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Meizu

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Meizu Technology Co., Ltd.
Native name
魅族科技有限公司
Company typePrivate
IndustryConsumer electronics
Founded2003; 21 years ago (2003)
FounderJack Wong
Headquarters
Zhuhai, Guangdong
,
China
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Jack Wong (Founder & Chairman)
Aber Bai (CEO)
Li Nan (VP Sales & Marketing)
ProductsSmartphones, MP3 player
RevenueIncrease US$ 451.5 million (2013)
Decrease US$ -1.47 billion (2015)
OwnerGeely (2022-present)
Number of employees
Decrease 868 (2019)[1]
Websitemeizu.com
Meizu
Chinese魅族科技有限公司
Literal meaningMeizu Technology Co., Ltd
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinMèizú Kējì Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī

Meizu Technology Co., Ltd. (Chinese: 魅族科技有限公司) is a Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer based in Zhuhai, Guangdong.[2] Founded in 2003 by Jack Wong, Meizu began as a manufacturer of MP3 players and later MP4 players. In 2008, Meizu moved its focus to smartphones. Meizu is the 11th largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, and sold over 20 million units in 2015.[2] In February 2015, Alibaba invested US$590 million in Meizu, acquiring an undisclosed minority stake.[3]

In June 2022, Geely acquired a majority stake in the company.[4]

History

[edit]
Meizu logo from 2003 to 2015

Jack Wong (Chinese: 黄章; pinyin: Huáng Zhāng) established Meizu in 2003. Initially a manufacturer of MP3 players, Meizu released their first MP4 player in 2006. Their most notable MP4 player was the M6 Mini Player, which was also marketed by Dane-Elec outside China.[5]

In January 2007, Meizu announced their first smartphone, Meizu M8, which was fully released in April 2007. The Meizu M8 ran on the Mymobile operating system, based on Microsoft Windows CE 6.0. The design of the M8 was based on existing smartphone technology, such as Apple's iPhone. Meizu was subsequently sued by Apple due to theft of Apple's intellectual property of the original iPhone. An upgraded version of the Meizu M8, the Meizu M8SE, was released on October 2, 2009.

On January 1, 2011, the company released the Meizu M9, their first smartphone based on the Android operating system. This device was considered to be a large commercial success in China.[6]

Meizu opened their first branch office outside mainland China in Hong Kong in 2011. Later that year, they also opened a branch office in Russia.[7]

The Meizu MX was released on January 1, 2012, exactly one year after the M9. It was the first smartphone to feature Meizu's Flyme OS, a deeply customized version of Android. It was the first Meizu phone officially released outside mainland China, being released in Hong Kong at the same time. A quad-core version of the Meizu MX was released in June 2012.[8]

In December 2012, the Meizu MX2 was released. It runs on Flyme OS 2.0 based on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The phone was produced by Foxconn and went on sale in mainland China, Hong Kong, Russia and Israel.[9]

The Meizu MX3 was released in October 2013 and was the first smartphone to have 128GB of internal storage. On March 6, 2014, Meizu held a product launch of the Meizu MX3 in France, announcing that it would go on sale there soon. Meizu also expanded to Italy and Eastern Europe in 2014.[10]

Meizu announced the Meizu MX4 on September 2, 2014. It was the first Meizu smartphone to feature a MediaTek processor and LTE support. The Meizu MX4 was the first Meizu smartphone to also offer Alibaba's Yun OS aside from Meizu's Flyme OS for the Chinese mainland market. Later that year, the Meizu MX4 Pro was announced, featuring a Samsung Exynos octa-core processor and a 2K+ screen.[citation needed]

In December 2014, Meizu announced the M series of products, with the first product being the Meizu M1 Note. The M-series of Meizu devices focus on bringing powerful features for a relatively low price. In January 2015, Meizu released the second installment in the M series of products, the Meizu M1.

Meizu logo from 2015 to 2023

On June 2, 2015, Meizu announced the successor to the Meizu M1 Note, the Meizu M2 Note. It features a physical home button and a new MediaTek octa-core processor, among some other upgraded features. After the Meizu M2 Note, is announced the Meizu M2. It features the same physical home button, and a MediaTek 6753 Octa-Core processor. It comes with Flyme OS 4.5 preinstalled.

The successor to the Meizu MX4 was announced on June 30, 2015, during a large launch event in Beijing and is called the Meizu MX5. During that event, Meizu also announced their first powerbank and virtual reality headset.

Meizu launched the new flagship series named PRO series in September 2015 by announcing the Meizu PRO 5. This device was also later showcased at MWC 2016 and eventually commercially released in February 2016 as an alternative edition named Meizu PRO 5 Ubuntu Edition running the Ubuntu Touch operating system.

