Breaking: Meizu Pro 6 will have exclusive use of the Helio X25 chipset


meizu pro 6 mediatek Helio X25

Today at a Mediatek event where the company unveiled the Helio X25, Meizu bosses confirmed that their Meizu Pro 6 will be the first to use the chip.

Mediatek held an even today were they announced full specs and features for the Helio X20 10 core processor, and also announced the rumoured Helio X25 chipset.

The Mediatek Helio X20 is the companies first 10 core processor and features a tri cluster of processors which top out with 2 x A72 cores running at 2.3Ghz. The idea behind the clusters is that easy tasks will be handled on the first 4 x A53 1.4Ghz cores and as the processor is taxed it will move from one cluster to the next.

mediatek Helio X20

The Helio X20 also has a Mali T880 MP4 GPU, supports up to 25 mega-pixel cameras (or dual 13 mega-pixel cameras), 2K and 4K video support, fast charging via Pump Express 3.0+, VOLTE, and full network support.

Gizchina News of the week


While the Helio X20 is an exciting chip it won’t be the processor that Meizu will use in their next flagship.

mediatek Helio X25

At the Mediatek conference Meizu boss Bai Yongxiang confirmed that the Meizu Pro 6 will feature the Helio X25 SoC instead. The Helio X25 is basically an enhanced version of the Helio X20 and was co-developed with Mediatek and Meizu. Meizu will have exclusive access to the Helio X25 for several months preventing rivals using the chip.

The differences between the Helio X20 and X25 are that the latter will get an upgraded ‘Turbo cluster’ running at 2.5Ghz and a faster GPU running at 850Mhz. Even with these changes the power consumption of the chipset is said to be the same as the X20.

Disclaimer: We may be compensated by some of the companies whose products we talk about, but our articles and reviews are always our honest opinions. For more details, you can check out our editorial guidelines and learn about how we use affiliate links.

Previous Xiaomi’s first curved screen device could be a TV
Next Xiaomi’s $3067 bicycle is called the QiCycle R1

103 Comments

  1. realjjj
    March 16, 2016

    Mediatek is gonna alienate clients with such deals, they need to show more respect for their clients than this.
    Just rebranding the higher clocked X20 version is not cool either.

    • Joel Adames
      March 16, 2016

      I do disagree here, as this has been done before by a number of different companies.
      But I understand … Any way if I was MTK and a client as MEiZu was telling me what can I offer them in order to maintain business with them… What would I do, what could I offer them? Waiting on another chip for long months when competition is up is not the greatest of the ideas…. So this is nice enough for me.
      Now if Sony comes by and tells them the same they could do the same for their usual C line and offer them maybe a small discount or better this or better that. No one has to cry. They just need to come along and make great deals

      • realjjj
        March 16, 2016

        They gave Meizu a few months of exclusivity, they are not a startup to behave like that. Everybody gets the low end version, except Meizu. And for what , a phone that will ship 1-1.5 million units per quarter? And this is not about priority to early supply, that would be weeks not months.
        Not to mention that they are screwing over the end customers too. Folks will wait for the Meizu and if it’s not good enough for their needs, they have to wait a few more months for other models and by that time,they might as well wait for the X30 lol. They are undermining their own chip and their relationship with other customers and the consumer for what?

        • Joel Adames
          March 17, 2016

          Well… Its their business at the end it the day they get the reward or the damage they deserve.

    • balcobomber25
      March 17, 2016

      The article mentions the chips being co-developed by both Meizu and Mediatek, meaning Meizu contributed financially at some point. When that happens the company always has exclusive rights for a set period of time. Meidatek isn;t the first to do it and they won’t be the last.

      As for rebranding a chip that happens all the time. The SD801 was a slightly upgraded SD800 same with the 616 and 615. It’s not just SoC’s either, the Sony IMX 214 is a slightly upgraded IMX 135.

  2. Guaire
    March 16, 2016

    X20 supposed to be up to 2.5GHz. Mediatek maked a Turbo version of MT6797 and called it X25 as I understand.

