Chinese smartphone maker ZTE has announced a new mobile phone called Axon 7, which will be available in the United States and also in Europe.
On May 26, ZTE unveiled the Axon 7 in Beijing. The flagship device has top-end features, which could give competition to the likes of Samsung Galaxy S7, LG G5, HTC 10 and more.
The Axon 7 sports an all-metal design and touts a 5.5-inch 2K AMOLED display with 2,560 x 1,440 pixel resolution. A Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor clocked at 2.15 GHz puts the ZTE phone at par with many other flagships launched this year.
The smartphone has a 20-megapixel (f/1.8) rear-facing camera on board with dual LED flash, phase detection autofocus and optical image stabilization. The handset also has an 8-megapixel (f/2.2) selfie camera.
A 3,250 mAh battery fuels the Axon 7. The ZTE handset will be available in two models: one with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB internal storage and the other with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB on-board storage. Both the models will support storage expansion to up to 128 GB. The Axon 7 phone model with 6 GB of RAM will also have a pressure-sensitive screen.
Fingerprint scanners have become the norm in flagship smartphones and ZTE does not want the Axon 7 to be left behind in the race. The ZTE offering has a fingerprint scanner at the rear side of the Axon 7.
Currently, there are no handsets that come with 6 GB of RAM. However, rumors suggest that Samsung will launch the Galaxy Note 6 with 6 GB of RAM, which means that the phablet will have to face competition just when it is released.
The Axon 7 will offer Wi-Fi, NFC and Bluetooth support. The phone will come running on Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system straight out of the box. The ZTE phone measures 151.7 × 75 × 7.9 millimeters, or 5.97 x 2.95 x 0.31 inches.
ZTE has confirmed that the Axon 7 will have a starting price tag of 2,899 RMB, or about $441. The handset is already available for preorder on Chinese website JD.com. The mobile phone will be available in stores and online starting June 2, but the release date of the Axon 7 in countries outside China remains unknown.
Reports suggest that the Axon 7 will have a starting price of $449 in the United States and €409 in Europe. The pricing will make the Axon 7 one of the most pocket-friendly flagship smartphones in the market.
The Chinese smartphone maker announced that Lang Lang, a world-renowned pianist, will be the brand ambassador of the latest Axon smartphone series.
"We're proud to have Lang Lang endorsing Axon 7. He is highly popular and influential both at home and abroad, and has become China's cultural and musical icon to many countries around the world. These are similarities we share when it comes to ZTE's global market success," said Adam Zeng, CEO of ZTE Mobile Devices.
ZTE seems to be following LG's strategy of launching companion devices with its flagship phone, as it has also launched a companion device for the Axon 7, called the ZTE VR. The Axon 7 is one of the two devices that already support Daydream, Google's virtual reality platform. The only other device that supports Daydream is the Nexus 6P, and only for developers.
ZTE has confirmed that the ZTE VR will cost 518 RMB, about $79, in China. With competition growing in the VR industry, it is highly likely that the ZTE VR will also make its way to regions outside its home country.
