Introduction
Meizu is back in the big game. After the impressive Pro 5, the company's flagship line seemingly took a step back with the Pro 6 and Pro 6 Plus. And just as we feared that Meizu might be giving up on the premium niche the Chinese are ready to wow us with the Meizu Pro 7 Plus: a dual-screen dual-camera flagship that will stand out in any crowd.
LG was experimenting with secondary screens for a while now, but those were sitting alongside the main ones and didn't really serve the same purpose. Yota had some success, but its rear e-ink panels limit the applications. Meizu, though, seems to be on the right track. The 5.7" Quad HD Super AMOLED at the front is the flagship standard, while the 2" AMOLED on the back is the standout feature, a bold innovation which might be a selfie fan's dream come true.
The Pro 7 Plus's impressive specs sheet continues with a dual 12MP (color + monochrome) main camera, a top of the line MediaTek Helio X30 chip with 6GB of RAM, a beefy 3,500 mAh battery, and the latest Flyme 6 OS, based on Android 7.0 Nougat.
Meizu Pro 7 Plus Key features
- Display: 5.7" 1440p Super AMOLED display of 518ppi
- Secondary display: 2" 240 x 560 px AMOLED of 307pi
- OS: Flyme OS 6 on top of Android 7.0 Nougat
- Chipset: MediaTek Helio X30 - deca-core processor with two 2.26GHz Cortex-A73, four 2.2GHz Cortex-A53 and four 1.9GHz Cortex-A35 cores; PowerVR 7XTP GPU; 6GB of RAM
- Camera: Dual 12MP Sony Exmor RS IMX386 camera sensor; 1.25µm pixel size, f/2.0; phase-detect autofocus; two-tone flash, 2160p video recording @30fps
- Selfies: 16MP front-facing camera, f/2.0, 1080p@30fps video
- Storage: 64GB or 128GB of built-in storage; non-expandable
- Connectivity: Cat. 10 LTE (450/150Mbps); Dual SIM; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; Bluetooth 4.2; NFC; GPS/GLONASS/Beidou; USB Type-C port, USB On-The-Go
- Audio: Hi-Fi audio Cirrus Logic CS43130 chip, active noise cancellation via a dedicated mic
- Battery: 3,500mAh battery with 24W mCharge 2.0 (up to 45% charge in 30min)
- Misc: mTouch Home button with a fingerprint scanner
Main disadvantages
- No waterproofing (flagship phone and relatively high price)
- No optical stabilization for the camera
- No memory expansion option
- No VoLTE for the international model
One omission that stands out is the lack of any waterproofing, which we've come to expect from flagships these days. The lack of a card slot is a bit easier to forgive with 64GB storage being the base version.
If you are eyeing the smaller Pro 7 model, you should know that it comes with a 5.2" 1080p display and an inferior Helio P25 chipset. It offers similar build quality, user interface and camera, though, so if you like what you see here, but can't afford the price tag it may be a viable option.
And now let's take a peek inside the retail box and see what's inside.
Meizu Pro 7 Plus retail box contents
The Meizu Pro 7 Plus comes in one of the fanciest retail boxes we've opened. Within the half glossy, half matte box is the phone itself, a transparent plastic case, a 24W charger plug, and a USB Type-C cable.
Meizu Pro 7 retail box • its contents • the Pro 7 Plus wrapped in the case
There is a dedicated slot for headphones, but our unit came without them. The availability of those will vary from market to market.
Meizu Pro 7 Plus 360-degree spin
Meizu Pro 7 Plus measures 157.3 x 77.2 x 7.3 mm - 1.7mm taller than the Pro 6 Plus, which also sports a 5.7" display. The Pro 7 Plus gained some weight too - 12 grams and now tips the scales at 170g. If we are to size it up next to the Galaxy S8, the Pro 7 Plus would be both 1cm taller and wider, but then again, its strength lies not in an Infinity display, but in a secondary one.
Design
Anything that breaks the smartphone's design trend requires out of the box thinking, and more often than not repositioning or even retiring some other functional elements. Meizu could have employed some eye-catching technique to highlight that secondary screen, but instead it chose a more understated approach - a secondary screen that's going with the design instead of breaking it.
On paper the 5.7" QHD Super AMOLED screen is identical to the one we saw on the Pro 6 Plus. It takes up most of the front, but leaves some bezels for the earpiece and the signature mTouch key. There is no 3D Press this time around, but we doubt anyone will miss it. The heart-rate sensor is gone too, but that never worked properly on the old model, so not a great loss either.
The new antenna design, first introduced by Meizu with the Pro 6, is here to stay. The two antennas are completely invisible on our black model and follow the top and bottom edges perfectly.
The highlight, of course, is that glass piece at the left of the rear panel. It accommodates the second AMOLED display and the dual-camera. The display is not always-on, but offers enough features to justify its existence. The option to use this one as a viewfinder for high-res bokeh-enhanced selfies is enough to make a lot of people want such tech immediately.
The camera lenses are separated from the screen by a tiny metal rim, while the flash is flush with the glass. We noticed that Meizu has bent the left portion of the glass to match the side curve, which creates an illusion of a curved display.
The Meizu Pro 7 Plus is a premium-built device, and you can immediately feel it once you grab it. The Pro 7 Plus feels solid and secure, with the all-metal panel providing very decent grip and being very resistant to smudges. It's not enormous either so it will fit in most pockets. Finally, the second display was placed thoughtfully so it serves its main purpose well, rather than getting a more central positioning, which might have looked better but would have worked worse.
