Verdict: ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
Our editorial rating is based on product testing.
- beautiful and large 6.8" AMOLED display
- selfie camera hidden under the display
- high performance
- MyOS software overlay with a modern design and plenty of customization
- issues with displaying notifications on the lock screen and always-on display
- weaker speakers
- no wireless charging and no IP certification
We bring you an exclusive review of the Chinese flagship, ZTE Axon 40 Ultra. At first glance, it stands out especially with its beautiful, punch-free display—no hole-punch or notch for the front camera—an attractive design, a triple-camera setup, and high performance
Since this is the Chinese version of the smartphone, in the review we’ll also look at its overall usability in our region, but we won’t skip the cameras and other features either.
Editor’s note: The latest system update fixed optical stabilization even at higher resolutions, specifically 4K Ultra HD 60 fps (previously it was possible only at 25 fps). We corrected the information in the review and adjusted it to the right extent.
Where to buy the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra?
One of our most reliable partners, Trading Shenzhen, has already stocked every version of the brutal ZTE Axon 40 Ultra flagship. It’s a Chinese warehouse, but with Global Priority shipping you don’t have to worry about any customs duties or extra taxes.
ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
TIPWith Global Priority shipping, you don’t pay any additional fees.
We recommend choosing Global Priority shipping, where you won’t have to pay anything extra. Customs fees and any VAT will be handled by the seller directly for you. Shipping can be selected in the cart after you enter your delivery address. Delivery with Global Priority usually takes about 15 days, but it may also take longer.
TIPWith Global Priority shipping, you don’t pay any additional fees.
We recommend choosing Global Priority shipping, where you won’t have to pay anything extra. Customs fees and any VAT will be handled by the seller directly for you. Shipping can be selected in the cart after you enter your delivery address. Delivery with Global Priority usually takes about 15 days, but it may also take longer.
TIPWith Global Priority shipping, you don’t pay any additional fees.
We recommend choosing Global Priority shipping, where you won’t have to pay anything extra. Customs fees and any VAT will be handled by the seller directly for you. Shipping can be selected in the cart after you enter your delivery address. Delivery with Global Priority usually takes about 15 days, but it may also take longer.
Technical specifications
Name modelu ZTE Axon 40 Ultra Model designation A2023P Dimensions 163.28 × 73.56 × 8.41 mm Weight 204 g Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC / 3.00 GHz Octa-Core GPU Adreno 730 RAM 12 GB Internal storage 512 GB UFS 3.1 Display 6.8" AMOLED (curved) resolution 2480 x 1116 px refresh rate 120 Hz max brightness of 1500 nits selfie camera under the display Cameras main 64 MPx – Sony IMX787 ultrawide 64 MPx – Sony IMX787 periscope 64 MPx – Omnivision OV64B selfie camera 16 MPx System Android 12 with MyOS custom skin Battery 5000 mAh Charging USB-C 65 W Dual SIM yes (Nano + Nano) Fingerprint reader fingerprints prstov Under-display WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax (WiFi 6E) Bluetooth 5.2 NFC yes Positioning systems GPS (L1 + L5) / A-GPS / Beidou / Galileo / Glonass
Packaging contents & quality
Because we ordered the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra smartphone from our partner Trading Shenzhen, we were looking forward to the traditional packaging we already know well. It consists of a cardboard box, inside which you’ll find the smartphone packed in its original box and wrapped in film, along with an EU power adapter and reinforcement in the form of bubble wrap.
In this case, the phone box is black and measures 18.3 x 9.8 x 6.7 cm. Inside, the smartphone sits in a plastic holder and is wrapped in film, plus there’s also a paper sleeve with a transparent, silicone case.
At the very bottom of the box, there are also two more small boxes with the charging adapter and a USB-C cable. The packaging is therefore sufficient to protect the smartphone during its journey to us. We also appreciate the double packaging from the seller in the form of an additional protective box.
Design and build quality
We have the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra available in silver, but you can also buy the black variant. The smartphone has a metal build, a curved display, and rounded rear edges, so it feels really comfortable in your hand.
Its weight exceeds the imaginary 200 g mark, but we’re already used to smartphones like this, so that’s not an issue for us. Of course, it’s not a small and compact phone, so it will definitely find its share of opponents due to the dimensions and weight.