    Poor choice for Pro 6.

    • March 16, 2016

      How is it a poor choice for Pro 6? I believe Meizu has their very good reasons for going with this chip against the Exynos.

      • Guaire
        March 16, 2016

        X20/X25 would be perfectly fine for MX6, but Pro series more expensive than MX series. X25 means no FinFET, no LPDDR4, no UFS fast storage not to mention weaker GPU for the class. Well, Exynos 8890 doesn’t support full network, that’s why they not gonna use it in Pro 6 as well I know.

        They can find better ways to deal with this issue like waiting for X30 or getting SD820 or implementing external chips for full network support with 8890.

        • Joel Adames
          March 16, 2016

          Yes it is more expensive but not crazy expensive, there is only so much so to be earned and a premium of a couple of dollar to be made by them, if not there would be not economic reason for it. And also, peak performance is something the others have managed but not mastered, MTK gives you decent performance at steady rate, not just a lot of it now and then less and less (looking at QC for this matter anyhow) besides the reports say a decent/better GPU is to be used …

          • Guaire
            March 16, 2016

            Pro 5 has been starting from 2799 up to 3099 yuan.

            Most likely we will see 1500 yuan Helio X20 devices from reliable brands like LeEco Le 2. It could be as low as 1200 yuan if they have decided make it as a Redmi Note 3 Pro competitor like they did at Le 1s.

            MX6 too likely have X20 and if its predeccessor is any indicator, its price gonna be starting from 1799.

            Sure they can put in Pro 6 better camera pair, more RAM etc. but building a high-end phone on an advanced mid-range chip isn’t a good idea IMO.

            • Mr.Flying Zoom3rz
              March 17, 2016

              You’re thinking too much over this dude. X20 is an excellent chip and I’m sure it will fit all your needs.

            • Guaire
              March 17, 2016

              Don’t get it wrong, I have no problem with the X20.

            • Mr.Flying Zoom3rz
              March 17, 2016

              No prob, I was just saying ^^

  3. realjjj
    March 16, 2016

    Apparently the X20 supports DTS Headphone X, if anyone cares.

  4. Angry Mobile Nerd
    March 16, 2016

    Sorry I forgot guys this year we are liking or hating Mediatek? I think it’s a hate year, right?

    • balcobomber25
      March 17, 2016

      Depends who you ask. Most of us here don’t take sides when it comes to SoC’s, we judge them based on their overall performance.

  5. Tremaine Underwood
    March 16, 2016

    What I don’t get is, why are we talking about the Pro already. What happened to the regular Mx6. What chipset is that getting? The x20 we assume? Seems strange that most of the focus lately is on the Pro.

  6. Alexandre Tokam Kaptue III
    March 16, 2016

    I assume there will be 2 versions of Meizu Pro 6
    The cheapest one with Helio x25 and the other with maybe the SD820 or another Samsung CPU but with more RAM

    • MaxPower
      March 16, 2016

      Why are you assuming there would be 2 versions?

      • balcobomber25
        March 17, 2016

        Especially one with a SD820. Meizu has never used a Qualcomm chip in any of their phones. It has always been either Samsung or Mediatek.

        • MaxPower
          March 17, 2016

          True that.
          For that reason I highly doubt they are going to start using it this year.
          We won’t see the Pro 6 anytime soon, so what about the X30? I don’t know when Mediatek will release it, maybe it’s going to be the same time. (Too lazy to look at it)

          • balcobomber25
            March 17, 2016

            If their is going to be a regular MX6 that should be launching in the next few months, if not then the Pro 6 will be.

            • MaxPower
              March 17, 2016

              Yeah I meant the regular mx6 with the x20 (or x25) while the Pro 6 with the X30.

              I’m just making conversation, I honestly don’t give too much damn about it. It can be a Snapdragon or Helio or even Kirin or Exynos and it would be the same for me.
              The SoC is probably one of the least thing I look into phones.

