ZTE is rumored to be working on a successor version of ZTE Axon 7 as a device from the company bearing a model number of A2018 has appeared on GFXBench benchmarking platform. The ZTE A2018 is speculated to launch as ZTE Axon 8.
According to GFXBench listing of ZTE A2018, the device features a 5.5-inch display that supports QHD resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels. It is powered by Snapdragon 820 chipset that includes a 2.1 GHz quad-core processor and Adreno 530. The Snapdragon 820 chipset had powered several flagship phones in 2016 such as Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, LG G5, LG V20, OnePlus 3, HTC 10 and more.
The Snapdragon 820 chipset on ZTE Axon 8 is coupled with 4 GB of RAM. It will be coming with an internal storage of 128 GB. It will have a 12-megapixel rear snapper that will carry support for 4K video shooting. For shooting selfies, it will have an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. The ZTE A2018 is running on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow that is overlaid with ZTE’s own skin.
Since the ZTE A2018 has appeared on the benchmarking site, it seems that the company is testing the prototype of the upcoming ZTE Axon 8 before announcing it. Most of the new smartphones from known companies are releasing with Nougat OS. Hence, it is likely that ZTE could be using Marshmallow OS mainly for testing purpose and the Axon 8 may actually release with Nougat OS.
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It is interesting to note that even the ZTE A2018 is a successor of Axon 7, the specs like 5.5-inch QHD screen, SD 820 chip, 4 GB RAM that are available on the alleged Axon 8 is also available on the Axon 7. In May, the ZTE A2018 had appeared on TENAA, it revealed that the smartphone features a dual rear camera system that includes a 20-megapixel sensor and a 12-megapixel sensor.
However, the device that showed up on TENAA was powered by Snapdragon 821, a revised edition of SD 820. The SD 821 is present in some of the newer phones such as Google Pixel, Pixel, LG G6 and HTC U Ultra. Since the ZTE Axon 7 was announced in May 2016, It seems that the Chinese company would be announcing the ZTE Axon 8 very soon. Speculations also indicate that since it is not a major upgrade over ZTE Axon 7, the device will launch as ZTE Axon 7s.
