China’s Meizu launches trendy m2 for under US$100 to win over young smartphone shoppers

Reading Time:2 minutes

Meizu CEO Bai Yongxiang at the launch event in Beijing on Wednesday. Photo: Simon Song

Published: 7:15pm, 29 Jul 2015Updated: 7:46pm, 29 Jul 2015

China’s Meizu launched another trendy smartphone in Beijing on Wednesday, the m2, and announced a sales record in the second quarter as it continues to slowly close the gap with top domestic rival Xiaomi.

The 16-gigabytle model offers a five-inch 720p fully laminated screen and retails for 599 yuan (US$96), making it 50 to 70 per cent cheaper than the brand’s higher-end MX4 and MX4 Pro models, which have both emerged as best sellers this year in China.

The m2, which follows hot on the heels of the m2 note, released last month, runs Android 5.1 and aims to attract a similarly young demographic, the company said.

It comes equipped with Samsung’s 1.3-megapixel CMOS image sensor and includes built-in software to make images look more attractive, which has proven popular with young women, especially in China.

In the wake of a recent backlash against memory-clogging, pre-installed apps, the company said on its official webpage that is kept these low but the memory high, with 2GB of onboard RAM in addition to Samsung's high-speed flash memory.

The new smartphone supports two 4G SIM cards and evokes the iPhone 5 due to its general appearance and the use of similar shell colours - white, pink, grey and sky blue. It comes in a plastic case.