Meizu rumoured to scrap plans for the Meizu MX5 Pro


meizu mx4 pro review

If you are a worried Meizu MX4 Pro owner who expects their phone to be replaced with a new model then don’t. The Pro range of Meizu phones has been scrapped (which is actually worrying in other reasons).

Meizu woke up last year and finally launched not just one phone but a range of new devices. Starting with the MX4, Meizu went on to launch the MX4 Pro, m1 note and m1 phones. The new releases worked and everyone was looking at Meizu again, but since then things have gone a little pear shaped for the Zhuhai phone maker.

First of all Meizu discontinued the MX4 Pro only a few months after initially launching it, then after loosing a legal battle with ZTE were forced to replace all of their current phones with similar models with physical home buttons. This meant that customers who had bought the previous generation of Meizu phones only months ago now faced owning an out of date model.

Gizchina News of the week


meizu mx4 pro review

Of all the Meizu owners though it is the MX4 Pro customers who might have dodged the bullet most well. Apparently Meizu have now scrapped plans for the Pro range of phones priced at 2499 Yuan and will focus on a new flagship range that could take as long as 8-12months to develop.

This means those discontinued MX4 Pro still sit high in the Meizu range, great! What worries me though is how much man power will Meizu allow to work on the discontinued Samsung Exynos platform of the MX4 Pro? If the company don’t intent to keep the line going it is hardly likely they will have a team working on development for just that one device.

Are you a Meizu MX4, MX4 Pro, m1 note, or m1 owner? How do you feel about the short lifetime of your phones? Are you happy or do you feel left abandoned?

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48 Comments

  1. Kubis
    July 30, 2015

    Just got money back for my broken MX4. Phone was great, but software lack of optimization even with frequent updates. Now Meizu got them selves in some kind of tragic comedy with Lollipop. Postponed due dates, released test versions was just not worth of classification a BETA. Now they release stable FW for Lollipop that is the same sh*t with no foreign language support. Battery drain is disaster and phone runs on weak 4 cores instead of full throttle, many apps not supported, still many bugs etc.
    Plus no communication to costumers or any support out of China. Meizu should put their staffs together and think over if they want to do business also internationally.

    I am lucky to get my money back…

    • balcobomber25
      July 30, 2015

      A lot of those problems (especially battery drain and phones running weak) is something that has plagued every phone upgraded to Lollipop. It was even worse on Google’s own Nexus line.

      • Kubis
        July 30, 2015

        Yes, but this was a year ago. What was Meizu doing all the time? Not only this battery and performance problems. This is not test version. Its suppose to be stable SW. Some Google apps not supported, Facebook can not upload photos, Gallery closing, signal lost problems, can not install Whats up, back button problems, notifications etc.
        Removing foreign languages set have made thousands of foreign users without language support.
        International costumer support?
        You can ask buddy sitting next to you, he will have same information as Int. support have = absolutely ZERO.

        The way Meizu handle MX4 (Pro) users now its the way of support for MX5 next year….

        • intruda
          July 30, 2015

          Yeah MEIZU should have an option to install stock roms. To many issues.
          They say lollipop but still feels dated like gingerbread/KitKat.

          To bad they believe they are apple.

          • balcobomber25
            July 30, 2015

            Meizu allows rooting of their phones, you have options for ROMS.

            • intruda
              July 30, 2015

              There hasn’t been a custom ROM since original MEIZU mx and 2.

              Closet you get to custom roms is very little xposed framework. And 90% of that causes issues.

              Root doesn’t equal custom roms. Don’t believe there’s any source code to build from with any MEIZU products

            • balcobomber25
              July 30, 2015

              Interesting, I have never owned a Meizu till the MX5.

            • intruda
              July 30, 2015

              When I was taking a break from flashing custom roms I picked up a mx3. Simple and it worked great then they releasee flyme 4 and it started going down hill.

              But with all devices without the modding community, the device have so much potential.

            • balcobomber25
              July 30, 2015

              Personally I love Flyme, this is my first Meizu but I have used Flyme on a few devices before and never had any major issues with it.

            • Kubis
              July 31, 2015

              Yes, generally. I was very impressed by Flyme concept from the start. There was some big bugs present but OS gets better with every update on Android 4.4. so I was patient and updating every month or so. But then updates stops because of new Android. Couple more updates on 4.4 and FLYME would be very good. Then Android Lolipop hits the fan…. and I realized this is unusable update offered for MX4 users and there is at least another 8 months to make system running acceptable on 5.0.1 as amount of bugs to fix is huge! You may be lucky now but I hope your Flyme transition to Android M will be better…

            • balcobomber25
              July 31, 2015

              It’s not just Flyme though that is the problem. Everyphone i have that was updated to 5.0 has been a disaster. I hope all phones updating to Android M is better, because Lollipop has been the biggest headache of any version of Android. It is so poorly optimized there isn’t much Meizu, LG or any other company can do to make up for it.

