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Introduction
Fifteen is a respectable number, especially, if it's an anniversary. Even more so for a relatively small manufacturer such as Meizu. And what's a better way of celebrating the 15th anniversary than coming up with a new model with a 15 in its name? Sure, they've skipped a few numbers along the way, but the occasion calls for it. And, with a Meizu 16 already rumored, it seems they will be building on that number.
The "Pro" moniker from the previous years is now gone. Not that we're complaining - it's simpler this way. There's even less to complain about when it comes to the Meizu 15 device trio as well. With the current lineup extending from the upper-budget segment all the way up to flagship territory, a lot of ground has been covered, and they've achieved it in a very traditional Meizu fashion.
Unlike most of its fellow Chinese OEMs, Meizu has always had an alternative approach to things. Being even slightly different than the next "slab" handset on the overcrowded smartphone scene is a lot too. And sitting smack in the middle of the company's current lineup, the regular Meizu 15 perfectly encompasses the particular signature of the family.
Meizu 15 specs
- Body: Stainless steel aluminum composite frame with coating
- Display: 5.46-inch AMOLED, 1080x1920px
- OS: Android 7.1.2 Nougat with Flyme OS 7 on top
- Chipset: Qualcomm SDM660 Snapdragon 660, (4x2.2 GHz Kryo 260 & 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 260 octa-core CPU, Adreno 512 GPU, 4GB RAM
- Storage: 64/128GB
- Rear Camera: Dual: 12 MP (f/1.8, 1.55 µm) + 20 MP, phase detection autofocus, quad-LED dual-tone ring flash
- Front Camera: 20MP
- Connectivity: Dual SIM, Dual 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 4.2, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac/b/g/n, A-GPS/GLONASS
- Battery: 3,000mAh non-removable, mCharge 24W
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (front-mounted)
Pretty much every company out there will have you believe it values customer feedback, but Meizu has the design to back that claim up. The Meizu 15 doesn't follow the trends of the day. The company is sticking to the 16:9 aspect display avoiding any notches or other cutouts in the process. It also worked extra hard to ensure a front mounted home button/fingerprint reader remains a long-standing staple in the control layout. All of this and more stems from existing Meizu user wishes and preferences - a pretty sound product strategy, if you ask us.
Meizu 15 in official photos
People seem to like traditional designs, so why not give them exactly that, while still marrying classic smartphone features with useful modern advances, like razor-thin side bezels.
Another long-standing Meizu tradition that isn't going away is shopping for parts at Samsung. With the punchy Super AMOLED panel (and even the chipset, in the case of the Meizu 15 Plus) courtesy of the Korean titan, it's quite natural to liken a Meizu to Samsung flagship from a year or two ago.
Meizu 15 in the hand
All that being said, the Meizu 15 has a lot going for it on paper. The only real question then is just how well the fan-driven recipe works in practice. Join us on the following pages, as we attempt to find out.
Design and 360-degree spin
Before we kick off the hardware tour, it's worth noting that the regular Meizu 15 and its bigger sibling, the 15 Plus, are quite alike. The Lite is a bit of a different deal, but despite a price difference of well over $100, choosing between the vanilla and the Plus mostly comes down to your size preference. With "mostly" being an important operative word here, since the flagship Exynos 8895 in the 15 Plus is a notable step up from the Snapdragon 660 as far a raw performance is concerned. But more on that later.
For now, let's check out the materials and build quality, which are identical between the pair. That is to say, equally premium. The bulk of the Meizu 15 is its metal unibody. It, however really isn't that bulky, at 143 x 72 x 7.3 mm and not really hefty either, thanks to what Meizu calls a combination of surgical-grade 316L stainless steel and aluminum alloy. This blend makes for a pretty light 152 g device, so we're guessing not a lot of steel has been used for this one.
Meizu's marriage of traditional and new in the design department becomes apparent once you close in on the details. The chamfer-free, rounded body shape, the front-mounted fingerprint reader and 16:9 display are all clearly throwbacks to earlier smartphone design traits. The same can be said about the decorative nature of the antenna lines. Instead of trying to hide them away, Meizu is proudly flaunting what it refers to as a "lucky pattern," stenciled on there.
All the while, the 1.175mm (as per official measurements) bezels, on either side of the display clearly scream modern 2018 tech.
The front of the Meizu 15 is covered by one seamless piece of glass. Again, rounded near the edges in a slightly retro manner. Meizu hasn't disclosed any official Gorilla Glass or similar protective nature for the finish, which is slightly disconcerting. Still, we have been tossing around our review unit for quite some time now, and its front remains spotless.
Front side
Unlike the side bezels, the top and bottom chins of the Meizu 15 are of very noticeable thickness. Even so, they're far from wasting space. On the contrary, the bottom bezel houses the home key/fingerprint reader combo - a staple of Meizu design. It's not a simple module either, essentially combining biometric security with a solid gesture navigation system for the entire UI. Meizu's current name of choice for it seems to be the "Super mBack button", but that has been subject to change throughout the years. The main point is that it's surprisingly good for navigating the UI and pretty easy to get used to.
Now, it's even better thanks to a custom haptic motor, which Meizu has put underneath the display. It provides custom feedback to on-screen controls, as well as the home key and in our experience, it gets you iPhone-level press feedback, which is commendable. It is also equipped with pressure sensors to precisely recognize taps and presses.