Handling the Meizu Pro 7 Plus
Controls
The earpiece, the selfie camera, and a couple of sensors are all above the screen. Below the big AMOLED is the familiar mTouch key with an embedded fingerprint scanner in its surface. The latter is not always-on, but it's still decently fast.
Meizu Pro 7 Plus • turning the screen on • the earpiece • the mTouch key
The dual nano-SIM slot is on the left, while the right side has the volume rocker and the power/lock key.
The left side • the SIM slot • the right side • the keys
The secondary mic pinhole is the lone thing of interest at the top of the Meizu Pro 7 Plus. The mouthpiece, the audio jack and the loudspeaker grille are flanking the USB port at the bottom.
The top • the bottom • the USB port
The back of the Pro 7 Plus is surely the most interesting part. The upper left is where the dual-camera, the dual-flash, and the secondary AMOLED screen share a common glass plate. The camera and its metal rim are bulging out just a tiny bit, but not enough to cause any wobbles when the phone is laying on an even surface.
The secondary display • the dual camera • the tiny hump of the camera
Display
The Meizu Pro 7 Plus features a Samsung-made 5.7" Super AMOLED screen of 1440p resolution. Unlike on the Pro 6 Plus, the 7 Plus doesn't support 3D press, but the use of that technology was very limited so we might be better off without it.
As expected, the Pro 7 Plus screen has a Diamond PenTile pixel arrangement, but nobody will be able to notice that because of the high 518ppi density.
Meizu promises 430nits of brightness in its official specs sheet, and the Pro 7 Plus doesn't only deliver, but exceeds the promised mark. Its screen is capable of lighting up to 450nits at maximum brightness - the same as the Pro 6 Plus. The blacks are not emitting any light, hence the infinite contrast ratio.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.382 | 703 | 1840 | |
| 0 | 453 | ∞ | |
| 0.007 | 450 | 64286 | |
| 0 | 618 | ∞ | |
| 0.277 | 564 | 2036 | |
| 0.335 | 547 | 1633 | |
| 0.228 | 468 | 2053 | |
| 0 | 440 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 435 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 410 | ∞ | |
| 0.01 | 360 | 40000 | |
The color rendition on the Meizu Pro 7 Plus is good, but not perfect. The red hues are oversaturated and there is a bluish tint. We measured an average DeltaE of 4.6.
Playing with the color options in Settings doesn't improve the readings, but lets you get more neutral whites.
The sunlight legibility is class-leading with one of the best contrasts scores we've had in a while - just as good as the Galaxy S6 edge, Nokia 8, and OnePlus 3T. This mean you'll have no problem seeing what's happening on the screen even under bright sunlight.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Samsung Galaxy S8
4.768 - Samsung Galaxy S8+
4.658 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
4.615 - Oppo R11
4.454 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
4.439 - OnePlus 3
4.424 - Samsung Galaxy S7
4.376 - HTC One A9
4.274 - Samsung Galaxy Note7
4.247 - Samsung Galaxy A3
4.241 - Nokia 8
4.239 - OnePlus 3T
4.232 - Google Pixel XL
4.164 - ZTE Axon 7
4.154 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
4.147 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy Note5
4.09 - Huawei Nexus 6P
4.019 - OnePlus X
3.983 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
3.983 - Oppo R7s
3.964 - Apple iPhone 7
3.964 - Huawei P9 Plus
3.956 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
3.935 - Lenovo Moto Z
3.931 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3.918 - OnePlus 5
3.914 - Samsung Galaxy C5
3.911 - Samsung Galaxy C7
3.896 - Samsung Galaxy A5
3.895 - Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
3.879 - Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
3.873 - Samsung Galaxy A8
3.859 - Apple iPhone 6
3.838 - Sony Xperia XZs
3.818 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
3.817 - Motorola Moto X (2014)
3.816 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)
3.812 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
3.804 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
3.802 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
3.798 - LG V20 Max auto
3.798 - Sony Xperia XZ
3.795 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3.789 - Apple iPhone 6s
3.783 - Meizu Pro 5
3.781 - Microsoft Lumia 650
3.772 - Xiaomi Mi 6
3.767 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3.756 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.709 - Vivo X5Pro
3.706 - Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
3.688 - Apple iPhone SE
3.681 - Huawei Mate 9
3.68 - Samsung Galaxy A7
3.679 - Meizu PRO 6
3.659 - BlackBerry Priv
3.645 - Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra
3.597 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
3.588 - LG G6
3.556 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
3.53 - Motorola Moto Z Play
3.526 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
3.523 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
3.523 - Acer Jade Primo
3.521 - Microsoft Lumia 950
3.512 - Oppo R7 Plus
3.499 - nubia Z11
3.466 - Huawei P10 Plus
3.456 - HTC U Ultra
3.453 - Samsung Galaxy J7
3.422 - Meizu MX5
3.416 - LG V20
3.402 - Huawei P10
3.379 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
3.378 - Oppo R9s
3.352 - Honor 8 Pro
3.341 - Oppo R7
3.32 - Lenovo P2
3.316 - Honor 9
3.289 - Xiaomi Mi 5s
3.276 - Nokia 5
3.261 - Nokia 6 (Chinese version)
3.244 - Xiaomi Mi 5
3.24 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
3.238 - Samsung Galaxy J2