The Meizu PRO 6, the successor to the PRO 5, was unveiled on April 13, 2016. It features a 10-core Helio X25 SoC, 4 GB of RAM and a 5.2-inch screen.[11]

Meizu further extended its portfolio of M series products by releasing the Meizu M3S, Meizu M3 Note, Meizu M3E and Meizu M3 Max in 2016. The current device of the MX series is the Meizu MX6, which was released on July 19, 2016. Recently, Meizu seems to be geared up for a new smartphone called Meizu M4. Although the company has not put a word about this mobile, the alleged upcoming smartphone has been spotted on TENNA certification.

On April 22, 2018, Meizu released Meizu 15 series to celebrate their 15th anniversary.

In April 2019, the Meizu 16s was announced with snapdragon 855 SoC and in-display fingerprint scanner.

On 8 May 2020, Meizu released Meizu 17 with Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 mobile platform, supplemented by the highest LPDDR5 specification high-speed memory as well as UFS3.1 flash memory.[12]

On 8 July 2020 Meizu changed its theme color from #00b3ff (0, 180, 255) to #008cff (0, 140, 255).

On 3 July 2022, a majority stake in Meizu was acquired by Chinese automotive corporation Geely.[13]

On 30 November 2023, Meizu announced their venture into electric vehicles (EVs) with the DreamCar MX. On the same day, Meizu shared a brief Weibo post teasing the Dreamcar MX as well as the launch of a new DreamCar co-creation programme arriving in Q1 2024, allowing users to express many customisation aspects such as exterior paint, interior colour matching and Flyme Auto themes.

On 18 February 2024, Meizu announced their decision to exit the traditional smartphone industry in an effort to move towards an "All in AI" centric focus over the next 3 years. Meizu's android flavour "FlymeOS" will also transition to focus on terminal devices such as vehicle infotainment systems for Geely. Meizu Announcement.

Flyme

[edit]
For other uses, see Flyme (disambiguation).
Flyme OS
Developer(s)Meizu
Stable release
10.5.0 / 30 November 2023; 11 months ago (2023-11-30)
Operating systemAndroid
Websiteflyme.com

Flyme is a stock and aftermarket firmware developed by Meizu for smartphones based on the Android operating system. Some of its key features are completely redesigned apps, one-handed usability and performance optimizations. The current version of Flyme features distinguished flat design, various optimizations for performance. Flyme also has a feature called mBack, which is specific for Meizu smartphones. It allows easier navigation using only one physical button without on-screen navigation buttons. The back button function is implemented by tapping the physical button, while the home button function is used by pressing the physical button. The overview of recent application, which is on regular Android devices usually triggered by touching or tapping a dedicated button, can be viewed by swiping upwards from beneath the display.

The initial version, Flyme 1.0 based on Android 4.0.3 "Ice Cream Sandwich" was released for the Meizu MX on June 12, 2012, and later for the Meizu M9. It was praised by critics for its simple yet beautiful interface design.[citation needed]

Flyme 2.0 was released later in 2012 together with the Meizu MX2. It brought improved cloud services and built-in root support, among other improvements.

Flyme 3.0 was released together with the Meizu MX3 and later for the Meizu MX2. It was one of the first Android firmware releases to integrate a flat UI. Since Flyme 3.0, Dirac HD Sound is integrated, bringing an improved audio experience through a certain number of ear and headphones.

The successor of Flyme 3.0, Flyme 4.0 was released in 2014, initially for the Meizu MX4. It was the first Flyme firmware to be made available on non-Meizu devices. Eventually, it was officially released for devices from Samsung, Sony, LG and HTC. Fans also ported it to other devices, including Zte, Huawei and the OnePlus One. The Flyme 4.5 is based on Android Lollipop and comes standard with the Meizu m2, Meizu m2 note and Meizu MX5. It was also made available for the Meizu MX4, Meizu MX4 Pro and Meizu m1 note.

Flyme 5 is based on either Android Lollipop or Android Marshmallow depending on the device. For Meizu devices, Flyme uses different editions for international devices ("G" release) and mainland Chinese devices ("A" release).

Flyme 6.1.3 based on Android Nougat, which is now available only for Meizu Pro 7. Flyme 6.1.0 is the most popular Flyme 6 version available for Meizu Pro 6 Plus, M3 Max, MX6 and other devices.

Flyme 7, based on Android Nougat and later, launched alongside the Meizu 15 series.

Flyme 8, based on Android Pie, launched alongside the Meizu 16s Pro on 28 August 2019.

Flyme 10.5, based on Android 13, launched alongside the Meizu 21 on 30 November 2023.[14]

Flyme has also been ported by the community to other devices as well: Zte, Huawei, OnePlus 2, OnePlus 3, HTC One M9, HTC One M8, HTC M7 and other devices.

Meizu in India

[edit]

Meizu entered Indian Market for the first time with its Meizu M1 Note smartphone on 20 May 2015, and after the success of M1 note they come up with Meizu M2 and Meizu M2 note in India in June 2015. These were the budget range smartphones, where Meizu M2 released for ₹6,999 and Meizu M2 note for ₹9,999.

