Meizu Unveils Three New Budget Smartphones Starting at $117

Meizu unveiled three budget smartphones on September 19 at its Beijing product launch event, namely the Meizu 16X, Meizu V8 (M8), and Meizu X8. The three mid- to low-range smartphones share many similarities in design and are catered to people looking for budget smartphones without a dip in overall performance.

Meizu 16X:

Meizu 16X
Meizu 16X

Meizu 16X is runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 chipset with a 2.2GHz octa-core CPU and an Adreno 616 GPU, paired with a Turing Turbo Technology. The company claims that the resultant combination has been rigorously tested and was proven to be more powerful than other turbo technology GPUs currently on the market.

Meizu 16X
Meizu 16X

The body of the 16X is made from an integrated all-metal material which Meizu engineers have claimed to feel much smoother than the Meizu 16. It is available in three colours: black, gold and kiln white. Like its predecessors, the kiln white has a well-polished ceramic chinaware texture, a result of special engineering by the company.

Meizu 16X under screen fingerprint sensor
Meizu 16X under screen fingerprint sensor

The model is powered by a 3100 mAh battery and employs the same customized Samsung display used on the Meizu 16 — a 6-inch Super AMOLED FHD+ display. The company boasts that the device can handle up to 14 hours of intense usage, such as playing videos, gaming, and running high performance apps continuously throughout the day.

Meizu 16X dual camera
Meizu 16X dual camera

In the camera department, the 16X sports a 20MP Sony IMX350 lens and another 12MP Sony IMX380 lens at the back, and a 20MP selfie camera at the front. They are aided by a 4-axis OIS and Qualcomm’s Spectra 250 ISP. The fully automatic HDR cameras are backed by AI recognition engines that can identify up to 20 different scenarios to produce better photos.

The Meizu 16X smartphone is priced at 2,098 yuan ($306) for the 64GB storage version and the 128GB storage version costs 2,398 yuan. The smartphone is slated to go on sale in China on September 26.

Meizu V8:

Meizu V8
Meizu V8

The second smartphone Meizu has unveiled during its product launch event is the Meizu V8 designed by Jack Wong – the company’s president. It is meant to compete with similar models in the thousand-yuan entry-level range.

Meizu V8
Meizu V8

The smartphone has a 5.7-inch 18:9 screen, a polycarbonate body, and a MediaTek MT6739 chipset with 3GB of RAM and 32GB storage. Its rear camera has a 13MP sensor and a f/2.2 lens, the selfie camera is the same 5MP f/1.9 module and also allows for facial recognition. The V8 is powered by a 3200 mAh battery and built around a 5.7-inch in-cell IPS display with an HD+ resolution.

The Meizu V8 comes in two versions, the regular V8 and V8 Pro, which has the incredible price of 799 yuan and 1,089 yuan respectively. They are a true bargain for those in the market for low budget and high-performance smartphones.

Meizu X8:

Meizu X8
Meizu X8

The final smartphone unveiled at the event was the Meizu X8. The smartphone sports a 6.2-inch full-HD+ screen with a 1080×2220 pixel display at 401ppi pixel density. It is offered in a 4GB RAM variant, and sports a dual camera setup as well.

Meizu X8
Meizu X8

The X8 has one 12MP sensor with f/1.9 aperture and dual PD focus, and a secondary 5MP sensor as well. The Meizu 8X supports rear fingerprint unlock with a sensor right below the camera, and packs a 3210mAh battery with fast charge support.

Meizu X8 dual camera
Meizu X8 dual camera

It sits at a comfortable size that measures 151.2×74.6×7.8mm, and the smartphone weighs a little more than the 16X at 160 grams. All of the other specifications of the Meizu X8 are identical to the Meizu 16X.

Meizu X8 fingerprint recognition and face recognition
Meizu X8 fingerprint recognition and face recognition

The Meizu X8 comes in three variants: the 4GB/64GB configuration model costs 1,598 yuan; the 6GB/64GB configuration model costs 1,798 yuan; and finally, the 6GB/128GB model is the most costly at 1,998 yuan. It has been made available in black, blue, and white colour options, and is slated go on sale in China starting October 15.

Meizu X8
Meizu X8