3.235 - Sony Xperia X Performance
3.234 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
3.228 - Motorola Moto X Play
3.222 - Oppo F3 Plus
3.218 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
3.206 - Huawei P9
3.195 - ZTE Nubia Z17
3.159 - Lenovo Vibe Shot
3.113 - Motorola Moto X Force
3.105 - LG Nexus 5X
3.092 - HTC U11
3.089 - Huawei Mate S
3.073 - Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
3.065 - Sony Xperia XA1
3.012 - Sony Xperia L1
2.994 - Sony Xperia X
2.989 - Huawei P10 Lite
2.974 - Samsung Galaxy Note
2.97 - Sony Xperia Z1
2.95 - Huawei Mate 8
2.949 - Xiaomi Redmi 4
2.92 - Xiaomi Redmi 3S
2.913 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
2.906 - LG G5
2.905 - HTC One S
2.901 - Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
2.893 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
2.884 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
2.877 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB)
2.877 - Sony Xperia Z5
2.876 - Nokia 3
2.871 - Microsoft Lumia 550
2.851 - Lenovo Moto M
2.813 - Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
2.803 - Sony Xperia Z5 compact
2.784 - Meizu MX6
2.751 - LG V10
2.744 - Xiaomi Redmi 3
2.735 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
2.714 - Meizu M5
2.71 - Sony Xperia M5
2.69 - Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
2.679 - Huawei P9 Lite
2.679 - Vivo V3Max
2.659 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
2.658 - Doogee Mix
2.642 - Xiaomi Mi 4i
2.641 - Xiaomi Redmi 4a
2.635 - Sony Xperia XA
2.609 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
2.582 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus
2.582 - Meizu M5s
2.58 - Xiaomi Mi 4c
2.574 - LeEco Le Max 2
2.567 - Microsoft Lumia 640
2.563 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
2.563 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
2.561 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.544 - Lenovo K6 Note
2.544 - Oppo F1
2.528 - Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
2.525 - Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
2.506 - Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
2.503 - Oppo F1s
2.481 - Motorola Moto G
2.477 - Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
2.473 - Huawei G8
2.471 - Huawei nova
2.467 - Sony Xperia Z
2.462 - Lenovo Vibe K5
2.459 - Meizu m3 max
2.447 - HTC 10 evo
2.407 - Huawei Honor 7
2.406 - Sony Xperia E5
2.386 - ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
2.382 - HTC 10
2.378 - Oppo F3
2.376 - vivo V5 Plus
2.371 - Meizu m1 note
2.362 - Huawei nova plus
2.329 - HTC One E9+
2.305 - Alcatel One Touch Hero
2.272 - Apple iPhone 4S
2.269 - Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
2.254 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
2.253 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
2.249 - Sony Xperia C4 Dual
2.235 - Xiaomi Mi Note
2.234 - Motorola Moto G (2014)
2.233 - LG Nexus 5
2.228 - Huawei P8
2.196 - Meizu M5 Note
2.189 - Huawei Honor 6
2.169 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
2.166 - OnePlus Two
2.165 - HTC One X
2.158 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (X20)
2.145 - LG Aka
2.145 - Archos 50 Diamond
2.134 - Xiaomi Redmi Note
2.119 - Xiaomi Mi 4S
2.095 - Acer Liquid X2
2.084 - Huawei P8lite
2.078 - vivo V5
2.059 - Moto G 3rd gen max manual
2.026 - Xiaomi Mi Max
1.996 - Sony Xperia E4g
1.972 - OnePlus One
1.961 - Meizu m3 note
1.923 - Meizu m2 note
1.892 - BlackBerry Leap
1.892 - HTC Butterfly
1.873 - ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
1.759 - Sony Xperia U
1.758 - Asus Zenfone Selfie
1.68 - Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
1.675 - ZTE Nubia Z9
1.659 - Jolla Jolla
1.605 - Motorola Moto E
1.545 - Sony Xperia M
1.473 - Sony Xperia L
1.351 - Xiaomi Redmi 2
1.311 - HTC Desire C
1.3 - Meizu MX
1.221 - Sony Xperia E
1.215
Battery life
The Meizu Pro 7 Plus has 100mAh of extra battery capacity compared to the Pro 6 Plus - for a total of 3,500 mAh. It supports mCharge 4.0 (45% in 30 mins) and comes with a bundled 24W fast charging plug in the box.
The decent capacity combined with the 10nm chipset got our hopes very high for the battery endurance. Unfortunately, the Meizu Pro 7 Plus didn't exactly break any records - its performance in the web browsing and video playback readings were good, but the stand-by was only average so the final score came in at 70h. A decent achievement for sure, but not among the best.
In case you want to improve the standby performance - Meizu offers a smart app and network sleep modes for when the phone is idle, among other battery-saving tweaks.
Our endurance rating denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Meizu Pro 7 Plus for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Connectivity
The Meizu Pro 7 Plus supports LTE Cat.10 connectivity, and you can tap to an LTE network on either SIM, but the other will default to a GSM band. The supported LTE bands by our review unit were 1(2100), 3(1800), 7(2600), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500). Unfortunately, VoLTE is available only on the Chinese model and won't make it to the international one.
The rest of the wireless connectivity features include dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac support and Wi-Fi Direct. There is also support for Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, and GPS and GLONASS. Wireless screen mirroring is available via the Miracast protocol.
The Pro 7 Plus supports USB Type-C and fast charging. If you have a proper USB OTG adapter, you can attach peripherals and thumb drives.
There is no FM radio.