            • swrz
              July 31, 2015

              Nope. The bootloader is locked.

        • balcobomber25
          July 30, 2015

          There are still huge problems with Lollipop that haven’t been sold on many phones. Personally I would prefer if no company released a lollipop update and Googled focused on optimizing it better. Or just wait for Android M to arrive. Go to any Android forum there are thousands complaints about Lollipop for every phone brand.

          As for international customer support, I have never owned a Meizu before but I have an MX5 now. I had one issue when I first got the phone, I emailed their customer support (I am in the US), they answered me within thirty minutes with step by step information to solve the problem and a phone number to call if I needed anything further.

          • amirexpressir
            July 30, 2015

            wow
            lucky..mine was one time never answered, the other within 2 days and ask for sending bakc only..no assistant (locked bootoader)
            Plz check your email and respond
            thnx

          • Nicole88
            July 30, 2015

            E-mail please. Thanks!

          • AbdulB1
            August 1, 2015

            so even 5.1.1 has problems?

            • balcobomber25
              August 2, 2015

              It is still too early to tell, very few devices have received an update to 5.1.1. Hopefully Google was able to solve the myriad of memory and battery issues.

            • AbdulB1
              August 2, 2015

              Vanilla android should be fine. Personally I don’t like these OEM roms as they have modified too much stuff and thus there are more bugs in it.

            • balcobomber25
              August 2, 2015

              Vanilla android should be fine but is has not. The Nexus Line which all run the purest forms of Android, have had more problems than any other line of phones with lollipop.

      • Fred
        July 31, 2015

        Ah thank you. Now I understand with my Zenphone 6 just run out of battery too fast.
        Damn you Lollipop.

        • balcobomber25
          July 31, 2015

          It is the same with LG G2, Nexus 4 and Nexus 7. I have all three and they all suffer from extreme battery drain after upgrading. There have been some software fixes but battery life is still nowhere close to it was with Kit Kat or Jelly Bean on any of those. I love Android but Lollipop should have never been released, it is so poorly optimized even many popular apps can cause it to come to a crashing halt. Facebook is one of the biggest culprits, so many phones have their performance crippled by the FB app after upgrading.

          • AbdulB1
            August 1, 2015

            which ver of lollipop you are talking about? 5.0 or 5.1?

            • balcobomber25
              August 2, 2015

              Up until 5.1.0 there have been issues on just about every device. 5.1.1. is still too new.

  2. Vic Hristov
    July 30, 2015

    The company has been in trouble, but its new releases look rock solid and I am very happy they did away with the capacitive button in favor of a good old clicky physical home key. I personally don’t care all that much about updates, what matters is smooth performance and Meizu has that (unlike Xiaomi’s which I find terribly slow and overrated). I’ll be ordering Meizu m2s for me and my family as soon as its available.

    • balcobomber25
      July 30, 2015

      In trouble? They sold 8.9 million in the 1st quarter of this year. That as increase over last year of 540%.

      • Vic Hristov
        July 30, 2015

        I was referring to their legal troubles with ZTE mostly, should have clarified.

        • balcobomber25
          July 30, 2015

          Gotcha!

          • Vic Hristov
            July 30, 2015

            8.9 million is also the number for the first half, not the first quarter.

            • balcobomber25
              July 30, 2015

              You are correct. But even so that is huge increase from one year to the next.

      • johndebur
        July 30, 2015

        They had a loss, only breaking even this year , which isnt really good?

        I doubt this has to do with ZTE and their circle patent. Other phone companies also use the circle, like xiaolajiao 🙂

        “This year they are expected to achieve breakeven, reversing a loss of more than 100 million yuan last year”

        • balcobomber25
          July 30, 2015

          Source?

          • johndebur
            July 30, 2015

            ehhm its the source gizchina has posted. They just didnt translate all of it.
            Its in the 2nd paragraph

            “Meizu Nan, vice president of science and technology interview, said Meizu is no longer content to be a small but beautiful manufacturers, This year they are expected to achieve breakeven, reversing a loss of more than 100 million yuan last year, the situationʱ??”

            http://news.mydrivers.com/1/440/440611.htm

            • balcobomber25
              July 30, 2015

              That’s the only place I have been able to find that, I saw that as well as I was hoping you had another source. Would be interested to see their profit/loss statements for 2014 and 2013.

