Just as we said, the phone is based on the MediaTek MT6750 octa-core SoC. This is a Cortex-A53 based octa-core CPU with four cores clocked at 1.5GHz and the low-power quarter clocked at 1.0 GHz.
The Meizu M2 had a quad core, MT6735 Cortex-A53 based core. With the 1.0GHz maximal speed indicated you should see a huge performance jump. Meizu said that they are using eMMC5.0 and a much faster Mali-T860 with a new GPU that is at least 50 percent faster than the Mali-T720MP2 on the Meizu M2.
Some might not like that this is a 5 inch 720p phone with SCHOTT Xensation Cover glass. But the price is really low for the hardware configuration. Despite the SoC upgrade, the price remains the same and starts at 599 Yuan for 2GB/16GB version (82 Euro or $92 USD) or 799 Yuan for 3GB/32GB version (109 Euro or $123 USD). Both phones have a microSD slot, which is always helpful.
The phone has a polycarbonate body, to save cash and it has a few colours including blue, pink, gold, grey, white and black. Just as we said a while ago, this is 5 inch phone with 720p screen and a 2.5D curved glass on the front.
At 141.5 x 69.5 x 8.3mm, the phone is slightly thinner than its M2 predecessor and has a 2,870mAh battery. This is a slight upgrade from M2's 2,500mAh. The phone is available for pre-orders in China and it will reach Europe, US and the rest of the world via usual unofficial channels and online shops. The phone weighs 132 grams, just one gram more than last year's model.
Meizu M3 has a 13 megapixel camera with autofocus and f/2.2. The selfie camera has only five megapixels and f/2.0. The MediaTek MT6750 octa-core brings Cat 6. Modem support with speeds of up to 300 Mbit per second download and 50 megabits per second upload including VoLTE.
Meizu is using three new MediaTek SoC's across the product line. It started with Helio X25 with Meizu PRO 6, then it followed up with the Helio P10, which was a mainstream SoC with Meizu M3 Note. Now it has rounded up with the the MT6750 based Meizu M3. All of these phones are Cat 6. Something that was missing from the previous generation MediaTek chips and something that European and US carriers really like to have.
This looks like a great phone for its sub $100 price.