Meizu 18 and 18 Pro Review, Pros and Cons – Meizu may not be a big name in the global market, but Meizu is a big brand in China. Recently, Meizu unveiled its two main smartphones, known as the Meizu 18 and 18 Pro. It is a Flyme custom UI configuration that it creates with the choice of the best feature. Fortunately, these two models are available for the global stage and you buy them online while the sale takes place from March 9th onwards.
The Meizu 18 and 18 Pro phones come with similar processor and specifications, but the main difference is the size of the screen, the camera and the battery.
With the current report from Meizu headquarters, 45% of sales come from users of Apple’s device switcher. Well, the reason is the UI’s anti-ad policy, which exclusively for China although the company is attracting clients from the global market. Anyway, let’s start the full review and find out whether the Meizu 18 and 18 Pro smartphones are worth the title of a flagship phone or not.
Table of Contents
Meizu 18 and 18 Pro Review
Highlights
- Both devices come with the Super AMOLED panel which has a fascinating 120 Hz refresh rate and supports HDR 10+.
- Under the hood, the Meizu 18 and 18 Pro smartphones equip the Snapdragon 888 5G chipset for extreme performance.
- As for the camera, you will have an impressive main camera that records decent videos.
- In the software section, Android 11 combines the UI features of Flyme 9 that allow you to create a custom interface.
- The powerhouse would be incomplete without its Li-Po 4000 mAh and 4500 mAh battery and offers exceptional charging support.
Design and Display
In terms of design, the Meizu 18 and 18 Pro phones have a similar layout, except that the camera module design is a little different. Still, both models can consider providing premium quality at hand. In addition, there are incredible color options present in each variant. You can choose anyone that suits your taste.
After looking at the curved display of the Meizu 18 and 18 Pro variants you will start like it and the AMOLED display will render the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner under the display. In addition, you can also set the facial unlock. In addition, you can immerse the content with a 3D glass design. Both models are comparatively thin and arrive with lightweight construction.
The Meizu 18 smartphone falls into the compact category with its small but easy-to-use 6.7 inches Super AMOLED screen, while the Meizu 18 Pro smartphone reaches with the same panel. The good thing is that you are getting a 120 Hz refresh rate that will improve the browsing and gaming experience.
On the other hand, the vivid contrast is handled through HDR 10+ support, something note-worthy. It also plays a significant role in bringing depth to the colors of the screen. In addition, the 1300 nits brightness rating maintains the feature so you can see the screen outdoors without any particular problems.
Memory and Internal
Hardware configuration is an essential part of ensuring that users have no problems doing their normal work on the phone. Surprisingly, both the Meizu 18 and 18 Pro smartphones have unleashed its full potential with the Snapdragon 888 chipset while graphical rendering improves through the Adreno 660 chip.
In addition to the powerful hardware, the speed of the processor cores is good enough and will not lag during gaming. In addition, advanced level touch sampling will further increase gameplay. While they are not gaming phones like the Red Magic 6 Pro, you will not get custom pressure-sensitive zones for heavy gaming centers here.
Instead, the company focuses on bringing in a pretty simple UI. As I mentioned before, Flyme 9 intention to bring in the anti-ad notification policy is impressive. But what makes it even bigger is that you will face less bloatware within the Android 11 ecosystem. So, freely browse the interface and create personal space for yourself.
However, there is a downside to being a high-end phone, here you will also not have a secondary storage unit. Still, the requirement is met through the built-in storage and RAM sets. Speaking of which, the Meizu 18 and 18 Pro phones come with a similar UFS 3.1 storage configuration. The basic variant has 8GB of RAM coupled with 128GB or 256GB, while the 256GB space paired with 12GB in the top-end variant.
Camera
The camera configuration is slightly different on the Meizu 18 and the Meizu 18 Pro. In the Meizu 18, the 64 MP takes over as the main shooter in the triple camera. Altogether, this triple-camera also features an 8 MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom and a 16 MP ultrawide lens next to a 20 MP waterdrop notch selfie camera.
On the other hand, the Meizu 18 Pro smartphone comes with a 50 MP main camera, considered the best lens produced by Samsung for a smartphone. In addition, colors and contrast provide fine details and are driven by the dynamic range of the photograph. Here, you’ll get a similar 8 MP telephoto camera, except for the ultrawide camera exchange from 16 MP to 32 MP, which exponentially enhances the photographic experience.
With this, you get all the details you want in the images, and the Pro variant can also give the Samsung Galaxy S21 a hand-to-hand competition. Now, moving on to video recording, you can easily manifest 4K videos with gyro-EIS on the Meizu 18. On the other hand, the Meizu 18 Pro smartphone offers 8K video recordings with identical gyro-EIS video stabilization software. Optics also helps a little in creating stable videos.
But the 0.3 TOF 3D camera intact in the Meizu 18 Pro’s quad-camera completes all requirements like the top-level camera phone. Even the 44 MP front camera has not been able to contain itself to provide superior quality. The native camera app also doesn’t disappoint, as it offers tons of wonderful features dedicated to low lights and time-lapse.
