Meizu iPhone clone due by Nov. near $350

Meizu's long-in-production M8 phone could be available in a month's time, company head J. Wong has told visitors to its company forum (link may be broken as of press time). Although suspected of releasing in December, the M8 is now said by the executive to be nearing a launch in late October or early November. Pricing is less definitive but is now heading towards the equivalent of an unsubsidized $350 in the phone's home country of China following Wong's canvassing of the community for a price it would accept.

The initial M8 will carry 8GB of memory and is expected to also bring a three-megapixel camera, EDGE and a 3.2-inch touch display. A 16GB version is also planned for the future, according to an additional post by Wong, but will likely cost roughly $70 to $80 more than the 8GB model. The use of Samsung's very small but expensive moviNAND flash memory is described as the primary factor behind the steep price increase; a removable card slot would reportedly have been too complicated.

To keep costs down, the company isn't planning to include built-in Office document viewing and is instead hoping that customers who need it will pay for the option.

Wong's discussions reveal Meizu likely gaining a minor advantage over the iPhone that directly inspired the M8's design; Apple hopes for an iPhone launch in China by the end of the year but hasn't disclosed any progress.

Filed under: iPhone, mobile phones
Other story tags: Samsung, Meizu, moviNAND