With the announcement and release of the iPhone 6 Plus, it isn’t surprising that look-alikes and “clones” came out of the woodwork soon or even right after and as we continue our series of iPhone 6 Plus comparisons we pit it against one of its latest “clones”, the Meizu MX4.
Body
It’s hard to deny that the Meizu MX4 takes some of its design cues from Apple and its products but the usage of a cheap plastic rear cover makes its overall design somewhat lackluster when put against the full aluminum build of the iPhone 6 Plus. One thing the MX4 does have going for it is that it’s smaller and lighter than the iPhone 6 Plus due to its smaller screen bezels and its screen-to-body ratio of 75.52% (the iPhone 6 Plus has a ratio of 67.91%). The iPhone 6 Plus is still significantly slimmer though at 7.1mm versus the MX4’s 8.9mm thickness.
Screen
The Meizu MX4 uses a smaller screen (5.4 inches) than the iPhone 6 Plus (5.5 inches) and features an unusual display resolution at 1152 x 1920 pixels which actually makes it only slightly sharper with a pixel density of 418 ppi compared to the iPhone 6 Plus’s 401ppi pixel density display. While both devices feature IPS panels for their displays, the iPhone 6 Plus has better viewing angles due to its dual-domain pixel technology.
CPU, GPU, RAM, and Storage
The Meizu MX4 edges out the iPhone 6 Plus in this category due to its recognition of being the first smartphone to feature the latest MT6595 octa-core processor from MediaTek and is one of the best scoring devices in multiple benchmark tests. The iPhone 6 Plus does have the better GPU so even with its dual-core processor it can still matchup against the MX4. Both phones do suffer from a shortage of RAM as the iPhone 6 Plus only has 1GB of RAM and the Meizu MX4 only has 2GB of RAM to pair up with its octa-core processor. When it comes to storage space, both devices are available in a variety of fixed storage capacities– the 6 Plus is available in 16GB, 64GB, and 128GB variants while the MX4 is available in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB variants.
Camera
Technically, the Meizu MX4’s camera should perform better than the one on the iPhone 6 Plus due to its higher megapixel count (20.7-megapixels) but when it comes to real world performance, the iPhone 6’s larger sensor and image processing technology beats out the MX4 in most situations. The larger amount of pixels from the MX4’s camera does lead to more detail when the photograph is zoomed in or cropped but the iPhone 6 Plus outperforms it in all other aspects including color reproduction, low-light performance, and image contrast.
Battery Life
The Apple iPhone 6 Plus is equipped with a 2,915mAh battery while the Meizu MX4 features a slightly larger 3,100mAh battery which leads to a toss-up between which device or operating system manages power better. While the iPhone has never been known for insane battery life, the new MediaTek octa-core processor coupled with the MX4’s operating system could also lead to reduced battery life.
Software & Apps
From the get go, the iPhone 6 Plus has the advantage in this category due to iOS 8 and the robust Apple App Store and when pitted against the Meizu MX4 that advantage grows even further. The Meizu MX4 features the company’s Flyme 4.0 UI which attempts to create a more iOS-like experience on an Android device. While the Flyme UI is a great attempt at an Android overhaul with a few interesting gimmicks it isn’t free from problems and, at the end of the day, the original iOS experience is genuinely better.
Extra Features
The iPhone 6 Plus features the same Touch ID technology from the previous iPhone, a new Apple Pay service, and a new M8 motion processor for better positional and motion tracking for an array of purposes while the Meizu MX4 doesn’t really have any extra features to set it apart from other smartphones so the 6 Plus easily wins this category.
Cost
This is where the Meixu MX4 makes up for all its shortcomings. Priced at only around Php15,000 for the 16GB variant and Php17,000 for the 32GB variant, the MX4 costs less than half of even the cheapest variant of the iPhone 6 Plus.
Verdict
If you’re looking for a device that screams premium all over then the iPhone 6 Plus is definitely the best choice but if you’re looking for a cheaper alternative that stacks up fairly well against Apple’s giant then the Meizu MX4 price-to-performance ratio just can’t be beat.
