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JOURNEY · DETAIL
Meitu: From Selfie Filters to an AI Imaging Hardware and Content Platform Provider
Founded: Wu Xinhong · Meitu
JOURNEY
Key Fields
FIELD STAMPSIndustryContent / Creator Economy
RegionChina
ScaleMid-size
ChannelOther
Origin
In 2008, during the early stages of smartphone adoption, founder Wu Xinhong identified a strong demand among average users for photo editing, despite the high barrier to entry for professional software. His core team launched Meitu XiuXiu, which significantly lowered the barrier to entry with one-click beautification and a vast library of filters, allowing them to enter the mobile imaging market and accumulate their first batch of seed users. At its peak, the product reportedly had 250 million active users (media-reported, not independently verified), providing a solid user base for subsequent transformations.
Milestones
2008
Inception PMF
In 2008, Wu Xinhong led his core team to launch the PC version of Meitu XiuXiu, focusing on one-click beautification and massive filter features, which significantly lowered the barrier for average users and quickly accumulated seed users. In 2010, the mobile version was launched for iOS and Android. By 2011, mobile users exceeded 100 million, achieving product-market fit and becoming one of the most popular photo editing tools in China. This phase lasted from 2008 to 2011.
2014
Expansion Turning Point
In 2014, Meitu launched niche imaging products such as BeautyCam and SelfieCity to cover different user scenarios. That same year, it initiated its smart hardware layout, releasing the first Meitu phone focused on AI beautification. In 2016, Meitu phone shipments reached 1.26 million units, driving the company's annual revenue to 1.55 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of over 200%, opening up a second growth curve. This phase lasted from 2014 to 2016.
2016
IPO Growth
In December 2016, Meitu was officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising approximately 4.7 billion HKD in its IPO. Its market capitalization exceeded 100 billion HKD on the day of listing, making it a star internet company on the Hong Kong stock market that year. After the IPO, the company accelerated business expansion, entering sectors such as social networking, e-commerce, and short video, with its user base growing to over 1 billion by 2017.
2018
Adjustment Failure
In 2018, affected by a saturated smartphone market and a lack of innovation in Meitu phones, annual phone sales plummeted to 280,000 units, a 77% year-on-year drop. The company's 2018 revenue fell by 23%, marking its first loss since going public. In 2019, the company was forced to abandon its self-developed phone business and licensed the brand to Xiaomi. This hardware failure resulted in cumulative losses of over 1 billion RMB, representing a major setback in its history. This phase lasted from 2018 to 2019.
2022
Transformation Turning Point
In 2022, Meitu confirmed it would abandon self-developed general-purpose large models to focus on self-developed visual large models. In 2023, it officially released the Meitu AI visual large model, simultaneously launching AI drawing, AI video generation, and AI photo restoration tools. By 2024, revenue from AI-related businesses reached 820 million RMB, accounting for over 30% of total revenue. The company's market value rebounded more than 20-fold from its 2022 low, marking a critical turning point in its AI transformation. This phase lasted from 2022 to 2024.
2025
Growth Growth
In 2025, Meitu's AI imaging hardware (including AI shooting equipment and image restoration devices) reached 500,000 units in annual shipments. Revenue from To B enterprise imaging services reached 560 million RMB. Total annual revenue reached 2.87 billion RMB with a net profit of 320 million RMB, achieving profitability for two consecutive years and returning to a growth trajectory.
Turning Points
- 2011: Mobile Meitu XiuXiu users exceeded 100 million, establishing its leadership in the domestic imaging tool market.
- 2016: Listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, gaining capital support to initiate diversified business layouts.
- 2023: Released self-developed AI visual large model, completing the strategic transformation from a tool-based product to an AI imaging ecosystem.
- 2024: AI business revenue share exceeded 30%, achieving a dual recovery in revenue and profit.
Failures & Pitfalls
- 2018-2019: Meitu phone sales plummeted by 77%, resulting in cumulative losses of over 1 billion RMB, forcing the company to abandon the self-developed hardware track.
- 2021: Attempted to enter social e-commerce, but shut it down after just one year due to supply chain and traffic issues, resulting in the loss of 300 million RMB in R&D investment.
- 2022: Initial performance of self-developed large models fell short of expectations, leading to industry skepticism regarding technical capabilities; market value halved within six months, resulting in a significant valuation correction.
- 2017: Entered the short video community business, but was forced to shut it down after two years due to poor operations and a user retention rate of less than 5%.
关键成功要素
- Over a decade of deep cultivation in the imaging sector has accumulated massive user behavior data and aesthetic insights, providing a unique advantage for AI model training.
- Precise matching of AI technology with user needs, enabling the rapid deployment of practical AI imaging tools and lowering the barrier to entry for users.
- Decisiveness in business adjustments, proactively cutting loss-making hardware and social businesses to focus on core imaging and AI tracks.
- Synergistic development of To C tool traffic and To B enterprise services, building a diversified revenue structure to mitigate risks from single-business dependency.
Lessons
- Mid-tier internet companies transforming into AI must focus on their core strengths to avoid resource dispersion caused by blindly entering irrelevant markets.
- Hardware layout must match the company's own technical capabilities and supply chain resources; one should not blindly pursue full-stack self-development.
- In the wave of large models, it is necessary to balance self-development with third-party partnerships to avoid losing bargaining power by relying entirely on external models.
- Tool-based products must continuously expand their content ecosystem, using UGC and PGC content to improve user retention and commercialization space.
Core Data
- 2011 Mobile Users：100 million (public data, not independently verified)
- 2016 Market Cap at IPO：120 billion HKD (public data, not independently verified)
- 2018 Phone Sales：280,000 units (public data, not independently verified)
- 2024 Smart Business Revenue：820 million RMB (public data, not independently verified)
- 2025 Total Revenue：2.87 billion RMB (public data, not independently verified)
- 2025 Net Profit：320 million RMB (public data, not independently verified)
- 2025 Smart Hardware Shipments：500,000 units (public data, not independently verified)
Competitors / Peers
Meitu's competitors in the imaging service sector cover two major camps: tools and professional software. In the domestic tool market, there is ByteDance's Xingtu and Tencent's QQ Imaging. Xingtu, leveraging Douyin's traffic advantage, currently has more mobile monthly active users than Meitu XiuXiu. In the professional imaging field, Adobe's Photoshop series dominates the high-end market. Meitu focuses on mass-market consumer AI imaging services, competing through differentiated features. In overseas markets, there are tools like Snapseed, while Meitu maintains a unique position in AI effects and AI generation.