It Looks Like Ubuntu's First Phone Might Be For China

It looks like the first official Ubuntu Phone may have been outed this weekend just ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show this coming week.

According to images surfacing this weekend and news out of China, it appears that Meizu might be the first vendor shipping an Ubuntu-powered phone. Mark Shuttleworth had announced some time ago they landed their first phone hardware partner, but went without naming any company. The images now surfacing, such as at CNBeta.com, indicate there's a Meizu-made Ubuntu-powered device.

This apparent Meizu Ubuntu Phone could end up being another engagement Canonical has gotten involved in, but it would make sense if this is their first hardware partner they've struck. Very few earth-grounded developers and users would expect the first Ubuntu Phone to come from any major American or European device manufacturer and carrier. Canonical and Ubuntu have also shown growing interest in China, especially with last year's launch of the Ubuntu Kylin version, etc.

Making the Meizu point, the Ubuntu Phone/Tablet version is also designed for high-end devices. Meizu's current high-end offering in China is powered by a Samsung Exynos 5410 octa-core ARM SoC with a 1080x1080p screen and plenty of storage: 128GB internal memory. This would start to the lay basics of a nice Ubuntu-powered converged device.

We should find out soon enough whether Meizu is Canonical's first launch partner for the Ubuntu Phone. CES officially runs this year from 7 to 10 January in Las Vegas. While I am usually out at the Consumer Electronic Show with Phoronix coverage, etc, this year I unfortunately won't be there due to being over in the Caucasus Mountains focusing on Phoronix Test Suite 5.0.