            • johndebur
              July 30, 2015

              Yes your right. Didnt find anything yet. But then google translate and baidu dont help much either 🙂
              But then maybe this is just the loss from Meizu, but they had that investment from alibaba, so in total there is no real loss?
              Dont know where those number come from 🙂

              Ah wait found it, baiduing the chinese words Meizu + loss (魅族 亏损) gives me some result, also some government page about commercial registration and tax numbers.

              http://ssgs.zhuhai.gov.cn/ssdj/ssztkydj0117/201506/t20150605_7664223.html

              Below there is the annual report for 2014 + 2013

              in 2014:

              http://218.104.198.158:8088/SSDJ/ZZFW/NDBG_VIEW.aspx?scztbh=c2830d83-e14c-4aac-b6e1-04bc782682e7&nd=2014

              “Sales (business) income: 6005284759,60 yuan Where: Service Revenue: 0,00 yuan

              Domestic sales: 5786814972,70 yuan Where: Services Turnover: 0,00 yuan

              Tax Amount: 28219346,86 yuan Where: Tariff: 8835070,98 yuan

              The total profit: -220974466,70 yuan Net profit: -222373399,80 yuan

              Total assets: 3398315881,10 yuan Where: Long-term investment: 0,00 yuan

              Total liabilities: 3409549606,40 yuan”

              in 2013 they made +
              http://218.104.198.158/SSDJ/ZZFW/NDBG_VIEW.aspx?scztbh=c2830d83-e14c-4aac-b6e1-04bc782682e7&nd=2013

              Total operating: 3762623821,20 yuan
              The total profit: 136366780,99 yuan
              Tax items: Already tax

  3. Abdullah M.
    July 30, 2015

    I’ve given up hope for a Lollipop update for my MX4 Pro

  4. balcobomber25
    July 30, 2015

    Personally I think it is a smart move. I never really understood the need to release MX4 Pro. It was a great phone but so was the MX4. It would have been like Xiaomi releasing a Mi4 Pro. It just didn’t really make any sense to kill of your flagship device after only a few months.

  5. alex
    July 30, 2015

    In fact the Flyme 4 was never working good at all. That is no Lollipop problem, that’s a MEIZU Problem. I have the Mx3 and the MX4. The MX4 was not one time a great Phone since beginning. The software was slow from the beginning last Year until now. Poor Battery life, mega-slow Camera and much buggy software. The wonderful Hardware is just a joke with this crappy Firmware. On the MX3 I’m running Flyme 3 now, because it works. My MX4 is plagued with this fucking Flyme 4. Everyone who owns an MX4 knows that. So please guys who never owned a Meizu, stop telling People what great Phone the will get. You shouldn’t talk about quality of phones you didn’t own. That’s simply not o.k.

    • amirexpressir
      July 30, 2015

      the only real problem is their locked bootloader…if theirs was unlocked, developer from CM or xiaomi MIUI would may have done a great better customized OS

      • alex
        July 30, 2015

        All Roms I’ve used over the years in all my Phones were based on stock or Cyanogen. CM was a great Project, but that’s long time ago (for me they died after CM7.) Tried many Roms, but was always disappointed. You have to be really lucky to get a really good and stable Rom with lots of features. So there’s no benefit if you have ten custom Rom’s and all are on the same base with the same bugs and most of them missing advanced features. I think Meizu should do their job, that would be enough for me. You know that there’s no Custom Rom if you buy a Meizu. But in the past you’ve paid some bucks more for that because Hardware and Software were perfect. This time is gone, so you can go for a much cheaper Phone with good specs and buggy firmware. Shame on Meizu. I’ve started with the MX2, then MX3 and now the MX4, that is my last one.

        • AbdulB1
          August 1, 2015

          what about mtk devices?

    • Sansa
      July 31, 2015

      Sounds like LeTV.

  6. Antonis
    July 30, 2015

    I own the MX3 and MX4 models. I’m really pisssed of with Meizu because of the short life expectancy of their flagships and the “worse than ever” Flyme 4. In MX3 I use Flyme 4 which works trouble free and smoothly but in MX4 everyhing is a mess. I’m also dissatisfied by their delay of getting out a stable version of Android Lollipop rather than getting every week test versions which cause more and more problems than fixxing them. Personally, as I’ve read in meizufans many members are dissapointed and don’t think of buying the MX5 (including me). I personally believe that they ruined their reputation in just 10 months after the MX4 release. To sum up, I was ready to buy the MX5 but not any more, as I’m going in the next month to buy OnePlus 2.

  7. Sadabat
    July 30, 2015

    I have m1 note. Flyme Os 4 sucks! Especially late notification problem made me crazy. Connection problems with email app, web browser crash problems etc. Very very bad optimized firmware. Still my phone doesn’t have stabil version of Lollipop rom. I think this phone will be my last Meizu device.

  8. Alexandre Tokam Kaptue III
    July 30, 2015

    2 days ago, Official Meizu France Facebook page said that “Mx5 Pro will all surprise you soon”

    And They received Lolipop International version from Meizu China. Screenshot :

    • balcobomber25
      July 31, 2015

      Is this an official office of Meizu, a reseller or just a fan page?

      • Alexandre Tokam Kaptue III
        July 31, 2015

        Official

        • balcobomber25
          July 31, 2015

          That is interesting then! Guess we have to wait and see what happens