            • balcobomber25
              March 17, 2016

              Yea for me the things I look for most:

              1. Camera
              2. Design/thickness
              3. Display
              4. Battery

              SoC never really enters into it for me unless it’s something incredibly underpowered like the SD410. As long as it is at least midrange I am good.

            • MaxPower
              March 17, 2016

              I would go with:
              1: value
              2: software
              3: battery
              4: camera
              5: design
              A midranger is also enough for me:
              SD808 or MT6752 and above.
              I would not consider anything below that because I’m not so cheapskate.

            • balcobomber25
              March 17, 2016

              When I became a fan of Gionee and Vivo, value when out the door for me lol.

    • GamesAndGuns
      March 16, 2016

      3, not 2. The third one will be for those folks who believe that there will be 2 of these, if you know what I mean.

  7. realjjj
    March 16, 2016

    Mediatek is gonna alienate clients with such deals, they need to show more respect for their clients than this.
    Just rebranding the higher clocked X20 version is not cool either.

    • Joel Adames
      March 16, 2016

      I do disagree here, as this has been done before by a number of different companies.
      But I understand … Any way if I was MTK and a client as MEiZu was telling me what can I offer them in order to maintain business with them… What would I do, what could I offer them? Waiting on another chip for long months when competition is up is not the greatest of the ideas…. So this is nice enough for me.
      Now if Sony comes by and tells them the same they could do the same for their usual C line and offer them maybe a small discount or better audio stuff or better this or better that. No one has to cry. They just need to come along and make great deals.

    • realjjj
      March 16, 2016

      They gave Meizu a few months of exclusivity, they are not a startup to behave like that. Everybody gets the low end version, except Meizu. And for what , a phone that will ship 1-1.5 million units per quarter? And this is not about priority to early supply, that would be weeks not months.
      Not to mention that they are screwing over the end customers too. Folks will wait for the Meizu and if it’s not good enough for their needs, they have to wait a few more months for other models and by that time,they might as well wait for the X30 lol. They are undermining their own chip and their relationship with other customers and the consumer for what?

    • Joel Adames
      March 17, 2016

      Well… Its their business at the end it the day they get the reward or the damage they deserve.

    • balcobomber25
      March 18, 2016

      The article mentions the chips being co-developed by both Meizu and Mediatek, meaning Meizu contributed financially at some point. When that happens the company always has exclusive rights for a set period of time. Meidatek isn;t the first to do it and they won’t be the last.

      As for rebranding a chip that happens all the time. The SD801 was a slightly upgraded SD800 same with the 616 and 615. It’s not just SoC’s either, the Sony IMX 214 is a slightly upgraded IMX 135.

  8. Guaire
    March 16, 2016

    X20 supposed to be up to 2.5GHz. Mediatek maked a Turbo version of MT6797 and called it X25 as I understand.

    Poor choice for Pro 6.

    • Michael Ogbonnaya
      March 16, 2016

      How is it a poor choice for Pro 6? I believe Meizu has their very good reasons for going with this chip against the Exynos.

    • Guaire
      March 16, 2016

      X20/X25 would be perfectly fine for MX6, but Pro series more expensive than MX series. X25 means no FinFET, no LPDDR4, no UFS fast storage not to mention weaker GPU for the class. Well, Exynos 8890 doesn’t support full network, that’s why they not gonna use it in Pro 6 as well I know.

      They can find better ways to deal with this issue like waiting for X30 or getting SD820 or implementing external chips for full network support with 8890.

    • Joel Adames
      March 16, 2016

      Yes it is more expensive but not crazy expensive, there is only so much so to be earned and a premium of a couple of dollar to be made by them, if not there would be not economic reason for it. And also, peak performance is something the others have managed but not mastered, MTK gives you decent performance at steady rate, not just a lot of it now and then less and less (looking at QC for this matter anyhow) besides the reports say a decent/better GPU is to be used …

    • Guaire
      March 16, 2016

      Pro 5 has been starting from 2799 up to 3099 yuan.

      Most likely we will see 1500 yuan Helio X20 devices from reliable brands like LeEco Le 2. It could be as low as 1200 yuan if they have decided make it as a Redmi Note 3 Pro competitor like they did at Le 1s.