The fingerprint reader is very snappy and accurate. Its only downside is its limited size. Still, getting used to it is relatively easy. And if you don't, Meizu has been working hard on its facial recognition software. While we can't exactly verify the advertised 0.1 second unlock times, it is very fast to react. We experienced a few failed reads here and there, but no false positives.
The size of the top chin is easily forgiven as well, since it houses pretty big 20MP selfie camera. And that's not all. Both the Meizu 15 and 15 Plus have a hybrid stereo speaker system, with the earpiece acting as the second channel. That takes up a bit more space as well.
Back side
The back of the Meizu 15 might give off the impression of brushed aluminium, but it doesn't actually feel that way. The surface is pretty smooth to the touch and almost has a slightly plastic feel to it. Now, we're definitely not saying this with any negative connotation. It feels solid, yet light. Meizu's particular metal blend does, however, attract an inordinate amount of dirt and is excruciatingly hard to clean without a degreaser. Odd feel aside, the back is solid, with practically no give or flex.
Flashlight effects
The circular LED flash on the back is definitely worth a mention. It consists of six separate and apparently individually addressable LEDs. We know the latter to be true, since you can enable a whole bunch of fun effects for the ring of lights when you use it as a notification LED. By the way, there is a regular notification LED on the front of the phone as well.
Sides
Since the sides are all part of the back assembly, there is nothing else to really comment on materials. The control layout is pretty standard as well. Volume rockers on the left, power button on the right. Above that - a SIM tray. Sadly, it's not a hybrid memory expansion affair, the Meizu 15 simply lacks a microSD slot, so be sure to pick up a big enough memory configuration for your needs.
Top and bottom bezels
The top of the Meizu 15 is practically empty, only housing the secondary noise-canceling microphone. The main one is on the bottom, along with a 3.5mm audio jack, a loudspeaker, and a USB Type-C port. The latter is only backed up by a USB 2.0 controller, but the speeds are still surprisingly good. USB OTG is also supported.
Display
The 5.46-inch display might be a bit small by today's standards, but it's just the right fit for the compact body on the Meizu 15. In fact, the panel sits amazingly snuck spilling all the way up to the two side bezels. According to Meizu's PR, this is the result of a custom panel design order, courtesy of Samsung.
As far as the actual quality of the panel goes, it is about average, compared to other OLEDs. Nothing too special, but still enough to trump most LCD's, expect the really high-end ones. It was a bit of a challenge to come up with proper competitors to include in the brightness and contrast table. You see, 16:9 OLED panels are becoming scarcer by the day, so we had to dig a bit back. We also made sure to include non-Samsung panels in the race, as well, like the one on the G6 and the OnePlus 5.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.382 | 703 | 1840 | |
| 0 | 618 | ∞ | |
| 0.462 | 603 | 1305 | |
| 0.277 | 564 | 2036 | |
| 0.00 | 563 | ∞ | |
| 0.351 | 551 | 1570 | |
| 0 | 539 | ∞ | |
| 0.353 | 522 | 1479 | |
| 0.326 | 508 | 1558 | |
| 0 | 482 | ∞ | |
| 0.228 | 468 | 2053 | |
| 0 | 453 | ∞ | |
| 0.32 | 449 | 1403 | |
| 0 | 444 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 440 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 435 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 432 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 410 | ∞ | |
| 0.00 | 391 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 350 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 336 | ∞ | |
A maximum brightness of 444 is not that impressive and the fact that the Meizu 15 doesn't really have Max Auto mode, to push it past that mark, makes the overall showing worse. Still, AMOLED means infinitely deep blacks and an infinite contrast ratio to match, so it has that going for it.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Apple iPhone X
5.013 - OnePlus 5T
4.789 - Samsung Galaxy S8
4.768 - Samsung Galaxy S8+
4.658 - Samsung Galaxy S9
4.63 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
4.615 - Samsung Galaxy S9+
4.537 - Motorola Moto Z2 Play
4.459 - Oppo R11
4.454 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
4.439 - OnePlus 3
4.424 - Samsung Galaxy S7
4.376 - OnePlus 6
4.321 - HTC One A9
4.274 - Oppo R15 Pro
4.251 - Samsung Galaxy Note7
4.247 - Samsung Galaxy A3
4.241 - Nokia 8
4.239 - Google Pixel 2 XL (pre-update)
4.234 - OnePlus 3T
4.232 - Google Pixel XL
4.164 - ZTE Axon 7
4.154 - Samsung Galaxy Note8
4.148 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
4.147 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)
4.124 - Huawei Mate 10 Pro (normal)
4.096 - Samsung Galaxy Note5
4.09 - Huawei P20 Pro
4.087 - Xiaomi Mi 8
4.086 - Meizu 15
4.082 - Nokia 6 (2018)
4.052 - Google Pixel 2 (pre-update)
4.023 - LG V30
4.022 - Huawei Nexus 6P
4.019 - vivo NEX S
4.012 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
3.998 - OnePlus X
3.983 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
3.983 - LG G7 ThinQ (outdoor)
3.978 - Oppo R7s
3.964 - Apple iPhone 7
3.964 - Apple iPhone 8 (True Tone)
3.957 - Huawei P9 Plus
3.956 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
3.935 - Lenovo Moto Z
