Meizu m3 launched: all new processor but same old $92 price tag

Meizu has announced its latest entry-level smartphone today – the Meizu m3, which is the successor to last year’s m2 model. Despite the new name, much of the smartphone remains the same as the previous generation, including its very wallet friendly $92 base line price.

The m3 is still a 5-inch handset, featuring a 720p display resolution and slightly curved 2.5D glass. The smartphone comes in two memory configurations, the first with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, while the second features 3GB RAM and 32GB of storage space, which is quite competitive. The Meizu m3 also comes with a 13 megapixel rear camera, a 5 megapixel front facing camera, and a microSD card slot.

The only major change to the smartphone is an upgraded processor. The old quad-core MT6735 has been ditched in favor of a more powerful MT6750, which boasts eight Cortex-A53 CPU cores. Importantly, this new chipset is accompanied by extra support for LTE bands, offering superior network support over the m2. The battery is also larger at 2,870mAh, rather than 2,500mAh, and the body is every so slightly thinner as well, which are both very welcome tweaks.

The Meizu m3 is available in blue, pink, gold, grey ,white, and black color options, with prices set at CNY 599 ($92) for the 2GB/16GB model and CNY 799 ($123) for the 3GB/32GB variant, which offers exceptional value. Unfortunately we’ll be quite unlikely to see these cost effective smartphones make their way outside of China.