Meizu Exits Smartphone Business to Focus on AI-Driven Devices

The smartphone market has always been fiercely competitive, and many big brands have had to exit the market or significantly reduce their mobile businesses. Meizu, once one of the biggest handset manufacturers in China, is the latest company to make this move.

Over the weekend, Meizu announced that it will no longer be making phones and will instead focus on “tomorrow’s devices” driven by AI. The company’s Chairman and CEO, Shen Ziyu, explained in a 6-minute video that Meizu made this decision about a year ago when it shifted from being a smartphone company to becoming an “ecological group.”

According to Shen, the smartphone market is no longer driven by innovation. Instead, key players are more focused on adding more memory, bigger cameras, and batteries to their products. As a result of this shift in direction, Meizu has canceled the development of its upcoming flagships – Meizu 21 Pro, Meizu 22, and Meizu 23. This makes Meizu 21 the company’s last flagship.

Despite this major change in focus, many believe that Meizu will continue to be successful. The Chinese giant previously dropped its very successful MP3 business to focus on the smartphone market and achieved huge success with its smartphones, particularly in China. Now, with a shift towards embracing the AI trend, only time will tell if this decision will be as visionary as the previous one.