      MX6 too likely have X20 and if its predeccessor is any indicator, its price gonna be starting from 1799.

      Sure they can put in Pro 6 better camera pair, more RAM etc. but building a high-end phone on an advanced mid-range chip isn’t a good idea IMO.

    • Mr.Flying Zoom3rz
      March 17, 2016

      You’re thinking too much over this dude. X20 is an excellent chip and I’m sure it will fit all your needs.

    • Guaire
      March 17, 2016

      Don’t get it wrong, I have no problem with the X20.

    • Mr.Flying Zoom3rz
      March 17, 2016

      No prob, I was just saying ^^

  9. realjjj
    March 16, 2016

    Apparently the X20 supports DTS Headphone X, if anyone cares.
    OPPO should have a device with X20 too so the R9 is not their top of the line as some feared.

  10. Angry Mobile Nerd
    March 16, 2016

    Sorry I forgot guys this year we are liking or hating Mediatek? I think it’s a hate year, right?

    • balcobomber25
      March 18, 2016

      Depends who you ask. Most of us here don’t take sides when it comes to SoC’s, we judge them based on their overall performance.

  11. Joel Adames
    March 16, 2016

    I say if they are to use this X25 instead of waiting for the X30 is because they think it will suffice their needs. If they manage to deal with 6gbRam even at DDR3 levels it is marketing win. (Not everyone remember the last number in a feature but they do the first). If the client companies manage to run good ROM that manage Ram adequately then there you have it. Consumer is happy, if the GPU works great too gaming is preserved properly. What I want is MEIZU not to wait a whole lot to show something and give us some meat.

    • March 16, 2016

      Will the X25/X30 support DDR4 and UFS2? That’s where MTK needs to catch up (in addition to the GPU of course).

      • realjjj
        March 17, 2016

        Catch up is relative. The x20 is not aimed at the very high end (x25 being just a rebrand). For DDR4 yes the x30 will, the P20 is actually the first SoC from anyone to support LPDDR4X (x is a new thing with lower power) and it supports up to 6GB of it. X20 went DDR3 since it made sense for faster time to market and for OEMs to save a bit on DRAM- the chip got delayed and the reality changed a bit.
        UFS2.0 support ,remains to be seen. For whatever reason nobody is using fast UFS 2.0 even if such products are available – devices seem to be using HS G3x1lane when HS G3x2lane products are available. There could be surprises too.Sandisk has been talking about using PCI instead and Apple is assumed to have already done that. If Sandisk is ready to provide such products next year, MTK could just go PCI and leap ahead of Qualcomm. A pdf with Sandisk making the case for PCIe/NVMe http://www.flashmemorysummit.com/English/Collaterals/Proceedings/2015/20150811_S101C_Baram.pdf
        On the GPU side, depends how you test it. Short term perf where the others go with a massive GPU and high clocks they can’t sustain or you care about sustained perf. In sustained perf MTK can go with a much smaller GPU and beat the others by having better power management. The others push the GPU too far to win in short term perf and they cook it, if they would dial down the short term perf a bit, they could get better long term perf.

        Going back to the the X20 not being aimed at very high end, the rumors are that the X20 costs 30$, that would be a bit less than expected and a rather great price. In contrast SD820 is 60$.
        For half the price you get rather great CPU perf, battery life and on the GPU side it’s one resolution step behind- at 1080p you should get on par or better sustained GPU perf than SD820 at 1440p. We’ll see how much the x20 throttles, it would be a pretty nice chip if it doesn’t throttle much and if the 30$ price rumors are accurate, we’ll see some very well priced devices with it.

        • Mr.Flying Zoom3rz
          March 17, 2016

          realjjj at his best again. 🙂

        • March 17, 2016

          Thanks for the info! I’m impressed that Xiaomi was able to make a SD820 phone for so cheap (this blows the OnePlus X value proposition out of the water). Maybe the rattling buttons was a compromise ;).