Battery and Others
The battery section has a huge load due to the energy-consuming software and hardware, it shows the effect of on-screen time as if you were at 120Hz with the maximum setting, you will get a smooth experience with the price of losing a big chunk of battery life. Although you can recover the screen time for normal use by lowering the refresh rate settings up to 60Hz.
On the Meizu 18, you will have a Li-Po 4000 mAh battery that achieves its charm by providing 4 hours of screen time with its highest settings. As for the charger, 36W fast charging arrives in the box.
In the case of the Meizu 18 Pro smartphone, the company added Li-Po 5000 mAh of battery capacity by adding 40W wireless and support for 40W wire charging as well as 10W Reverse wireless charging.
As for the price, the Meizu 18 phone starts at $ 650 (Rs 47,000) approx for an 8/128 GB unit and is the most affordable version you can choose from across the series. To get more storage, you need to add $ 49, while the high Pro variant is priced at $ 799 (Rs 58,999) approx.
Meizu 18 and 18 Pro Specifications Detail
Down below you can see the full Specifications of the Meizu 18 and 18 Pro smartphones.
| Specifications | Meizu 18 Pro | Meizu 18 |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G | Same |
| Announced | March 2021 | Same |
| SIM | Dual SIM | Same |
| Dimensions | 6.40 x 2.87 x 0.32 inches | 6.00 x 2.72 x 0.32 inches |
| Weight | 189 g | 162 g |
| Size | 6.7 inches | 6.2 inches |
| Display | Super AMOLED 120Hz HDR10+ 420 – 1300 nits brightness 20:9 ratio ~526 ppi density | Same |
| Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 6 Waterproof | No |
| Resolution | 1440 x 3200 pixels | Same |
| OS | Android 11, Flyme 9 | Same |
| Chipset | 5nm – Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G | Same |
| CPU | Octa-core 1×2.84 GHz Kryo 680 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 680 4×1.80 GHz Kryo 680 | Same |
| GPU | Adreno 660 | Same |
| Card slot | No | Same |
| RAM | 8GB, 12GB | Same |
| Internal | 128Gb, 256GB UFS 3.1 | Same |
| Camera | 50 MP, dual pixel PDAF, OIS 8 MP, PDAF, 3x optical zoom 32 MP (130Ëš ultrawide) 0.3 MP (depth), TOF 3D LED flash, HDR, panorama, gyro-EIS Max – 8K@30fps | 64 MP (wide), PDAF, OIS 8 MP (telephoto), PDAF, 3x optical zoom 16 MP (122Ëš ultrawide) Dual-LED dual-tone flash, HDR, panorama, gyro-EIS Max – 4K@30/60fps |
| Selfie | 44 MP (wide) HDR Max – 4K@30fps | 20 MP (wide) HDR Max – 1080p@30fps |
| Loudspeaker | Yes, with stereo speakers | Same |
| 3.5mm jack | No | Same |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 а/b/g/n/ac/6e, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot | Same |
| Bluetooth | 5.2, A2DP, LE | Same |
| GPS | Yes, with dual-band A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS, IRNSS | Same |
| NFC | Yes | Same |
| Infrared port | No | Same |
| Radio | No | Same |
| USB | USB Type-C | Same |
| Sensors | under display fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass | Same |
| Battery | Li-Po 4500 mAh Fast charging 40W Fast wireless charging 40W Reverse wireless charging 10W Power Delivery 3.0 Quick Charge 4+ | Li-Po 4000 mAh Fast charging 36W Power Delivery 3.0 Quick Charge 3+ |
| Colors | Blue, White, Gray | Light Blue, White, Aurora |
| Expected Price | $ 799 (Rs 58,999) approx. | $ 650 (Rs 47,000) |
Meizu 18 and 18 Pro Pros and Cons
Down below you can see the list of pros and cons (advantages and disadvantages) of the Meizu 18 and 18 Pro smartphone.
Pros
- Suitable premium phones from the main segment.
- Fabulous camera settings.
- Advanced refresh rate and HDR10+ features.
- Latest Android 11 OS and Flyme 9 UI.
- Offers vivid experience with Super AMOLED display.
- 5G ready to use the device.
- Video recording from 8k to 4k is possible.
- No problem in low-light photography.
- Fast charging support.
- wireless charging and Waterproofing protection for Meizu 18 Pro.
- 3x optical zoom camera.
- Gorilla Glass 6 protection for Pro variant.
- Decent performance.
- Can play games in high configuration.
Cons
- Without secondary storage unit.
- Without wireless charging and waterproof protection in non-Pro variant.
- 3.5mm connector slot is missing
- Gyro-EIS is missing in the selfie camera.
- Without any gorilla glass protection in Meizu 18.
Conclusion
The Meizu 18 and 18 Pro both are compact solution phones in which most of the flagship Pro variant comes with 6.5 inches display, while this little beast offers a 6.2 inches display panel that is easy to use with one hand. As for the Meizu 18 Pro, it is a complete flagship device that will not disappoint you in any technical aspect. Both models are acceptable and can present strong competition for the well-known Xiaomi MI 11 series.
To sum it all up, the Meizu 18 and 18 Pro phones deserve the title of being called the flagship phone and can stand out alongside brands like Xiaomi, Apple, and Samsung for sure. If you are looking for the best alternative you can check the Mi 11x Pro smartphone.