The bottom edge features a charging USB-C port, a slot for 2 SIM cards, a speaker, and a microphone. The opposite top edge houses the second speaker and one of the sensors. The left side of the smartphone is completely empty, and on the right side you’ll find the volume controls along with the power button to turn the device on/off or to light up the display.
The edges of the smartphone really remind us of other Chinese models we’ve had a chance to test—specifically nubia Z40 Pro and iQOO 9 Pro. In our case, the back of the new flagship is entirely silver, including a fairly large module housing a trio of main cameras.
A beautiful display without overshoot
One of the biggest draws of ZTE’s new flagship is its large 6.8″ AMOLED display. The cherry on top is that there’s no punch-hole cutout here at all—nor a notch for the selfie camera. That camera is instead located under the display, just like on the Xiaomi MIX 4.
The display offers FHD+ resolution, specifically 2480 x 1116 px, and a high refresh rate of 120 Hz. The default is automatic refresh rate, where the smartphone adjusts the frequency value based on your current needs. You can also manually choose 60 or 120 Hz, but the automatic settings are clearly the best option, especially for saving battery.
You’ll also like the high brightness, which can reach a maximum value of 1500 nits, so the display stays beautifully readable even in direct sunlight outdoors. The sampling rate is represented by 360 Hz and the pixel density is 400 ppi.
The display colors are very pleasant and natural thanks to the 100-percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut. The manufacturer also highlights its new UDC chip, which controls every single pixel individually—improving picture quality.
Selfie camera under the display
As we mentioned earlier, the interesting feature of this smartphone is the selfie camera—you can’t see it at first glance. That’s because it’s hidden under the display. We only know its placement thanks to the circular cutout in the film that’s applied to the display.
You can spot the under-display camera only very hard, and only with a black background of the display under sufficiently good ambient lighting. The selfie camera has a resolution of 16 MPx, and the output quality is rather weak, mainly because of where it’s located. If you often use the front camera for taking photos, this likely won’t impress you. On the other hand, if you don’t use it that often, you’ll definitely appreciate that it’s hidden under the display and won’t get in the way with any cutout.
High performance is a given
Like several other flagship models, the new ZTE Axon 40 Ultra is powered by a Qualcomm processor, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. It’s a 8‑core processor built on 4 nm technology.
It consists of 1 x Cortex-X2 3.0 GHz, 3 x Cortex-A710 2.5 GHz, and 4 x Cortex-A510 1.8 GHz cores. It’s paired with LPDDR5 RAM and fast UFS 3.1 storage. We have the version with 12 GB RAM and 512 GB storage, which are impressively solid specs. However, there’s also a brutal version with a huge 16 GB of RAM and an enormous 1 TB of internal storage. At the time of writing the review, its price is around 1,100 EUR.
So we don’t really have to talk about performance, because hardware-wise the smartphone is among the very best you can find on the market right now. You can play any game, and you don’t need to worry about a lack of power at all.
You’ll also be pleased with the good cooling system, which consists of nine layers, including active cooling using cooling liquid. During gaming, it doesn’t get excessively hot, so the manufacturer managed to dissipate heat effectively.
We also installed the popular AnTuTu benchmark on the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra, where it scored up to 972 064 points, placing it in sixth place. Ahead of it is Vivo X80 Pro in fifth, and behind it is POCO F4 GT in seventh.
A trio of 64 MPx cameras
A trio of rear cameras—each with 64 MPx resolution—will definitely please mobile photography enthusiasts. In the table below, you can check the specs of each camera in more detail:
Main 64 MPx Sony IMX787 sensor equivalent focal length 35 mm Aperture ƒ/ 1.6 OIS Ultra-wide-angle 64 MPx Sony IMX787 sensor equivalent focal length 16 mm Aperture ƒ/ 2.3 OIS Periscope 64 MPx Omnivision OV64B sensor 3.5x zoom Aperture ƒ/ 3.5 OIS
The specs look excellent—let’s now take a look at real photos.
Main camera
The main, 64 MPx camera is located in the center of the three rear cameras, and its field of view is equivalent to a 35 mm focal length—kind of a boundary between a wide-angle lens and a classic lens. The advantage is optical image stabilization.
Photos taken in good daylight are excellent. They have beautiful, natural colors, high sharpness, and also a good dynamic range. Color rendering is truly very good, including skin tones when shooting portraits.
In direct, strong sunlight you can see slight overexposure in bright areas where the sun is reflected, but it’s nothing too serious. On the other hand, shots in worse lighting are a bit darker than we’d expect, and you also see noise and reduced sharpness.
