Meizu

MEIZU Technology Co., Ltd
Native name
 魅族科技有限公司
Private
Industry Consumer electronics
Founded 2003 (2003)
Founder Jack Wong
Headquarters Zhuhai, Guangdong, China
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Jack Wong
(Chairman of MEIZU)
Aber Bai
(CEO of MEIZU)
Products Consumer electronics, telecommunications equipment
Revenue Increase US$ 451.5 million (2013)
Increase US$ 16.4 million (2013)
Number of employees
 3,000 (2015)
Website Meizu.com

Meizu Technology Co., Ltd. (Chinese: 魅族科技有限公司; pinyin: Mèizú Kējì Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī) is a Chinese consumer electronics company based in Zhuhai, Guangdong. Founded in 2003, Meizu began as a manufacturer of MP3 players and later MP4 players. As of 2008, Meizu moved its focus from MP3 and MP4 players to smartphones, with their first smartphone being the Meizu M8. Meizu is one of the top ten smartphone manufacturers in China with 8.9 million units sold worldwide in the first half of 2015.

The current flagship device of Meizu is the Meizu PRO 5, a smartphone with an all-metal body, an Exynos 7420 8-core 64-bit processor, Flyme OS 5, and a Sony 21.16-megapixel 4K camera that has a 6P lens, laser-aided focusing and FotoNation 2.0.

History

Jack Wong (黄章) 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 of China.

Oמ April 2007, Meizu officially released the Meizu M8, drawing long queues in front of Meizu stores. The Meizu M8 was highly praised for its sound quality, performance and attractive price. Furthermore, it was one of the first phones to feature a capacitive touchscreen and ran on the Mymobile operating system, based on Microsoft Windows CE 6.0. 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.

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

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 of 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 and went on sale in China, Russia, Israel and Hong Kong.

The Meizu MX3 was released in October 2013 and was the first smartphone to have 128GB of internal memory. 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 processor and LTE support. The Meizu MX4 is the first Meizu smartphone to also offer Alibaba's Yun OS aside from Meizu's Flyme OS. Later that year, the Meizu MX4 Pro was announced, featuring a Samsung Exynos 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.

In March 2015, the Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition was unveiled at MWC. It was later released in China and in the European Union through an invite system. As of July 20, 2015, the Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition can be purchased in the European Union without an invite.

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.

Meizu's current flagship device 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 announced its top-of-the-line product, the PRO 5 Android smartphone, in September 2015.

At MWC 2016, Meizu announced the succecor of the MX4 Ubuntu Edition, the Meizu PRO 5 Ubuntu Edition. It has the same specs as the PRO 5, except it has Ubuntu Touch OS instead of Flyme.[1]

Flyme OS

Flyme OS 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 initial version, Flyme OS 1.0 based on Android 4.0.3 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.

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

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

The successor the Flyme OS 3.0, Flyme OS 4.0 was released in 2014, initially for the Meizu MX4. It was the first Flyme OS 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 the OnePlus One. The current version of Flyme OS, Flyme OS 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.

Products

Meizu M8

Main article: Meizu M8

The Meizu M8 was Meizu's first smartphone product and was officially released on February 18, 2009. At its release, there were long queues in front of Meizu stores due to unforeseen high demand. It runs on the Mymobile operating system developed by Meizu, based on Microsoft Windows CE 6.0. The smartphone is controlled by a capacitive multi-touch screen, an uncommon feature on smartphones at the time. The Meizu M8 was favored by critics due to its multimedia, internet and other unique capabilities, as well as the attractive price. An upgraded version of the Meizu M8, the Meizu M8SE, was released on October 2, 2009. It was discontinued in 2010. The Meizu M8 is now considered to be one of the pioneers among current day smartphones and shaped Meizu as a reputable smartphone manufacturer.

Current models

The Meizu m1, launched in January 2015, is Meizu's most basic smartphone model. It features a 5-inch screen and a MediaTek quad-core processor. The Meizu m1 is expected to be replaced soon by its successor, the Meizu m2, which is supposed to be announced on an event in Beijing on July 29, 2015. A larger variant with upgraded specifications, the Meizu m2 note, was announced on June 2, 2015. It comes with 5,5-inch 1080p screen, an octa-core MediaTek processor and a 13-megapixel Samsung camera.

Meizu's current generation flagship device is the Meizu MX5 and was announced on June 30, 2015. The Meizu MX5 is Meizu's first device to feature a full metal body and an AMOLED screen. It is powered by a MediaTek Helio X10 Turbo processor, has a screen size of 5,5-inch and runs on Flyme OS 4.5 based on Android Lollipop. There have been rumors about a Pro variant of the Meizu MX5, but no official information has been released about it as of now.

While Meizu smartphones normally run on Flyme OS, Meizu has also released a variant of the Meizu MX4 running Ubuntu, called the Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition. Although the hardware is the same as of the Flyme edition of the Meizu MX4, the operating system is substantially different. Meizu is the second company to have launched a Ubuntu smartphone, only after bq. The Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition is currently only available in the European Union.

The successor of the Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition is the Meizu PRO 5 Ubuntu Edition. It has matching specs as the Meizu PRO 5 but with Ubuntu Touch instead of Flyme. It was announced at MWC 2016.

Meizu launched MX5 in Indian market on August 26, 2015.

Previous models

Previous Meizu products include:

References

  1. ↑ http://www.meizu.com/en/products/pro5ubuntu/summary.html

External links

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