          • realjjj
            March 18, 2016

            It’s not that great if you think about it. Xiaomi Mi4 launched in mid 2014 was 5 inch 1080p, the top SoC at the time, 3GB, 16GB and so on at 1999CNY. So a proper high end device for the time.

            Display, RAM and NAND prices are actually the parts that have dropped in price the most in the last couple of years.
            The Mi5 goes with:
            – 1080p when high end is 1440p flat or more (curved 1440p or flat 4k)
            -the cheaper SD820 Lite. Pricing for a SoC like SD820 stays at about the same from one generation to another so by going with the Lite version, they save some $ vs what the Mi4 costs were.
            – just 3GB of RAM – remember RAM prices have dropped a lot and again this is less than the default for flagships.
            -NAND goes 32GB but this was enabled by the price. If you look at the Galaxy S7 teardown by IHS, they put the cost of 32GB NAND at 7.5$

            The Chinese currency dropped some since mid 2014 and that does matter but not enough to make the 1999CNY Mi5 as great value as the MI 4 was at launch and other China players could do better, specs wise, at this price.
            The parts and manufacturing for the Mi5 must be somewhere between 180 and 210$. Add licensing, logistics and so on and they could have done a bit better if they wanted to.
            Others could do 1440p.4GB and SD820 at a similar price, while not making any money from the hardware ofc.
            For now, it seems that only Xiaomi and Samsung have SD820 supply and other phones will hit retail in April and beyond. So we should see some more devices with it soon enough.

      • Joel Adames
        March 17, 2016

        I would say if they “”catch up”” then the price advantage might go down the drain and then there will be no business purpose…

  12. Tremaine Underwood
    March 16, 2016

    What I don’t get is, why are we talking about the Pro already. What happened to the regular Mx6. What chipset is that getting? The x20 we assume? Seems strange that most of the focus lately is on the Pro.

  13. Alexandre Tokam Kaptue III
    March 16, 2016

    I assume there will be 2 versions of Meizu Pro 6
    The cheapest one with the Helio x25 and the other one with maybe the SD820 or another Samsung CPU but with more RAM

    • MaxPower
      March 16, 2016

      Why are you assuming there would be 2 versions?

    • Guest
      March 16, 2016

      3, not 2. The third one will be for those folks who believe that there will be 2 of these, if you know what I mean.

    • balcobomber25
      March 18, 2016

      Especially one with a SD820. Meizu has never used a Qualcomm chip in any of their phones. It has always been either Samsung or Mediatek.

    • MaxPower
      March 18, 2016

      True that.
      For that reason I highly doubt they are going to start using it this year.
      We won’t see the Pro 6 anytime soon, so what about the X30? I don’t know when Mediatek will release it, maybe it’s going to be the same time. (Too lazy to look at it)

    • balcobomber25
      March 18, 2016

      If their is going to be a regular MX6 that should be launching in the next few months, if not then the Pro 6 will be.

    • MaxPower
      March 18, 2016

      Yeah I meant the regular mx6 with the x20 (or x25) while the Pro 6 with the X30.

      I’m just making conversation, I honestly don’t give too much damn about it. It can be a Snapdragon or Helio or even Kirin or Exynos and it would be the same for me.
      The SoC is probably one of the least thing I look into phones.

    • balcobomber25
      March 18, 2016

      Yea for me the things I look for most:

      1. Camera
      2. Design/thickness
      3. Display
      4. Battery

      SoC never really enters into it for me unless it’s something incredibly underpowered like the SD410. As long as it is at least midrange I am good.

    • MaxPower
      March 18, 2016

      I would go with:
      1: value
      2: software
      3: battery
      4: camera
      5: design
      A midranger is also enough for me:
      SD808 or MT6752 and above.
      I would not consider anything below that because I’m not so cheapskate.

    • balcobomber25
      March 18, 2016

      When I became a fan of Gionee and Vivo, value when out the door for me lol.

  14. MaxPower
    March 16, 2016

    Meizu: “Hey Mediatek, remember the old times when you use to make a overclocked version of your SoCs and you use to add a ” T” at the end of the name?