Flyme 6 premieres on the Meizu Pro 7 Plus
Meizu Pro 7 Plus is the first smartphone to come with the new Flyme 6 OS. The latest version of the company's launcher is based on Android Nougat and is already available for download on various Meizu smartphones as a beta ROM. Our unit is also running on a pre-release Flyme 6.
Flyme 6, depending on where you live, will either come with Google Play Services, the option to install them, or with China-friendly apps instead.
The Flyme 6 interface is not a departure from Flyme 5, but more of a refinement. There is a lot going under the hood with Meizu's One Mind - that's a machine learning algorithm that follows and learns your habits and then optimizes the phone's performance and suggestions per your preferences and use patterns.
Flyme 6
In addition to One Mind, Meizu has implemented a new Game Mode, which knows when a game is running and prioritizes all available resources to it. You can turn this mode on and off from Settings, disable mTouch Back, the Task Switcher and even the notification area.
Parallel Spaces is another new feature premiering with Flyme 6. It lets multiple accounts coexist as it offers Guest, Normal, and Private modes. There is even a Kids mode if you want to share the phone with your children as well.
Game mode settings • Kid Space setup • Kid Space settings • Kid Space
Any of those modes can be activated with a different PIN or pattern, or even a fingerprint. The Guest and Kid modes have limited functions, while the Normal and Private modes are just two separate accounts dressed in fancy names. Still, it's always good to have those.
Private mode settings • Private mode settings • Guest mode settings
There are some additional levels of security protecting your sensitive data for payments and accounts. Granular control over notifications and a time machine (read backups) for contacts.
The lockscreen hasn't changed a bit - it's clean and simple, with a camera shortcut and nothing else. The fingerprint scanner isn't always-on, but is lightning-fast and you'll barely see the lockscreen upon pressing. Gesture Wakeup is available, as usual.
Lockscreen • Lockscreen with notifications • Configuring gestures wakeup
The homescreen is simple - you get two panes by default, but you can add new ones later on. The homescreen gathers all apps as it's a single-tier UI and there is no app drawer here.
Homescreen • A folder • The Homescreen • Organizing the homescreen • Widgets
The notification area is business as usual - the first pull down gets you the full notification shade along with five toggles, while a second pull reveals all the available toggles and the screen brightness control.
Notification area • The toggles
Switching between tasks is done with a pull-up menu from the bottom of the screen. The task switcher is a 3D scrollable carousel and there is a memory footprint info below each app card.
Flyme 6 supports multi-window mode, which is also managed via the task switching interface. The supported apps have a 'Multi' button, and you can activate a split-screen app right away.
There is also a system-wide search - you just need to swipe up anywhere on the homescreen.
Task switcher • Card settings • Multi-window • Multi-Window • Search
You can customize the UI with various themes. You can download new ones from the App Center - some of them are paid, but there are many free ones and a lot to choose from. There's also a variety of built-in wallpapers.
New themes
The Security app lets you scan for viruses, clean junk files, keep an eye on your large files, manage your data traffic, and most importantly - control the permissions for each app you install one by one.
Security app
The latest version of the MX web browser utilizes almost the entire screen real estate to show the web pages, save for the status bar on top and a tiny bar on the bottom for Refresh, Tabs, and Bookmarks. Choosing Tabs opens a quick pop-up preview of your open tabs instead of bringing up an entirely new screen, which is great as it still leaves the current website in plain view.
The browser comes with an integrated ad-blocker. Oddly, it advertised Flash support, too, but we weren't able to run Adobe Flash content.
MX Browser
Fenetre - the second display
Meizu calls the back display Fenetre, which means window in French. It's a 2" AMOLED unit just below the main camera, but just like the front AMOLED, it doesn't support always-on functionality.
The second display wakes up every time you flip the phone backwards, no matter if the main screen is on or not. You can also wake it with a double tap.
Fenetre supports wallpapers, including live ones, shows your pedometer, weather info, and the clock. Music player controls are also available.
Second display notifications
Notifications can be displayed here too, but probably its most useful feature is the camera viewfinder. A swipe up or down fires the main camera, and you can switch easily between normal, beauty and bokeh shot.
We found the small display also shows battery percentage while charging and a green handset when you are in a call, among other icons.
You can disable some, or all, of these functions from Settings.
Finally, there is one more use of the second display, which we found by accident. If you press and hold the power key, you get an additional power option - Music mode. This will shut down your phone, and then fire up the rear display and the music player. This way you can enjoy many hours of music without wasting your battery.
We can surely appreciate such an option in the mountain, at lonely beaches, and on transcontinental flights, or whenever power sockets are miles away from us.
Synthetic and real-life performance
Meizu Pro 7 Plus is the first smartphone to utilize the latest Helio X30 chip by MediaTek. It has a powerful deca-core processor and PowerVR graphics. Meizu has added 6 gigabytes of RAM, more than enough for smooth multi-tasking.
The 10-core processor has two powerful Cortex-A73 cores clocked at 2.6GHz, four energy-efficient A53 cores running at 2.2GHz, and four super lightweight A35 ones ticking at 1.9GHz. The GPU in charge of graphics is PowerVR 7XTP series - not exactly new as Apple had a similar one in the iPhone 6s two years ago.
Traditionally we start our benchmarking routine with some Geekbench tests on the processor, but our unit is running on a pre-release Flyme version, and it failed to run the app.
Other than Geekbench, all other tests were able to complete their routines. The GPU chosen for the Helio X30 isn't of the latest generations and while it was once a flagship-grade, it's now more of a mid-range performer. Considering the QHD screen on the Pro 7 Plus we weren't sure what to expect, but luckily there are no reasons for worries.
