by LU Keyan, LI Jiaqi

Meizu's smartphone business has effectively ground to a halt and will formally exit the market in March 2026, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

Several sources told Jiemian News that day-to-day operations have largely stopped. While FlymeAuto, its in-car operating system arm, will continue to operate independently, the Meizu brand is likely to be retained within the Geely ecosystem. The Feishu group of Xingji Meizu, also known as DreamSmart, still has more than 1,000 members, but many employees have submitted resignations and a small number have transferred to Zeekr under Geely.

In January 2026, Wan Zhiqiang, China CMO of Xingji Meizu, said at an industry event that surging memory prices had dealt a heavy blow to the company's handset business plan and that the Meizu 22 Air would be scrapped. He added that the Meizu 23 would still launch in 2026, but people familiar with the matter said the project is no longer moving forward in any meaningful way.

One person close to Meizu said the company has struggled to settle payments with many suppliers since April last year, with a significant portion now considered bad debt. "The most likely outcome is a bankruptcy filing," the person said.

Xingji Meizu had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.

Executive departures and failed rescue talks

Meizu was acquired in July 2022 when Geely Holding's Xingji Times took a 79.09% stake in Zhuhai Meizu Technology and formed Xingji Meizu Group, chaired and led by Shen Ziyu. Geely chairman Li Shufu said at the time the deal would strengthen integration between smartphones and vehicle software.

The new group brought in several senior executives from rival handset makers and set a goal of returning to the top five in China's mid-to-high-end smartphone market within three years.

But the turnaround never materialized. In May 2024, Shen stepped down as CEO and was replaced by Su Jing, then president of Xingji Meizu. The company shifted its focus to augmented reality glasses and expanded distribution to overseas markets including the Middle East.

An employee told Jiemian News that AR glasses performed better than expected and drew interest from outside investors. "The company was aiming for an IPO. If the glasses business were spun off from smartphones, it would complicate listing plans, so any investment had to go into Meizu as a whole," the person said. In the end, the glasses unit was not separated.

By late 2024, Meizu began exploring potential buyers. Dreame Technology took part in acquisition talks but no deal was reached, according to a person close to the matter. ByteDance's Doubao also discussed possible cooperation, but Meizu insisted on retaining control of its FlymeOS, and the talks stalled.

Losses widened in 2025. Although the low-priced Note 22 sold relatively well, Geely concluded that Meizu's losses were too large to justify further investment, an insider said. FlymeOS has since been folded into Geely's intelligent driving division.

Executive turnover accelerated in mid-2025, including the departure of Su Jing and several senior hires from Xiaomi, Honor and XPeng. Employees said it became clear after Su's exit that an IPO was unlikely.

From "small and beautiful" to the margins

Founded in 2003, Meizu rose to prominence with its MP3 players before launching the M8 smartphone in 2007. The M8 and M9 helped establish it as a boutique domestic handset maker.

Between August 2014 and August 2015, annual sales exceeded 20 million units, up 350% year on year, according to previous Jiemian News reporting, with its sub-brand Meilan accounting for about 70% of shipments. That period marked Meizu's peak.

But aggressive channel expansion pushed up costs without delivering sustained growth in sales. As Apple and major Chinese brands consolidated their positions, Meizu gradually slipped to the margins of the market.

For Geely, the 2022 acquisition was part of a broader push into intelligent driving. An employee said the heavy losses from Meizu's handset business amounted to "tuition fees" for Geely's smart driving ambitions.

In September 2024, Geely issued its Taizhou Declaration, calling for strategic focus and integration under the principle of "one Geely." The group later consolidated its intelligent driving efforts into a single platform, Qianli Intelligent Driving.

Against that backdrop, Meizu's handset business appears to have reached the end of the road. The brand that once symbolized a generation of Chinese smartphone enthusiasts is now waiting, once again, for its final verdict.