    “… Well, I have a wonderful idea… How about you do the same with your X20 and instead of calling it X20T you name it X25?”

    “… People will think you made a brand new more powerful SoC…”

    “…Obviously this was my idea so you better mention that we co-developed it”

    “…Oh, before I forget… I want the exclusive for 6 months!”

    • March 16, 2016

      They must be fans of the 805 ;).

    • Mr.Flying Zoom3rz
      March 17, 2016

      Lol, this seems legit dude xD
      Now serious, you’re on the right track about that: X25 is nothing more, but overclocked X20, but Meizu is playing a high game here trying to trick the opponents.

      • MaxPower
        March 17, 2016

        It has been like that since forever.
        The problem here is that too many people care of benchmarks.
        That’s what is all about

        • Mr.Flying Zoom3rz
          March 17, 2016

          Exactly, speaking for myself the last time I had installed Antutu was more than half a year. I just don’t care about it anymore. Sure I’m well informed which phone is which in their chart, but I’m no more “owned” by this app. 😀 Not to tell that the final score calculation is unfair – the gpu is far from being the most important component in the phone.

          • MaxPower
            March 17, 2016

            I don’t blame people that install it.
            Somebody can use it to figure out of they bought a legit device or a fake (never be too sure with Chinese stuff!!!) Or maybe to see if there’s some problem with it (let’s say the score is way below the average which could lead to a faulty Rom or something….)

            The problem is when it’s all about benchmarks, here we have people that consider a phone only because of the score.
            Some fanatics go deeper and look at how long can sustain that benchmark etc… Not to mention that according to these geniuses the price of the phone is mostly determined by that score…

            • balcobomber25
              March 17, 2016

              While I am against Antutu as a metric of performance I have used it for what you describe above.

            • MaxPower
              March 17, 2016

              I did that too

            • balcobomber25
              March 17, 2016

              Especially when I buy some of these lesser known brands from resellers.

            • MaxPower
              March 17, 2016

              That’s why I said never trust things coming from China. They look awfully legit

            • balcobomber25
              March 17, 2016

              I have been burned quite a few times, which is why I am very skeptical with Aliexpress.

  15. Karma
    March 16, 2016

    I’m sure the difference between the X20 and X25 will be the same as the difference between the SD 200 and the SD 820. I mean, the world’s no.1 SoC manufacturer MediaTek, and also the current flagship spot holder in every SoC tier, would never resort to anything less, right? Like a marketing gimmick and cover-up for repeated failure? Of course not. Go MediaTek! 2016 is shaping up nicely for this incredibly ethical chipmaker.

  16. Joel Adames
    March 16, 2016

    I say if they are to use this X25 instead of waiting for the X30 is because they think it will suffice their needs. If they manage to deal with 6gbRam even at DDR3 levels it is marketing win. (Not everyone remember the last number in a feature but they do the first). If the client companies manage to run good ROM that manage Ram adequately then there you have it. Consumer is happy, if the GPU works great too gaming is preserved properly. What I want is MEIZU not to wait a whole lot to show something and give us some meat.

    • 10basetom
      March 17, 2016

      Will the X25/X30 support DDR4 and UFS2? That’s where MTK needs to catch up (in addition to the GPU of course).

    • realjjj
      March 17, 2016

      Catch up is relative. The x20 is not aimed at the very high end (x25 being just a rebrand). For DDR4 yes the x30 will, the P20 is actually the first SoC from anyone to support LPDDR4X (x is a new thing with lower power) and it supports up to 6GB of it. X20 went DDR3 since it made sense for faster time to market and for OEMs to save a bit on DRAM- the chip got delayed and the reality changed a bit.
      UFS2.0 support ,remains to be seen. For whatever reason nobody is using fast UFS 2.0 even if such products are available – devices seem to be using HS G3x1lane when HS G3x2lane products are available. There could be surprises too.Sandisk has been talking about using PCI instead and Apple is assumed to have already done that. If Sandisk is ready to provide such products next year, MTK could just go PCI and leap ahead of Qualcomm. A pdf with Sandisk making the case for PCIe/NVMe http://www.flashmemorysummit.com/English/Collaterals/Proceedings/2015/20150811_S101C_Baram.pdf
      On the GPU side, depends how you test it. Short term perf where the others go with a massive GPU and high clocks they can’t sustain or you care about sustained perf. In sustained perf MTK can go with a much smaller GPU and beat the others by having better power management. The others push the GPU too far to win in short term perf and they cook it, if they would dial down the short term perf a bit, they could get better long term perf.