3.931 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3.918 - OnePlus 5
3.914 - Samsung Galaxy C5
3.911 - Samsung Galaxy C7
3.896 - Samsung Galaxy A5
3.895 - Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
3.879 - Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
3.873 - Motorola Moto G6 Plus
3.865 - Samsung Galaxy A8
3.859 - Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
3.842 - Sony Xperia XZs
3.818 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
3.817 - Motorola Moto X (2014)
3.816 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)
3.812 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
3.804 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
3.802 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
3.798 - LG V20 Max auto
3.798 - Sony Xperia XZ
3.795 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3.789 - Apple iPhone 6s
3.783 - Meizu Pro 5
3.781 - Microsoft Lumia 650
3.772 - Xiaomi Mi 6
3.767 - Sony Xperia XZ1
3.765 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3.756 - Nokia 8 Sirocco
3.745 - Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact
3.729 - Apple iPhone 8 Plus (True Tone)
3.725 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.709 - Vivo X5Pro
3.706 - Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
3.688 - Huawei P20
3.683 - Apple iPhone SE
3.681 - Huawei Mate 9
3.68 - Samsung Galaxy A7
3.679 - Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact
3.675 - Meizu PRO 6
3.659 - BlackBerry Priv
3.645 - Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra
3.597 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
3.588 - Sony Xperia XZ2
3.58 - LG G6
3.556 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
3.53 - Motorola Moto Z Play
3.526 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
3.523 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
3.523 - Acer Jade Primo
3.521 - Microsoft Lumia 950
3.512 - Oppo R7 Plus
3.499 - Nokia 7 plus
3.479 - nubia Z11
3.466 - Huawei P10 Plus
3.456 - HTC U Ultra
3.453 - Motorola Moto G6
3.448 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
3.445 - Samsung Galaxy J7
3.422 - Motorola Moto G6 Play
3.419 - Meizu MX5
3.416 - LG V20
3.402 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
3.397 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
3.393 - LG G7 ThinQ
3.39 - Huawei P10
3.379 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
3.378 - Oppo R9s
3.352 - Honor 8 Pro
3.341 - Oppo F7
3.333 - Oppo R7
3.32 - Lenovo P2
3.316 - Archos Diamond Omega
3.305 - Honor 9
3.289 - Xiaomi Mi 5s
3.276 - Nokia 5
3.261 - Nokia 6 (Chinese version)
3.244 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
3.238 - Samsung Galaxy J2
3.235 - Sony Xperia X Performance
3.234 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
3.228 - Motorola Moto X Play
3.222 - Oppo F3 Plus
3.218 - BlackBerry KEY2
3.212 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
3.206 - Huawei P9
3.195 - Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
3.19 - ZTE Nubia Z17
3.159 - Oppo R11s
3.153 - Lenovo Vibe Shot
3.113 - HTC U11 Life
3.108 - Motorola Moto X Force
3.105 - LG Nexus 5X
3.092 - HTC U11
3.089 - HTC U12+
3.085 - Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
3.077 - Huawei Mate S
3.073 - Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
3.065 - Apple iPhone 6 Plus
3.023 - Asus Zenfone 4 ZE554KL
3.019 - Sony Xperia XA1
3.012 - Motorola Moto X4
3.012 - Sony Xperia L1
2.994 - Sony Xperia X
2.989 - LG Q6
2.987 - Huawei P10 Lite
2.974 - Samsung Galaxy Note
2.97 - Huawei P20 Lite
2.952 - Xiaomi Redmi 5
2.951 - Huawei Mate 8
2.949 - Sony Xperia XA2
2.938 - Oppo Realme 1
2.932 - Xiaomi Redmi 4
2.92 - Xiaomi Redmi 3S
2.913 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
2.913 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
2.906 - LG G5
2.905 - Huawei Honor View 10
2.896 - Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
2.893 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
2.884 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB)
2.877 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
2.877 - Sony Xperia Z5
2.876 - Nokia 3
2.871 - Microsoft Lumia 550
2.851 - Lenovo Moto M
2.813 - Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
2.803 - Sony Xperia Z5 compact
2.784 - Honor 10 (Vivid)
2.757 - Nokia 2
2.752 - Meizu MX6
2.751 - LG V10
2.744 - Huawei Mate 10 (normal)
2.742 - Motorola Moto G5S Plus
2.737 - Xiaomi Redmi 3
2.735 - Huawei Honor 7X
2.734 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
2.714 - Meizu M5
2.71 - Sony Xperia M5
2.69 - Xiaomi Mi A1
2.689 - Huawei P9 Lite
2.679 - Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
2.679 - vivo V7+
2.671 - Vivo V3Max
2.659 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
2.658 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
2.654 - Oppo F5
2.653 - Doogee Mix
2.642 - Xiaomi Mi 4i
2.641 - Xiaomi Redmi 4a
2.635 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Standard)
2.616 - Sony Xperia XA
2.609 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus
2.582 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
2.582 - Meizu M5s
2.58 - Xiaomi Mi 4c
2.574 - LeEco Le Max 2
2.567 - Microsoft Lumia 640
2.563 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
2.563 - Huawei P Smart
2.563 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
2.561 - HTC U11+
2.556 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A (Y1)
2.556 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.544 - Lenovo K6 Note
2.544 - Oppo F1
