ZTE Axon 30 launched with 2nd gen under-display camera

It is a high-end phone featuring the Snapdragon 870 5G SOC

Release Date
July 27, 2021
Starting Price in China
¥2198 ($338)

The ZTE Axon 30 is now official in China & this is the successor of ZTE Axon 20 of last year, a phone that you may remember as the world’s first phone to launch with an under-display selfie camera. The Axon 30 takes that camera implementation a step ahead and comes with the 2nd gen under-display selfie camera. Moreover, ZTE has made some significant upgrades in the specifications too since Axon 30 is now a flagship and not a mid-ranger like last year’s Axon 20.

ZTE Axon 30

Just like last year, there is a flat display on the front with no cutout or notch due to the fact that the selfie camera is hidden under the display. In the last year’s Axon 20, you could see the area of the display under which the selfie shooter was placed because what ZTE did last year was to decrease the pixel density in that particular region as compared to the rest of the panel. But this year, that’s not the case. The whole panel, including the panel under which the selfie camera is placed, has a 400 PPI pixel density hence it is extremely difficult to locate the camera under the display.

Speaking of the upgrades in the panel, it has seven layers, a new UDC Pro-screen display chip & an ACE circuit arrangement. The layers of the display feature higher transmittance materials as well. What this ensures is more light to reach the camera sensor under the display and as we know, more light reaching the camera sensor means an improved image quality. The sensor under the screen is a 16 Megapixel sensor featuring pixel binning so four pixels are combined into one for better clarity in images.

ZTE Axon 30

On the back, the ZTE Axon 30 has a Quad camera array and the camera module looks quite sophisticated at first glance. But, it is a pretty average camera setup including a primary 64 Megapixel Sony IMX682 sensor, a secondary 8 Megapixel ultrawide camera, 5 Megapixel camera for macro shots & finally a depth sensor. There is a huge “Axon” logo on the back along with the “ZTE 5G” branding. The phone misses out on a 3.5mm headphone jack.

ZTE Axon 30

Speaking of that display upfront, it is a huge 6.92-inch 10-bit panel that can show over a billion colors and the resolution is Full-HD+. The refresh rate is now 120Hz which is an upgrade over last year’s 90Hz screen. Under the hood, ZTE Axon 30 packs the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 5G SOC paired with up to 12GB of RAM & 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage.

The battery size is 4,200mAh and the phone supports 55W fast charging.

The ZTE Axon 30 comes in four storage options and two colors. Here is the pricing for China –

  • 6GB + 128GB – ¥2198 ($338)
  • 8GB + 128GB – ¥2498 ($384)
  • 8GB + 256GB – ¥2798 ($430)
  • 12GB + 256GB – ¥3098 ($476)

In China, the phone will go on sale on the 3rd of August. The phone is coming to the global market soon.