ZUK Mobile

ZUK Mobile
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Consumer electronics, Smartphones
Founded	May 28, 2015; 11 years ago, Beijing, China
Defunct	2017
Fate	Brand discontinued; smartphone efforts redirected to Motorola
Headquarters	Beijing, China
Products	Smartphones (Z1, Z2 Pro, Z2 Plus, Z2 Rio Edition), ZUI operating system
Parent	Lenovo

ZUK Mobile was a smartphone manufacturer from China, created in May 2015 as a Lenovo subsidiary and based in Beijing. The brand was discontinued in 2017 when Lenovo redirected its smartphone efforts toward Motorola.

History

On May 28, 2015, ZUK Mobile was launched as a separate entity spun off from Lenovo's smartphone division. Lenovo's CEO, Yang Yuanqing, highlighted this move as a crucial part of the company's evolution in the digital age, positioning ZUK as an autonomous brand distinct from Lenovo’s earlier subsidiaries.

Shortly after its inception, ZUK secured an exclusive licensing deal with Cyanogen Inc. to develop its Android system based on a customized version of the CyanogenMod ROM and to utilize Cyanogen trademarks outside of China.

The debut product, the ZUK Z1, was unveiled in Beijing on August 11, 2015, and achieved over 1.5 million pre-orders within just two days across mainland China.

Lenovo declared on April 27, 2017, that it would retire the ZUK brand to concentrate resources on Motorola smartphones. By July 2017, the official ZUK website was shut down and redirected visitors to Motorola’s platform.

Z1

Released in August 2015 as ZUK’s premier smartphone, the Z1 includes a 5.5-inch Full HD display, 64 GB of storage, a 13 MP rear camera, a 4,100 mAh battery, Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 3 GB RAM, USB-C connectivity for charging and audio output, plus a fingerprint sensor. The international edition operates on Cyanogen OS 12.1 built on Android 5.1.1 "Lollipop," whereas the Chinese variant runs ZUK’s proprietary ZUI based on Android 5.1 "Lollipop."

In China, the ZUK Z1 retailed for CNY 1,799 (approximately US$284), with international pricing estimated near US$300 or €280.

Z2 PRO

Announced in 2016, the Z2 Pro sports a 5.2-inch display and is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset alongside an Adreno 530 GPU. It comes in two configurations: one with 64 GB storage and 4 GB RAM and another with 128 GB storage and 6 GB RAM. The device houses a 3,100 mAh battery and features a health sensor plus a fingerprint reader. The premium variant was priced at CNY 2,699 (around US$416).

Z2 Plus

Following the Z2 Pro release, the Z2 Plus offers a 5.0-inch Full HD screen powered by a Snapdragon 820 processor clocked at 2.15 GHz quad-core and supported by a 3,500 mAh battery. It is equipped with a 13 MP rear camera and an 8 MP front-facing camera, along with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB internal storage. Initially shipped with Android Marshmallow 6.0, it has since been updated to Android Oreo 8.0.

Z2 Rio Edition

This model is a variation of the Z2 featuring reduced specifications: it includes 3 GB RAM and offers 32 GB of internal storage.

ZUI

ZUI represents ZUK’s custom Android-based operating system (versioned at 5.1.1), exclusively available on the Chinese market through the ZUK Z1 model. It does not include an app drawer or Google Play services by default but supports widget customization.

Transparent concept phone

During the launch event for the Z1, ZUK presented a transparent smartphone prototype characterized by extremely thin bezels that rendered it nearly invisible when switched off.

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