As of: February 22, 2024, 1:06 p.m
By: Carmen Mörwald
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A Chinese company no longer wants to produce Android smartphones in the future.
In doing so, it announced a radical change of course.
Bremen – With the release of ChatGPT from the software company OpenAI, artificial intelligence has become an integral part of everyday life.
With the establishment, other developers are faced with the question of whether they should integrate the technology into their work.
A Chinese smartphone manufacturer is even going one step further and will rely entirely on AI in the future.
The production of its mobile phones will be completely stopped.
Smartphone manufacturer stops production and focuses on “devices of tomorrow”
This is the company Meizu, which announced its decision on Sunday, February 18, 2024, via the Chinese microblogging service “Weibo”.
This is justified by a strategic change.
The
Gizmochina
portal reports that in the future the focus will be on the production of “devices of tomorrow” powered by AI.
The former smartphone manufacturer is now pursuing an “all in AI” approach.
The rise and fall of Meizu
It was only in 2008 that Meizu specialized in the production of mobile phones.
The company was previously known for its MP3 and later MP4 players.
Over the years, Meizu rose to become the eleventh largest smartphone manufacturer in the world.
In 2015, the company sold more than 20 million devices.
Four years later, Meizu ran into financial difficulties and had to introduce austerity measures.
The workforce was reduced, sales outlets were closed and international expansion was largely stopped.
Between the fourth quarter of 2017 and the first quarter of 2020, the market share on the Chinese market fell from four percent to less than one percent.
In recent years, Meizu has faced tough competition from big brands like Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo.
The US market also remained largely untapped for the company.
As a result, Meizu has decided to stop developing upcoming models such as Meizu 21 Pro, Meizu 22 as well as Meizu 23.
This means an end to the traditional smartphone business that characterized the company for more than 15 years.
Smartphone manufacturer Meizu will rely entirely on AI in the future.
© Karl-Josef Hildenbrand / dpa
AI instead of mobile phones – the smartphone manufacturer’s decision has consequences for customers
While Meizu has assured support for its devices in the Chinese market, international customers face a big question mark.
Details on how support and service will be handled outside of China were initially missing.
Instead, information about an AI operating system was announced, which is scheduled to appear in 2024.
The former smartphone manufacturer also plans to introduce new hardware products.
(cln)