Review ZTE Axon 7s: updated Axon 7, specifications, release date, price

Last year, on May 26, the Chinese manufacturer ZTE introduced its new flagship smartphone called ZTE Axon 7. The device was very successful, because it was based on powerful processor Snapdragon 820, received 4 or 6 GB of RAM and up to 128 GB of user memory. No less important was the presence of stereo speakers, which sounded great thanks to the sound amplifier from Asahi Kasei Microdevices.

After that ZTE released two more versions of the flagship with more simplified hardware for the masses. They called Axon 7 mini and Axon 7 Max. The first one received very modest specs and weak battery, but the second one had 6-inch screen and high-price. Anyway, the success of Axon 7 allowed the smartphone manufacturer to continue phone series. This year we already saw new smartphone Axon 7 with Snapdragon 821 processor. Yes, this processor is not the latest, although it is very powerful. The same LG G6 runs on a similar chipset.

To be honest, there are few cardinal changes in ZTE Axon 7s compared to its predecessor, but there are also improvements, and we will tell about it.

ZTE Axon 7s: Specifications

In fact, ZTE slightly refreshed last year’s flagship, so as OnePlus and Xiaomi has made. Engineers replaced the top processor of the early 2016 Snapdragon 820 with new Snapdragon 821 chip, used 6 GB of RAM instead of 4 GB, and slightly increased the battery. It is also important that the smartphone corresponds to modern trends in smartphone construction – it has a dual main camera with sensors from Sony.

ZTE Axon 7S: Specs List

• Colors: golden;
• Case: aluminum alloy and tempered glass, plastic dividers;
• Screen parameters: matrix AMOLED, diagonal 5.5 inches, resolution 1440×2560 pixels, density 534ppi, 2.5D glass, occupies up to 73.5% of the front panel;
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 821, quad-core (Kryo), 2 cores with frequency up to 2.35 GHz and 2 cores with frequency up to 1.6 GHz, 64-bit, technical process 14 nm;
• Graphics Accelerator: Adreno 530, frequency 653 MHz;
• RAM: 6 GB of LPDDR4 with a frequency of up to 1866 MHz, two-channel;
• ROM: 128 GB and support for memory cards microSD;
• Camera: dual, 12 megapixel Sony IMX368 + 20 megapixel Sony IMX350, aperture f / 1.8, pixel size 1 mkm and 1.25 mkm respectively, video recording in 4K @ 30fps and optical stabilization;
• Self-camera: resolution 8 MP, aperture f / 2.2;
• Support for two Nano-SIM cards;
• Network: 4G LTE Cat6 – download speed up to 300 Mbps, upload to 50 Mbps;
• GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou;
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, USB Type-C 3.0;
• Audio amplifier Asahi Kasei Microdevices, Dual Hi-Fi: AK4961 + AK4490;
• Fingerprint scanner;
• OS: Android 7.0 and the MiFavir 4.0 shell;
• Battery: 3400 mAh, Li-Pol, Charge Quick Charge 3.0;
• The sizes: 151,1х75х7,9 mm;
• Weight: 180 grams;
• The Antutu test: 160 000 scores;

ZTE Axon 7s: comparison with Axon 7

As already mentioned, Axon 7s is the continuation of Axon 7 line, but not completely a new product. Yes, there are changes and they can affect the user choice, but it looks almost the same device. The specs of both phones are listed in the table below.

