After last year's launch of the Meizu MX in Hong Kong, it once became a sought-after smartphone in Zhongguancun despite its premium price. However, recently, according to market reports, with increased supply and advantages in release timing from domestic brands like Xiaomi and Huawei, the Meizu MX has been slow to officially launch domestically. Limited gray-market supplies have resulted in much less market interest.
IT commentator Li Zhongcun stated that with the fast pace of hardware updates in smartphones, delaying a product launch after announcing its concept can easily lead to being overtaken by competitors.
Mr. Zhang Xiaolin from Dinghao Mall, specializing in enthusiast smartphones, told reporters: "The Meizu MX isn't performing well in the market now. It hasn't officially launched on the mainland, and its promotion efforts aren't as effective as those of Huawei or Xiaomi. Media attention for Meizu is also decreasing rapidly. Now, reselling one Xiaomi phone can earn five hundred yuan, while selling the Meizu MX is very difficult."
In addition, besides low market promotion leading to reduced brand awareness, there are other reasons why Meizu has lost market favor, such as severe heating issues, slight backlight leakage, and quality problems. Additionally, due to the low prevalence of the phone, repair troubles are also a major factor.
Market Observation: The "charm" of Meizu is shrinking.
Meizu originally was a manufacturer of MP3 and MP4 digital products. After announcing its entry into the smartphone market, it once attracted many eyeballs with its ultra-high specifications, becoming a dream domestic phone among enthusiasts. However, repeated delays and postponed launches have shocked many fans.
According to Baidu Mobile Brand Ranking data, Meizu's attention in the domestic smartphone market continues to be low. Currently, the mainstream domestic smartphone brands are Xiaomi, Lenovo, ZTE, and Huawei. According to the latest Baidu data as of February 29th, Meizu's search volume is only 50% of Lenovo's, and it lags behind the currently popular Xiaomi by a factor of seven.
Investigation shows that Meizu mainly uses branded franchise stores for direct sales. Compared to high-cost hotspots, Meizu's brand presence in retail outlets is disappearing. A mobile phone dealer in Chengdu revealed, "The store on Taisheng South Road has already been rented by Samsung. This was originally Meizu's largest store in Chengdu. The key issue is foot traffic; without purchasing power, channel costs cannot be supported. The owner of the Meizu store lost a lot of money." Investigations found sparse foot traffic in Meizu stores in Beijing and other areas, with little interest shown.
Reporter Follow-up: Product Gaps with Other Brands
On Meizu's official forum, many users reported that Meizu specialty stores rely on selling Apple accessories and other brands' digital products to sustain their livelihoods. Some even sell chickens and ducks in their specialty stores, and many Meizu specialty stores in places like Dalian and Jinan are on the verge of closing.
Industry insiders said, "Lenovo and Huawei quickly update new models to meet various consumer needs. Xiaomi’s MIUI firmware updates weekly to optimize phone performance and improve user convenience in details. In terms of channel investment, Lenovo and Huawei have mature channels and brand investments accumulated over the years, enabling them to compete with international brands like Samsung and HTC. Meizu is encountering crises in these two aspects."
Facing increasingly fierce competition in the smartphone market, Mr. Zhang, who has been engaged in mobile phone sales in Zhongguancun for many years, said, "Under conditions where Meizu does not invest more funds in channels compared to Lenovo and Huawei, Meizu also has significant gaps in product research and development and software upgrades. Basically, few people inquire about Meizu products these days."
"Monotonous product structure is the biggest risk for specialty stores," industry insiders frankly admitted. To join a Meizu specialty store, including rent, decoration, and inventory costs, ordinary agents need around 500,000 yuan, while larger flagship stores require over a million. Meizu pressures agents with inventory, and whether these risks can be sold out is entirely borne by the channels themselves.
Many agents have found that users now have more choices in terms of smartphone prices and configurations, especially with the rise of domestic brands like Lenovo and Huawei in the mobile terminal market, which has caused a huge impact on Meizu, Coolpad, and other domestic manufacturers.
It is reported that Lenovo's mobile phone shipments this year could exceed ten million units. Yu Chengdong, head of Huawei's mobile terminal department, vowed that in 2012, Huawei would spare no expense to upgrade product configurations, launch more new products, and increase market investment. Huawei's annual sales target this year is 60 million phones.
User Feedback: Warranty and After-sales Service Are Major Issues
Due to the delayed mainland launch, warranty and after-sales service have become major problems for the Meizu MX. The Hong Kong version of the Meizu MX is priced at HK$3099. If users purchase the MX in Hong Kong and want cross-border warranty service, they must obtain a certificate from Meizu after purchase. This certificate requires specific requests from consumers, otherwise, warranty services on the mainland will be troublesome, leading to an awkward situation where only "repairs" are possible.
In contrast, Lenovo mobile phones offer unified warranty services without reducing domestic market service standards like Meizu does. Regardless of where the phone is purchased, the same after-sales standard applies, without differential treatment.
Moreover, the non-professional nature of the repair departments in Meizu specialty stores causes headaches for many Meizu users. One user reflected on the Meizu forum, "Repairs mostly rely on returning the phone to the factory. Replacing a back cover cost me nearly 500 yuan." Many users report similar issues.
Some users also complained that Meizu franchise stores add extra costs to repairs, forcing users to bear additional expenses when their phones have issues.
A person with many years of experience in mobile phone repairs revealed, "Basically, motherboard repair costs account for about 50% of the phone's selling price. After further markup at repair points, users face persistently high repair costs."
Around 30% of the price users pay for a mobile phone goes to channel agents. For example, a phone sold for around 3000 yuan may have a factory price of over 2000 yuan. Agents sell it for close to 3000 yuan, adding repair profits to make the entire industrial chain profitable.
Product Hardware Issues:
Issue One: Can HD Output Be Perfect?
During previous tests of the Meizu MX's HD function, it was found that although the Meizu MX can perfectly output video, it cannot simultaneously output sound.
This phenomenon is also common in the Meizu MX forum and Baidu Tieba, with many similar questions about HD functions, such as "serious screen snowflake phenomena" and "unable to play videos." Some even suspect design flaws in the Meizu MX itself. However, after investigation, it was found that HD settings must be extremely strict; otherwise, the aforementioned situations occur.
Issue Two: Poor Heat Dissipation
Many netizens have raised concerns about the Meizu MX overheating, making "Meizu MX heat dissipation" a popular search term on Baidu. During use, it was found that simple operations can cause the phone's surface temperature to rise.
Issue Three: Backlight Leakage Problems
Regarding backlight leakage in the Meizu MX, detailed investigations confirmed its existence.
Currently, tutorials to detect backlight leakage can be found on Youku, Tudou, and some mobile phone forums. Following these tutorials, in a dark room, set the phone to night mode, adjust brightness to maximum, tilt your head parallel to the screen at a 180-degree angle, and you may notice a white line indicating light leakage.
Issue Four: Excessive Noise in Camera
Evaluation results show that MX photo files are generally much smaller than those from the iPhone 4S and Galaxy S II. For cameras at the same level, such a large difference shouldn't exist, suggesting potential software issues that need improvement through firmware updates. Overall, the MX camera performs quite well and can be used as a basic point-and-shoot camera.
Written by Yang Fan