Earlier today Meizu released information about its next launch on the Chinese social network Weibo. The details tell us that January 28 is when we will see the new “m” series smartphone.
There have been rumors about the new Meizu launch for weeks, but they have finally been put to rest with the release of official details on Weibo. According to Meizu’s official account, we can expect the launch of a new product.
The launch on January 28 comes under the name “Connected,” which hints at some sort of joining or networking of products, partners or services, similar to what we saw during the Meizu MX4 launch.
As for the main product, many believe we will finally see the Meizu m1 mini: a smaller, 5-inch, MediaTek powered phone to accompany the m1 note that Meizu released last month. Pricing is believed to be around the $100 mark in China, where it will compete with the Xiaomi Redmi 2.
Why a second budget phone, so soon?
The timing tells you a lot about where Meizu’s head was at the end of 2014. For most of its history, Meizu had been a company of one flagship a year. The Meizu M9 arrived on January 1, 2011, the Meizu MX exactly a year later, and the MX2, MX3 and MX4 followed a similar rhythm. Each was a premium phone with a strong design and Meizu’s own Flyme software.
That approach was being squeezed. Xiaomi had shown that a Chinese brand could sell huge volumes of well-specified phones at low prices, largely online, and its Redmi line had made the budget segment the place where market share was won. Meizu’s answer was a separate series. In December 2014 it announced the m1 note, the first phone of the new M series, built to bring strong features at a relatively low price. The m1 note was announced on December 23, 2014 and released in early January 2015, with a 5.5-inch 1080p display, a MediaTek MT6752 octa-core processor, 2 GB of RAM and a 13 megapixel camera.
Launching a smaller companion just five weeks later was a statement of intent. Meizu was no longer going to leave the lower end of the market to Xiaomi.
What happened next
The date held. On January 28, 2015, Meizu launched the phone, but not under the name the rumors expected. It was called the Meizu m1, without “mini,” and it belonged to the Meilan line, the name Meizu used in China for its budget range. The key numbers from launch day:
- Price: 699 Yuan, lower than most of the leaks had suggested.
- Display: 5 inches at 1280 x 768, around 300 pixels per inch.
- Processor: the 64-bit MediaTek MT6732 quad-core chip.
- Memory: 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage.
- Cameras: 13 megapixels on the back, 5 megapixels on the front.
- Design: a polycarbonate body in a range of bright colors, with interchangeable colored back shells.
Sales started on February 5, 2015. The full specification sheet from launch day is in our report Meizu m1 officially released for 699 Yuan.
Most of the pre-launch rumors got the broad picture right: a 5-inch screen, a MediaTek chip and a price aimed squarely at the Redmi 2. Where they went wrong was on the details, which is typical of leaks from the final week before a launch, when accurate component information mixes with guesses about pricing and naming. The price in particular surprised people, because Meizu undercut the expected figure rather than meeting it.
The “Connected” branding also invited speculation beyond the phone, including a rumored headphone collaboration with AKG, which we followed in Meizu and AKG Acoustics to release headphones at “Connected” launch?
How the budget bet played out
The M series quickly became the backbone of Meizu’s lineup. On June 2, 2015, Meizu announced the M2 Note, which added a physical home button and a new MediaTek MT6753 octa-core processor, and Meizu said it sold more than 1.2 million units in its first month. The Meizu M2 followed with the same chip and Flyme 4.5. In 2016 the range grew again with the M3S, M3 Note, M3E and M3 Max.
The strategy worked in the sense that Meizu sold a lot more phones. The cost was that the brand became much more crowded, with several similar models every year, and it had to fight on price in a segment where margins were thin and Xiaomi, Huawei’s Honor and others were just as aggressive.
In the longer run, that pressure changed Meizu itself. In 2022, Geely Holding Group, through its subsidiary DreamSmart, acquired a 79.09 percent stake and took control of the company. In February 2024, Meizu announced it would exit the traditional smartphone industry to focus on AI, and its software was reworked into Flyme AIOS. The brand still released phones afterwards, including the Note 16 series in May 2025 and the Meizu 22 in September 2025, but it was a very different company from the one teasing a launch on Weibo in January 2015.
Why it still matters
The “Connected” launch marks the moment Meizu changed from a boutique flagship maker into a volume brand. For buyers, the budget phone war of 2015 was a great thing: prices fell and specifications rose quickly. It is a big part of why a capable phone costs so much less today than it did a decade ago.
For brands, it was a harder lesson. Competing on price alone rarely builds loyalty, and several companies that flooded the market with near-identical models in those years have since shrunk or disappeared. If you are choosing a phone now, it is worth asking whether you are paying for something that will last, which is exactly the question we explore in what a mid-range phone gives up.
