ZTE has been teasing its upcoming ZTE Axon 7 flagship for the past few days. Now, this beast is official, which means we know the entire specs and features of the device, and they are quite impressive.
We were present at the unveiling and also got to play around with the device for some time which means we have our first impressions of the device as well. Here’s all the details about the Axon 7.
First of all, ZTE Axon 7 is built from the ground up for audio lovers. In fact, the company has made Lang Lang, a pianist famous in China as well as worldwide, the brand ambassador of the new Axon flagship. The company reportedly consulted with music professors and set up a dedicated lab to develop and perfect the phone’s audio quality. So, there’s no doubt that ZTE is targeting music lovers with its new device.
ZTE will continue with a similar design philosophy on the new Axon 7 as the previous generation flagships. So, you get the same dual speaker design up front, with a curvier back to ensure that the phone fits well in your hand. We got a good hands on with the gold version of the device and it looked attractive. Needless to say, you know this is an Axon flagship the moment you lay your eyes on it. The display looks good and the bezels are quite thin as well. You see thin black borders around the screen, but they blend well with the display. The company teamed up with Designworks, a subsidiary of BMW group to perfect the phone’s design.
The volume and power buttons are located on the right side of the device, while the dual nano SIM / MicroSD card tray lies on the left. The back feaures the 20MP sensor with dual LED flash and a fingerprint sensor. Down below, you have the USB Type-C port and on top, the traditional 3.5mm headphone jack. You get dual microphones on the new device as well.
Coming to the specification, the ZTE Axon 7 comes with the powerful Snapdragon 820 quad-core chipset inside with two memory variants, 4GB RAM + 64GB storage, and 6GB RAM + 128GB storage. Both the versions come with MicroSD expansion support up to 128GB. Up front, the phone features a beautiful 5.5-inch 2K AMOLED 2.5D glass display which is protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 4 generation. This translates into a pixel density of 558 ppi, which is quite impressive and ideal for VR.
At the back, the Axon 7 sports a large 20MP sensor with OIS and PDAF with f/1.8 aperture. The company claims that the camera comes with functions similar to SLR-quality camera to capture perfect pictures and videos. Up front, the phone comes with an 8MP shooter with f/2.2 aperture and smart beautification feature. Like we saw in the teasers, ZTE is focusing on the audio quality of its new Axon smartphone and it features built-in dual Hi-Fi (AK4961 + AK4490). Further, you get Dolby Atmos Suround Sound as well. So, expect the audio performance to be great. In fact, in the teaser, we got to hear the audio from the device, so check that out from here.
The phone runs on the Android Marshmallow version with Mifavor 4.0 on top. It has a fingerprint sensor located at the back and features NFC as well. What’s interesting is that ZTE has decided to add Force Touch feature on the top-end 6GB RAM + 128GB version of the flagship. Inside, the Axon 7 houses a 3250mAh battery which comes with QC 3.0 support. All this, inside a 7.9mm body.
As for the pricing, the ZTE Axon 7 starts at 2899 Yuan ($441) for the 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM model. The 4GB + 128GB model retails at 3299 Yuan ($503) while the top-end 6GB RAM + 128GB ROM model retails at 4099 Yuan ($625).
The phone will be first released in China, followed by other regions like United States and Europe. You can pre-order the device in China starting May 26 from JD.com, and the phone goes on sale online and in person at stores from June 2. You have two color choices, gold and silver.