2.528 - Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
2.525 - Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
2.506 - Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
2.503 - BlackBerry Motion
2.494 - Oppo F1s
2.481 - Motorola Moto G
2.477 - Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
2.473 - Huawei G8
2.471 - Huawei nova
2.467 - Sony Xperia Z
2.462 - Lenovo Vibe K5
2.459 - Meizu m3 max
2.447 - Xiaomi Mi 4
2.424 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Auto)
2.417 - HTC 10 evo
2.407 - Huawei Honor 7
2.406 - Vivo V7
2.404 - Sony Xperia E5
2.386 - ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
2.382 - HTC 10
2.378 - Oppo F3
2.376 - vivo V5 Plus
2.371 - Meizu m1 note
2.362 - Huawei nova plus
2.329 - Razer Phone
2.328 - HTC One E9+
2.305 - Alcatel One Touch Hero
2.272 - Sony Xperia L2
2.266 - Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
2.254 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
2.253 - HTC U11+ (EU)
2.253 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
2.249 - Sony Xperia C4 Dual
2.235 - Xiaomi Mi Note
2.234 - Motorola Moto G (2014)
2.233 - LG Nexus 5
2.228 - Huawei P8
2.196 - Meizu M5 Note
2.189 - Huawei Honor 6
2.169 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
2.166 - OnePlus Two
2.165 - HTC One X
2.158 - LG Aka
2.145 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (X20)
2.145 - Archos 50 Diamond
2.134 - Xiaomi Redmi Note
2.119 - Xiaomi Mi 4S
2.095 - Acer Liquid X2
2.084 - Huawei P8lite
2.078 - vivo V5
2.059 - Moto G 3rd gen max manual
2.026 - Xiaomi Mi 3
2.001 - Xiaomi Mi Max
1.996 - Sony Xperia E4g
1.972 - OnePlus One
1.961 - Sony Xperia Z2
1.944 - Meizu m3 note
1.923 - BlackBerry Leap
1.892 - Meizu m2 note
1.892 - HTC Butterfly
1.873 - ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
1.759 - Sony Xperia U
1.758 - Asus Zenfone Selfie
1.68 - Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
1.675 - ZTE Nubia Z9
1.659 - Jolla Jolla
1.605 - Motorola Moto E
1.545 - Sony Xperia M
1.473 - Sony Xperia L
1.351 - Xiaomi Redmi 2
1.311 - HTC Desire C
1.3 - Nokia X
1.291 - Meizu MX
1.221 - Sony Xperia E
1.215
Sunlight legibility is surprisingly good on the Meizu 15. The phone does alright in pretty much all outdoor lighting conditions.
AMOLED technology also means that the Meizu 15 gets to enjoy a punchy and vibrant color palette. It is not terribly color-accurate, though. Out of the box, the UI has a very distinct, cold, blue tint to it. In a Samsung-like move, Meizu does offer a few color modes to choose between, including the familiar dynamic, adaptive and photo. These, tend to boost different colors, but don't really improve the overall accuracy.
The best we managed to achieve was using the Standard color mode and a custom color temperature adjustment, set around 1/3 of the way on the warm side of the slider. Go any further and you are simply replacing overblown blues with overblown reds. That particular setting brought the default maximum deltaE of 10.5 (4.2 average) down to deltaE 9.1 (3.9 average).
Best color temperature settings
With all said and done, we still prefer this average AMOLED over most LCDs you get at this price point.
Meizu 15 Battery Life
There is a 3,000 mAh battery pack, sealed inside the Meizu 15 - a pretty decent capacity, considering the phone's footprint. The efficient, 14nm Snapdragon 660 combined with a frugal Super AMOLED panel provide all the grounds for good battery endurance.
The test results don't disappoint. Accounting for the 3,000 mAh capacity, the Meizu 15 makes good use of the available capacity. 77 hours of overall endurance rating is a solid showing. That being said, it might be useful to get a frame of reference. The Oppo R11 seems to provide the closes one we have. Roughly same size AMOLED panel and the same Snapdragon 660 chipset, running off of a 3,000 mAh battery.
This quick comparison shows that the X12 LTE modem in the Qualcomm chip is working as expected and not drawing any unnecessary power in standby or 3G call. On the other hand, Oppo's OS seems to be doing a slightly better job at optimizing its default browser and video player apps than the Flyme on the Meizu 15. The margin is hardly huge, though.
For charging, the Meizu 15 comes with mCharge 4.0 support. It is rated at a maximum power output of 24W (12V, 2A) and the required charger comes in the box. We were really glad to see that Meizu didn't keep this feature exclusive to the more expensive Meizu 15 Plus.
Our endurance rating denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Meizu 15 for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern, so our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Loudspeaker
The hybrid stereo system on the Meizu 15, with the earpiece pulling double duty, actually works pretty well. The overall output is surprisingly balance and very clear.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 66.2 | 70.5 | 72.5 | Good | |
| 69.5 | 69.3 | 71.1 | Good | |
| 66.8 | 68.8 | 74.5 | Good | |
| 66.1 | 69.0 | 84.1 | Very Good | |
| 68.0 | 69.9 | 82.3 | Very Good | |
| 68.5 | 71.7 | 80.3 | Very Good | |
| 69.3 | 72.6 | 87.3 | Excellent | |
| 77.6 | 74.5 | 80.7 | Excellent | |
| 74.0 | 73.9 | 90.4 | Excellent | |
| 76.4 | 72.1 | 91.6 | Excellent | |
| 88.0 | 77.1 | 81.4 | Excellent | |
| 87.3 | 72.8 | 90.8 | Excellent |
Volume-wise, it's equally impressive, scoring an excellent mark in our tests.
Audio quality
The Meizu 15 delivered great clarity, but below average loudness when it was hooked up to an active external amplifier.
