One year after first introducing its new Axon brand, ZTE today took the wraps off of the latest Axon flagship, the Axon 7.
ZTE touts that the Axon 7 has a design “inspired by luxury cars”, as ZTE worked with BMW subsidiary Designworks on the design of its new Android phone. The Axon 7 is reminiscent of last year’s Axon, offering front speakers that cover the top and bottom of the phone, curved corners, and a metal body.
Also worth noting is that while there’s no Axons 2-6, ZTE explains that this device is the Axon 7 because it’s the seventh ZTE flagship phone, following the Grand S1, S2, S3, Star 1, Star 2, and Axon.
The ZTE Axon 7 is packing many of the high-end specs that you’d expect from a flagship Android phone in 2016. You can check off a 2560x1440 display, which is 5.5 inches in size and of the AMOLED variety; a Snapdragon 820 processor; a fingerprint reader; USB Type-C; and NFC. There will be two configurations of the Axon 7 available: one with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, and one with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Both will offer a microSD slot for added storage, but only the 6GB/128GB model will include Force Touch display tech.
The Axon 7 is also packing a 20-megapixel rear camera with the usual goodies, like phase detection autofocus and optical image stabilization. Around front there’s an 8-megapixel camera. Rounding out the spec list, we’ve got a 3250mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0, a dual Hi-Fi chipset with dual front speakers, and Android 6.0 running beneath ZTE’s MiFavor 4.0 user interface.
One other highlight of the Axon 7 is that ZTE touts it as supporting Daydream, the new virtual reality platform announced by Google earlier this month. ZTE also today introduced its own VR device called ZTE VR.
The ZTE Axon 7 is launching in China today and will roll out globally shortly after. In the US, it’ll be available from ZTE’s online store as well as Amazon, Best Buy, B&H, eBay, and Newegg. It’ll support AT&T and T-Mobile in the US, and ZTE says that support for Sprint and Verizon is coming “possibly later in the year.” There is no confirmed price point for the Axon 7 quite yet, but ZTE does say that it'll cost less than $500.
Customers that do sprint for the Axon 7 will get the Axon Passport Program 2.0, which offers two years of protection that includes unlimited out-of-warranty repairs, free shipping for replacement or repaired devices, and assistance with upgrades, replacements, and setup.