The burgeoning phablet market is seeing increased competition with Samsung leading the way. Now, China-based ZTE is hopping on to the phablet bandwagon as well with the launch of its T-Mobile exclusive ZMAX phablet.
On Tuesday, Sept. 16, ZTE unveiled the ZMAX at an event in New York City. The mid-range ZMAX will tout a 5.7-inch screen which is not only bigger than that of the recently unveiled iPhone 6 Plus, but the device will cost a third of the Apple phablet's price.
The LTE-enabled ZMAX will cost $252 (one-time payment) or a paltry $10.50 per month for two years if one opts for a subscription plan. The phablet will be a T-Mobile exclusive and will hit the shelves on Sept. 24.
With the ZMAX, ZTE wanted to give consumers a feature-rich device which is also affordable.
"The ZMAX is the latest example of ZTE designing devices with the user in mind. It has more battery life, more screen and more style but it does not cost you more," said Lixin Cheng, chairman and CEO of ZTE USA.
The phablet has a 5.7-inch TFT LCD HD screen with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, which may not be that great when compared to other devices this size, but is not bad considering the price point. The ZMAX also packs in quad-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz and 16GB of on-board storage (expandable to up to 32GB).
Same size as the Galaxy Note 4, the ZMAX is relatively heavier at 6.7 ounces, when compared to the Samsung phablet's 6.2 ounces. However, this could be owing to the battery size as the ZMAX has a 3,440mAh battery, whereas the Note 4 has only 3,220mAh. The ZTE phablet's battery is quite stellar, if the company is to be believed, as it lasts for two days on a single charge.
The ZMAX also packs in an 8-megapixel primary camera and a 1.6-megapixel front-facing camera to satiate selfie needs. The phablet will come with Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box.
The ZMAX from T-Mobile is not available for pre-order yet and is listed as coming soon on the T-Mobile website. Those who do not want to opt for a T-Mobile variant of the ZMAX can wait for the MetroPCS' version which will release later in 2014.
