In recent years, Apple, Xiaomi, Huawei, VIVO, OPPO, and OnePlus have been in dispute in the smartphone market, but careful people have found that the high-spirited Meizu has not appeared in the circle for a long time. Is it cool, or is it silently rich? Let's take a look at Meizu's development history and its current situation.
In 2003, Huang Zhang founded the Meizu brand in Zhuhai, Guangdong, and with its deep accumulation in the MP3 industry, Meizu MP3 rose rapidly, climbing to the leading position in the domestic market in just a few years, and its annual sales once broke through the billion mark.
In 2007, iOS and Android were introduced, ushering in a new era in the smartphone market. Against this backdrop, Huang Zhang was keenly aware of the decline in the MP3 market and resolutely decided to switch Meizu to the smartphone camp. In the face of traditional strong manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola, HTC and other competitors with strong funds and deep user bases, Meizu's transformation is undoubtedly full of challenges and opportunities.
Thanks to Huang Zhang's efforts, Meizu's first smartphone, the Meizu M8, has been meticulously crafted for two years. On February 18, 2009, the Meizu M8 was launched with a 3.4-inch 720x480 resolution capacitive screen, Samsung S3C6410 processor, and Mymobile operating system based on Windows CE 6.0, with sales exceeding 100,000 units and sales exceeding 500 million yuan in half a year.
Meizu M8 won the first battle, and Huang Zhang gained fame and fortune. In 2011, the Meizu M9 was unveiled, and the operating system transitioned from Windows CE to Android, and then ushered in the self-developed Flyme system, which marked a major achievement of Meizu in technology. Over the years, Meizu has continued to expand its network of stores and began to expand into overseas markets, waiting for opportunities to increase its share of the mobile phone market and its international position.
However, the rapid development has exposed various problems within Meizu. Between 2009 and 2014, Meizu released only seven mobile phones, and there were frequent delays in launching or shipping them. At this time, the impact of Xiaomi and the birth of Internet mobile phones have reshaped the price strategy, OPPO and vivo have gradually emerged, and many traditional brands have also successfully transformed.
Meizu's share was weak under the scarcity of products and fierce market competition, and the core employee group led by vice presidents left the company, and its software strength was seriously damaged in a short period of time. Under these multiple pressures, Huang Zhang had to return to the helm, deepen the online and offline sales strategy, bring in capital forces, and launch employee incentive programs to attract talent.
In the same year, Meizu launched the Flyme powered by YunOS system and released the MX4 equipped with this system. This was followed by the launch of the sub-brand Meizu, which gradually brought Meizu to the low-end market. In 2015, Meizu achieved the feat of selling 20 million units, but the soaring sales performance also brought heavy debt and after-sales pressure to Meizu.
In the face of various adversities, Huang Zhang began to adjust the company's structure at the beginning of 2017, splitting Meizu into three business divisions: Meizu, Meizu and Flyme. Despite this, under the trend of full screen, Meizu has not been able to keep pace with it. Although the Pro 7 series innovatively designed a rear "picture screen", it did not win the favor of the market.
In the following years, the Meizu brand withdrew from the market, Meizu's major executives also left one after another, and the sales and reputation of many new products fell.
Therefore, people have basically not seen Meizu in recent years, although it is not really cool, and new products are being released one after another, but there is no longer the momentum of the past, and it is impossible to be high-profile if you want to. Meizu, which does not have a yellow chapter, can be said to be a thing or a person, and it is surviving in the cracks of the battlefield.
I wonder how many of you here are loyal fans of Meizu?