Following ASUS's recent confirmation of adjustments to its mobile phone product line layout,No new models will be added.Following this, Meizu, which was merged into Geely Group, confirmed today (February 27) as previously rumored that it will cease all new mobile phone hardware development plans. In the future, Meizu will fully transform from a "hardware-driven" to an "AI-driven" software ecosystem company. The final straw that broke the camel's back for Meizu's mobile phone business was the runaway surge in memory prices since the end of last year.
Meizu has officially confirmed its withdrawal from the traditional smartphone hardware arms race, and will focus all its resources on the Flyme-centric open ecosystem and AI software services.
Out-of-control memory prices leave small and medium-sized brands vulnerable to being slaughtered.
Meizu's decision to "cut its losses" at this moment highlights the harsh reality of the current global semiconductor supply chain.
Since the end of 2025, the price of high-end memory (RAM and ROM) worldwide has continued to surge, and there is still no end in sight. Currently, global memory production capacity is mainly controlled by a few major American and South Korean manufacturers. Under the generative AI craze, these manufacturers have prioritized supplying almost all of their high-end production capacity to the highly profitable AI server industry.
This has led to a severe crowding-out effect on memory chips in consumer products. For Apple, Samsung, or large Chinese brands (such as Xiaomi and OPPO), they can still negotiate prices with suppliers based on their large purchasing scale. However, for Meizu, which has a smaller shipment volume, not only is there a lack of bargaining power, but if they grit their teeth and accept the high prices of components and pass them on to consumers, their products are destined to lose competitiveness in the market.
Therefore, given the expectation that memory prices will not fall in the short term, Meizu's decision to stop losses and withdraw from hardware development is its most reluctant but also most pragmatic choice.
Meizu's confidence in its transformation stems from its "All in AI" strategy encompassing smartphones, XR, and smart cars.
Although Meizu has abandoned mobile phone hardware, it is not coming to an end, but rather transforming itself into the "software brain" of its parent company group.
Looking back at Meizu's strategic trajectory in recent years, after officially merging into Geely Group and establishing "Star Era Meizu Group," its market layout has long since moved beyond being limited to a single mobile phone hardware. Star Era Meizu has established a three-in-one ecosystem strategy of "smartphone + XR + smart car."
Last year, Meizu went a step further and put forward the ultimate vision of "All in AI", and fully upgraded its operating system to Flyme AIOS.
With the withdrawal of its mobile phone hardware business, Flyme AIOS will break free from the constraints of physical devices and become a purely underlying AI-driven platform. In the future, Meizu's R&D resources will focus on:
• Seamless cross-platform experience:Flyme AIOS will become the core hub connecting Geely's smart cars (in-vehicle systems) and Meizu XR smart glasses.
• AI application implementation:By reconstructing the operating system interaction through a large language model, a more intuitive in-vehicle voice assistant, AR navigation, and cross-device computing sharing are provided.
Analysis of viewpoints
Meizu's exit from the mobile phone market is not only a relic of an era, but also a symbol of the "brutal elimination" that the smartphone industry will face in 2026.
When the cost structure of core components (especially memory and flagship processors) is completely hijacked by the AI industry chain, "small but beautiful" brands lacking economies of scale have lost their space to survive. It is almost foreseeable that in the next year or two, more small and medium-sized mobile phone brands will be forced to exit the market, or large groups will have to massively consolidate their subsidiaries to concentrate their purchasing power. Ultimately, this may lead to a significant reduction in product diversity in the mobile phone market, resulting in a lose-lose situation for both brands and consumers.
However, for Meizu, this might be the best arrangement. Rather than slowly dying in the fiercely competitive smartphone market due to cost disadvantages, it's better to leverage the highly praised Flyme system UI/UX experience honed over the years and completely transform into Geely Group's "automotive software and XR supplier."
In the era of Software-Defined Vehicles (SDV), a user-friendly Flyme Auto in-vehicle infotainment system can bring far more value to a group than selling hundreds of thousands of smartphones with meager profits.
