Meizu Technology

History

2024: Return to the Russian market

The Chinese company Meizu Technology has resumed sales of its smartphones in Russia after an almost five-year hiatus. In mid-October 2024, two new models of budget smartphones of the brand appeared in Russian stores - Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro. Meizu's return to the Russian market could increase competition in the budget smartphone segment.

Meizu's return to the Russian market is part of the DreamSmart ecosystem, a Chinese IT giant specializing in the development of advanced technologies in the field of smart electric vehicles, smartphones, advanced reality (XR), operating systems and smart wearable devices.

Meizu highly appreciates the loyalty of its users in Russia and therefore included our region in one of the first countries where it is restarting its brand, - comments Nikolai Pulich, Director of the Procurement Department for Wide-Profile Distribution of Merlion (distributor of Meizu smartphones in the Russian Federation). - Since Meizu smartphones, which have proven themselves as affordable reliable devices with decent "filling," are well known to Russian users - I am sure they will be warmly received.

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Merlion

The older Meizu Note 21 Pro is equipped with a Helio G99 processor, 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. The device received a 6.78-inch IPS screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 64MP main camera and a 4,950mAh battery with 30W fast charging support.

Meizu Note 21 is presented in several configurations with 256 GB of permanent memory and 4 or 8 GB of RAM. A feature of this model is an enlarged 6000 mAh battery. The smartphone is equipped with a 6.74-inch IPS-screen with a refresh rate of 90 Hz and a 50 MP main camera.

Both models are based on the Flyme OS software platform developed by Meizu. The devices support microSD memory cards and are available in three colors: black, white and sky blue.

The Meizu Note 21 Pro is priced at ₽22 990 in its maximum configuration, while prices for the Meizu Note 21 start at ₽13 990 for the 4GB RAM version.

2022: Geely buys smartphone maker Meizu

In mid-June 2022, it became known about the sale of Meizu to the Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding. The perimeter of the transaction includes 79% of the company engaged in the production of smartphones, according to data released by the antimonopoly regulator of the PRC.

It is clarified that Hubei Xingji Shidai Technology, a member of Geely, agreed to acquire a stake from two Meizu shareholders. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

Geely bought smartphone maker Meizu

Xingji Shidai and Meizu said in statements that they had signed a strategic investment agreement, but the deal was still being reviewed by regulators and details were still being negotiated.

Geely said in a statement when asked about the deal that there was a "close technological link" between car cabins and smartphone software.

Xingji Shidai was launched by Geely chairman Eric Lee in 2021. The company's goal is to develop smartphones (and other "smart" gadgets) for a wide audience. Meizu's resources are likely to help get this work started.

In September 2021, the company announced that the company intends to release its first smartphone by 2023 and sell 3 million units in the first year, citing an internal document.

The document also said that the project will be financed by investments in the amount of 10 billion yuan ($1.55 billion), and its revenue in the first year will be 10 billion yuan.

Founded in 2003, Meizu has been one of the best-known smartphone brands in China for some time, but has lost ground to local rivals such as Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo over time by 2022. Meizu has not made significant progress, and a partnership with Sony that aimed to bring Flyme apps to Xperia smartphones has not helped resuscitate the company.^[1]

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