In the interior, for example in a shopping mall where there’s only artificial lighting, it handles it very well. Photos are sharp with a very good dynamic range and no unnecessary underexposed areas, as is common with several smartphones.
Ultra-wide-angle camera
Second in order, but physically the first from the top in the rear camera module is an ultra-wide camera. It uses the same sensor as the main camera, Sony IMX787, including optical stabilization. Its focal length is equivalent to a 16 mm lens.
The output from this camera looks darker at first glance compared to the main camera. The dynamic range is a bit weaker, and in shadowy areas underexposed spots appear—almost completely black with disappearing details.
Overall, though, the output is very decent. Despite the smaller drawbacks, with this camera you can still take great photos. Color rendering leans more toward warm tones, both outdoors and indoors, and sharpness is worse compared to the main camera. So again, the main camera is the best—despite having the same sensors and resolution.
Periscope lens and macro
Third is a periscope, or—more simply—a telephoto lens with 3.5x zoom. It also has image stabilization, but it’s hard to tell whether it’s optical stabilization. The manufacturer doesn’t specify this, and different sources differ in this information.
We have to admit that the output photo quality is excellent. The photos have natural colors, high sharpness, and are packed with details. Thanks to the high resolution of 64 MPx, you can additionally zoom into these zoomed-in photos during post-processing and still get beautiful sharp crops.
The macro mode comes with automatic focusing, which makes shooting in this mode very easy—unlike smartphones with fixed focus, where you have to estimate the correct distance to the subject.
Night mode
The smartphone also has a night mode with automatic activation, and the output quality ranks among the better ones. The photos visibly brighten, but sometimes even too much, making the shots look unnatural. Of course, sharpness is weaker and there’s also some noise, but the result is still at a good level.
The ultrawide camera in night mode offers warmer colors and handles strong backlighting from billboards or street lighting a bit worse. On the other hand, the periscope lens has noticeably cooler colors, and its overall output is the weakest among the three cameras.
Below you can also check out a few more shots taken using night mode.
Honestly, the cameras are very decent, but based on the brand’s ZTE presentation materials, we expected a bit more from them.
Video quality and stabilization (editorial correction)
Editor’s note: Optical stabilization was only available without the latest system update at the resolution marked 4K Ultra HD, which has only 25 frames per second. The new system update has also made stabilization available for 4K Ultra HD 60 fps.
The maximum resolution at which the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra can record video is 8K, but essentially it’s unusable due to low fps and the lack of stabilization. Optical stabilization in combination with electronic stabilization is available at 4K quality with up to 60 fps, and of course it works at Full HD resolution as well.
The final video is very high-quality, and the stabilization does a great job.
Runtime and charging
The ZTE Axon 40 Ultra comes with a 5000 mAh battery and a 80 W charging adapter, which you’ll also find in the box along with the USB-C cable. Battery life, of course, depends mostly on your usage style, but don’t expect miracles. In this regard, it’s a standard—roughly one-day—battery life.
The smartphone supports up to only 65 W charging, even though the included adapter is 80 W. It’s not exactly impressive for a flagship, since 120 W charging isn’t new anymore today—but the new ZTE model charges fairly quickly. Unfortunately, wireless charging is missing.
The charging process looks like this:
battery capacity time 20 – 50 % 9 minutes and 40 seconds 75 % 20 minutes and 32 minutes 90 % 27 minutes and 45 seconds 100 % 38 minutes and 41 seconds
Android 12 with MyOs 12 skin
Just like the partner brand nubia, ZTE also uses the latest Android 12 in its models, with a MyOS 12 custom interface that we got to try for the first time during the nubia z40 Pro testing. First of all, we have to highlight the overall design of the interface—it’s very pleasant, clear, and intuitive.
However, if you’re switching from a custom interface such as MIUI, it will take a little time to get used to where to find some settings. In principle, though, the individual elements are logically organized in a similar way. As an example, we can mention the same approach to the notification bar and the control center, both of which are available by swiping down from the top with your finger. The only difference is the place where you perform this gesture – on the left or right side.
Overall, the interface is smooth and definitely belongs to the better-executed, modern, and innovative ones. Plus, it offers a truly huge amount of customization, such as font style, always-on display, the app grid in the menu, and more. In this regard, the interface clearly stands out, and everyone can tailor it to their own preferences.
