Chinese smartphone maker ZTE is making a comeback in the smartphone scene in the United States with the Axon 10 Pro.
Judging by the specs of the handset, it can go toe-to-toe with the likes of the OnePlus 7 Pro in terms of performance and price point.
ZTE Is Back
The Axon 10 Pro boasts a 6.47-inch AMOLED display with a 2,340 x 1,080 resolution (398 ppi). Under its hood is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chip paired with either 8 or 12 GB of RAM. It has 256 GB of built-in storage that can be expanded with a microSD card.
Keeping its lights on is a 4,000 mAh battery with a charging rate of 18W. It also supports Qi wireless charging. It runs on Android 9 Pie out of the box and sports an IP53 resistance rating against water and dust. Just like other flagships, it also doesn't have a headphone jack, but the company somewhat makes up for it by throwing in a 3.5mm to USB-C adapter.
As for its cameras, it has three on its back — a 48-megapixel primary sensor coupled with a 20-megapixel wide lens and an 8-megapixel telephoto lens — and a 20-megapixel snapper on the front.
It's worth mentioning that the Axon 10 Pro has a 5G version that was released in the European market, but that's not landing on U.S. shores.
As CEO of ZTE USA Brad Li puts it, the Axon 10 Pro is the "successor to the Axon 7" in the United States. Between the launches of the two, the company did roll out budget devices such as the Visible R2, but they flew under the radar of most consumers.
The Axon 10 Pro is already available for preorder via the ZTE's official website and retailers such as Newegg and B&H. The 8 GB variant is priced at $549.98, while the 12 GB version is at $599.98.
ZTE Issues In The US
ZTE ran into some trouble with selling smartphones in the United States when it had to pay $1.19 billion as a penalty for violating trade sanctions. After that, U.S. companies were barred from working with the manufacturer, and that spelled trouble since ZTE devices are typically powered by Qualcomm chipsets.
In the end, the sanctions against ZTE were lifted, and now the new Axon 10 Pro — which, as noted, is coming with a Snapdragon 855 — is now making its way to the United States.