The offscreen GFX tests show the PowerVR 7XTP GPU is noticeably weaker than the current Adreno 540 by Qualcomm, but very close to its previous Adreno 530 model available in the Snapdragon 820 generation and on par with the Mali-T880MP10 found in the Meizu Pro 6 Plus.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 5
60 - Xiaomi Mi 6
59 - Nokia 8
57 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
50 - Samsung Galaxy S8
50 - OnePlus 3T
49 - Sony Xperia XZs
42 - LG G6
41 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (E8890)
40 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
37 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
34 - Huawei P10 Plus
28 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
28 - Meizu Pro 5
25 - Meizu Pro 6
18 - Huawei P9 Plus
18
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 5
41 - Xiaomi Mi 6
41 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
39 - Nokia 8
39 - Samsung Galaxy S8
36 - OnePlus 3T
33 - Sony Xperia XZs
32 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (E8890)
29 - LG G6
26 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
25 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
22 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
22 - Huawei P10 Plus
19 - Meizu Pro 5
14 - Meizu Pro 6
11 - Huawei P9 Plus
10
There are apps that will run on the native 1440p resolution, so we also ran the onscreen GFX benchmarks. The Pro 7 Plus GPU does a decent job, though the current top-of-the-line crop offers twice the performance, so not really spectacular.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 5
56 - Xiaomi Mi 6
56 - OnePlus 3T
48 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
47 - Sony Xperia XZs
40 - Samsung Galaxy S8
36 - Nokia 8
33 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (E8890)
27 - Meizu Pro 5
25 - LG G6
24 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
23 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
23 - Huawei P10 Plus
19 - Huawei P9 Plus
19 - Meizu Pro 6
18 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
18
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Sony Xperia XZ Premium
41 - Xiaomi Mi 6
41 - OnePlus 5
40 - Sony Xperia XZs
34 - OnePlus 3T
33 - Samsung Galaxy S8
23 - Nokia 8
18 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (E8890)
15 - Meizu Pro 5
14 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
13 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
13 - Huawei P10 Plus
12 - LG G6
12 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
12 - Meizu Pro 6
11 - Huawei P9 Plus
11
We can draw the same conclusions from the compound GPU tests by BaseMark - the Pro 7 Plus has a capable GPU, but far from the best on the market.
Basemark X
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S8
42370 - OnePlus 5
38844 - Xiaomi Mi 6
38541 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
38507 - Nokia 8
37593 - OnePlus 3T
36958 - Sony Xperia XZs
33815 - Huawei P10 Plus
30602 - LG G6
30507 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (E8890)
28480 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
27600 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
23513 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
22472 - Meizu Pro 5
20038 - Meizu Pro 6
15209 - Huawei P9 Plus
15058
Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S8
1189 - Xiaomi Mi 6
861 - Nokia 8
855 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
842 - OnePlus 5
796 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (E8890)
733 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
642 - OnePlus 3T
641 - Sony Xperia XZs
623 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
616 - LG G6
541 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
517 - Meizu Pro 5
409 - Huawei P9 Plus
214
While we couldn't run the CPU tests, the compound apps AnTuTu and BaseMark OS II 2.0 give us a pretty good idea of what to expect. The Meizu Pro 7 Plus was closer to the top here, suggesting that its processor is much to the top dogs than its GPU.
AnTuTu 6
Higher is better
- OnePlus 5
180331 - Xiaomi Mi 6
177326 - Nokia 8
175872 - Samsung Galaxy S8
174435 - OnePlus 3T
165097 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
144223 - LG G6
143639 - Sony Xperia XZs
133574 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (E8890)
129229 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
128719 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
128498 - Huawei P10 Plus
126252 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
113397 - Meizu Pro 6
99195 - Huawei P9 Plus
97392 - Meizu Pro 5
67531
Basemark OS 2.0
Higher is better
- OnePlus 5
3601 - Xiaomi Mi 6
3547 - Nokia 8
3503 - Samsung Galaxy S8
3376 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
3174 - Huawei P10 Plus
2940 - OnePlus 3T
2678 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
2496 - Sony Xperia XZs
2386 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
2380 - LG G6
2126 - Huawei P9 Plus
2099 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (E8890)
2050 - Meizu Pro 6
1919 - Meizu Pro 5
1837
The Meizu Pro 7 Plus isn't topping any benchmark charts, but this doesn't mean it doesn't offer flagship-grade performance in daily usage. Its 10-core processor offers plenty of future-proofing and being built on the 10nm it's very energy-efficient, so the phone runs pretty cool even when stress-tested.
The GPU seemed like the weak spot of the Meizu Pro 7 Plus and its Helio X30 chip, but things aren't as bad as the numbers alone may make you believe. It may not have the same theoretical performance as the current competition, but it's capable of handling any demanding 3D game or high-res movie, hassle-free, no matter the resolution. It may not be as future-proof as the CPU, but it will be good enough for at least a couple more years.
Telephony
By default the phonebook on the Meizu Pro 7 Plus lists all your contacts, but you can also filter by groups or source - phone contacts, email account contacts or Meizu account contacts, for instance.
The dialer features smart dialing, but only by numbers, not names, so hardly very useful.
Phonebook • The dialer • A single contact
The Meizu Pro 7 Plus had excellent in-call quality with the dedicated mic for active noise cancellation doing a good job.
The phone supports dual-SIM with dual-standby. Managing the SIM cards is very easy, as is initiating calls and sending texts.
