Meizu MX4 is the most sincere imitator of Apple

Meizu MX4 was launched. This mobile phone launch event, which had neither stand-up comedy nor crosstalk, was almost impossible to find highlights in terms of form. Even at the beginning of the launch event, I felt sorry for Meizu's Bai Yongxiang's poor presentation skills and frequent lowering of his head to look at the prompt board. However, after watching the entire launch event, I felt that Meizu used an original product launch event to make the product the protagonist of the launch event, rather than the speaker's talk show, the design of the PPT, the layout and preparation of the launch event, and the uniform clothing and shouts of the fans.

In fact, after being used to seeing product launches that are like celebrity concerts, I feel more at home with this kind of original ecology.

Let’s cut the crap and get back to the topic of Meizu MX4 and Flyme4.0, and also talk about the future of Meizu as a company.

Apple's most sincere imitator

Before the launch, I chatted with my media friends and said that due to the delay of iPhone 6, domestic mobile phones have no inspiration and can only imitate the existing iPhone products, which is really unoriginal. Xiaomi 4 is considered to be an imitator of iPhone 4 and iPhone 5, Hammer T1 is considered to be a resolute replica of iPhone 4, and yes, even Meizu MX3 has the iPhone's shadow.

But it was not until Meizu's Bai Yongxiang showed us the MX4 that you realized it was the most sincere imitator of Apple, because the appearance of the MX4 is very similar to the iPhone 6 that has been exposed, especially the sleek frame design and aluminum-magnesium alloy material. Perhaps after the iPhone 6 launch conference on September 9, 2014, you will find that the MX4 will be very similar to it.

Moreover, the MX4 also uses screen glue suspension technology to fill the gap between the screen and the frame, which acts as a buffer when falling and effectively solves the screen light leakage problem. This is almost the same as the process of Apple iPhone and iPad. My iPad is often dropped by my children, but only the four corners are slightly deformed, but the screen will not break. Luo Yonghao and Wang Ziru both believe that large-screen mobile phones are prone to broken screens, and the T1 light leakage problem is difficult to solve. In fact, mobile phone companies are unwilling to use this very advanced and expensive new technology.

Lei Jun said: "As long as we are sincere, we are not afraid of our opponents." Huang Zhang said on Weibo after learning that Xiaomi 4 uses a stainless steel metal frame that the next generation of MX smartphones will be lighter, fit more closely in the palm, and better protect the screen because Meizu will use new metal materials and processes. Now that MX4 is out, who is more sincere? The answer is obvious.

After watching this original ecological press conference, I was also thinking about a question. Compared with its competitors, the Meizu MX4 did not receive a lot of complaints and criticisms after the press conference. Judging from the many comments so far, except for the analysis of its CPU using MediaTek's eight-core MT6596, most of them affirmed the MX4's craftsmanship and the price of 1799.

This fully proves that as long as the product is truly outstanding and sincere, there is no need for excessive embellishment, and the media and consumers have sharp eyes. All marketing pales in comparison to truly excellent products, and no matter how carefully conceived the press conference is, it cannot make up for the shortcomings of the product. This also reminds domestic manufacturers who are transforming into Internet mobile phones that when several Internet mobile phone leaders are so sincere and work so hard to make products, you really should work harder, and pay less attention to marketing and return to the essence of the product!

Will Meizu MX4 be a hot seller?

I don't need to say much about the Meizu MX4. It is a product with excellent workmanship, excellent 20.7-megapixel camera, support for China Unicom and China Mobile dual 4G, excellent performance, and moderate price. If you think that MediaTek chips represent low-end phones, then the MX4 is a lesson for you, and it will change your view of MediaTek. So, can the MX4 be a hot seller?

Bai Yongxiang said that MX3 is the best-selling Meizu phone. So can MX4, which is even better than MX3, achieve huge sales? I still have doubts about this. Because according to the growth rate data of Chinese mobile phones, the growth rate of the mobile phone market in the first half of 2014 was 33.9% compared with the same period last year, but the quarterly growth of mobile phone sales in 2014 has dropped sharply. In addition, the coverage of 4G network is not comprehensive, FDD licenses have not been issued, and the demand for 4G users to replace their phones is not strong.

In addition, the operators will drastically cut 10 billion yuan of subsidies in 2014, which will seriously affect market demand and sales. The sales peak of Meizu MX3 is due to the dividend of the overall high demand. At that time, Xiaomi, Huawei and others achieved very good sales. In addition, from the current sales growth of Xiaomi and Huawei's mobile phones, it is basically concentrated on 4G mobile phones with a price of several hundred yuan, including the Redmi series and Honor 3C series. These 4G machines equipped with MT6595 also have a great impact on MX4.

So although the MX4 is a well-made phone, it is still unknown whether it can achieve outstanding sales. In addition, at this press conference, Meizu did not display the overall sales of the MX3 and other models of mobile phones.

Meizu begins to mature

Whether it is the fact that Meizu founder Huang Zhang's speech is no longer arrogant and his mentality is no longer so radical, or that Meizu has obtained 2 billion in financing, Flyme has entered the flashing market, and Meizu has carried out a transformation of all employees holding shares... Until Huang Zhang's comeback and the release of his first product MX4 and Flyme4.0, it can be seen that Meizu has begun to move from a niche manufacturer to the public and become mature, which is a good phenomenon.

From the strategy of Meizu Flyme4.0, in addition to continuing to learn flattening from iOS8, weekly updates from Xiaomi MIUI, small steps and fast progress, and the pursuit of beauty and perfection, the biggest highlight of Flyme4.0 is openness, while MIUI6 emphasizes centralization more, which is the biggest difference between the two.

When MIUI6 was released, it also emphasized the importance of cloud services, but almost all cloud services were controlled by Xiaomi itself, which showed Xiaomi's urgency to enter the value-added service market with the help of hardware. Flyme4.0 puts more emphasis on cooperation, and cooperates with relevant well-known manufacturers in reading, security, storage, input method, etc.

Smart hardware also adopts a cooperative approach, launching a personal health data platform called Lifekit and three third-party smart hardware products: Inwatch, Broadlink, and GHost, allowing smart hardware manufacturers to access the system and sell these third-party smart devices in Meizu online stores and specialty stores. The reason why Meizu adopts an open cooperation approach is mainly because they are a mobile phone manufacturer, and they do not have much accumulation in software and services, nor do they have the capital to acquire and deploy. Relying on cooperation is a shortcut.

Moreover, Meizu does not have the ambition of Xiaomi to seize the entrance to the mobile Internet with hardware. Meizu's core competitiveness still lies in the research and development and design of mobile phones. Whether to develop the mobile phone system in a more centralized way or in an open and cooperative way, there are obviously pros and cons. However, through open cooperation, Meizu may not be an enemy of Internet giants, but can use the resources of giants to make up for its own shortcomings, and ultimately provide users with a better overall software and hardware experience, which is also a balancing act.

In the future, it remains unknown whether the strategy of entering the mobile Internet through smart hardware is just an idealistic concept or can really be realized.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.