Meizu Technology Co., Ltd. () is a Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer based in Zhuhai, Guangdong. Founded in 2003 by

Jack Wong Jack Wong, or Huang Zhang (), is a Chinese billionaire entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of Meizu, a Chinese consumer electronics company. Early life Jack Wong was born on February 13, 1976 in Meixian, Meizhou, Guangdong. At the ...

, Meizu began as a manufacturer of MP3 players and later

MP4 player A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...

s. In 2008, Meizu moved its focus to

smartphones A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, which ...

. Meizu is the 11th largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, and sold over 20 million units in 2015. In February 2015, Alibaba invested US$590 million in Meizu, acquiring an undisclosed minority stake. In June 2022,

Geely Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd (ZGH), commonly known as Geely (吉利 "auspicious"), is a Chinese multinational automotive company headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The company is privately held by Chinese billionaire entrepreneur ...

acquired a majority stake in the company.

History

() 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 The M6 miniPlayer, from Meizu, is a flash-based portable media player that plays audio files in MP3, WMA, WAV, FLAC, APE and Ogg and is also capable of AVI video playback (using the XVID codec) on a 2.4-inch QVGA screen. The Mini Player in ...

, which was also marketed by Dane-Elec outside China. In January 2007, Meizu announced their first smartphone,

Meizu M8 The Meizu M8 is a Windows CE-based 3.4" smartphone. It is often regarded as having a Chinese iPhone-like design and similar to the features and UI: The M8 runs a version of Microsoft Windows CE 6 with a modified GUI, similar to that of the iPh ...

, 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 The Meizu M9 (pronounced MAY-zoo M9) is a Chinese smartphone designed and promoted by the Meizu Technology Co., Ltd. which runs on Flyme OS. It was launched on January 1, 2011, resulting in buyers lining up overnight to enter the stores to purc ...

, their first smartphone based on the Android operating system. This device was considered to be a large commercial success in China. 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 Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...

. The

Meizu MX The Meizu MX is a smartphone designed and produced by the Chinese manufacturer Meizu Technology, which runs on a modified Android operating system, dubbed as Flyme OS. It is the company's second Android-based smartphone, after the Meizu M9. The ...

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. 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 Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., trading as Hon Hai Technology Group in China and Taiwan and Foxconn internationally, is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer established in 1974 with headquarters in Tucheng, New ...

and went on sale in mainland China, Hong Kong, Russia and Israel. 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. Meizu announced the Meizu MX4 on September 2, 2014. It was the first Meizu smartphone to feature a

MediaTek MediaTek Inc. () is a Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company that provides chips for wireless communications, high-definition television, handheld mobile devices like smartphones and tablet computers, navigation systems, consumer multimedia p ...

processor and LTE support. The Meizu MX4 was the first Meizu smartphone to also offer Alibaba's

Yun OS AliOS (formerly YunOS and Aliyun OS) is a Linux distribution developed by Alibaba Cloud, a subsidiary of Mainland Chinese company Alibaba Group. It is designed for smart cars and Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and it had been used as a mobi ...

aside from Meizu's Flyme OS for the Chinese mainland market. Later that year, the Meizu MX4 Pro was announced, featuring a

Samsung Exynos Exynos, formerly Hummingbird (), is a series of ARM-based system-on-chips developed by Samsung Electronics' System LSI division and manufactured by Samsung Foundry. It is a continuation of Samsung's earlier S3C, S5L and S5P line of SoCs. Ex ...

octa-core processor and a 2K+ screen. 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. 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

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

6753 Octa-Core processor. It comes with

Flyme OS Meizu Technology Co., Ltd. () is a Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer based in Zhuhai, Guangdong. 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 smartph ...

4.5 preinstalled. The successor to the Meizu MX4 was announced on June 30, 2015, during a large launch event in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 2 ...

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 Ubuntu Touch is a mobile version of the Ubuntu operating system, being developed by the UBports community. Its user interface is written in Qt, and is designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers, ...

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. 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. 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

Flyme

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

on June 12, 2012, and later for the

. It was praised by critics for its simple yet beautiful interface design. 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 , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

, LG and HTC. Fans also ported it to other devices, including Zte, Huawei and the

OnePlus One The OnePlus One (colloquially abbreviated to OPO and also known as OnePlus 1) is an Android smartphone manufactured by OnePlus. Unveiled in April 2014, it is the first product by OnePlus. The OnePlus One was designed to compare favorably � ...

. The Flyme 4.5 is based on

Android Lollipop Android Lollipop ( codenamed Android L during development) is the fifth major version of the Android mobile operating system developed by Google and the 12th version of Android, spanning versions between 5.0 and 5.1.1. Unveiled on June 25, 2014 ...

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 Marshmallow Android Marshmallow ( codenamed Android M during development) is the sixth major version of the Android operating system developed by Google, being the successor to Android Lollipop. It was announced at Google I/O on May 28, 2015, and released ...

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 Android Nougat ( codenamed Android N during development) is the seventh major version and 14th original version of the Android operating system. First released as an alpha test version on March 9, 2016, it was officially released on August 22, ...

, 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

and later, launched alongside the Meizu 15 series. The latest version of Flyme is Flyme 8, launched alongside the Meizu 16s Pro on 28 August 2019, based on

Android Pie Android Pie ( codenamed Android P during development), also known as Android 9 (API 28) is the ninth major release and the 16th version of the Android mobile operating system. It was first released as a developer preview on March 7, 2018, and ...

. Flyme has also been ported by the community to other devices as well: Zte, Huawei,

OnePlus 2 The OnePlus 2 (also abbreviated as OP2) is a smartphone designed by OnePlus. It is the successor to the OnePlus One. OnePlus revealed the phone on 28 July 2015 via virtual reality, using Google's Cardboard visor and their own app. OnePlus sold ...

OnePlus 3 The OnePlus 3 (also abbreviated as OP3) is a smartphone produced by OnePlus. It was revealed on 14 June 2016. The phone was unveiled in a virtual reality event and OnePlus offered its customers Loop VR headsets to experience the event using th ...

HTC One M9 The HTC One M9 is an Android smartphone manufactured and marketed by HTC. The third-generation One was officially unveiled in a press conference at Mobile World Congress on March 1, 2015, and it was released worldwide on April 10, 2015. It is t ...

HTC One M8 The HTC One (M8) (also marketed as the all-new HTC One) is an Android or Windows smartphone manufactured and marketed by HTC. Following a number of leaks that occurred during the months prior, the device was officially unveiled in a press confer ...

, HTC M7 and other devices.

Meizu India

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 Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology co ...

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

Smartphones

pre-MX series

MX series

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 MX2 * Meizu MX3 * Meizu MX4 * Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition * Meizu MX4 Pro * Meizu MX5 * Meizu MX6

PRO series

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 * Meizu PRO 5 Ubuntu Edition * Meizu PRO 6 * Meizu PRO 6s * Meizu PRO 6 Plus * Meizu PRO 7 * Meizu PRO 7 Plus

M series

The M series is a series of smartphones targeted for users wanting an affordable and functional smartphone. * Meizu M1 * Meizu M1 Note * Meizu M2 * Meizu M2 Note * Meizu M3 * Meizu M3E * Meizu M3s * Meizu M3 Max * Meizu M3 Note * Meizu M5 * Meizu M5c (A5) * Meizu M5s * Meizu M5 Note * Meizu M6 * Meizu M6s * Meizu M6T * Meizu M6 Note * Meizu M8c * Meizu M10 SlavinPhone Russell X Series Russell X40 Russell X40 Pro Russell X40S (non anonsed)

17 series

* Meizu 17 * Meizu 17 Pro

18 series

* Meizu 18 * Meizu 18 Pro *Meizu 18x *Meizu 18s *Meizu 18s Pro

Other

* Meizu X8 * Meizu C9 * Meizu C9 Pro

Meizu Watch

* Meizu Watch

MP3 players

MP3 players devices: * Meizu E2 * Meizu E5 * Meizu E3 * Meizu E3C * Meizu ME V6 * Meizu ME V6S * Meizu ME V7 * Meizu MI V6 * Meizu MI V6S * Meizu MI V7 * Meizu M3 * Meizu M6 TS * Meizu M6 TP * Meizu M6 SP * Meizu M6 SL * Meizu X2 * Meizu X3 * Meizu X6

References

External links

Meizu Simplified Chinese

Meizu Traditional Chinese

Meizu English

Meizu Russian

Meizu Turkish

Meizu India
{{Zhuhai Topics Audio equipment manufacturers of China Mobile phone companies of China Mobile phone manufacturers Portable audio player manufacturers Companies based in Zhuhai Electronics companies established in 2003 Chinese companies established in 2003 Consumer electronics brands Privately held companies of China Chinese brands 2022 mergers and acquisitions