      Going back to the the X20 not being aimed at very high end, the rumors are that the X20 costs 30$, that would be a bit less than expected and a rather great price. In contrast SD820 is 60$.
      For half the price you get rather great CPU perf, battery life and on the GPU side it’s one resolution step behind- at 1080p you should get on par or better sustained GPU perf than SD820 at 1440p. We’ll see how much the x20 throttles, it would be a pretty nice chip if it doesn’t throttle much and if the 30$ price rumors are accurate, we’ll see some very well priced devices with it.

    • Joel Adames
      March 17, 2016

      I would say if they “”catch up”” then the price advantage might go down the drain and then there will be no business purpose…

    • Mr.Flying Zoom3rz
      March 17, 2016

      realjjj at his best again. 🙂

    • 10basetom
      March 18, 2016

      Thanks for the info! I’m impressed that Xiaomi was able to make a SD820 phone for so cheap (this blows the OnePlus X value proposition out of the water). Maybe the rattling buttons was a compromise ;).

    • realjjj
      March 18, 2016

      It’s not that great if you think about it. Xiaomi Mi4 launched in mid 2014 was 5 inch 1080p, the top SoC at the time, 3GB, 16GB and so on at 1999CNY. So a proper high end device for the time.

      Display, RAM and NAND prices are actually the parts that have dropped in price the most in the last couple of years.
      The Mi5 goes with:
      – 1080p when high end is 1440p flat or more (curved 1440p or flat 4k)
      -the cheaper SD820 Lite. Pricing for a SoC like SD820 stays at about the same from one generation to another so by going with the Lite version, they save some $ vs what the Mi4 costs were.
      – just 3GB of RAM – remember RAM prices have dropped a lot and again this is less than the default for flagships.
      -NAND goes 32GB but this was enabled by the price. If you look at the Galaxy S7 teardown by IHS, they put the cost of 32GB NAND at 7.5$

      The Chinese currency dropped some since mid 2014 and that does matter but not enough to make the 1999CNY Mi5 as great value as the MI 4 was at launch and other China players could do better, specs wise, at this price.
      The parts and manufacturing for the Mi5 must be somewhere between 180 and 210$. Add licensing, logistics and so on and they could have done a bit better if they wanted to.
      Others could do 1440p.4GB and SD820 at a similar price, while not making any money from the hardware ofc.
      For now, it seems that only Xiaomi and Samsung have SD820 supply and other phones will hit retail in April and beyond. So we should see some more devices with it soon enough.

  17. MaxPower
    March 16, 2016

    Meizu: “Hey Mediatek, remember the old times when you use to make a overclocked version of your SoCs and you use to add a ” T” at the end of the name?

    “… Well, I have a wonderful idea… How about you do the same with your X20 and instead of calling it X20T you name it X25?”

    “… People will think you made a brand new more powerful SoC…”

    “…Obviously this was my idea so you better mention that we co-developed it”

    “…Oh, before I forget… I want the exclusive for 6 months!”

    • 10basetom
      March 17, 2016

      They must be fans of the 805 ;).

    • Mr.Flying Zoom3rz
      March 17, 2016

      Lol, this seems legit dude xD
      Now serious, you’re on the right track about that: X25 is nothing more, but overclocked X20, but Meizu is playing a high game here trying to trick the opponents.

