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Meizu 16s announced: Snapdragon 855, 48MP main camera with OIS for under $500
Meizu might be one of the most underrated smartphone brands around, delivering great value for money and a gesture-driven user interface way before Android at large. Now, the company has launched its latest flagship phone, the Meizu 16s.
The new flagship ticks plenty of boxes for a top-end device in 2019. So that means a Snapdragon 855 chipset, 6GB to 8GB of RAM, a 6.2-inch full HD+ AMOLED screen with super-thin bezels, and an in-display fingerprint sensor. The phone also offers 128GB of storage, with a 256GB option available in China only. Unfortunately, there’s no microSD expansion here, but at least you’ve got plenty of storage to begin with.
The Meizu 16s also offers a 3,600mAh battery with 24 watt fast charging — not quite as fast as HUAWEI, Xiaomi and OnePlus’s fast-charging solutions but still pretty nippy.
Shifting to the photography field, Meizu’s latest flagship joins the high-resolution party, offering a 48MP f/1.7 main camera with optical image stabilization. This is pretty noteworthy, as the likes of the HONOR View 20 and Redmi Note 7 series don’t offer OIS with their 48MP shooters. We’ve also got a 20MP f/2.6 secondary rear camera for 3x lossless zoom shots. It’s certainly no periscope shooter, but it should still help when you’re not quite close enough to the subject.
Meizu is also touting AI-powered scene recognition, the now ubiquitous portrait mode, and Dual Super Night Scene mode. The latter sees up to 17 images being combined for better low-light results, and Meizu says it’ll also be coming to older devices — check out the list of supported phones in the image below. Otherwise, a 20MP f/2.2 front-facing camera handles selfies and face unlock duties.
Other key Meizu 16s features include Android Pie (with the FlymeOS skin), USB-C, NFC, a notification light, dual-SIM support, dual-frequency GPS, but no 3.5mm port. The company also retained its signature mEngine gesture navigation method, using an Apple-style vibration motor to simulate a home button and facilitate gestures.
| Meizu 16s (M1971) | |
|---|---|
Display | 6.2-inch AMOLED display 18.6:9 ratio 2,232 x 1,080 resolution 2.5D glass |
Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 |
RAM | 6GB / 8GB LPDDR4X |
Storage | 128GB / 256GB UFS 2.1 Non-expandable (256GB exclusive to China) |
Battery | 3,600mAh 24W mCharge fast charging No wireless charging |
Cameras | Rear: 48 MP Sony IMX586 main sensor, ƒ/1.7 aperture, OIS 20 MP Sony IMX350 secondary sensor, ƒ/2.6 aperture Front: 20MP sensor, ƒ/2.2 aperture |
Headphone jack | No |
Security | Super mTouch Optical In-Screen Fingerprint Sensor (Goodix) |
Software | Flyme 7.3, based on Android 9 Pie |
Carrier frequencies (global version) | GSM: Bands 2, 3, 5, 8 WCDMA: Bands 1, 2, 4, 5, 8 CDMA: Band C0 TD-LTE: Band 40 FDD-LTE: Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 20 |
Dimensions and weight | 151.9 x 73.4 x 7.6 mm 165g |
Colors | Carbon Black Pearl White Phantom Blue |
The Meizu 16s will be available in Carbon Black, Pearl White, and Phantom Blue at a starting price of 3,198 yuan (~$476) for the 6GB+128GB variant. The 8GB+128GB model will retail for 3,498 yuan (~$520), while the 8GB+256GB option will be available for 3,998 yuan (~$595).
The firm also had a few more devices to offer, such as a 169 yuan (~$25) USB-C to 3.5mm audio dongle that promises higher quality sound, 399 yuan (~$60) Pop 2 wireless earbuds with up to eight hours of juice, and EP63 noise-cancelling headphones for 499 yuan (~$74).