Earlier today Meizu launched the Meizu Pro 5, now pricing has been revealed to start from 2799 Yuan, 1000 Yuan more than the previous Meizu MX5. Here are the full details.
Following the rumours of the Meizu Pro 5 you will undoubtedly be in a state of “so what” after seeing the official launch. The rumours, and leaks all proved to be accurate and the design is basically the same (albeit larger) than the Mediatek powered Meizu MX5.
For those of you who missed the launch (and all those rumours) here are the main features and specifications of the ‘new’ Meizu Pro 5.
The new phone has a larger 5.7-inch FHD display with 2.5D glass panel that sits raised above the alloy body. The body itself is nearly identical to the MX5 (i.e slim and made of a magnesium alloy) but obviously slightly larger to accommodate the bigger panel.
Above the Gorilla Glass 3 protected Super AMOLED display is a 5 mega-pixel Omnivision camera with F2.2 aperture. The rear is a Sony IMX230 sensor with Sapphire glass protected 6p lens.
On the inside details continue to follow the rumours with Samsung providing an Exynos 7420 chipset. Two version of the phone will be available a 32GB model with 3GB RAM for 2799 Yuan and a 4GB RAM 64GB version for a higher price of 3099 Yuan (keep in mind these are Chinese RRP and Meizu are known for high official international pricing).
USB Type C has been drafted in on the 166g Meizu Pro 5, and it is a 3.0 plug for fast data transfer. It also support’s Meizu’s own fast M Charge 2.0 with a claimed charge speed of 65% of the 3050mAh battery in only 30 minutes.
Meizu have once again tried to get to their roots with the Pro 5 and have announced that the phone will feature HIFI audio using ES9018 + OPA1612 audio processors working together to offer HIFI 2.0 sound. Let’s hope it works better than on the Meizu MX4 Pro.
We see the return of Meizu’s fingerprint scanner, which they claim to be the fastest available plus their mBack function, basically a new name for the same gesture controls always available in Flyme.
Speaking of which, Flyme 4.5 comes on the Meizu Pro 5 based on Android Lollipop (although Flyme 5.0 was also announced). And last but not least the Pro 5 has dual SIM support!
So all in all a nice package but is it really worth 1000 Yuan more than the 1799 Yuan Meizu MX5? The benefits we see of the Pro 5 are USB Type C, fast charging and better performance from the Samsung chipset. Then again the Meizu MX5 has damn fast performance already, the same camera hardware, a more compact design is much cheaper and is on sale right now!
We guesstimate that official pricing for the Meizu Pro 5 will start at around the $500 mark while resellers should be able to offer the 3GB RAM 32GB version for around $400 and the 4GB RAM 64GB model for $450.
Meizu MX5 or Pro 5? Which would you choose?
It’s not the same camera as the MX5, it’s packing the IMX230 vs the MX5’s 220. I know it’s nit picking, but all the same.
I know for a lot of people the difference between the MX5 and the Pro 5 in performance will seem negligible, and the difference in design isn’t that great, but I do appreciate what Meizu are trying to do here.
For my part, having been very impressed by the M2 Note I bought when I arrived in Hangzhou, I’m quite likely to pick up one of Meizu’s higher-end offerings at some point in the year as the device I will take back to the UK and use as my daily driver. The Pro 5 certainly has me tempted.
hey this is alot to ask but when are you returning to the uk ?, and would you purchase a Pro 5 for me any i can pay you back through paypal or something, as im also intrested in this phone but by the time i buy from a reseller im looking at around 350 GBP when this phones retailing for 280. cheers
September next year so I’m not exactly a timely option.
no worries mate. enjoy your stay in china 🙂 thanks anyway
The differences between the 220 and 230 are negligble for most people , they’re built on the same architecture. It’s like the 135 and 214. You can take amazing photos with either of them if you know what you’re doing. The major difference between the two is 4k video recording.
5.7″ … now we are talking. The first Meizu device I am seriously considering to be honest. And it does pack a punch too.
I would love to see a 6, but it’s a good start.
hmm im seriously thinking about selling my Letv One Pro (which is still about 450~500€) to get myself the MX5 Pro, your thoughts Andi? Actually im quite happy with my Letv cant really say anthing bad about it power consumptions is strangely ok, it lasts about 1 day with 5hours intense use (videos + gaming)
IMO you should just keep until the Meizu Pro 6
Actually 800 more expensive, not 1000. The 16GB MX5 is 1799 and the 32GB version is 1999. The Pro 5 base version is 32GB.
I have an mx5 and been using it for around 6 weeks – during which time the phone has been lightning quick with zero performance issues. Can’t see how a different chip set will improve real world performance. Essentially meizu are asking for a lot more money for a slightly faster (Than an already exceptional) finger scanner, a slightly improved rear Camera (mx5 cam is already decent) and expandable memory (which I admit is a bonus). When balanced though, I can’t justify the price difference against perceived improvements.
The same problem they faced with the MX4 vs. MX4 Pro. One issue you didn’t mention is the audio. “Retina Sound” is now “Hi Fi 2.0”. The two headline chips (ESS and TI) are the same as in the MX4 Pro, but if they managed to rework the sound rather than just rename it, they’ll attract additional sales. That didn’t happen with the MX4 Pro because the MX4 had surprisingly excellent audio from a simple MediaTek (with help from Wolfson) solution.
MX5 Audio is good not great. Audiophile will hear the difference but for most it’s good.
Absolute beast, and cheaper than the S6 Edge.
Phone is too big, battery is too small.
I’ve now had a few months to really put the MX5 through its paces and after that I would give it a solid 8.5/10. My biggest issues with it are software related, first the fingerprints don’t always register correctly. Sometimes I have to reboot it, to get it to work, not often but it doea happen. Other problems are a lot of Flyme is off limits if you can’t read Chinese.
Apart from that I love the phone. It’s more than powerful enough for my usage and the camera is Amazing. The MX5 is more than powerful enough for most people. The only added bonuses i see with the Pro are bigger display and SD Card. Not sure that’s worth the extra money to me.
I find that interesting, I have the M1 Note and am a big fan of Flyme now. I haven’t found the OS itself to be overly Chinese. I assume you mean the apps that come bundled with it? I discovered while fiddling that the music app is actually quite amazing. At first glance it seems that it is all Chinese based, but search in English for a song. I was pretty blown away. It allows you to search for music online and play it buffered or download it. The music selection seams pretty endless, I have found stuff on there that I couldn’t find anywhere else. It was an awesome discovery for me(I am a huge music fan). I am keen to see a review of the Pro 5’s sound. If it is great I may consider it as my next phone.
I don’t use any of the apps that came with it. I change just about everything including using Nova Launcher and Open Camera. But the Chinese parts I am talking about:
– Change Log for updates.
– Meizu App Center
– Flyme Personalize. I would love to use some of the custom themes but its all a guessing game unless you read Chinese.
– Flyme Account
The worst is the updates/change log. I don’t like to just install whatever update comes along, I like to know what is actually being updated. The rest is all cosmetic but it’s a change that will have to be made if Meizu wants to really expand to English markets like India and the US.
I see what you mean, to truly compete with their products they will need to go fully English. I haven’t had to worry to much about updates, since there haven’t been any since I got it 🙂
I have had 3 for the MX5 since getting it, the most recent one was on 29 August.
Ag, ja I think they have kinda forgotten the M1 Note exists :-). Which is something else they might want to address if they want to get serious about cracking the Western market
That’s something all companies need to address, even some of the top western brands suck with updates.