ZTE Axon 7s

ZTE Axon 7

Case: aluminum alloy and tempered glass, plastic dividers; Display: matrix AMOLED, diagonal 5.5 inches, resolution 1440×2560 pixels, density 534ppi, 2.5D glass, occupies up to 73.5% of the front panel; Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 821, quad-core (Kryo), 2 cores with frequency up to 2.35 GHz and 2 cores with frequency up to 1.6 GHz, 64-bit, technical process 14 nm; Graphics Accelerator: Adreno 530, frequency 653 MHz; RAM: 6 GB of LPDDR4 with a frequency of up to 1866 MHz, two-channel; ROM: 128 GB and support for memory cards microSD; Camera: dual, 12 megapixel Sony IMX368 + 20 megapixel Sony IMX350, aperture f / 1.8, pixel size 1 mkm and 1.25 mkm respectively, video recording in 4K @ 30fps and optical stabilization; Self-camera: resolution 8 megapixels, aperture f / 2.2; Support for two Nano-SIM cards; Network: 4G LTE Cat6 – download speed up to 300 Mbps, return up to 50 Mbps; GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou; Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, USB Type-C 3.0; Audio amplifier Asahi Kasei Microdevices, Dual Hi-Fi: AK4961 + AK4490; Fingerprint scanner; OS: Android 7.0 and the MiFavir 4.0 shell; Battery: 3400 mAh, Li-Pol, Charge Quick Charge 3.0; The sizes: 151,1х75х7,9 mm; Weight: 180 grams; The Antutu test: about 160,000 scores;

Case: aluminum alloy and tempered glass, plastic dividers; Display: matrix AMOLED, diagonal 5.5 inches, resolution 1440×2560 pixels, density 534ppi, 2.5D glass, occupies up to 73.5% of the front panel; Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, quad-core (Kryo), 2 cores with a frequency up to 2.15 GHz and 2 cores with a frequency of up to 1.6 GHz, 64-bit, technical process 14nm; Graphics Accelerator: Adreno 530, frequency 653 MHz; RAM: 4 GB LPDDR4 with a frequency of up to 1866 MHz, two-channel; ROM: 64 GB and support for memory cards microSD; Camera: 20 MP, Sony IMX350 sensor, f / 1.8 aperture, 1.25 micron pixel size, 4k @ 30fps video recording and optical stabilization; Self-camera: resolution 8 MP, aperture f / 2.2; Support for two Nano-SIM cards; Network: 4G LTE Cat6 – download speed up to 300 Mbps, return up to 50 Mbps; GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou; Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, USB Type-C 3.0; OS: Android 6.0 and the MiFavir 4.0 shell; Audio amplifier Asahi Kasei Microdevices, Dual Hi-Fi: AK4961 + AK4490; Fingerprint scanner; Battery: 3250 mAh, Li-Pol, Charge Quick Charge 3.0; The sizes: 151,1х75х7,9 mm; Weight: 175 grams; The Antutu test: about 140,000 scores;

 

While other smartphone manufacturers updated their flagships on Snapdragon 821 with new models (OnePlus 3 became One Plus 3T, and Xiaomi Mi5 became Xiaomi Mi5s ), ZTE only now uses the processor. However, the South Korean brand LG also used similar chip in LG G6, instead of Snapdragon 835. The processor itself is very good both in terms of performance and power consumption, so it’s quite logical to see it in updated ZTE Axon 7s.

We don’t speak about memory, because everything is clear. We should talk about cameras. Based on the specs for both devices, it becomes clear that ZTE uses Sony IMX350 module with 20 MP and a second sensor Sony IMX368 with resolution 12 MP. The manufacturer doesn’t tell us the main feature of additional module, but we think that it will take photos in black and white.

I am glad that optical stabilization has not disappeared anywhere, and aperture is at the same high level – f/1.8. So, now we should expect from the updated flagship ZTE Axon 7S even better quality when making photos both during the day and at night.

Another important update ZTE Axon 7S is the slightly increased battery capacity. Yes, 150 mAh is not much, but at least it was not reduced. Of course, I would like to have more impressive battery capacity for 2K display and a powerful chipset, but display uses AMOLED matrix, so it only takes not so much charge.

ZTE Axon 7s: release date, price, buy

As for the price ZTE Axon 7S, there is no official information. But, we know the price of its predecessor – ZTE Axon 7, so we can expect about $360 or slightly more. The smartphone costs its money, considering both hardware and cool stereo speakers with a sound amplifier. The release date has not been announced yet.