Meizu is a fairly established smartphone brand in China but isn’t known much in other regions of the world. The company has now launched the successor to last year’s Meizu 17 series. Here, the new Meizu 18 series bring a whole new design language on top of other improvements. Let’s learn more about the Meizu 18 and 18 Pro including their specs, features, expected price in Nepal, and more.

Meizu 18 Pro Overview:

Design & Display

As the name implies, the Meizu 18 Pro is the more premium of the two. The company has swapped the horizontal camera alignment on its predecessor to something that’s trendy in 2021. By that I mean to say just how similar it looks to Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra’s camera module. Besides this, the phone comes in an 8-curved micro-arc design. This means that Meizu 18 Pro has a curved display and curved frames.

However, it’s not a waterfall-like curve but rather a pretty subtle one. The back of the phone has been molded using AG (anti-glare) glass material. Moving on, Meizu 18 Pro features mEngine 4.0 haptic engine for an immersive gaming experience. In terms of display, you’re getting a 6.7-inches 2K+ Super AMOLED screen. Meizu has used Samsung’s E4 panel here, and it supports a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate.

It also equips SGS low blue light emission which is a hardware-based solution for reducing harmful blue light release. In terms of colors, Meizu says the 18 Pro’s screen covers 100% DCI-P3 color space and is HDR10+ certified as well. Disappointingly, the company is sticking with old-gen Corning Gorilla Glass 6 protection instead of Victus. This screen is also imbued with Qualcomm’s second-gen ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor.

Performance

Because it’s a flagship phone, expecting any less in the performance department would be a mistake. It is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset which has been coupled with either 8/12GB of LPDDR5 RAM. On the storage front, the choice ranges between 128 and 256GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage with no support for an external micro SD card. Running the whole show is Meizu’s in-house Flyme 9 OS based on Android 11.

The company is proudly advertising its Android skin as private, ad-free, and simplistic. On top of all the customizations, Flyme OS won’t come with any bloatware app pre-installed either. You can also make use of Meizu’s own “Aicy” digital assistant to navigate the phone. Anyway, Meizu 18 Pro also supports Wi-Fi 6E and the upgraded mSmart 5G 2.0 technology for unparalleled network connectivity.

Cameras

This phone looks to be a beast in the camera department as well. Featuring a quad-camera setup, it has a 50MP Samsung GN1 primary sensor. It’s the same lens found in phones like the recent Vivo X60 Pro+. The rest of the setup includes a 32MP Sony IMX616 ultra wide-angle/macro lens, an 8MP telephoto lens, and a Samsung ToF 3D sensor. Meizu 18 Pro’s ultra-wide camera has a 130-degree Field Of View (FOV) which can take macro shots from 2CM distance.

Likewise, the telephoto lens supports 3x optical, 5x hybrid, and 30x digital zoom. Coming to the front, the right-mounted punch-hole cutout of its predecessor has been substituted with a centered punch-hole instead. It houses a 44MP Samsung GH1 camera and supports features like AI Super Clear Portrait, 4K video recording, and more.

Battery & rest of the specs

Getting to the battery, Meizu 18 Pro gets its juice from a decent 4500mAh cell. In terms of charging, it gets a 40W wired and wireless option. Meizu claims that it takes just 50 minutes to fully reach from 0 to 100% via the 40W wired charging method. The company is targeting the gaming community with the Meizu 18 Pro as well. For this, the phone includes a VC (Vapor Chamber) liquid cooling solution although its exact specification remains a mystery.

Meizu 18 Overview:

Moving on, the standard Meizu 18 is more-or-less the same phone as its Pro sibling. Like how the 18 Pro takes its inspiration from the Galaxy S21 Ultra in terms of camera layout, Meizu makes do with that of the regular Galaxy S21. Moreover, it also drops the ToF 3D sensor. The remaining camera module is slightly different too. Instead of the 50MP Samsung GN1 sensor, this one comes with the 64MP Sony IMX682 camera.

Apart from this, you get a 16MP Samsung ultra-wide lens which also doubles as a macro camera. But more importantly, the FOV of Meizu 18’s ultra-wide camera is downgraded from 130-degree on the Pro to just 122-degree. And then there’s the 8MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. The punch-hole cutout on the phone’s center is home to a 20MP f/2.2 selfie camera.

Other differences between the two can be seen in the display front as well. Meizu 8 has a smaller 6.2-inches 2K+ AMOLED screen with the same 120Hz refresh rate and 240Hz touch sampling rate. It also has a smaller 4000mAh battery with support for a 36W Super mCharge standard. Besides this, it lacks wireless charging support.

Meizu 18, 18 Pro Specifications:

• Body:
  • Meizu 18: 6.0 x 2.72 x 0.32-inches, 162 gm
  • Meizu 18 Pro: 6.40 x 2.87 x 0.32-inches, 189 gm
• Display: 6.2/6.7-inches E4 Super AMOLED panel, 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, 1300 nits (peak) brightness
• Resolution: 2K+ (3200 x 1440 pixels)
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G (5nm Mobile Platform)
• CPU: Octa-core (1x2.84 GHz Kryo 680, 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 680, 4x1.80 GHz Kryo 680)
• Memory: 8/12GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128/256GB UFS 3.1 storage
• Software & UI: Flyme 9 based on Android 11
• Rear Camera:
  • Meizu 18: Triple (64MP primary, 16MP ultra-wide, 8MP telephoto)
  • Meizu 18 Pro: Quad (50MP primary, 32MP ultra-wide, 8MP telephoto, 3D ToF sensor)
• Front Camera: (punch-hole)
  • Meizu 18: 44MP f/2.4 Samsung GH1 sensor
  • Meizu 18 Pro: 20MP f/2.2 sensor
• Audio: Dual super linear loudspeaker
• Security: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor
• Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/6E, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS / AGPS / Glonass / Galileo / Beidou / QZSS, USB Type-C, NFC, 5G (sub-6GHz, mmWave)
• Sensors: Pressure, Accelerometer, Gyro, Distance, Light sensitive, Electronic compass
• Battery:
  • Meizu 18: 4000mAh with 36W wired Super mCharge
  • Meizu 18 Pro: 4500mAh with 40W wired, wireless charging
• Color options: Blue, White, Gray

Meizu 18 and 18 Pro Price in Nepal & Availability

Meizu 18 series is up for pre-order in China at a starting price of CNY 4,399 and CNY 4,999 respectively. Their shipment will start on March 8. It's unlikely that we'll see these phones come officially in Nepal but if it does, we expect the price of Meizu 18, 18 Pro to start at NPR 90,000 and NPR 105,000 respectively.

• Check out our review of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra.