smartphone review

The new Meizu 21 PRO is here.

This phone’s main feature is being an open AI terminal, open to all large AI models while also unlocking SOC edge AI and API computing capabilities. From this perspective, Meizu going all-in on AI is truly impressive.

The Meizu 21 PRO continues the family-style design in its overall appearance, with Meizu’s signature touches evident in both the screen and camera layout. The Meizu 21 PRO comes in four colors: Laurel Green (vegan leather), Starry Night Black, Meizu White, and Glacier Blue. The unit I have is white, Meizu’s flagship color. I quite like the white—it’s clean and simple, and the feel in hand is different from before because it’s now more slender.

As usual, let’s start with the dimensions. The phone measures 154.98mm * 74.42mm * 7.98mm, with the vegan leather version weighing 208g and the glass version at 214g. The 74mm width makes it appear much slimmer compared to most phones on the market, which range from 76mm to 78mm wide.

Moving on to the screen,

The Meizu Lucky 08 smartphone focuses on high aesthetics and practicality. It not only continues Meizu's industrial design standards but also introduces a larger battery, improves durability, and offers over 100 practical AI features, delivering a comprehensive performance. Let’s take a look at how it actually performs.

A Unique High-Aesthetic Design

For many years, aesthetics have been a signature selling point of Meizu phones. As a budget-friendly product, the Meizu Lucky 08 doesn’t cut corners in design, especially with its 1.75mm quad-equal bezel screen on the front—narrower than the standard iPhone 16—paired with rounded body corners, making the front look harmonious and visually appealing.

Moreover, the Meizu Lucky 08 also offers a white front panel, a unique feature in the industry, further enhancing its front-facing aesthetics.

The screen measures 6.78 inches with 1.5K resolution, supports 144Hz high refresh rate, 8T LTPO, 1600nits global brightness, and 5000nits peak brightness,

The emergence of the Meizu Lucky 08 is like a stone thrown into a calm lake, stirring consumers to re-examine the mid-range smartphone market. Named "Lucky," this phone lacks the halo of flagship models but showcases how a budget device can win user favor through precise trade-offs, thanks to its balanced specs and unique AI ecosystem.

Design: Breaking Free from Homogenization with Aesthetics

First-time users of the Lucky 08 will find it hard not to be drawn to its front design—a 6.78-inch flat screen framed by ultra-narrow 1.75mm bezels, with a white front panel standing out among the sea of black-bezeled budget phones. This 1.5K resolution display not only supports a 144Hz high refresh rate but also enhances wet-hand operation and responsiveness through AI touch optimization. Turning to the back, the star-track circular camera module continues Meizu’s pursuit of symmetrical aesthetics while establishing distinctiveness in its price range with transparent-textured detailing.

Performance:

As a product designed to meet the needs of more users, the Meizu Lucky 08 not only boasts an ultra-high aesthetic appeal but also emphasizes practical AI capabilities. Let’s take a look at its performance in real-world usage.

The Meizu Lucky 08 comes in two color options: Starlight White and Meteorite Black, with a body weight of 202g and a thickness of 8.6mm.

Unlike the Number series and Note series, the Meizu Lucky 08’s camera module no longer follows a minimalist vertical arrangement. Instead, it adopts a design inspired by the aesthetics of star-track technology, with a 100MP main camera as the visual axis. The secondary camera (2MP macro) and flash are arranged around the main camera like satellites, forming a gravitational ring structure. The concentric starburst texture also adds visual depth to the entire module.

Additionally, as an AI-focused device, this physical red button serves as both the power button and a multifunctional AI key.

The front of the Meizu Lucky 08 is another

Following Meizu’s mblu series, the launch of the Meizu Lucky 08 marks the brand’s official entry into the budget smartphone market. Many users are likely curious about this device. Below, I’ll briefly review the phone based on its price. While my assessment may not be entirely objective, take it as a rational reference.

In my opinion, compared to other phones in the same price range, the Meizu Lucky 08 has 2 advantages and 3 disadvantages. Let’s dive into these five aspects first!

The first advantage is its screen quality, which is quite impressive and overturn my impression of Meizu phones over the past two years. The earlier Meizu 20 stumbled with its "Zhou Dongyu" (a term referring to a lower-quality pixel arrangement) screen, and the Meizu 21’s display, while using Samsung’s E6 base material, still fell short with its lower resolution compared to mainstream 1.5K screens.

However, Meizu has clearly invested in the Lucky 08’s display. It features a 6.78-inch 1.5K flat screen

The main focus of Meizu Lucky08's promotion is its flagship-level AI features. However, the usable AI functions are quite ordinary, such as image-editing erasure and voice-recording document organization, which are also available on other smartphones. Additionally, its AI shortcut key is essentially the same as the power button on other Meizu models.

Apart from this red AI shortcut key, the most eye-catching aspect of the Meizu Lucky08's design is its rear camera setup. Two cameras are housed within one large camera module, with an additional glass panel covering them, preventing direct contact with the lenses. Whether it looks good or not is subjective, but it’s certainly unique. In terms of actual imaging performance, the 100MP main camera delivers good results with clear details and well-tuned colors, especially in video recording, which is exceptionally sharp. The downside is the lack of optical image stabilization, so you’ll need to hold the phone steady when taking photos. The front-facing