    • MaxPower
      March 17, 2016

      It has been like that since forever.
      The problem here is that too many people care of benchmarks.
      That’s what is all about

    • Mr.Flying Zoom3rz
      March 17, 2016

      Exactly, speaking for myself the last time I had installed Antutu was more than half a year. I just don’t care about it anymore. Sure I’m well informed which phone is which in their chart, but I’m no more “owned” by this app. 😀 Not to tell that the final score calculation is unfair – the gpu is far from being the most important component in the phone.

    • MaxPower
      March 17, 2016

      I don’t blame people that install it.
      Somebody can use it to figure out of they bought a legit device or a fake (never be too sure with Chinese stuff!!!) Or maybe to see if there’s some problem with it (let’s say the score is way below the average which could lead to a faulty Rom or something….)

      The problem is when it’s all about benchmarks, here we have people that consider a phone only because of the score.
      Some fanatics go deeper and look at how long can sustain that benchmark etc… Not to mention that according to these geniuses the price of the phone is mostly determined by that score…

    • balcobomber25
      March 18, 2016

      While I am against Antutu as a metric of performance I have used it for what you describe above.

    • MaxPower
      March 18, 2016

      I did that too

    • balcobomber25
      March 18, 2016

      Especially when I buy some of these lesser known brands from resellers.

    • MaxPower
      March 18, 2016

      That’s why I said never trust things coming from China. They look awfully legit

    • balcobomber25
      March 18, 2016

      I have been burned quite a few times, which is why I am very skeptical with Aliexpress.

  18. Guest
    March 16, 2016

    I’m sure the difference between the X20 and X25 will be the same as the difference between the SD 200 and the SD 820. I mean, the world’s no.1 SoC manufacturer MediaTek, and also the current flagship spot holder in every SoC tier, would never resort to anything less, right? Like a marketing gimmick and cover-up for repeated failure? Of course not. Go MediaTek! 2016 is shaping up nicely for this incredibly ethical chipmaker.

  19. March 17, 2016

    I don’t care about the extra speed – I would never use it. I just hope that the battery life is as good as it is on their Pro 5 – otherwise I won’t be interested.

  20. Moose
    March 17, 2016

    I don’t care about the extra speed – I would never use it. I just hope that the battery life is as good as it is on their Pro 5 – otherwise I won’t be interested.

  21. realjjj
    March 17, 2016
  22. realjjj
    March 17, 2016
  23. March 18, 2016

    Esperaba que este modelo llegase con el chip Exynos o el Snapdragon 820. Si este modelo viene con un Helio X25, supongo que el supuesto MX6 tendrá el Helio X20. No me disgusta, pero no veo un gran paso adelante con sólo aumentar la velocidad de reloj.

  24. Móviles Android Chinos
    March 18, 2016

    Esperaba que este modelo llegase con el chip Exynos o el Snapdragon 820. Si este modelo viene con un Helio X25, supongo que el supuesto MX6 tendrá el Helio X20. No me disgusta, pero no veo un gran paso adelante con sólo aumentar la velocidad de reloj.

  25. Steven Fox
    March 19, 2016

    It will be another overpriced Meizu phone with a MTK chip that costs half the price of the SD820 and delivers 1/3 of the GPU performance.
    Most of all is that 95% of the customers won`t even notice the differnce in day to day performance, as it was with the X10 vs the SD801/805/808.
    Most of that is due to the fact that Android simply loves those high clocked low power cores and excells with them in daily performance.

  26. Steven Fox
    March 19, 2016

    It will be another overpriced Meizu phone with a MTK chip that costs half the price of the SD820 and delivers 1/3 of the GPU performance.
    Most of all is that 95% of the customers won`t even notice the differnce in day to day performance, as it was with the X10 vs the SD801/805/808.
    Most of that is due to the fact that Android simply loves those high clocked low power cores and excells with them in daily performance.

  27. Stefan Halter
    March 21, 2016

    The Pro 6 with x25 got benchmarked with geekbench
    https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/5738731

  28. Stefan Halter
    March 21, 2016

    The Pro 6 with x25 got benchmarked with geekbench
    https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/5738731