Meizu

Meizu will no longer make ‘traditional’ Android phones as it goes ‘all in on AI’

Ben Schoon | Feb 19 2024 - 8:45 am PT

Meizu has announced that it is “all in on AI,” with the company throwing in the towel on making Android smartphones.

In business for over a decade now, Meizu has been selling Android smartphones out of China, often with some crazy ideas. In 2019, for example, the company showed off a device with no charging port or buttons (which was a massive failure). Prior to that, Meizu also pretty aggressively tried to enter the US market, but never made a splash. The company still sells smartphones today, but isn’t really a major player in any meaningful markets.

But, in a post this week, Meizu has announced a major shift.

The company will go “all in on AI” and end work on “traditional smartphone projects.” There’s no word yet on if this means that there will be no phones from the company, but the announcement video references projects like the Humane AI Pin and Rabbit R1, suggesting that Meizu is focusing on alternate form factors.

The video also details that work on FlymeOS, the company’s Android skin, will transition to working on AI terminal devices. A “new mobile OS” centered around AI will arrive this year, the company says, with some new hardware product also coming out sometime later in the year.

The Meizu 20 series, released last year, will be the company’s last “traditional” Android launch, with Meizu 21 series not coming.

Meizu commits to continued support for its phones in China, but there’s no word on how this affects any international customers. That said, Meizu hasn’t been very active outside of China for a while now, as GSMArena points out.