Loudspeaker
The Meizu Pro 7 Plus scored an Excellent mark in our loudspeaker test and turned out to be one of the loudest smartphones we've had to date. The speaker sound quality was also great and even though we would have preferred stereo speakers we appreciated the crisp sound even at maximum volume.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 60.6 | 69.5 | 70.3 | Below Average | |
| 67.7 | 66.6 | 68.7 | Average | |
| 61.0 | 69.3 | 78.3 | Good | |
| 66.2 | 70.5 | 72.5 | Good | |
| 66.8 | 68.8 | 74.5 | Good | |
| 64.8 | 69.8 | 82.5 | Good | |
| 67.2 | 72.4 | 79.5 | Very Good | |
| 66.1 | 69.0 | 84.1 | Very Good | |
| 69.2 | 72.9 | 77.5 | Very Good | |
| 67.7 | 70.0 | 83.6 | Very Good | |
| 68.2 | 70.2 | 86.1 | Very Good | |
| 64.0 | 71.5 | 89.1 | Very Good | |
| 83.1 | 74.5 | 85.0 | Excellent | |
| 87.3 | 72.8 | 90.8 | Excellent |
The gallery
The Flyme gallery has two viewing modes - photo and gallery. The photo stacks images into months, while the gallery puts them into folders. You can add or remove folders from the gallery, and search through it, too.
Gallery • Albums • Viewing an image • Editing an image
There's also a built-in editor that offers filters and all the basic controls for contrast, brightness and you can even add blur or vignette. You cannot use different editors with the stock gallery, so you would need to install a third-party gallery (like Google's Photos) in order to work with them.
Music player
The music player can only find tracks located in the Music folder. You can browse your collection the traditional way, or you can select to have it filtered by folders.
In the first case, tracks are sorted into several playlists like All songs, Recently added, Folders and you have the option to create custom playlists. When viewing All songs, you can choose between three types of sorting in a tabbed layout: song name, artist and album.
Music player • Browsing albums • Browsing an album • Now playing • Equalizers
You can access the equalizer from the advanced menu. It features several presets, which you can edit manually - but you need to insert the headphones first.
Standalone video player
The Meizu Pro 7 Plus comes with a dedicated Video app, but it expects videos to be placed in the video folder. You can use the file browser or gallery to get videos to play from elsewhere - it offers thumbnails and everything, so we ended up using it more often than the Video app itself.
There's a pop-out option that allows you to view the video as an overlay to the OS.
Video player
Subtitles are supported, but it recognizes only Latin and Chinese characters.
Amazing audio output
The Meizu Pro 7 Plus was the loudest handset to go through our audio quality test in years. The handset simply blows its competitors away in that aspect both with an active external amplifier and with headphones attached.
Better yet, the increase in volume doesn't come at the expense of accuracy of the output. The Meizu flagship did splendidly in the first part of the test and even headphones caused very minor degradation. An impressive showing indeed - truly among the best handsets we've seen in terms of audio output.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.05, -0.01 | -92.1 | 92.1 | 0.0017 | 0.0074 | -92.8 | |
| +0.06, -0.11 | -93.0 | 92.9 | 0.021 | 0.187 | -61.2 | |
| +0.01, -0.03 | -94.2 | 90.5 | 0.060 | 0.087 | -88.5 | |
| +0.06, -0.18 | -93.8 | 90.3 | 0.166 | 0.282 | -63.5 | |
| +0.03, -0.01 | -94.1 | 94.1 | 0.0010 | 0.0070 | -94.2 | |
| +0.15, -0.08 | -94.0 | 94.0 | 0.0033 | 0.139 | -59.9 | |
| +0.05, -0.11 | -94.1 | 94.1 | 0.0017 | 0.0067 | -94.5 | |
| +0.05, -0.02 | -93.7 | 93.8 | 0.0018 | 0.105 | -53.7 | |
| +0.04, -0.00 | -92.5 | 92.5 | 0.0016 | 0.0072 | -92.8 | |
| +0.03, -0.03 | -92.3 | 92.3 | 0.0056 | 0.060 | -77.2 | |
| +0.01, -0.02 | -93.5 | 93.3 | 0.0042 | 0.0092 | -92.7 | |
| +0.12, -0.32 | -92.6 | 93.2 | 0.0072 | 0.219 | -67.0 | |
| +0.01, -0.02 | -93.3 | 93.3 | 0.0059 | 0.0095 | -94.4 | |
| +0.01, -0.02 | -93.4 | 93.4 | 0.0067 | 0.020 | -56.3 | |
| +0.01, -0.04 | -93.0 | 94.8 | 0.0019 | 0.0080 | -93.5 | |
| +0.25, -0.02 | -92.7 | 93.0 | 0.192 | 0.175 | -59.5 | |
| +0.06, -0.10 | -92.4 | 92.3 | 0.0015 | 0.0093 | -80.9 | |
| +0.03, -0.11 | -92.3 | 92.3 | 0.0011 | 0.012 | -77.0 |
Meizu Pro 7 Plus frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
Dual 12MP camera for snapping color and monochrome photos
The Pro 7 and Pro 7 Plus are the company's first phones to come with a dual-camera setup. It's a duo of two 12MP Sony IMX386 sensors - one color and one monochrome. Both feature 27mm f/2.0 lens and 1.25µm big pixels. There is phase-detection autofocus available, but no OIS.
