On Tuesday, China-based smartphone maker Meizu announced the successor to last year's Meizu M5s -- the M6S -- and it's a massive improvement. Just about every element of the M6s has been upgraded, from the system-on-chip to the modem, display, and more.
Perhaps the most notable upgrade is the processor. Meizu has switched to the Samsung Exynos 5 7872 in the M6s from the Meizu M5s's MediaTek MT6753 -- it's Samsung's first mid-range system-on-chip to pair four ARM high-performance Cortex A73 cores with the usual two A53 cores. The CPU configuration runs at respectively 2.0 and 1.6GHz, and is expected to see massive performance gains over its predecessor, which had A53 cores clocked at 1.3GHz. The GPU has also been upgraded to the Mali G71MP1, which is clocked at 1.2GHz.
Samsung's 14nm chip isn't the M6s's only headlining feature. Its fingerprint sensor is on the side, right below the power switch, and the phone's body sports a "sandblasted" metal build and 2.5D glass. The M6s has the same 3GB LPDD3 RAM as its predecessor, but the internal storage has been bumped to 32GB and 64GB, depending on the model. The phone's display, meanwhile, is now 5.7-inch IPS LCD panel that's the same HD+ (1440x720) resolution the Meizu M5s's screen, but with the 18:9 aspect ratio made popular by phones like the Samsung Galaxy S8 and LG V30.
The Meizu M6s uses Samsung's integrated modem (with support for 2G/3G/ and 4G LTE Cat. 7 wireless) and has two NanoSIM slots for folks who need to switch networks. In terms of cameras, the back of the Meuzi M6s houses a 16MP f/2.0 Samsung sensor and the front has a 8MP selfie camera with facial recognition features. The M6s uses microUSB 2.0 -- you won't find a USB Type-C port -- but the battery is larger than last year's at 3,070mAh. (Meizu says it should allow for about nine hours of video playback.)
The Meizu M6s will ship with Flyme OS 6, which is based on Android 7.0 Nougat, and the 32GB and 64GB models will retail for RMB 999/127 Euro ($155) and RMB 1199/152 Euro ($189), respectively, later this year.