Meizu cancels all its upcoming flagships, exits smartphone business

Competition in the smartphone industry is so fierce that many major brands have had to admit defeat and exit the market altogether. Microsoft, Nokia, HTC, LG and Sony are just some of the big names that no longer release phones or have decided to shrink their mobile businesses to insignificant sizes.

Meizu is the latest company to join the list of high-profile names leaving the smartphone market. Meizu, once one of China's largest phone makers, announced over the weekend that it would no longer make phones.

The Chinese company has revealed plans to focus all its attention on AI-driven “devices of tomorrow” (via GizmoChina). In a 6 minute videoShen Ziyu, chairman and CEO of Xingji Meizu Group, said the change in direction began about a year ago when the company transformed from a “smartphone company” to an “ecological group.”

According to Shen, the smartphone market is no longer driven by innovation. Instead, major players are focusing more on adding more memory, bigger cameras, and batteries to their products.

Following the recent announcement, the development of Meizu's upcoming flagships – Meizu 21 Pro, Meizu 22 and Meizu 23, has been canceled. This makes the Meizu 21 the company's latest flagship.

If there is a company that would continue to succeed even after such shit, it is definitely Meizu. The Chinese giant has abandoned its very successful MP3 business to focus on the smartphone market.

After experiencing huge success with its smartphones (mainly in China), Meizu has now decided to embrace the AI ​​trend. Time will tell if the decision was as visionary as the previous one.