As the first flagship work after Wu Jing endorsed ZTE mobile phones, and as the representative work of ZTE in 2022, the ZTE Axon 40 series attracted great attention before its release. As a rule, this time the ZTE Axon 40 series still has two versions of Ultra and Pro, which continues the product layout of the previous Axon 30 series and adds many design elements that conform to the characteristics of the times. In particular, the former, as a collection of ZTE mobile phones to promote the update and iteration of on-screen camera technology and continue to lead the multi-main camera fusion computing photography pioneer technology, ZTE Axon 40 Ultra supports the precise adjustment of the new generation of Snapdragon 8 flagship chip, from the screen, image, performance "trinity" to create the ultimate form of the straight flagship, the era of "born for the big scene".
We always say that ZTE makes good use of its existing technical advantages to identify the products of current market hotspots, and "smart has its own smart understanding". Because ZTE is very clear that it does not necessarily have to kill the blood in the chaos of the top flagship to be "attitude", the diversified needs of consumers always have a more reasonable product planning choice. Therefore, even if the share of ZTE mobile phones in the domestic market is unlikely to change by leaps and bounds in the short term, the technical background and brand style will always surprise the public. Moreover, Ni Fei revealed at the press conference that the annual shipment of ZTE terminals in 2021 exceeded 100 million units, of which 50% were self-developed chips, which in itself also showed that its strength was not in the pool.
Of course, back to the point, everything is complete. The two Axon 40 series models need to be focused on, so today's protagonist is the Axon 40 Ultra, which not only has cool black technology, but also achieves both art and technology, in Ni Fei's words, it "helps users to control every 'big scene', really help the brave, walk with the brave." ”
A fantasy song for flexible screens and off-screen lenses
The Axon 40 Ultra represents ZTE's unique understanding and technical background of mobile phones, especially mobile phone images. Again, even if it may not become a "volume theory hero" hot model (price and positioning determine the inverse ratio of sales, which is normal, and there are a bunch of tiger-eyed equal competitors in the ring), it is still worth being inscribed on the inscription of the history of mobile phone development. Compared with the Nubia Z40 Pro, a "blood-related" flagship, the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra's off-screen camera solution is its own unique competitiveness.
Obviously, as a pioneer in under-screen camera technology, ZTE mobile phones have always led the development trend of full screen from industry first to self-innovation. Standing on the basis of two consecutive generations of products with the world's leading debut, ZTE Axon 40 Ultra has achieved an innovative breakthrough in the third generation of commercial products with a new generation of flexible under-screen camera technology, bringing the ultimate presentation of the full screen with a completely integrated flawless screen form.
Axon 40 Ultra under the camera area screen with 400PPI high pixel density, full-screen blue diamond arrangement, visual fusion effect is more perfect; the industry's first independent pixel one-drive one-wheel-one technology, each pixel unit is driven by a separate pixel circuit, the screen display is clearer and more refined. The circuit adopts distributed transparent traces, eliminating the aggregation of circuits at the edges of the lower screen area, and the picture is smoother and more natural. The UDC Pro screen display chip is further upgraded, integrating MRC algorithm upgrade and intelligent pixel enhancement and intelligent display optimization technology to make the display more accurate and synchronized.
Axon 40 Ultra is equipped with a large 6.8-inch AMOLED screen, supports 1116×2480 pixel resolution FHD+, peak brightness up to 1500nit, 100% coverage of DCI-P3 wide color gamut, 10bit color depth, 1.07 billion color display, bringing extreme color and clarity, support 120Hz intelligent high refresh rate, 360Hz touch sampling rate. The 1440Hz high-frequency PWM dimming function can effectively reduce the screen flicker in dim scenes, coupled with the TUV Rheinland Low Blue Light Eye Protection Certification, high-specification care for the health of both eyes.
We believe that with this new 100% flawless full screen, the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra brings a more perfect immersive look, and the reference to "big scene" at every eye also comes from this.
In this way, the pre-camera upgrade and the full-screen advanced synchronization become a reality. The ZTE Axon 40 Ultra is equipped with a 16-megapixel front-facing camera that can achieve a 2.24μm fusion large pixel effect, bringing greater light sensitivity to the off-screen camera area. Through AI deep learning and noise reduction, the forward-shooting and transparent algorithm 3.0 can perform real-time screen calibration in different light environments, intelligent de-fogging, intelligent anti-glare, and greatly improve imaging clarity and permeability. Smart Beauty can also further enhance the effect of facial shooting.
As for the Axon 40 Pro, it is a 6.67-inch AMOLED flexible curved screen, and in addition to the 144Hz refresh rate, other qualities have a lot in common with the Axon 30 series.
Image soul can fight "hard battles"
Last year, ZTE Axon 30 Ultra's "Trinity Three Main Camera Four Arrays" made a deep impression, and now Axon 40 Ultra allows users to "see the big scene" at the same time, its three main camera configuration is fully upgraded, creating the industry's strongest three main cameras covering 64 million pixel ultra-humanistic main camera, 64 million pixel ultra-wide angle main camera, 64 million pixel periscope telephoto main camera, matching the powerful computing image capabilities of multiple "industry-only" and further achievements." Record big scenes" of the video flagship. In other words, although the rear image component of the Axon 40 Ultra has become a three-lens solution (the Axon 30 Ultra also has an 8-megapixel 5x optical zoom periscope camera, but this time the Axon 40 Ultra directly uses a 64-megapixel periscope to cover it, which is a pioneering effort in itself), but this real three-main camera is not discounted, and the portrait main camera and wide-angle main camera are customized IMX787 bottom, which is full of competitiveness in itself.
More importantly, the Axon 40 Ultra's humanistic and wide-angle main cameras are not only equipped with dual Sony IMX787 sensors, but also achieve dual omni-pixel omnidirectional focus, focusing faster and more accurately. Among them, the humanistic main camera adopts a 35mm equivalent focal length, equipped with a 7P lens, matching f/1.6 large aperture, with a hardware-level optical bokeh effect, which has received a lot of praise on the Nubia Z40 Pro before.
We know that the 35mm lens is known as the "eye of humanity" by the professional photography circle, and it is the lens that the masters think is the most storytelling, because this focal length is closest to people's eyes, and the photos taken are peaceful and natural, very humanistic. At the same time, the 35mm lens can achieve very good imaging effects from scenery, travel, street photography, humanities, portraits to food and macro. Previously, nubia Z40 Pro grasped the positioning of humanistic images and used classic humanistic lenses to create a very story-like photography experience, and now the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra will naturally continue this wonderful.
In addition, the Axon 40 Ultra's wide-angle main camera features a 16mm equivalent focal length, 4cm AF macro, wide-angle macro two-in-one, and ultra-low distortion of freeform surface. The telephoto main camera uses a 91mm equivalent focal length. 5.7x optical zoom from wide angle to telephoto is possible. Equipped with Steadicam-level full-system image stabilization, dual OIS optical image stabilization + EIS image stabilization, every blockbuster can "stabilize" the winning ticket.
In terms of software tuning, ZTE's proud computing image has also been upgraded again. ZTE AXON 40 Ultra, as the industry's same pixel triple camera mobile phone, the only main camera all support 8k ultra-high-definition recording products, can be a more comprehensive perspective of thousands of details to collect it; it is also the only three main cameras in the industry are equipped with lightning capture function, which can achieve fast and clear capture of moving subjects through customized adaptive shutter shadow chasing algorithms; it is also the only three main cameras in the industry that all adopt preset focus, which can manually preset the focus distance before shooting, further reducing the focus time.
The super night scene video function is further enhanced, and the unique AI video super quality algorithm can improve the brightness of the picture, enhance the resolution of dark areas, dynamic range, reduce noise, and truly restore color information. Smart moon, starry sky enhancement, AI constellation and other starry sky photography gameplay, humanistic image color system, as well as Bresson Master black and white filter, film filter and other rich humanistic filters, but also help users play a variety of image scenes.
Here are two more words about the Axon 40 Pro. It adopts a four-camera scheme of 100 million pixel main camera with three auxiliary lenses, which is also a scheme that is more used in the current model of the same price. In terms of shooting gameplay, it is not much different from the Axon 40 Ultra. The front lens is a 16-megapixel single-lens solution, because of the product positioning, the off-screen solution is not used.
Gameplay, continue to build on the strength of the hardware level
The framework of the "customized optical three main camera computational photography" program, under the support of Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 platform, ZTE can safely let the Axon 40 Ultra develop a variety of image gameplay, which is the most direct "joyful perception" for users. It can also be said that ZTE's annual flagship is another proof of mutual achievements with the Snapdragon flagship platform.
According to ZTE's official words, for the big scene, you also need to be fearless of performance challenges, and born with its own aura, to control every big scene. It is worth noting that the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra is equipped with a new Snapdragon 8+UFS3.1+ full-blood LNDDR5 flagship configuration, and even has a 16GB RAM+1TB ROM solution. Of course, this is not surprising, ZTE is the earliest to introduce the 1TB ROM solution of the brand, which can also be regarded as a traditional advantage.
In terms of heat dissipation, the Axon 40 Ultra's nine-layer heat dissipation architecture has a total heat dissipation area of up to 36,356 square millimeters; with the new dual-channel enhanced VC liquid-cooled temperature equalizer plate, the thermal circulation capacity of the waterfall rapid heat transfer design can be improved by 400%,; the heat absorption performance of the aerospace-grade micro-nano cavity graphene phase change temperature equalizer plate is increased by 140%, and the thermal conductivity is increased by 300 times, which helps the mobile phone to dissipate heat at extreme speed and run smoothly at high speed.
The Axon 40 Pro uses the Snapdragon 870 platform that we are more familiar with, which is a flagship platform with a huge reputation, whether last year or this year, it has a very high popularity and very good comprehensive performance.
In terms of battery configuration, ZTE has allowed the Axon 40 series to fully enter the 5000mAh era, which is significantly better than the previous generation. In terms of charging power, the difference between the two models is that the Ultra version uses an 80W super flash charge, while the Pro version is a 66W lightning fast charge (which is also the charging level of the Axon 30 Ultra before).
The continued inheritance of aesthetic genes
In terms of appearance, the integrated design of ZTE Axon 40 Ultra natural naturally highlights the natural atmosphere. The new machine adopts a 71-degree ultra-large curvature "waterfall-type" curved surface design, and the 3.9mm ultra-deep bending degree grip is more suitable for the feel. The back adopts the industry's first rear-camera frameless glass design, which perfectly "hides" the metal platform surface. Label Design 2.0 is more concise and pure. The color matching has two kinds of national style high-grade color matching options of "ink painting" and "Dunhuang": among them, the "ink" color matching belongs to the black visual texture, the ink rhyme is very strong, the texture is silky; the "Dunhuang" color matching is a lens texture with a flash sand process, which belongs to a light silver slightly gradient texture.
The Axon 40 Pro has three color matching versions, "Magic Night Black", "Crystal Mist Blue" and "Starlight Orange", all of which are currently in line with the mainstream aesthetic. The three color schemes have different material treatments. "Phantom Night Black" is mainly glossy glass, "Crystal Mist Blue" is a glass flash sand process, and the star diamond UV texture of "Starlight Orange" is also very much in line with the current popularity.
By the way, the lens group design of the Axon 40 Pro is also different from the Axon 40 Ultra. The former adopts the classic double-ring design constructed by 3D lens ring, and cooperates with the metal carving CNC process, which is also very aesthetically textured.
The integration of hardware and software details is exquisite
Unsurprisingly, in order to release the video performance of the game, the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra is also equipped with Xpradragon Sound and DTS sound stereo dual speakers, X-axis linear motors and other experiential configurations. Lane-level high-precision navigation supports L1+L5 dual-frequency positioning, which can accurately identify the current lane. In addition, the new machine is also equipped with an infrared remote control, equipped with a powerful infrared code library, support photo recognition remote control, and quickly complete the pairing. The NFC is also standard on Axon 40 series models.
In addition, the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra also has a hardware-level independent security chip that is also the underlying guarantee of the enhanced security encryption algorithm, which is of great importance to many industry users and business users.
As for the new MyOS 12 system, we also talked about nubia Z40 Pro more specifically, lighter, faster, more intelligent is its core expression, emotional color system and data visualization design let us experience a completely different from the previous ZTE mobile phone system interface fun. On the My desktop, various icons or folders of different shapes, sizes and colors can be freely combined, and every time you light up the phone, you can see a different self-creation; secondly, the new wallpaper, cartoon avatar design, multiple sets of desktop icons, light and transparent, young; Lingxi small window, more powerful, simpler to use. From notification messages, small window mode can be quickly triggered from any interface, and you can seamlessly switch between full screen, small window and mini window. At the same time, MyOS 12 supports real-time reminders of sensitive permissions, when the camera or microphone is turned on by other applications, the phone will immediately be in the form of a hovering icon in real time reminder.
EF Reviews:
At the end of February, Nubia released the Z40 Pro of the year for its Z series flagship, and for reasons that are well known, we have been looking forward to what kind of commonalities and uniqueness will be in the Axon flagship of "Benjia" ZTE from that time. Now the answer comes. Judging from the two models of the Axon 40 series, ZTE has completed its top product layout in 2022, and each of their models has enough strength to correspond to competitors to strengthen the firmness of its own customer base. From computing power configuration to screen configuration, from battery module performance to aesthetics, the high-end Axon 40 Ultra can better show ZTE's technical strength.
At the same time, the Axon 40 Ultra also continues the meaning and value of the "three main cameras" system that began with the Axon 30 Ultra, from "dare to try" to "technical confidence", all of which are very thoughtful. However, the Axon 40 Pro is indeed relatively "ordinary", and the Snapdragon 870 platform and its surrounding configurations, although still powerful, inevitably lack the core competitiveness of relative competitors. Therefore, the protagonist of this ZTE flagship is still the Ultra version.
As for pricing, in fact, ZTE is more flexible than the previous Axon flagship model. The starting price of the Axon 40 Pro version of 2998 yuan is consistent with the previous Axon 30 Pro, and the top version of 512GB is also within 4000 yuan, which has a high starting appeal, but the current model of the Snapdragon 870 platform on the market has stood within the price range of 2000 yuan, so the competitive pressure faced by ZTE Axon 40 Pro is still not small. As for the Ultra version that "can fight a hard battle", its starting price of 4998 yuan is not expensive, but it is indeed 300 yuan higher than the previous Axon 40 Ultra, which is also more so than the same period of stacking.