[News] Meizu Reportedly Eyes March Smartphone Exit After Scrapping Launch Amid Memory Costs Surge

Chinese brand Meizu appears to be ending its smartphone operations. According to Jiemian News, citing sources, the company’s handset business has come to a halt and is expected to formally exit the market in March 2026.

The report indicates that Meizu’s Flyme Auto in-vehicle system unit will operate independently, while the Meizu brand may continue to be retained within Geely’s corporate structure. A significant number of employees have reportedly resigned, with a small portion reassigned to Geely’s ZEEKR automotive division.

Since April last year, Meizu is said to have struggled to settle payments with many suppliers, with a substantial portion of outstanding liabilities reportedly turning into bad debt. According to the report, the company’s most likely outcome is a bankruptcy filing.

Signs of decline had emerged earlier. As noted by ijiwei, in January 2026 Wan Zhiqiang, China CMO of Meizu Group, acknowledged at an event that the sharp surge in memory prices had severely impacted the company’s smartphone business plans, leading to the cancellation of the Meizu 22 Air launch.

From late 2024, Meizu began approaching potential buyers. According to ITHome, citing sources, Dreame participated in acquisition talks with Meizu, but the negotiations ultimately fell through. In addition, ByteDance’s Doubao reportedly proposed cooperation with Meizu, but no agreement was reached as Meizu sought to retain control of its FlymeOS system. ITHome also adds that after Doubao and Nubia jointly launched an AI smartphone that gained strong market traction in late 2025, Meizu publicly called out to Doubao on Weibo, expressing hope for deeper cooperation. However, no response was received.

The Rise and Gradual Fade of Meizu

Looking back at Meizu’s rise, according to ijiwei, the company began in 2003 as a maker of MP3 players. In 2007, it launched its first smartphone, the M8, which at one point became a benchmark for the “small but refined” brand image. In 2015, Meizu’s annual shipments surpassed 20 million units, up 350% year on year, placing it among China’s top 10 domestic smartphone brands — marking what was arguably its final peak. Thereafter, Meizu pivoted toward the high-end market in pursuit of higher margins, but gradually became marginalized amid intense competition from Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo.

Read more

• [News] Meizu Reportedly Scraps Meizu 22 Air as Memory Costs Drive Price Hikes Across Chinese Brands
• Memory Price Surge Intensifies Retail Pricing Pressure, Putting Global Smartphone Production at Risk of a Sharp Decline in 2026, says TrendForce

(Photo credit: Meizu)