Meizu has announced its latest flagship smartphone, the Meizu 21. The phone offers many upgrades over its predecessor, the Meizu 20, including a brighter display, faster processor, larger battery, faster charging speed, and improved connectivity options. However, the biggest change comes in the form of rear primary camera, all thanks to Samsung.
The Meizu 21 uses Samsung’s 200MP ISOCELL HP3 sensor as the primary camera at the rear, which is a huge upgrade over the 50MP unit on the previous model. The camera features phase-detection autofocus (PDAF), optical image stabilisation (OIS), and 8K video recording. Along with it, the rear camera setup offers a 13MP sensor with ultra-wide lens and a 5MP portrait camera. Selfies are handled by a 32MP unit.
Samsung launched the ISOCELL HP3 in June 2022. Since then, it has been used in many smartphones, including Honor 90 and 90 Pro, Realme 11 Pro+, and Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro+, which shows that it is gaining popularity day by day. Samsung, however, hasn’t used this camera sensor in any of its smartphones yet, which is kind of strange.
Meizu 21 specifications
Powering the Meizu 21 is Qualcomm’s latest flagsip chipset for mobile devices, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. You can get the phone with up to 12GB RAM and 512GB storage. The phone has a 6.55-inch AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. While the screen on the Meizu 20 offered 800 nits of brightness, the one on this device offers 1,100 nits of max brightness and 1,800 nits of peak brightness.
The phone packs a 4,800mAh battery with 80W charging speed. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth v5.4, dual-band GPS, NFC, infrared, and USB Type-C port. There’s in-display fingerprint scanner and stereo speakers onboard. It also carries IP54 rating for splash and dust resistance. The phone runs on Android 13 which is customized with FlyoneOS 10.5 skin. You can get the phone in four colors: Black, Green, Purple, and White.
Pricing and availability
The company has priced the Meizu 21 in China at CNY 3,399 ($479) for the 8GB +256GB variant and CNY 3,999 ($564) for the 12GB+512GB variant. The phone will go on sale in the country on December 5, 2023. Surpringly, Meizu has said that it will offer a 3-year warranty with the phone. The Meizu will most likely not launch in any other country outside China.