Meizu released many other models such as Meizu M3 note, Meizu MX4, Meizu MX5, Meizu U10, Meizu U20, and many others. Meizu was having online marketing where they Partnered with Amazon and Flipkart. Among these many products, Meizu M2, Meizu M2 note, and Meizu m3 note was the biggest hit. After the lack of sales they quit Indian Market by releasing their last smartphone Meizu Pro 7.

During this market period, Meizu was having an official dedicated Flyme OS firmware for India.

After a long time Meizu Re-Launched in India with total 3 smartphones, 2 were budget range smartphones and 1 was premium Flagship phone. The budget phones were Meizu C9 and Meizu M6T, the Premium one was Meizu 16th.

This time Meizu started selling both online and off-line.

Products

[edit]

Smartphones

[edit]

pre-MX series

[edit]
  • Meizu M8
    Meizu M8
  • Meizu M9
    Meizu M9

MX series

[edit]

The MX series is a series of smartphones targeted for users wanting a device positioned between the general mid-range devices and top-of-the-line flagship devices.

  • Meizu MX
    Meizu MX

PRO series

[edit]

The PRO series was introduced at the launch of the Meizu PRO 5 as a successor to the Meizu MX4 Pro. It represents Meizu's line of flagship devices for users seeking powerful devices with high performance.

Meizu Pro 5

M series

[edit]

The M series is a series of smartphones targeted for users wanting an affordable and functional smartphone.

V series

[edit]

Note series

[edit]

15 series

[edit]

16 series[18]

[edit]

17 series

[edit]
  • Meizu 17[20]
  • Meizu 17 Pro

18 series

[edit]
  • Meizu 18[21]
  • Meizu 18 Pro
  • Meizu 18x
  • Meizu 18s
  • Meizu 18s Pro

20 series

[edit]
  • Meizu 20
  • Meizu 20 Classic
  • Meizu 20 Pro
  • Meizu 20 Infinity

21 series

[edit]
  • Meizu 21
  • Meizu 21 Pro
  • Meizu 21 Note[22]

Other

[edit]

AR Glasses

[edit]
  • MYVU AR
  • MYVU Discovery AR

Smart Ring

[edit]
  • MYVU Smart Ring

Meizu Watch

[edit]

Electric Vehicles

[edit]
  • DreamCar MX

MP3 players

[edit]

MP3 players devices:

References

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  1. ^ "Meizu company profile". 8 August 2019. Archived from the original on 8 August 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Inside Meizu: How The Rising Chinese Smartphone Company Is Looking To Tackle The West". Forbes. Archived from the original on 16 January 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  3. ^ "Alibaba Bets $590 Million on Becoming Smartphone Player". Bloomberg. Bloomberg L.P. 9 February 2015. Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  4. ^ "Car maker Geely completes the acquisition of Meizu". GSMArena.com. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  5. ^ "Meizu M6 mini Player (Dane Elec) : de l'ombre à l'iPod d'Apple ?". Archived from the original on 5 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  6. ^ "Somebody Tell Me What All These People Are in Line For". Gizmodo. 2 January 2011. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  7. ^ "Meizu's New Hong Kong Store Looks Ready for Upcoming Meizu MX Launch". Tech in Asia. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  8. ^ "Meizu officially announces the MX quad-core Android smartphone". WCCF Tech. 16 April 2012. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  9. ^ "Foxconn to Manufacture Smartphone for Meizu". Marbridge Daily. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  10. ^ "Meizu MX3 with Exynos 5 Octa and 8MP camera goes official". GSMArena. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  11. ^ "Meizu Pro 6 - Full phone specifications". www.gsmarena.com. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  12. ^ "Meizu 17 goes official with Qualcomm Snapdragon 865". www.gadgetsay.com. 8 May 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  13. ^ "Geely Chairman Eyes Phone-Making by Acquiring Meizu Tech". Bloomberg.com. 4 July 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  14. ^ Michail (30 November 2023). "Meizu 21 announced with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, 200MP main cam and FlymeOS 10.5". GSMArena.
  15. ^ "MX4 - 功能 - 魅族官网". www.meizu.com. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  16. ^ "Note8 - Summary - Meizu".
  17. ^ "At $210, the Meizu Note 9 is one of the cheapest 48MP phones money can buy". Matthew Hughes. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  18. ^ "Meizu 16, 16 Plus revealed: The cheapest flagship with in-display fingerprint sensor?". Android Authority. 8 August 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  19. ^ "Meizu 16s Full specifications". Androidleo.com. 26 April 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  20. ^ "Meizu takes off the wraps on its 17 Series flagships". Alrigh. 8 May 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  21. ^ "Meizu 18 and Meizu 18 pro launched with 120hz display snapdragon 888 and more". gizmochina. 3 March 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  22. ^ "Meizu Note 21". DreamSmart Online. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  23. ^ "MEIZU X8 - Summary - Meizu".
  24. ^ a b "C9 - Summary - Meizu".
  25. ^ "Meizu watch unveiled with 178 amoled display esim and fast battery charging news". gsmarena. 1 June 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
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