Plugging in a pair of headphones caused more than the usual damage to the stereo quality, but didn't affect any of the other readings. Volume was again sub-par, so, all in all, it's a solid 7/10 performance. It's nearly perfect if you don't have high-impedance headphones or don't care much about the loudness.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.03, -0.03 | -93.2 | 93.2 | 0.0039 | 0.0089 | -93.9 | |
| +0.05, -0.02 | -92.9 | 92.9 | 0.0036 | 0.037 | -49.4 | |
| +0.02, -0.15 | -94.3 | 94.3 | 0.0021 | 0.0069 | -94.3 | |
| +0.18, -0.13 | -93.7 | 93.6 | 0.0024 | 0.104 | -52.7 | |
| +0.44, -0.12 | -90.1 | 90.2 | 0.0056 | 0.016 | -88.7 | |
| +0.51, -0.12 | -89.8 | 89.9 | 0.0097 | 0.043 | -39.9 | |
| +0.01, -0.03 | -92.6 | 92.5 | 0.0012 | 0.0076 | -93.4 | |
| +0.03, -0.03 | -92.2 | 92.2 | 0.0017 | 0.042 | -76.3 |
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
Flyme OS 7
Meizu's latest iteration of Flyme OS was announced alongside the Meizu 15 family. Naturally, that's what these devices run out-of-the-box. Flyme 7 is already available for a number of previous Meizu devices, like last year's Pro 7 models and even the Pro 6 line.
It seems Meizu has some ambitious plans for Flyme on the custom ROM scene, with ongoing plans to continue expanding device support. And while Cyanogen levels of popularity are unlikely at this time, Flyme could actually have a good future ahead of it on the modding scene, since it remains one of the clean and Western-friendly custom ROMs to come out of China.
As far as new features and optimizations, compared to Flyme 6 go, Meizu is boasting over 300 features and 1300 optimizations. Most are hidden away behind the scenes, like an AI-powered beauty mode in the camera. The entire UI has also been reworked with pixel-level adjustments, new notifications and new animations throughout the entire UI.
Other standout features, include a new powerful night mode that works across all apps and takes into account ambient light temperature.
The Flyme 7 interface is not a departure from Flyme 6, but more of a refinement. The lockscreen hasn't changed a bit - it's clean and simple, with a camera shortcut and nothing else. The fingerprint scanner is always-on and lightning-fast, so you'll barely see the lockscreen. Gesture Wakeup is available, as usual.
Lock Screen • Gesture wakeup • Face recognition
An optional Always On display can be enabled. There are a few styles to choose from, and it's a pretty good fit for the AMOLED panel.
Always-on display
Meizu is particularly proud of its facial recognition tech, courtesy of SenseTime. In our experience, it was impressively quick, but still suffered the occasional failure to read from time to time. No false-positives, though, or simple photo scanning tricks.
Speaking of gestures, Flyme is chuck full of them. "Operation preferences" offer the ability to remap the tap, double-press and hold gestures on the home key. The number of options is limited, but its still a nice touch.
Remap home key actions • Action options • Smart touch
Then there is SmartTouch - an options iOS-style on-screen floating button control that recognizes a number of customizable gestures.
The homescreen is simple - you get two panes by default, but you can add new ones later on. The homescreen gathers all apps as it's a single-tier UI and there is no app drawer here.
Flyme UI and search
A swipe up brings up a system-wide search interface.
The notification area is business as usual - the first pull-down gets you the full notification shade along with five toggles, while a second pull reveals all the available toggles and the screen brightness control.
Notification shade
Switching between tasks is done with a pull-up menu from the bottom of the screen. Flyme 7 actually offers a choice between a horizontal or a vertical layout for the task switcher.
Task switcher
Flyme 7 supports multi-window mode, which is also managed via the task switching interface. The supported apps have a 'Multi' button, and you can activate a split-screen app right away.
You can customize the UI with various themes. You can download new ones from the App Center - some of them are paid, but there are many free ones and a lot to choose from. There's also a variety of built-in wallpapers.
Personalization and themes
Despite remaining quite clean and orderly on the surface, Flyme is definitely not lacking in the micro-management department. You can control notifications and permissions on a per-app and type basis.
Notifications
There are also numerous privacy options, a vault, and even guest mode, so hiding away important or sensitive data should be a breeze. Also, multi-user scenarios.
Vault • Guest mode • Privacy mode
There is a lot going under the hood with Meizu's One Mind - it's a machine learning algorithm that follows and learns your habits, and then optimizes the phone's performance and suggestions per your preferences and use patterns.
In addition to One Mind, Meizu has implemented a new Game Mode, which knows when a game is running and prioritizes all available resources to it.
There are other performance tweaks you can do as well. The interesting bit is that Meizu approaches these in conjunction with battery endurance settings. This does make quite a lot of sense. The Performance mode settings let you choose if you prefer a more endurance based approach to resource-intensive tasks, or you would rather go full throttle for maximum performance.
Performance and battery management
And then there is the in-depth battery manager, that gives you access to statistics, separated as foreground and background work. As well as control over the latter.
Flyme clearly isn't AOSP, but mostly everything that is added in has been integrated well and without introducing unnecessary chaos. We would qualify Meizu's OS as pretty clean and orderly. There is no actual third-party bloat and the entire UI is well translated for international markets. Those also get Goole Play Services preinstalled. Naturally, for home markets, Meizu does have a set of default apps of its own.
