Looking back on the trend of Chinese and other smartphone prices in recent years, we can clearly see that the price hike has surged like a flood. According to the statistical agency Gfk, as early as the first quarter of this year, the smart machine market began to show a trend of weakening demand and rising sales prices.
In the Q1, there were sold over 347 million smartphones globally, down 2% year-on-year. The total market revenue increased by 18% year-on-year, reaching $129.8 billion, which means that the sales price of a single smartphone is about $374. As for the Chinese smartphone market, there were sold a total of 109 million units, down 6% year-on-year. The overall revenue rose by 14% to $41.1 billion, which proved that the average price rose.
When the price ceiling was infinitely high, we saw that some Chinese smartphones with no bright spots but advertised the most cost-effective was sold to 2699 ($393). Moreover, if you want a smartphone with a screen fingerprint recognition, you have to pay as much as 3500 yuan ($510). It could reach to 4000 yuan ($583) for certain models.
However, just a month ago, Huang Zhang gave his ‘new dream machine’ – the Meizu 16th with the Snapdragon 845 top-end SoC, a screen fingerprint recognition, a screen accounted for 91.18%, using an aspect ratio of 18:9, and with no bangs, a 1.55-micron Sony IMX380 camera, and many other goodies priced at 2698 yuan ($393).
Also Read: Meizu 16 Review | Deal
Just a couple of days ago, the Meizu 16X was officially uncovered at the Beijing conference. It is packed with a Snapdragon 710 quasi-flagship mobile platform and comes with many amazing features inherited from its predecessor. Those features include a screen fingerprint recognition, IMX380+IMX350 dual-camera setup, ArcSoft algorithm, and a price tag of 2000 yuan ($291).
So it’s a true flagship with all those trendy features found on a few top-notch models. But as you see, it’s priced like a mid-range smartphone. That’s why we have to dig deeper in order to find whether there is a trick or it’s the next gift from Meizu.
This is the 6+128GB black version of the newly announced Meizu 16X.
The box is black and as elegant as the previous models. However, this is the engineering version. And maybe the commercial version will differ a little.
When looking at the Meizu 16X’s front side, it almost doesn’t differ from the Meizu 16 released last month. There is a 6-inch bangs AMOLED screen produced by Samsung. It has an aspect ratio of 18:9 and is covered with a 2.5D arc glass. At the same time, the screen ratio reaches 91.18%. The phone uses a symmetrical design, which looks very harmonious.
Currently, you will find smartphones with notch screens or drop screens. But the Meizu 16X still uses a forehead to carry all those sensors. The existence of the forehead also allows the phone to provide a symmetrical layout of things.
We can see that it also has a hidden earpiece in the cone of the frame in order to minimize the opening, leaving an inconspicuous 20MP lens module on the forehead, which is very visually sensible.
The ultra-narrow bezels make the overall appearance of the phone great. They are reduced to the extreme width of 1.38mm. Like the Meizu 16, the Meizu 16X still uses the Suspended Dispensing 2.0 technology, but it is updated to the L-type dispensing process. The glue is injected into the side of the frame and the micro steps, and no traces are visible.
As the aluminum alloy middle frame has no color difference with the whole body, it is completely integrated.
The back of the Meizu 16X is made of metal. The camera is vertically centered, and the next is the unique 6LED ring flash.
However, as the body is thin, the camera sensors have a bulge. So you should either use a protective case or be very attentive.
Meizu still retains the 3.5mm audio jack on the bottom of the Meizu 16X that allows us to use common headphones when listening to music. There is also a USB Type-C interface with a speaker and a noise cancelation microphone. By the way, another microphone is at the top.
In terms of performance, the Meizu 16X is equipped with a Snapdragon 710. Since its release, this SoC has been widely used in the quasi-flagships or flagship phones of major Chinese manufacturers.
The Snapdragon 710 is based on a 10-nm process and comes with a Kryo 300 series CPU as well as an Adreno 600 series GPU. In addition, there are multiple 800 series IPs, including Spectra 250 ISP, Hexagon 685 DPS, and X15 LTE baseband.
What’s more interesting, the Snapdragon 710 is equipped with the Kryo 360 core with the same architecture as the Snapdragon 845. Its CPU core architecture is completely ahead of the 835 generation. Two Kryo 360 large cores are clocked at up to 2.2GHz, and six Kryo 360 small cores can save more power for everyday use.
The Snapdragon 710’s Adreno 616 graphics processor is the second 6-series Adreno GPU after the 850’s Adreno 630. Compared to the 660, the Snapdragon 710 GPU graphics rendering speed is increased by 35% and power consumption is reduced by 20%.
