An unannounced Meizu smartphone sporting a thin display notch leaked online earlier this year, having originally been spotted on Chinese social media platform Weibo. The device seen in the low-quality image above doesn’t resemble any model Meizu was already rumored to be planning to release this year but was presumably manufactured by the Chinese phone maker given how it apparently runs its proprietary Flyme OS. The handset also seems to be featuring extremely thin bezels save for a somewhat regular-sized chin, though the photograph doesn’t clearly reveal whether it also has a physical Home button.
The company was previously said to be working on the Meizu 15 Plus that features a display notch, albeit older leaks suggested that design cue will be more reminiscent of the Essential PH-1. More recent supposed depictions of the device lacked a notch altogether but were otherwise somewhat similar to the newly uncovered handset. The Meizu 15 Plus is also expected to be accompanied by the smaller Meizu 15, though the more compact model isn’t believed to be a flagship and should instead debut with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 660 mid-range chip. The overall design of the leaked product is indicative of a more premium-grade offering and the firm is currently said to be working on only two such devices – the Meizu 15 Plus and the Meizu X2. The latter device still hasn’t been the subject of any leaks claiming to depict it but will be launching with the Snapdragon 845 and a sub-$500 price tag at some point this year, as recently revealed by the company’s Vice President Li Nan.
Display notches are expected to be a recurring design feature on 2018 smartphones, having initially been made mainstream by Apple’s iPhone X last fall, though the Essential PH-1 managed to adopt an arguably even more efficient take on such incisions before the latest iOS flagship launched. Meizu isn’t expected to announce any high-end Android devices until this spring, though it remains to be seen whether the newly sighted handset from the company ends up being among its earliest 2018 releases. The majority of the industry is presently traveling to Barcelona, Spain, which will once again host the year’s largest mobile trade show — Mobile World Congress — scheduled to take place Monday through Thursday.