Galery
These are all pretty minimalistic and integrate well with the overall look of the OS. The gallery is quite reminiscent of Google Photos and offers some nice editing options.
Music Player
The music player app includes online lyrics support, as well as a neat little feature to display those in the status bar. Also Square Sound optimization for headphones and a full-featured equalizer.
Video player
The video player features zoom options, as well as a floating windows interface.
The only real traces of the Asian origins of the ROM we managed to find are a Lucky money assistant in the settings, as well as Meizu's default app store and the browser. But even those are very well translated and approachable.
Lucky money assistant • Meizu app store • Browser
Performance
The Meizu 15 is no slouch. It is built around the Snapdragon 660 chipset. While not technically a flagship offer, it comes pretty close and is probably the next best thing. Virtually no major features have been cut compared to Qualcomm's 8th tier of chips - a pretty good match for Meizu's overall philosophy for the Meizu 15 line.
CPU-wise, you get a total of eight custom Kryo 260 cores, four efficient ones, clocked at 1.8 GHz and another four, running at 2.2GHz. Graphics come courtesy of an Adreno 512. RAM is always set at 4GB, while you do get a choice between 64GB or 128GB for storage. Just for reference, our review unit has a 4GB/64GB setup.
Kicking things off, we have a straight CPU-only test and GeekBench. We can clearly see the Meizu 15 standing its ground. Of course, it can't quite keep up with the Snapdragon 835 in devices like the Xiaomi Mi 6 and the Nokia 8.
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 6
6719 - Samsung Galaxy S8
6656 - Honor 10
6591 - Nokia 8
6568 - Honor 9
6457 - Meizu 15
5877 - Oppo R11
5777 - Xiaomi Mi A1
4292 - LG G6
4175 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
3768 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
3718
However, it does trade blows quite well with the ex-flagship chipset Snapdragon 821. Especially with multi-threaded workloads. Kind of understandable, since the Snapdragon 821 only has four Kryo cores at its disposal. This only comes to show just how quickly ARM CPUs are progressing.
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S8
1991 - Xiaomi Mi 6
1929 - Nokia 8
1925 - Honor 10
1894 - Honor 9
1876 - LG G6
1767 - Meizu 15
1620 - Oppo R11
1596 - Xiaomi Mi A1
877 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
735 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
733
Basemark OS 2.0 paints pretty much the same picture and shows the Snapdragon 660 beating out Samsung's Exynos 7870 Octa - still widely used in mid-rangers and budget offers, alike. Even the ex-flagship Exynos 8890 lags a bit behind. Huawei's custom Kirin 960 and especially the 970 seem to be fairing a bit better, though.
Basemark OS 2.0
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 6
3547 - Nokia 8
3503 - Samsung Galaxy S8
3376 - Honor 10
3337 - Honor 9
3072 - Meizu 15
2485 - Oppo R11
2386 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
2380 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
2364 - Samsung Galaxy S7
2128 - LG G6
2126 - Xiaomi Mi A1
1262 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
1038 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
1019
The compound AnTuTu benchmark appears to favor the pair of Huawei devices we picked out as well - the LG G6, too. It is still sad to see just how much the Exynos 7870 is lagging behind the pack. All the while, Samsung continues to integrate it in mid-range devices.
AnTuTu 7
Higher is better
- Nokia 8
210323 - Honor 10
200440 - Samsung Galaxy S8
199022 - LG G6
158785 - Honor 9
156984 - Meizu 15
125444 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
63632
Graphics performance is pretty consistent with what we can expect from an Adreno 512, with a FullHD workload.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 6
59 - Nokia 8
57 - Honor 10
57 - Samsung Galaxy S8
50 - LG G6
41 - Honor 9
39 - Samsung Galaxy S7
38 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
38 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
34 - Meizu 15
23 - Oppo R11
22 - Xiaomi Mi A1
9.8 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
5.4 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
5.1
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 6
41 - Nokia 8
39 - Honor 10
37 - Samsung Galaxy S8
36 - Honor 9
33 - Samsung Galaxy S7
28 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
28 - LG G6
26 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
22 - Meizu 15
15 - Oppo R11
15 - Xiaomi Mi A1
6.4 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
3.3 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
3.2
As usual, the off-screen tests offer the more level playing field for pure number comparisons, especially since the surge in various extra-tall display aspect ratios.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 6
56 - Honor 10
53 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
41 - Honor 9
40 - Samsung Galaxy S8
36 - Nokia 8
33 - Samsung Galaxy S7
27 - LG G6
24 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
23 - Meizu 15
23 - Oppo R11
22 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
9.8 - Xiaomi Mi A1
9.7 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
5.1
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 6
41 - Honor 10
37 - Honor 9
33 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
27 - Samsung Galaxy S8
23 - Nokia 8
18 - Meizu 15
15 - Oppo R11
15 - Samsung Galaxy S7
15 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
13 - LG G6
12 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
6.7 - Xiaomi Mi A1
6.3 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
3.3
It is also worth noting that the Meizu 15 didn't just magically produce half a frame more than the almost identically specced Oppo R11 in on-screen tests. It's just that GFXBench was unable to hide the navigation bar from the UI and this rendered on a slightly smaller window than true 1920 x 1080.
Basemark X seems to offer a better overall picture of the graphical prowess of the Meizu 15.