In order to understand the performance strength of Meizu 16X in depth, we run a few benchmarks.
AnTuTu
As the AnTuTu scores show, the Meizu 16X provides a better performance than its rivals with the same SoC, including the Xiaomi Mi 8 SE, the VIVO NEX A, and the OPPO R17. The difference is 12,527 points.
GeekBench
There is basically no gap between the same type of machines.
GFXBench
In the GFXBench test, the advantages of the Snapdragon 710 stand out. As we can see, the GPU performance is higher than that of the Snapdragon 6 Series.
PCMark
The Meizu 16X’s energy efficiency scores entered the top three in the Android camp, with only a slight gap between the second.
Androbench
The continuous reading speed is around 294MB/s.
The Meizu 16X adopts the same IMX380 + IMX350 rear dual-camera module as the Meizu 16. They correspond to a 12MP and 20MP resolutions, respectively. The Sony IMX380 is the main camera CMOS of the Huawei P20, which was ranked second by DxOMark.
Together with the Snapdragon 710 flagship ISP and the full set of ArcSoft algorithm architecture, the IMX380 with a 1/2.3-inch outsole and a single-pixel size of 1.55 micron is the next largest.
Daytime Samples
In the macro shots, we can see the phone can give perfect color restoration, with no flaw.
The strong white balance does not need to be explained, and the completely neutral performance is quite good.
Due to the large sensors, the Meizu 16X can provide good capturing performance even after zooming in. actually, the phone’s dual-camera can achieve up to 3x lossless zoom.
NightTime Samples
The Meizu 16X can take great photos in low-light conditions. There is even no word about the over-exposure.
Portraits
In the portraits, the silhouette is captured accurately. The algorithm perfectly outlines the young lady and the object that needs sharpness in the coke, while the outside is still in the fog.
In the front, the Meizu 16X carries the same 20MP camera found on the Meizu 16. But it won’t be so amazing with the ArcSoft smart algorithm. It can automatically identify what should be optimized and do it.
We can find that the Meizu 16X front camera’s beauty algorithm is in line with age, gender, and skin quality. It is not as good as the mainstream beauty ‘plastic surgery.’ But this is why the overall effect looks very natural.
The Meizu 16X is equipped with a 3100mAh battery and provides a charger with a power of 24W.
When testing the Meizu 16X for video playback, the video has a resolution of 1080P and the remaining power was 51%. After 60 minutes, it dropped to 39%. So we can state the phone can provide a continuous video playback of 8-9 hours.
As for gaming, the remaining power was 66%. After playing the PLAYERUNKNOWN for 30 minutes, it dropped to 56%. So it can play heavy games for 5 hours.
As for the charging, the Meizu 16X will fully charge in 110 minutes.
Screen Fingerprint
Though the Meizu 16X uses the same screen fingerprint recognition technology, it doesn’t cost a fortune. Agree, you won’t find another 2000-yuan smartphone that comes with such a feature.
When the screen is unlocked, the optical fingerprint sensor draws a fingerprint by sensing different reflections of the light on the surface of the finger. The fingerprint input process of the Meizu 16X is consistent with the traditional capacitive fingerprint technology, and there is no diaphragm feeling. For the user, the only difference is that the fingerprint recognition module has changed its position.
In terms of unlocking speed, the Meizu 16X is consistent with the Meizu 16, and there is no obvious difference in senses.
Game mode
The Flyme7 powered by the Meizu 16X has been iterated to the latest version of 3.0 in terms of game mode. Thus, when playing, you can get messages and calls and decided whether to answer them or ignore.
New mBack
The Meizu 16X inherits the brand new mBack that was first launched in the Meizu 16 and received unanimous praise. However, this time there is no horizontal linear motor, and the feedback effect of the Z-axis linear motor analog physical button is also satisfactory. But we should state its effect is still slightly different from that of Meizu 16.
The new mBack specific interaction logic is: tap the horizontal line at the bottom of the screen to return, press it to get back to the desktop and slide on the bottom two sides to start multitasking.
In general, the Meizu 16X is a light flagship model with a deep re-enactment of the Meizu 16. It stands at the price range of 2,000 yuan, but it is not in line with the conventional camera module and supporting algorithms that are difficult to pursue with the top flagship of the company. We mean, when looking at the price first, it doesn’t reflect its abilities and the category it belongs to. So when talking about the Meizu 16X, it’s better to mention its key…
