Chinese Smartphone Maker Meizu to “All in AI”

On February 18th, Xingji Meizu announced a strategic adjustment, ceasing the development of traditional smartphone projects and going “All in AI.”

Shen Ziyu, CEO of Xingji Meizu, stated that after two years of team integration, resource allocation, product layout, and thorough pre-research on related technologies, Meizu now possesses the capability to fully transition into the AI field. He believes that Meizu has a comprehensive hardware team in research and development and the supply chain, along with a systematic software team for development, design, and interaction, which will provide solid technological support and service guarantee for Meizu’s “All in AI” initiative.

Considering the transitional needs of both new and existing users, during the transitional period of Meizu’s “All In AI,” the user experience and services of the original Meizu Flyme, Flyme Auto, Flyme AR, MYVU, PANDAER, and the borderless intelligent industry business will not be affected. Additionally, existing Meizu smartphone products currently on sale will continue to provide normal software and hardware maintenance services to users.

Former Vice President of Meizu, Li Nan, commented on Weibo, “We did a lot of work before the New Year, and I am pleased that Meizu’s determination is firm. Without changing tracks, there is no future.”

However, a source within Xingji Meizu informed Chinese media Jiemian that halting the development of traditional smartphone projects does not mean they will no longer introduce phone-form products. Instead, they will integrate AI solutions into future products, offering a completely different interactive experience from traditional smartphones.

Shen Ziyu stated that in 2024, Meizu’s newly developed smartphone operating system for the AI era will undergo a system update, establishing the foundational capabilities of an AI-era operating system. Furthermore, Meizu’s first AI Device hardware product will be officially launched within the year and will compete with global AI device manufacturers. Additionally, Meizu will focus on building an AI ecosystem, opening up its Meizu AI Device hardware to numerous top international large model teams, including OpenAI, to drive AI technology development.

With the global smartphone market seeing longer replacement cycles and smart phones facing innovation bottlenecks, AI has become the common transformation direction for smartphone manufacturers. On the same day as Meizu’s announcement, OPPO CEO Chen Mingyong also released an internal memo stating that AI smartphones will become the third stage after feature phones and smartphones. OPPO is fully prepared and has established a dedicated AI center, concentrating resources on AI.

In fact, since last year, manufacturers such as Honor, OPPO, and vivo have launched phones equipped with large models containing 7 billion training parameters. The most noticeable changes in user experience come in the form of innovation in interaction and applications, such as AI call summary functions and intelligent image functions. Honor’s MagicOS 8 extends large models to more specific scenarios, such as predicting users’ next needs based on their conversations in social media apps and providing relevant services. However, this is clearly not the ultimate form of AI smartphones. Apart from application innovation, whether the inherent form of phones, interaction modes, and even the profit models of phone manufacturers will undergo a true revolution is the biggest expectation for the AI smartphone era from the outside world. This will also be the challenge for Meizu and all smartphone manufacturers.

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