Core strength: Meizu's Pro 6 comes with a crazy 10-core processor
The Chinese vendor packs some premium specs and features into a phone that carries a midrange price tag.
As with many a smartphone from China, Meizu's new Pro 6 looks a lot like an Apple product. As is also the case with many Chinese devices though, it's more than a simple iClone.
The Pro 6 has some impressive specs, the most notable of which is its MediaTek processor. Most smartphones operate on dual or quad-core processors: The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus both run on a dual-core Apple A9 chipset, for instance, while Samsung's Galaxy S7 houses a quad-core Snapdragon 820 processor. But the Pro 6's chipset has 10 cores, an ultra rarity among smartphones.
Whether or not 10 cores will result in drastically better performance remains to be seen -- I rather doubt it -- but the phone isn't exactly a slouch in other areas.
Meizu Pro 6 specs and features:
- 5.2-inch 1,920x1,080-pixel Super AMOLED display
- 4GB RAM
- 21-megapixel rear camera, 5-megapixel front camera
- mCharge, which promises to charge the phone's 2,560mAh battery in under 60 minutes
- Dual SIM slots
- Fingerprint sensor on the home button
- USB-C slot
- Black, silver and gold colour options
The Pro 6 strongly resembles Apple's oft-imitated iPhone 6S range, sharing a similar shape and identical placements of speakers, the headphone jack and charger slot. Also like the 6S and 6S Plus, Meizu's latest smartphone features 3D Touch capabilities (though it refers to it as 3D Press), meaning it can register different levels of pressure your finger applies to the screen.
Meizu opted for a screen size of 5.2 inches, as did HTC with the recently announced HTC 10. It's a different strategy to industry leaders such as Samsung who offer similar models at different screen sizes, as in the case of the 5.1-inch Galaxy S7 and 5.5-inch Galaxy S7 Edge. Additionally, it will run on the company's FlyMe 5.6 software, a customised version of Android latest 6.0 Marshmallow operating system.
The Pro 6 looks to be a solid phone that won't break your budget. The variant with 32GB of storage is priced at 2,499 yuan, which converts to roughly $385, AU$500 or £270. The 64GB version will fetch 2,799 yuan -- that's about $430, AU$565 or £300.
The device will compete in a similar space to Chinese rivals Xiaomi and Oppo, who in recent months have come out with the Mi 5 and the R9 respectively.
There's currently no word on availability outside of China, though Meizu's smartphones often end up being available throughout the US, UK and Australia through third-party online retailers.