit margins and reduced profitability as manufacturers engage in price wars to attract customers. Having your own hybrid can help you become more competitive and add value not found in other ways.

7. Limited Innovation: Relying solely on PCBs may limit your ability to innovate or add new features to your products quickly. Hybrids, with their custom design capabilities, allow for more rapid innovation and product differentiation.

8. Difficulty in Building a Unique Brand: Products built on generic PCBs can struggle to establish a unique brand identity, as they lack distinctive features that set them apart from competitors. Add your own hybrid on a PCB and your brand becomes associated with uniqueness and higher technology.

9. Reduced Customer Loyalty: Customers may have little loyalty to products that are easily duplicated by competitors. They may switch to a lower-priced or more readily available alternative. Add your own hybrid inside your own product and your customer loyalty might increase quickly.

10. Vulnerability to Market Changes: Market trends and customer preferences can shift rapidly. Using standardized PCBs may leave you less adaptable to changing market conditions compared to hybrid technology, which can be customized and adapted more easily, but your PCBs can be changed quicker than without hybrids as when you are using hybrids, there is generally fewer parts count...

To mitigate these risks, electronic manufacturers often consider a combination of strategies, including: