The changes in smartphones in recent years, from the perspective of the screen, are to make the display area larger and larger: from the small screen to the large screen, from the large screen to the full screen, we want to get more information from the screen, and the manufacturers are tucking in the larger screen in the limited fuselage - the screen ratio is as close as 100% as possible.
A complete and bezel-less screen, perhaps this is the final form of the front of the bar phone, ZTE Axon 40 Ultra is such a product.
The era of true full screen may have begun
In October 2016, Xiaomi MIX came out of nowhere, proposing the concept of "full screen" for the first time, followed by 2017 when various mobile phone manufacturers began to narrow the upper and lower sides of the mobile phone, and the "forehead" and "chin" were getting shorter and shorter.
The competition of the full screen has officially begun, the proportion of mobile phone screens is getting higher and higher, the front sensor in addition to the front camera, the rest of the light sensor, fingerprint recognition, distance sensor are placed under the screen or integrated into the border.
All mobile phones, "bangs" are getting smaller and smaller, from the wide forehead to the bangs screen, from the water drop screen to the punching screen, from the perfect full screen finally only this one front camera.
Finally, ZTE released the Tianji Axon 20 in 2020, becoming the first mobile phone equipped with an off-screen camera, achieving a true full screen.
Nowadays, the product has iterated to the Axon 40 Ultra, the technology is more mature, the concealment of the under-screen camera is getting better and better, and the screen quality has also been greatly improved. It can be said that the era of really full-screen mobile phones has begun.
The design of full-screen no-hole plus left and right curved surfaces, up and down ultra-narrow borders makes the whole phone like a piece of glass. Take a photo and then put the phone down, the fuselage can be well integrated into the environment, the left and right surfaces also let the screen display and the actual object have a kind of refraction effect.
The screen quality of the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra has not shrunk because of the camera under the screen, even if it is taken out alone, it is a good screen:
The large 6.8-inch screen, with a resolution of 2480x1116, a pixel density of 400ppi, and a full-screen blue diamond arrangement. Supports 120Hz smart high brush, 1500nit peak brightness. The two sides use waterfall-style curved surfaces, with a huge curvature of 71 °, and the front view of the entire screen is very shocking, which may be the oppressive feeling from the real full screen.
Especially this bottom bezel, which is narrower than the left and right borders of many mobile phones, ZTE Axon 40 Ultra can be said to make the screen ratio as "extreme" as possible.
Supports 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, 10 bit color depth, and good visual effects when watching movies.
Probably the best concealment under-screen front camera, not one of them
ZTE Axon 40 Ultra's off-screen camera is very hidden, and it is difficult for the naked eye to detect the existence of the camera in the bright screen state, and even the screen can only be seen at a large angle. Other sensors are also hidden under the screen, and the speakers are integrated into the bezel, which is difficult to find without looking closely.
In order to better hide the front camera under this screen, ZTE has made a lot of efforts:
The first independent pixel one-wheel-drive technology, each pixel can be controlled individually, can well eliminate the edge aliasing effect, the display is clearer and more delicate.
The circuit design has also been optimized, distributed transparent routing, so that the screen in the camera area under the screen does not have an area where the circuit gathers, and the screen display is more natural.
The UDC Pro display chip and MRC algorithm have been upgraded to enhance the display of the screen in the camera area under the screen for better consistency with the rest of the screen.
The hidden front camera has also upgraded the image quality, and the four-in-one sensor allows the size of a single pixel to reach 2.24μm, with a greater sensitivity.
Let's put a few samples to see how the actual selfie effect of this under-screen front-facing is:
In fact, the effect of the front selfie has no gap with the front of most open-hole mobile phones, of course, compared to many mobile phones that mainly focus on high-definition selfies, there is still a certain distance, but such a picture quality is used for video calls, face recognition or no problem.
The technical principle of the camera under the screen and the principle of the fingerprint under the optical screen are very close, and the photoelectric fingerprint under the screen is actually a low-definition "front shot under the screen":
By placing an image sensor under the screen, the screen emits a strong light to illuminate the fingerprint when the finger is pressed to the screen, and then the image sensor "shoots" the fingerprint pattern, and the fingerprint recognition is completed through image comparison.
However, although the principle is the same, the difficulty of the off-screen camera is not the same order of magnitude compared to the off-screen fingerprint. The fingerprint under the screen captures a low-definition black and white image, and the screen is used as a light source to "fill the light", while the front camera under the screen requires a clearer color picture, which requires higher requirements for the amount of light and algorithm.
Even if the light transmittance of the screen is sufficient for imaging, the glare and atomization of the screen still have to be solved by algorithms. The ZTE Axon 40 Ultra has enhanced its RAW domain-based smart image quality, which greatly improves the image quality and transparency of imaging.
The three main photographs, each one can play very well
The ZTE Axon 40 Ultra features three 6400W pixel cameras, both of which are custom IMX 787 sensors that support omni-pixel omnidirectional focus. The periscope telephoto lens also uses a 1/2-inch COMS that supports OIS optical image stabilization.
The ZTE Axon 40 Ultra's imaging system and most flagship models are so different from each other, except for the three 6400W pixel main cameras, the focal length is also different from most products. At present, almost all flagship mobile phones on the market use a focal length equivalent to a 26mm viewing angle, while the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra's humanistic main camera uses a focal length equivalent to a 35mm viewing angle, which is the traditional "humanistic photography" focal length, which is obviously distinguished from the picture of other mobile phones.
Let's go straight to a few samples and see what the 35mm perspective looks like:
Moreover, the three main cameras all support lightning capture, which can automatically and intelligently adjust the exposure parameters according to the scene, and form a clear photo through multi-frame RAW synthesis, which greatly increases the film completion rate of the mobile phone.
Compared with the 26mm wide-angle main camera of other manufacturers, the focal angle of 35mm will be more focused, so the subject in the picture will be more prominent. There will be less frame for the cluttered surroundings, and it will be easier for me to compose pictures when shooting with my phone.
My favorite mode of humanistic street shooting, you can manually preset the focus distance, the screen will appear red peak focus, there is a feeling of using the previously estimated 135 side axis camera, you can prejudge the subject, when it appears directly press the shutter to image.
And this focal length is also very suitable for recording daily life, IMX 787's picture performance is also very good, most of the scenes of the color, white balance are restored very accurately, and the naked eye perception is not much different. The picture quality is very good in a well-lit environment, and it can also have a high film yield.
Ultra-wide-angle main cameras using the same CMOS also have a very consistent picture performance, equivalent to a wide viewing angle of 16mm, while distortion is reduced to a very low through freeform lenses, while obtaining a wider viewing angle, the picture will not have too much distortion.
The 91mm equivalent periscope telephoto quality is also quite usable, allowing you to shoot some animals at a distance, or use telephoto compression space to get a different composition than the naked eye.
Under the low light, this IMX 787 also has a good picture performance, whether it is a 16mm ultra-wide angle or a 35mm humanistic lens, the night scene is relatively pure, the bright place is bright, the dark place is dark, and there is no strange orientation of a brand "shooting night into day".
The 35mm focal length is actually easier to compose than the 26mm, and the portrait mode of the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra also has a good bokeh effect, which is very suitable for shooting busts.
However, in some scenarios, the cutout of the hair is still not detailed enough, of course, the current bokeh of the mobile phone is still difficult to achieve the physical bokeh effect of the camera, and there are almost no exceptions from manufacturers.
However, in most scenes, the imaging color of the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra is still relatively accurate, and this kind of painting can be shot with confidence.
In addition, the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra camera has many interesting ways to play, such as shooting the stars, star tracks, or taking Van Gogh-style photos with one click.
And the filter in the machine also has a lot of different styles, after taking pictures, if you are too lazy to post, you can directly set the filter in the phone, and the circle of friends is still very good.
In terms of video, these three main cameras support 8K ultra-clear recording, three different focal lengths can get 8K level ultra-high-definition pictures, and the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra multi-camera simultaneous recording function can have three perspectives at a time, which is really very convenient for users who like to record Vlog or travel photography.
HDR 10 is also supported, so higher dynamic range material is also available for professional users with more stringent needs.
Complete flagship experience with no shortcomings
In terms of performance, ZTE Axon 40 Ultra is equipped with this year's flagship chip Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, and the memory flash memory uses the best UFS3.1+ full blood LPDDR5.
As usual, use Ann Rabbit to run a little bit:
Antutu ran the result 1009873 points, of which the CPU part 228442 points and the GPU part 445981 points.
Geekbench 5 single-core 1209 points, multi-core 3426 points.
Therefore, the daily use performance is completely enough to meet the needs of most users, because it is not the main game-oriented product, in the consideration of heat and power consumption, ZTE Axon 40 Ultra limits the original god to 45 frames, so we will not test the game.
In terms of battery life, it is equipped with a large battery of 5000mAh, and supports 80W super fast charging, and also supports QC 4+ and PD protocols, so many third-party charging heads can also quickly charge ZTE Axon 40 Ultra, which must be praised!
We also tested the actual charging power at around 60W peak, with the charging line supporting 6A and the voltage at around 10V.
In addition to the powerful configuration and full screen, the design of the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra is also very atmospheric and simple, I have ink color in my hand, and the back of the phone does not use fancy colors, but a calm black.
Of course, it is not completely black, there is also the effect of flash sand in the sun, and at the same time, it is resistant to fingerprints and scratches, and there are different effects of light and shadow changes, and the value is extremely high.
The thickness of 8.41mm and the weight of the 204g fuselage are also balanced on the 6.81-inch body, and there is no feeling of pressing hands.
brief summary
In general, the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra has almost everything in the configuration of the "flagship standard" - optical fingerprint under the ultra-thin screen, X-axis linear motor, stereo dual speakers, infrared remote control and so on.
And in the more core performance, image, screen, have also reached the level of a flagship product, so it is also a qualified bucket flagship when taken out separately.
On the basis of these configurations, the ZTE Axon 40 Utlra is also equipped with the most concealed off-screen camera at present, which is my ideal front-end form for digital enthusiasts who have been pursuing a true full screen.