'Zero' holeless phone was a marketing stunt, says Meizu CEO
Back in January, Chinese smartphone maker Meizu made major headlines for launching a crowdfunding campaign for Zero, the "World's First Holeless Phone". The project for a phone with high-end tech and no ports at all drew widespread attention, but much to everyone's surprise, the CEO of the company has now said it was just a marketing stunt. Here's more on what he said.
Goal to raise $100,000 failed
Meizu hoped to raise $100,000 through its crowdfunding campaign but failed to manage even half of it. Now, Meizu's CEO Jack Wong has given a surprisingly upfront opinion of the project. It was "just the marketing team messing about," he wrote on Meizu's official forum. "The holeless phone is just a development project from the R&D department, we never intended to mass-produce this project."
Obviously, fans aren't happy
Wong's laid-back response reflects uncertainty over the future of Zero, something that fans didn't really like. Many expressed disappointment over his response with one specifically noting he shouldn't be so direct. More importantly, as Engadget notes, this also shows how some companies can abuse crowdfunding platforms just to create hype in the market.
What Meizu had promised with Zero
With Zero, Meizu envisioned a phone without usual elements like speaker grille, physical buttons, SIM slots, audio jack, or even the USB port. It promised the use of wireless charging, eSIMs, capacitive touch buttons, and in-screen sound technology in the device. However, with Snapdragon outdated 845 chip and a price tag of $1,299, all that advanced tech failed to draw enough backers.
However, Meizu has a working prototype
As the crowdfunding campaign was set with a fixed funding goal, the people who did back the project won't lose their money. However, the future of Meizu's truly port-less phone remains unclear at this stage. The company has already developed a semi-functional prototype of the phone, but there's no saying if it will land as a commercial device.
