Meizu has quietly sneaked a 2 GB RAM version of the Meizu m1 through TENAA in China. A launch before Chinese New Year is possible.
When Meizu released the m1, many fans were happy with the overall specifications but disappointed by two things: it was single SIM, and it had only 1 GB of RAM. The problem was that just a day before the m1 was released, Xiaomi posted details of a 2 GB RAM version of the Xiaomi Redmi 2 at TENAA, after announcing only a 1 GB version.
Given the amount of work Meizu put into building the m1 as a Redmi killer, it comes as no surprise that a 2 GB RAM version of the phone has also passed through the TENAA approval process. The details of the phone appear unchanged, with the same screen, processor and China-only network support, but with more RAM. Pricing is expected to be around 799 Yuan.
What TENAA is, and why leaks come from it
If you followed Chinese phone launches in 2015, you saw the name TENAA constantly. It is the Chinese telecommunications authority that certifies phones before they can be sold in mainland China, roughly the Chinese equivalent of the Federal Communications Commission in the United States. Every new model, and often every variant of a model, has to pass through it.
What made TENAA so interesting to phone watchers was how much it published. Listings typically included photos from several angles, dimensions, weight, screen size and resolution, processor speed, RAM, storage, camera resolutions and battery capacity. For a brand like Meizu, a TENAA listing was often the first hard evidence that a product existed, weeks before the marketing started. We saw this with the Meizu MX4 Pro in October 2014, when a TENAA certification confirmed its 3,100 mAh battery and 2K display ahead of the launch.
Two things are worth remembering about these listings, though. First, certification is not a launch. Manufacturers certify variants they are considering, and not every certified configuration ends up on sale. Second, a listing only describes the hardware. It tells you nothing about price, availability or timing.
The RAM race of early 2015
The m1 launched on January 28, 2015 at 699 Yuan, with a 5-inch 1280 x 768 display, a 64-bit MediaTek MT6732 quad-core processor, 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage. You can see the full launch specifications in Meizu m1 officially released for 699 Yuan.
By the standards of the time, those were solid budget specs, but RAM had become a headline number. The m1 note, released a month earlier, already had 2 GB. As Android apps grew heavier and people kept more of them open, 1 GB phones were starting to feel cramped: apps would reload when you switched back to them, and the phone could feel sluggish with a browser, a messaging app and music all running at once.
That is why the Redmi 2 listing mattered. Xiaomi and Meizu were fighting over exactly the same buyers, mostly young and price-conscious, who compared specification sheets closely. If one brand offered 2 GB for a small premium, the other had to answer.
What happened next
The m1 went on sale in China on February 5, 2015, in the 1 GB configuration announced at launch. We were not able to confirm from reliable records whether the certified 2 GB configuration was ever sold widely, so treat this report as what it was: evidence of a variant under consideration, not a product you could necessarily buy.
What we can say is where Meizu went next. Its following budget models moved to 2 GB as standard. The M2 Note, announced on June 2, 2015, came with 2 GB of RAM and a MediaTek MT6753 octa-core processor, and the Meizu M2 that followed used the same chip. Later M series phones went further, with the range expanding in 2016 to include the M3S, M3 Note, M3E and M3 Max. The question Meizu fans asked in February 2015 was answered within a generation.
How much RAM does a phone really need?
A decade on, the numbers are very different, but the principle has not changed. RAM is the working space where your phone keeps apps and data it is actively using. More RAM does not make a phone faster at any single task, but it lets the phone keep more apps ready in the background, so switching between them is instant instead of triggering a reload.
- Too little RAM shows up as apps restarting, lost browser tabs and stutter when multitasking.
- Enough RAM is invisible: you simply stop noticing it.
- More than enough RAM rarely adds anything you will feel, although it can help a phone stay comfortable as apps get heavier over the years.
The practical advice for buyers is the same as it was in 2015. RAM is one of several things that decide how a phone feels, alongside the processor, the storage speed and how well the software is optimized. A phone with less RAM and lean software can feel smoother than one with more RAM and a bloated interface.
Why it still matters
This story is a small snapshot of how fast the budget phone market moved in 2015. Specifications that were headline features in January were baseline by summer, and manufacturers used certification filings, leaks and last-minute variants to outmaneuver each other. For buyers it meant rapid progress at low prices.
It also shows why certification listings deserve careful reading. They are among the most reliable leaks you will find, because they are official filings, but they describe possibilities, not promises. For more on the m1’s design details before launch, see Yellow Meizu m1 mini spy photo shows single LED flash.
