The ZTE Axon 30 Ultra Review - Something Surprisingly Different

Conclusion & End Remarks

This review of the ZTE Axon 30 Ultra follows quite a few years of rather bad times for the company – it’s actually probably the vendor’s first “outright” flagship device in quite some time. In times where the competition is in a strong position, it’s actually hard to carve yourself out a niche in the market. What makes ZTE stand out here is the fact that they are one of the only major Chinese vendors that are actually active and officially offering and supporting devices for the North American and US market, so most of my rationale and focus will surround the phone’s competitiveness in those markets.

Starting off with the design and form-factor, the fact that ZTE is going for a more “middle” sized device is already opening up to a larger audience than other alternatives that are bigger or heavier. At 73mm width and 188g it’s in my personal sweet-spot – and noticeable smaller than other “Ultra” phones in the market.

The build quality of the phone is excellent and was amongst one of the first impressions of the phone when opening up out of the box, and remains through to today. The ergonomics are a mix of curved glass both on the front and back, yet still with some noticeable edges on the side frame to allow for a more notable grip compared to fully seamless curved phones – sometimes this can feel cheap but here ZTE does manage to do it feeling purposeful.

The display of the Axon 30 Ultra, while high-refresh rate at up to 144Hz, is generally mid-range in all other aspects. Its characteristics are more akin to a flagship from 2-3 years ago, not competing in power efficiency or brightness of today’s competitors. At 1080p it’s also lower resolution than most 2021 alternatives – but then again, it’s also coming at a lower price point.

Performance of the Axon 30 Ultra keeps up with any flagship device in 2021, and ZTE implements the Snapdragon 888 well in fully exposing the maximum performance of the chip. GPU performance is actually among one of the best amongst S888 devices because ZTE does allow the phone to get a little it hotter than the general norm – but not to the point that it overheats.

Battery life of the Axon 30 Ultra is good – although by 2021 standards it misses the mark compared to other flagships due a less efficient display.

The cameras of the Axon 30 Ultra were the most surprising aspect for me for the device. I didn’t know much what to expect, but was actually positively surprised by the phone daylight performance: good colours, competitive details, and in general a HDR implementation that many times punches well above its weight when comparing to other vendors.

The hardware is generally solid; however, the phone could have done without that 31mm secondary wide-angle module as its practical benefits are generally non-existent. Otherwise, the ultra-wide, main module, and smaller periscope telephoto are quite good competitors, although naturally they get outshone by some of the more expensive competition alternatives.

The biggest weakness is low-light, where although the phone’s night mode makes things visible, the flat image results are generally just off-putting.

A $/€749 Sweet-Spot?

The Axon 30 Ultra comes at a price point of $749 in the US and 749€ in Europe. At this price, the nearest competitors are the Galaxy S21 and the OnePlus 9. The S21 is a very different form-factor phone, so not exactly quite the same comparison device, you’d have to compare it to the S21+, which at currently $899 and 1049€ is far outpricing the Axon 30 Ultra. The $729 (currently at $659) OnePlus 9 would be a more valid comparison in terms of price and device type; while we don’t have that phone, the Axon 30 Ultra should have a much more flexible camera system. For the US market, that’s pretty much it in terms of comparisons, and that generally favours the Axon and ZTE as there’s just not much else in terms of other alternatives at this price point in terms of flagship performance phones.

In Europe, the Mi 11 and OnePlus 9 Pro can be had at 700€/799€ so the Axon 30 Ultra isn’t that interesting anymore given its inferior display and worse low-light performance.

The one wildcard and area of concern for ZTE is the company’s track record in terms of software. While my experience on myOS on the Axon 30 Ultra has been fine and the phone received a couple of software updates since I got it, generally it would be wise to go into considering the phone with low expectations for much future significant udpates.

In general, the Axon 30 Ultra was overly positive for me, and was a breath of fresh air in the flagship landscape. While the phone has weaknesses, it’s priced quite fairly, so it makes me look forward to ZTE’s next iteration.