Basemark X
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S8
42370 - Xiaomi Mi 6
38541 - Nokia 8
37593 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
37346 - Samsung Galaxy S7
32345 - LG G6
30507 - Honor 10
29435 - Honor 9
29398 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
22472 - Meizu 15
20836 - Oppo R11
20350 - Xiaomi Mi A1
10472 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
5639 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
5497
That being said, we finish off the performance section with our usual notes on synthetic benchmarks, namely that they are not directly representative of real-world performance. We are happy to report that using the Meizu 15 is a pleasant and smooth experience. We have no doubt it has plenty of power to plow through pretty much any everyday task.
Camera and image quality
We already mentioned on quite a few occasions that the Meizu 15 family is a very good example of market segmentation done right. Stepping down from the Pro version to the basic version hardly means you would be trading on important features and is mostly a matter of size preference. This applies to the main camera.
The Meizu 15 has a pretty impressive dual setup, consisting of a 12MP main snapper, with a Sony IMX 380 (1.55m, 1/2.3-inch) sensor, behind an f/1.8 lens. It is backed up by dual pixel PDAF and laser autofocus, as well as a 4-axis OIS system.
Accompanying it is a 20MP (1/2.8", 1.0m) secondary camera, used to power bokeh effects, as well as what Meizu claims to be up to 3x lossless zoom. In reality, it's more like 2x optical and 3x interpolated. Even so, not a bad setup to rock.
Unlike the rest of the Flyme UI, the camera UI is not exactly what we would call clean and orderly. Some of the icons, options, and on-screen annotations are not exactly self-explanatory. Still, it's far from the worst we have seen.
By default, an AI optimization is enabled in the camera and working behind the scenes. You can catch a glimpse of what it is doing by the annotations for automatic scene detection that pop up from time to time.
Camera UI
Among the other toggles on the left-hand side is an HDR switch that only does on and off. This is perfectly fine, since the AI, as we mentioned earlier, actually takes care of auto HDR, when the toggle is left off. Also on the same row - an auto timer, some filters and a beauty mode with a light and heavy setting.
Speaking of settings, the cogwheel does open a separate interface, but it is as scarce as they come. There is no way to adjust photo resolution, only the aspect ratio.
Camera settings are scarce
Video capture mode does get a resolution selector, but all the options are locked at 30fps. You have to download a third-party app to get 1080p@60 fps, which the DSP is more than capable of handling.
Along the bottom of the UI - various camera mode, including a portrait one that leverages the second camera for improved bokeh effects.
Mode selector • Pro mode
Most of the special modes are hidden behind the "More" option on the menu strip. Here lies the Pro mode, which, albeit a bit hidden away, is actually pretty full-featured. It even throws in a 20MP still mode. Why Meizu decided to hide this away so deep into the camera app is beyond us.
So, the camera UI could use some work, but does that apply to the photos, captured by the Meizu 15?
There is, of course, always room for improvement and while the results the Meizu 15 produces are perfectly satisfactory, there are a few substantial issues with them.
Meizu 15 camera samples
The most major one seems to be noise and noise reduction. The samples we captured seem to have quite a bit of both. Suppression artifacts are common, even in perfect lighting. This leads to a general softness, across the entire frame.
Meizu 15 camera samples
Dynamic range is also a bit narrow, which can easily lead to clipping in the shadows and highlights.
Meizu 15 camera samples
HDR does help alleviate most of the potential damage in a lot of the scenes, but the AI isn't exactly always on point when it comes to triggering it. For the best possible results, you will have to handle that yourself.
Meizu 15 HDR: Off • On • Off • On • Off • On
As for the positives, color reproduction is quite accurate to our eye, if the Meizu manages to get the white balance right, that is. It does have a tendency to switch it up, quite a bit in auto mode, without any actual changes in the lighting conditions. Also, there are no signs of over-sharpening.
Meizu 15 camera samples
As you can probably imagine, low-light conditions only exacerbate the noise issues, but, surprisingly, not by that much. The low-light stills are definitely usable, so it's not entirely out of the question that Meizu is just going overboard on the noise-suppression on the daylight images.
Meizu 15 dusk and low light samples
Bringing the secondary camera into the mix, we get pretty convincing and precise bokeh effects on portraits. The second camera seems to actually be doing most of the heavy lifting here, since the mode seems to work almost equally well, without having a face in frame.
Meizu 15 portrait samples
Then there is the impressive zoom functionality.
Meizu 15 zoom: 1x • 2x • 3x • 1x • 2x • 3x
Meizu 15 zoom: 1x • 2x • 3x • 1x • 2x • 3x
We are pretty sure only the 2x zoom is truly optical, but the 3x shows impressively little signs of digital upsizing as well. We have to commend Meizu on this aspect of the Meizu 15 camera.
Meizu 15 2x telephoto: Off • On • Off • On • Off • On
These shots benefit from HDR as well.
Meizu 15 2x telephoto: Off • On • Off • On • Off • On
Last, but not least, we also tried out the 20MP mode, inside camera Pro. In case you were wondering, it does not interpolate, but rather simply takes a photo with the secondary camera directly. Here are some samples, next to the corresponding 12MP shots, taken with the main snapper.
Meizu 15 camera samples: 12MP • 20MP • 12MP • 20MP • 12MP • 20MP
Meizu 15 panoramas are pretty good regarding resolution and stitching. Still, they do suffer from the very same issues as the other still. That is to say a bit limited dynamic range and softness.
Meizu 15 panorama sample
On the front, the Meizu 15 has a 20MP, f/2.0 snapper to work with. It is a fixed focus and doesn't really have any other special tricks to boast either. Still, it captures pretty nice photos.