The camera launches by default into Photo Auto mode where the camera determines the shooting parameters. Beauty and Video are the other two main shooting modes. While in Auto, you have the option to turn on HDR (but no automatic HDR), the flash, the dual-lens (bokeh) effect, or some filters.
There are additional shooting modes available from the four-dot key - Pro, Beauty, Panorama, GIF, Scan, and Slowmotion. The Pro (manual) mode allows you to set the shutter speed down to as low as 20sec, and it allows you to fiddle with ISO, exposure compensation and even the focus - from macro to infinity.
Camera UI • Available modes • Pro mode • Settings
Daylight samples
The Pro 7 Plus takes pictures impressively fast, resolves a great deal of detail, and keeps the noise levels reasonably low. The white balance is accurate, and we liked the lively color rendition. The dynamic range is high without even resorting to HDR. There is no corner softness either.
Meizu Pro 7 Plus 12MP color samples
The HDR mode is meant to get an even wider exposure of a scene - bringing back detail in both the highlights and the shadows. The Meizu Pro 7 Plus does a very good job of bringing back detail in tricky scenes, but if there is enough light, it will turn out a bit unrealistic and flat picture.
HDR off • HDR off • HDR off • HDR on • HDR on • HDR on
The monochrome samples turned equally great with plenty of detail, wide dynamic range, and superb contrast. The lack of the color filter lets more light in and allows the B&W camera to shoot at faster shutter speeds while achieving the same exposure.
Color • Monochrome • Color • Monochrome
And here are a few more monochrome samples.
Meizu Pro 7 Plus monochrome samples
Low-light samples
The Meizu Pro 7 Plus shot some very nice low-light samples. The color samples came out with reasonable amounts of noise and decent detail levels. Optical stabilization could have boosted the results even more, but they are pretty good as it is.
Meizu Pro 7 Plus 12MP low-light samples
The Pro 7 Plus offers a Pro mode, where you can adjust your shutter speed, ISO, exposure, among others. By using a tripod, you can capture some impressive long-exposure scenes.
Low-light samples shot at 5s shutter speed and ISO 100
Here is a direct comparison of the monochrome camera and the RGB one - these are the B&W shots.
Meizu Pro 7 Plus 12MP monochrome samples
And here are the same samples in color.
Meizu Pro 7 Plus 12MP color samples
Meizu Pro 7 Plus has the option to stack multiple frames in low-light for more detailed and less noisy images. It is on by default and we recommend leaving it that way. All of the above images were taken with Multi-frame turned on. Stacking images is a familiar approach in lots of smartphones and it works great ever since its debut on the Pixel phones. It works well on the Pro 7 Plus, too, and doesn't slow the camera at all.
Panorama
The panoramic shots taken with the Meizu Pro 7 Plus turned out average at best. While they use most of the vertical resolution, and are about 2,500px tall, the resolved detail is mediocre. On a positive note stitching shows no obvious issues (except moving cars, that is), and there are no issues with exposure variation. The dynamic range once again deserves praise.
Meizu Pro 7 Plus panoramic sample
Picture Compare Tool
You can check how the 12MP RGB camera of the Meizu Pro 7 Plus stacks against the Galaxy S8's and the Apple iPhone 7 Plus.
Meizu Pro 7 Plus vs. Galaxy S8 vs. iPhone 7 Plus in our Photo quality comparison tool
You could also use our tool to compare the monochrome camera to the Nokia 8's and Huawei P9 Plus.
Dual lens blur effect
Yes, that's what Meizu is calling the bokeh effects also known as portrait mode pretty much on every other smartphone. Anyway, the Pro 7 Plus naturally supports adding bokeh effect thanks to the depth info received from the two camera sensor.
The portrait shots turned out good, though not the best we've seen - the post-processing may blur some parts of clothes and hair.
You can use the dual lens blur not only for people, but on any object, as long as there is enough distance between it and the background.
Samples with bokeh effects
Selfies with the main camera
Meizu Pro 7 Plus comes with one very handy feature on its back - a secondary display, which can be used as a camera viewfinder. A swipe up or down on the 2" AMOLED fires the main camera, and you can switch easily between a normal, beauty, or bokeh shot.
The selfies taken with the main camera are great and much better than what your average selfie snapper can do. The Portrait shots are not the best, as we already established, and may destroy some of your hair if it's curly or just messy, but they will do fine for social media.
Normal • Normal • Normal
Bokeh • Bokeh • Bokeh
Selfies with the selfie camera
We also tested out the 16MP front-facing camera. The images came out with rather low detail, but with high contrast, and pleasant colors. But since you can always resort to the main camera for high-quality selfies - we think the front snapper will rarely see action outside video calls.
Meizu Pro 7 Plus 16MP selfie samples
Video recording
The Meizu Pro 7 Plus shoots videos up to 4K resolution (3840 x 2160px) at 30fps and 1080p videos at 30fps. There's no 60fps smooth motion option. The recorded audio is stereo with 128 Kbps bitrate.
The UHD videos of the Meizu Pro 7 Plus are recorded in the HEVC format, also known as H.265, a recent codec that's supposed to offer the same quality as the widely popular H.264 with lower bitrate and smaller filesizes.
The 4K videos produced by the Meizu Pro 7 Plus are captured at a bitrate of 43Mbps and have solid 30fps. They are average in detail, but offer wide dynamic range, good contrast, accurate colors and little processing artifacts. Those look great on the Pro 7 Plus screen and when displayed on 1080p TVs, but when seen in full resolution are really nothing impressive.
