The husband-and-wife duo went down 21-12 21-12 in 30 minutes to China's Siwei Zheng and Qingchen Chen.
The Commonwealth champions became the first Britons to win a Superseries title at the event last year.
They reached a second successive mixed doubles final after beating Indonesia's Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto.
Badminton is one of five sports to lose its UK Sport funding for the 2020 Olympics, but is appealing against the decision.
England's Gabby and Chris Adcock were unable to defend their World Superseries Finals title after losing in the final in Dubai on Sunday.