Meizu, Qualcomm buried hatchet – new phones on horizon?

Chinese manufacturer Meizu has traditionally stuck to either using MediaTek or Samsung Exynos chips in its smartphones. In fact, the company, which saw its phones come to South Africa late last year, has never used Snapdragon chips due to a legal dispute.

The dispute was settled in December though, with the two parties reaching a patent licensing agreement. Now, Digitimes has reported that Meizu will be acquiring Snapdragon chips at the expense of MediaTek orders.

The publication reports that MediaTek chips currently account for 90% of Meizu’s handset shipments. However, it cites “sources from the upstream supply chain” as saying that Snapdragon chips will account for 30% of all Meizu smartphone shipments in 2017.

Meizu is apparently set to use Snapdragon chips in its new phones – at the expense of MediaTek processors

So what kind of Snapdragon-powered phones could we expect from Meizu?

Unsubstantiated rumours claim that the Meizu Pro 7 could make use of a Snapdragon 835 chip. After all, the Pro range is Meizu’s high-end offering, delivering high-resolution cameras, sharp screens and powerful chips.

The rumours do make sense as well, as last year’s Pro 6 (review) used MediaTek’s Helio X25 chip. But the Digitimes report doesn’t mention whether Meizu will continue using Samsung’s Exynos silicon, which powered the Pro 6 Plus.

In saying so, it’s only expected that the Snapdragon 835 will be available in meaningful numbers at the end of Q2 and into Q3. So don’t expect a release any time soon.

Meanwhile, rumours also claim that the upcoming Snapdragon 626 mid-range chip will be used by Meizu There’s been no word on which phone to expect, but the brand’s Note line of budget phablets is long-overdue for a silicon upgrade.