Meizu, a well-known Chinese technology company, has recently made an important strategic change. The company announced its decision to stop developing new smartphones on Sunday. Instead, Meizu decided to focus its efforts on the development and creation of “devices of tomorrow” driven by artificial intelligence (AI). Using the potential of artificial intelligence, the company now adopts the “All Artificial Intelligence” approach.

This change seems to have been in the works for a while. Shen Jiyu, chairman and CEO of Xingji Meizu Group, pointed out that Meizu has successfully transformed from a purely “mobile communications company” to a “peripheral group” in 2023. Meizu has developed a particularly immersive multi-terminal experience, shared its core competencies with partners through its open platform Unbounded Zhixing, and seen its MYVU brand become a leader in AR glasses.

Shen also acknowledged the changes in the smartphone market. He said consumers are now taking longer to upgrade (51 months on average) because phones from different brands offer comparable performance in areas such as streaming, photography and features.

According to him, smartphone innovation these days increasingly resembles an arms race of “bulk parameters” such as more storage, larger sensors, faster charging; Besides this, there are also industry tactics such as trolling, pointing out each other’s flaws to gain publicity. As a result, Meizu decided to exit the smartphone business, which also included canceling the development of future models such as Meizu 21 Pro, Meizu 22 and Meizu 23.

Shen says the decision to move away from the smartphone business aligns with Meizu’s history. In the past, the company abandoned its successful MP3 series amid strong sales to enter the growing smartphone market. Likewise, the development of MYVU smart glasses shows Meizu’s willingness to invest in future technologies.

After two years of preparation, including team building, resource allocation, and product planning, Shane says Meizu is ready to fully embrace the AI ​​space. Plans include the launch of a new mobile operating system adapted for the age of AI in 2024 and the launch of the first AI hardware product later this year.

Despite this strategic change, Meizu assures that support for existing Meizu products and services will remain unchanged, including easy access to offline stores across China.

Former Meizu CEO Li Nan praised the company’s new strategy and emphasized the need for change for future success. He described AI features in other brands’ smartphones as mere “gimmicks” and applauded Meizu’s bold move towards AI. Additionally, Meizu is working on “Unlock all hardware for AI LLM” and promises further development in this area.