Meizu launched the Meizu 18 series comprising Meizu 18 and Meizu 18 Pro in March 2021. A few days after the debut of the handsets, the company promised that the smartphones will offer a pure OS experience without ads, bloatware, and push notifications. However, the firm went against its word by showing ads in November. As a result, Meizu is now facing a penalty from the government.
According to a report by ITHome, Zhuhai Meizu Technology Co., Ltd. has been fined more than ¥25,000 ($3,923) by the Zhuhai Market Supervision and Administration Bureau. Because the company, despite promoting no ads on Meizu 18 and Meizu 18 Pro, went on displaying ads for a short period of time.
Back in November, due to a configuration mismatch, users of Meizu 18 and Meizu 18 Pro were exposed to banner ads and full-screen app opening ads in the stock Weather app of Flyme, an Android-based operating system found on Meizu smartphones. However, the firm did fix it in a few hours.
But at the end of the day, it was not supposed to happen. Hence, the Chinese government had to impose a fine on Meizu for not keeping up with its words.
For the unaware, Meizu heavily promoted Meizu 18 series as ‘Three Zero Mobile’, which stands for no ad, no bloatware, and no push notifications. It even trolled other brands as part of its April Fools’ day joke.
But one fine day, Meizu deleted social media posts containing these promotions. When questioned, the firm explained that it could not continue this move for its future products as it is not a sustainable business decision. Hence, the Meizu 18 and the Meizu 18 Pro are currently the only Meizu smartphones that offer a ‘pure OS experience’.
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