A lot of bloatware and a few complications
Since we’re testing the Chinese version of the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra, we have only Chinese and English. If English isn’t a problem for you, you can use the smartphone completely normally and fully. A global European version was even introduced recently, intended for our market too. So soon this version should also appear in stores, even though its price will definitely be higher.
As is common, the Chinese version brings several complications besides the language itself. The first thing—though it has no impact on functionality—is the amount of unnecessary apps that come preinstalled on the smartphone. This includes the Chinese App Center and a handful of apps with Chinese names.
The last-mentioned apps that have Chinese names can, however, be easily and quickly uninstalled. Unfortunately, we can’t do the same with a few manufacturer apps like Z-Voice, Z-Assistant, Z-Backup, or ZTE Cares.
The second and significantly more unpleasant issue is notifications from apps, which sometimes don’t work reliably. This is especially true for chat apps like Messenger, Viber, or WhatsApp, where you have to tweak the settings, lock them among the running apps, enable auto-start, and turn off the battery manager that limits high-energy-consuming apps.
Despite all these settings, most of the time the phone just lights up the display when a message comes in. Sometimes the app icon also appears on the always-on display, and sometimes it doesn’t—which is a shame. Without these issues, it would be a great system.
Mobile network support and NFC
Many potential buyers are worried about the Chinese version, mainly due to fear of the absence of our most-used 4G LTE band, B20 at 800 MHz. In this case, you can already see on the seller’s Trading Shenzhen page in the so-called compatibility assistant that the B20 band is among the supported ones, so you don’t need to worry about anything.
We tested this new ZTE device mostly in the city (Košice), where Telekom and 4ky SIM cards usually connected to bands B7 (1800 MHz) and B3 (2600 MHz). The smartphone used these networks because they had better signal in our area, but occasionally it also connected to band B20.
Another issue can be NFC on Chinese versions of smartphones, but as we verified even with the nubia z40 Pro, which uses the same add-on: with this phone, you can pay in stores without any problems. Just install Google Pay and set this app as the default for payments.
Fingerprint reader in the display and stereo speakers
Like other flagship models from various brands, the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra also no longer has a traditional fingerprint reader in the unlock button. It found its place in the display—specifically in the lower third.
Its speed and accuracy are good, but not perfect. Occasional hesitations are nothing unusual, but they don’t happen often enough to genuinely get in our way. Still, the reader doesn’t rank among the best on the market.
Stereo speakers disappoint us. They completely lack bass, the maximum volume isn’t very high, and overall they sound rather average.
ZTE Axon 40 Ultra: Final assessment
A new flagship model from the Chinese brand ZTE, which isn’t quite as popular here, carries the Z40 Ultra model name. What really caught our attention is the beautiful 6.8″ AMOLED display with absolutely no notch or cutout for the selfie camera. In this case, it’s actually hidden under the display.
You’ll also be pleased with high performance, a smooth system with a modern design, lots of different customizations, and a trio of cameras—each with 64 MPx resolution. They’re not fully top-tier cameras in every respect, but they definitely rank among the better ones.
ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
TIPWith Global Priority shipping, you don’t pay any additional fees.
We recommend choosing Global Priority shipping, where you won’t have to pay anything extra. Customs fees and any VAT will be handled by the seller directly for you. Shipping can be selected in the cart after you enter your delivery address. Delivery with Global Priority usually takes about 15 days, but it may also take longer.
TIPWith Global Priority shipping, you don’t pay any additional fees.
We recommend choosing Global Priority shipping, where you won’t have to pay anything extra. Customs fees and any VAT will be handled by the seller directly for you. Shipping can be selected in the cart after you enter your delivery address. Delivery with Global Priority usually takes about 15 days, but it may also take longer.
TIPWith Global Priority shipping, you don’t pay any additional fees.
We recommend choosing Global Priority shipping, where you won’t have to pay anything extra. Customs fees and any VAT will be handled by the seller directly for you. Shipping can be selected in the cart after you enter your delivery address. Delivery with Global Priority usually takes about 15 days, but it may also take longer.
On the negative side, we list the weak selfie camera output, issues with displaying notifications, and—at today’s standards—just average 65 W charging. If it weren’t for the notification problems, this would be an excellent smartphone we could easily imagine as our “daily driver”. Troublesome notifications, however, slightly spoil the overall impression.
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