Chinese consumer electronics company Meizu has unveiled its new range of smartphones, the 15 series, and it seems to be taking a stand against current trends in phone design. There are three phones: the 5.95-inch 1440p OLED Meizu 15 Plus, the 5.46-inch 1080p OLED Meizu 15, and the 5.46-inch 1080p LCD Meizu 15 Lite.
The Plus uses a Samsung Exynoos 8895 processor, unusually — the same chip found in international models of the Galaxy S8 — while the 15 has a Snapdragon 660 and the Lite employs a Snapdragon 626.
Design-wise, imagine an iPhone 7 Plus with thinner bezels on all four sides and you’re pretty much there — the phones even manage to fit a circular fingerprint reader-equipped home button below the screen.
Meizu is also touting a linear vibration motor to work with this button and other features throughout the Flyme 7 software.
The two OLED models have a dual 20-megapixel and 12-megapixel rear camera setup, while all three have 20-megapixel selfie cameras. The Lite and the 15 have 4GB of RAM and 3,000mAh batteries, while the Plus is upgraded to 6GB and 3,500mAh. All the phones have headphone jacks.
Other cool features in the phones include a more sensitive vibration motor that supposedly is able to mimic "perfectly" -- Meizu's own words -- the feeling of pressing on a physical button. There are also two stereo speakers located at the top and bottom of the phone.
While the phones will launch in China first on April 29, Meizu says the devices should be available globally in select markets -- unfortunately this does not include the US, UK or Australia, but there's a pretty long list of markets that includes countries like the UAE, Singapore, Hong Kong, Ukraine and Spain.
The Plus will sell from 3,000 yuan (about $475) in China, the 15 will sell for 2,500 yuan (~$400), and the Lite will cost 1,700 yuan (~270).