The resolved detail in the 1080p videos is below average, but the contrast and colors are good. Here is a sample we've uploaded on YouTube. The 1080p videos are encoded in H.264.
You can also download a short 4K video (9s, 48MB) and another tiny 1080p sample (9s, 18MB) taken with the Meizu Pro 6 Plus.
Finally, you can use our Video Compare Tool to see how the Meizu Pro 7 Plus stacks against the Galaxy S8 and the iPhone 7 Plus when it comes to video capturing.
Nokia 8 vs. LG G6 vs. Galaxy S8 in our 2160p Video quality comparison tool
Wrapping it up
The Meizu Pro 7 Plus is very easy to like. Meizu did an excellent job in designing a proper flagship and the Fenetre display adds just enough in terms of both looks and functionality to help it stand out. The second screen is your notifications window, your selfie viewfinder, and your music player. Simple, yet useful and comfy.
The 5.7" QHD Super AMOLED sounded great on paper and our tests confirmed it's a superb unit in real life too. The Helio X30 was the unknown but after seeing it perform we are confident it has a flagship vibe and won't let anybody down.
The dual-camera faces a tough competition on the market and it didn't impress us as much as some of its competitors. Sure, the daylight quality is great, the monochrome images turned out excellent, but the soft low-light images and average video quality mean it can't quite reach for the cameraphone crown. But if it's all about that selfies, then you are definitely on the right track.
If it wasn't for the lack of water-proofing and expandable storage we would find it hard to fault the Meizu Pro 7 Plus. Meizu has done an amazing job with what it did include - a super loud speaker and tweaked the DAC for an amazing audio quality came as nice surprises. Now Meizu doesn't enjoy very wide availability and its after-sales support record is spotty at best, but it's working to improve on both fronts so hopefully the future will be brighter.
Meizu Pro 7 Plus key review test findings
- Superb build quality, excellent choice of materials and finish. The addition of the rear screen didn't interfere with the clean design, it even boosts the looks instead of hurting them. We would have liked water-proofing though.
- The Samsung-made Super AMOLED stats are great - 450 nits of brightness, excellent contrast, accurate enough colors, and one of the best sunlight legibility scores we've seen.
- Battery life is good with an endurance rating of 70h.
- It's got rich wireless connectivity options, though it lacks FM radio and IR blaster.
- Flyme OS is fluid and responsive, unlocking gestures are versatile, the mTouch button is great. There are great theming options. The secondary screen is super useful and has well-implemented features.
- The Helio X30 with 6GB of RAM has one of the fastest processors on the market, but not as impressive GPU. Still, it offers buttery-smooth performance, and there is not a single game or app that won't run lag-free. The UI feels super snappy, as on vanilla Android.
- Audio output through the jack is the loudest we have gotten in years and one of the clearest, too. The speaker loudness is excellent, and so is its sound output.
- The photos from the main camera are great, with plenty of resolved detail, high dynamic range, and excellent colors and contrast. The monochrome shots are solid too if slightly noisier. Low-light photos came out about average, though. There is also a manual Pro mode, which can help you make excellent shots at night if you have a tripod at hand.
- Good enough Portrait shots with Bokeh effects, though the blur is a little bit harsh on messier hair styles.
- Decent 16MP selfies with enough detail and good dynamic range.
- The image quality of the 4K and 1080p videos is average and so is the sound quality.
Noteworthy alternatives
The Meizu Pro 7 Plus is very reasonably priced around €450 in China, but in Europe you can get it at about €550, while the US import reaches $700. It surely isn't as attractive at those price points, but it still manages to undercut all competitors from tier-one brands.
If the screen size is of utmost importance, then the Samsung Galaxy S8, the LG V20, or the even cheaper LG G6 would do a great job. The Galaxy is surely class-leading when it comes to design and screen, while the LGs offer a different take on the dual camera setup with an ultra-wide secondary shooter.
Samsung Galaxy S8 • LG V20 • LG G6
Xiaomi Mi 6 and the Nokia 8 are two more threats to the Meizu Pro 7 Plus. The Mi 6 is at about the price, yet a performance beast. It has a smaller and lower-res screen, but makes up for that with attractive design, great camera, and very popular Mi launcher. The Nokia 8 on the other hand proved to be one of the snappiest smartphones around, with the best LCD screen available today, and very good dual-camera.
Xiaomi Mi 6 • Nokia 8
The OnePlus 5 is another one to watch out for as it matches the Meizu pricing. Its dual-camera focuses on other things and offers zoom and better bokeh shots. The AMOLED screen is smaller and of a lower resolution, but its launcher is as light as Flyme.
OnePlus 5
And finally, a perfect match for the Meizu Pro 7 Plus is the Honor 8 Pro. An eastern bestseller with great design, screen, dual-camera, and chipset. It focuses on cheap VR and comes with a DIY VR cardboard in the retail box. The Honor 8 Pro isn't as good at selfies as it lacks a viewfinder on the back and its front camera is somewhat unimpressive, but the main camera will make up for this as Huawei has a lot of experience with those.
Huawei Honor 8 Pro
Final verdict
The Meizu Pro 7 Plus ticks all the right boxes for a flagship, there is no doubt. And it brings innovation not just for the sake of it, but something that;s actually useful. The second screen is no excuse for the lack of an AOD at front, but being a viewfinder is enough to make it worth every cent. Meizu is popular enough in Asia and the Pro 7 Plus would probably sell well there. But if it keeps up pumping solid devices like this one western markets might start to develop fondness for the brand as well.
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