Meizu Pro 6 review: Changing lanes

Performance

Meizu Pro 6 is a departure from the previous Pro models (Pro 5, MX4 Pro) and instead of relying on Samsung's Exynos chips it goes for the latest MediaTek Helio X25. The X25 is a refined X20 chip with faster deca-core processor and GPU. The rumored Meizu MX6 is expected to run on the Helio X20, while the Pro 6 will be having an edge with the X25 model.

Helio X25 packs a deca-core tri-cluster processor with 2x Cortex-A72 at 2.5GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 at 2.0GHz, and 4x Cortex-A53 at 1.4GHz. The insane number of cores aside, the GPU is often MediaTek's Achilles's heel and the Mali-T880 MP 4 (read quad-core) may indeed throttle the overall performance.

First things first, lest see how this monstrous CPU setup stacks against the competition.

The single-core performance of a Cortex-A72 core is far from chart-topping - the custom Kryo (Snapdragon 820 within the G5, HTC 10, Mi 5), Mongoose (Galaxy S7 edge), and Twister (iPhone 6s Plus) can edge anything the Cortex series can offer.

GeekBench 3 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  2527
• HTC 10
  2368
• LG G5
  2328
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  2305
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  2151
• Meizu Pro 6
  1905
• Huawei P9
  1819
• Zopo Speed 8
  1625
• Meizu Pro 5
  1545
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
  1490
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  1363

But the MediaTek mantra is pretty much the more the merrier, so we'd expect 10 cores to beat all others processors we've tested so far. And they almost did, but were bested by the Huawei P9 and the Galaxy S7 edge.

The P9 has a very fast CPU with 4x Cortex-A72 at 2.5GHz and 4x Cortex-A53 at 1.8GHz, which explains why its 8 cores out a similar score to the 10 cores of the Helio X20 - the extra two high-performance A72 units made the difference. The same goes for the Galaxy S7 edge and its 4x high-performance Mongoose + 4x A53 cores.

GeekBench 3 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  6600
• Huawei P9
  6558
• Meizu Pro 6
  6427
• Meizu Pro 5
  5578
• LG G5
  5362
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  5358
• HTC 10
  5257
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
  5158
• Meizu MX5
  5110
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  4539
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  4413
• Zopo Speed 8
  4128
• Meizu MX4 Pro
  3386

Meizu Pro 5 offered an octa-core Mali-T760 MP8 GPU, while the Meizu Pro 6 goes for a quad-core Mali-T880 MP4 clocked at 850MHz. Even though the newer generation graphics, we expect a drop in the performance because of the halved GPU cores. The Huawei P9 uses the same GPU (Mali-T880 MP4), but it runs on a slightly higher clock at 900MHz.

While many tests show the Huawei P9's GPU sufficient for games and battery-friendly, our one-month usage demonstrated a frustrating number of graphic bottlenecks. They can be related to poor multi-task handling, but we can't be sure.

We played a bit with the Meizu Pro 6 and we saw some similar problems with Angry Birds Pop. They are rare, but still rather annoying from a flagship.

Now about those raw benchmarks. The higher GPU clock of the P9 made a tiny difference and it has beaten the Meizu Pro 6 on some tests by a frame or less. The Pro 5 predecessor shows much better results due to the better GPU. And the Pro 6 graphics can't even come close to the flagship GPUs on the market today used by the HTC 10, Galaxy S7, and iPhone 6s.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• LG G5
  47
• HTC 10
  47
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  45
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  40
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  39.5
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
  25
• Meizu Pro 5
  25
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  25
• Huawei P9
  18
• Meizu Pro 6
  18
• Meizu MX4 Pro
  13
• Meizu MX5
  10

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 5
  43
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  38.6
• LG G5
  28
• HTC 10
  28
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  27
• Meizu Pro 5
  25
• Huawei P9
  19
• Meizu Pro 6
  18
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  17
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
  15
• Meizu MX5
  9.5
• Meizu MX4 Pro
  7.8

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC 10
  31
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  30
• LG G5
  30
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  29
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  27.9
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  17
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
  15
• Meizu Pro 5
  14
• Meizu Pro 6
  11
• Huawei P9
  10
• Meizu MX5
  4.8

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 5
  29
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  27.9
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  15
• LG G5
  15
• HTC 10
  15
• Meizu Pro 5
  14
• Huawei P9
  11
• Meizu Pro 6
  11
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  11
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
  6.6
• Meizu MX5
  4.7

GFX 3.1 Car scene (offscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC 10
  18
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  17
• LG G5
  16
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  15
• Huawei P9
  6.5
• Meizu Pro 6
  6.4

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 5
  17
• HTC 10
  9.9
• LG G5
  8.8
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  7.8
• Huawei P9
  7.1
• Meizu Pro 6
  6.4

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 5
  33110
• LG G5
  29456
• HTC 10
  28882
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  28480
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
  26333
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  22825
• Meizu Pro 5
  20038
• Huawei P9
  16942
• Meizu Pro 6
  15209
• Meizu MX5
  10403
• Zopo Speed 8
  9311
• Meizu MX4 Pro
  9111

Due to the subpar GPU performance the compound test AnTuTu 6 shows a rather uninspiring result.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• HTC 10
  154031
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  137420
• LG G5
  134541
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  131758
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  129229
• Meizu Pro 6
  99195
• Huawei P9
  98069
• Zopo Speed 8
  90137
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  89345
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
  83167
• Meizu Pro 5
  67531

The other compound test - the BaseMark OS II 2.0 - puts the Meizu Pro 6 on par with the HTC 10 and close to the Galaxy S7 edge. The benchmark gauges not only CPU, GPU and UX, but also memory and browser performance, so the final scores bodes well for day-to-day performance.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  2261
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  2180
• Huawei P9
  2068
• LG G5
  2065
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  2050
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  2040
• Meizu Pro 6
  1919
• HTC 10
  1839
• Meizu Pro 5
  1837
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
  1789
• Zopo Speed 8
  1471
• Meizu MX5
  1252
• Meizu MX4 Pro
  863

The Meizu Pro 6 definitely delivers on processing performance with its 10-core processor. It's nothing revolutionary and far from the best solution you can get on the market, but you will rarely feel any sort of difference. Hopefully the developers will be able to fully utilize its power in the upcoming months.

The GPU is where the Pro 6 underperforms compared to the competition. Sure, the games will run smoothly most of the time, but bottlenecks are expected to occur sometimes. And while the heat isn't such an issue, the Pro 6 becomes rather warm under stress.

So in a way the Pro 5, its predecessor, seems a more balanced fella - while it loses on CPU tests, it beats the Pro 6 in graphics. That said, the Pro 6 is still a very capable performer and if it wasn't in the sort of elite company the flagship tag warrants we would have been very happy with it.