Meizu 15 selfie samples
The beauty mode filter is pretty subtle and produces usable results if you are into that sort of thing.
Meizu 15 beauty mode: Off • Medium • Max
We also snapped our test posters with the Meizu 15 in both 1x and 2x zoom modes. You can enjoy some pixel-peeping in our photo compare tool.
Meizu 15 in our Photo compare tool
Meizu 15 telephoto in our Photo compare tool
Video
The Meizu 15 can capture video in either 4K@30fps or 1080p@30fps. Both get saved in a standard MP4 format, with AVC video and a stereo AAC audio stream.
Video quality can be best described as unexceptional. The handset seems to do pretty well, as far as details and colors go. However, it has a tendency to almost always overexpose. Combined with a rather limited dynamic range this often leads to large areas of clipped highlights. Capturing the sky in frame is particularly difficult.
Using the 2x zoom yields pretty similar results.
You can also download these unedited samples: 2160p@30fps (10s, 47MB), 1080p@30fps (10s, 25MB), 2160p@30fps (11s, 49MB), 1080p@30fps (10s, 26MB), taken straight form the Meizu 15.
And finally, we've entered all the needed test samples by the Meizu 15 in our video compare tools. Those would be the main and telephoto camera (1x, 2x mode) in 4K and 1080p. Compare away.
2160p: Meizu 15 in our Video compare tool
1080p: Meizu 15 in our Video compare tool
2160p Telephoto: Meizu 15 in our Video compare tool
1080p Telephoto: Meizu 15 in our Video compare tool
Competition
Compact phones are a scarce commodity these days. Decent mid-rangers, even more so. Manufacturers tend to treat these as a niche product, so you typically see a few decked-out flagships, in a sea of budget devices, that just happen to fit the bill size-wise, due to cutbacks. Now, to be fair, a 5.46-inch device does not exactly fit into the traditional compact category. Even one with side-bezels as slim as the Meizu 15's.
And things only get worse if you don't really want to follow the extra-tall display tends of the day, as well as the lack of a proper front-mounted home button/fingerprint reader. Keeping all these requirements in mind, it's rather easy to drift towards older, but solid flagship offers, like the Samsung Galaxy S7. It really is a compact powerhouse, with all the trimmings from the 2016 smartphone scene. If you feel comfortable with limited support and no more software updates, it is definitely a worthwhile option.
On the other side of the spectrum, there is the brand new Galaxy A6 (2018). It, however, has grown quite a bit in display size, even if mostly vertically and relies solely on on-screen controls. The Galaxy J7 Pro seems to strike a nice balance between the two. Budget nature aside, you still get a gorgeous Super AMOLED panel, though not a lot on the performance and camera fronts.
Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro • Xiaomi Mi 6 • Huawei Honor 10 • Nokia 8
Xiaomi might just have a couple of potentially better options in the Mi 6 and Mi A1. Why not the Mi A2 (Mi 6X), you might ask then? Well, the extra tall display and lack of classic controls. The Mi 6 might be a bit older than the Mi A1, but it is still an ex-flagship device, with a powerful Snapdragon 835 chipset and full-featured dual camera. We only see the Mi A1 as a better option if you really need a vanilla Android experience.
On to Huawei, or rather Honor and another similar dilemma, between the newer and more powerful, but bigger and notched Honor 10 and the older Honor 9, which seems to tick more boxes. Since the Honor 10 surpasses its predecessor in pretty much every aspect and its footprint is almost identical to that of the Meizu 15 and you're not losing on a home button, we would rather go for it, in this case.
Last, but not least, the Nokia 8 might be worth looking into. Its nearly vanilla approach to Android and Nokia's update-positive attitude could potentially spell out a longer and better software support future. Still, you can probably see what Meizu means when it talks about marrying classic design with new tech.
Verdict
The Meizu 15 is a pretty interesting exploration of what 2018 mobile design could have been, in the absence a few recent trends. Since it relies so heavily on classic concepts and designs, calling it a unicorn is not exactly fair. But it's not a dying breed either since it's fresh and modern enough to be something else entirely. It's a hybrid of old and new that's hard to come by and will likely be a perfect match for many retro-minded smartphone users.
Given its lack of mass popularity or really any aggressive efforts on Meizu's part to change that, the Meizu 15 is unlikely to even go really mainstream. Even less so with the Meizu 16 already approaching fast on the horizon. The Meizu 15 was destined to be a niche product from the very get-go and that's probably OK.
With a sea of manufacturers constantly stumping over one another to shape the needs and desires of the consumer, a decreasing number of companies is still trying to cater to a core audience and a set of pre-existing and conscious requirements.
Pros
- Solid build quality and thin bezels, without sacrificing the home button or stereo speakers
- Solid, if not exceptionally bright Super AMOLED display
- Very good battery life, fast charging
- Very loud and clear stereo speaker setup
- Well orginized, clean and functional Flyme 7 OS
Cons
- No ingress protection rating
- No expandable storage
- No NFC
- The camera has noticeable issues with noise and white balance
While not necessarily a sound business strategy in the cutthroat smartphone realm, it is a great way to deliver a different device. In that respect, the Meizu 15 is the perfect example of a masterfully executed plan. While far from perfect, it delivers on every goal Meizu set out to achieve, in catering to its fans. If you know what that entails, then we have no trouble recommending the Meizu 15.
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