Ubuntu OS doesn’t really have that much of a presence in the smartphone market even though ROMs have been released for compatible devices like the Nexus 4 but Canonical hopes to change that through partnerships with OEMs that will put Ubuntu OS on smartphones from the get go. Chinese manufacturer Meizu has formed one such partnership with Canonical and it has confirmed that its first Ubuntu powered smartphones are coming in early 2015.
Meizu is also working on its own custom version of Ubuntu called Flyme OS, where the underlying OS will be provided by Canonical and Meizu is going to add in some extra features and perhaps even make some changes to the look and feel of the user interface. If this arrangement sounds familiar that’s because this is what almost every OEM does with Android smartphones.
Even though Ubuntu on smartphones looks a lot similar to the desktop version of Ubuntu the OS has been designed to work with touchscreen apps on relatively small displays. Though it does share a lot of code with the desktop version.
Meizu plans on start shipping the first Ubuntu powered phones by early next year. Pricing information will likely be made public around the time of the release. The company says that these smartphones will initially be made available in China and Europe.