Relatively recently, Meizu it was one Chinese smartphone company which aspired to compete with Xiaomi. Founded in 2003, Meizu is dedicated to the development of affordable Android smartphones and aspired to gain a significant market share both in its home country and in other markets. But their plans have not turned out as expected. At times they have achieved some echo, both in China and in other countries, but they have not managed to stand out, and according to Techcrunch, their share in China is marginal: 1% of the market in the last quarter of 2019, despite of having the backing of one of China’s leading e-commerce giants, Alibaba.
Despite everything, the company has decided to reinvent itself to try to grow and improve its position in the market. For this they have even changed owners. A few months ago, Eric Li, also creator of the Geely automotive company, launched a new smartphone company, which he called Xingji Technologies. And it is this company that since September it is the owner of 79.09% of its shares. Therefore, Xingji Technologies features Meizu control.
Geely is China’s leading private carmaker and currently the parent company of none other than Volvo. His strategy for Meizu involves the company continuing to operate independently. It will even feature its founder, Huang Zhang, also known as Jack Wong, as Strategic Product Advisor. From now on, Meizu and Xingji will try to develop what they call a “Immersive, scenario-agnostic, multi-device digital experience«.
The activity of Xingi Technologies will be centered on the development of high-end smartphones, wearables and mixed reality. That is why it is to be expected that Meizu will also dedicate itself to these sectors. Xingi plans to launch its first phone model on the market in 2023 and aims to sell 3 million units of the terminal in its first year.
But it’s not going to be easy in a market full of mid-range and high-end manufacturers and models, which is also entering a context of declining sales and in which Carl Pei will also land with his Nothing mobile. According to IDC, smartphone sales will fall by 3.5% this year alone, so Xingji and Meizu’s goal is overly ambitious to say the least.
