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ZTE Axon 7 launched with European and US pricing

AndiMay 26, 2016

ZTE have just wrapped up the launch of their Axon 7 flagship today announcing a price from 2899 Yuan, with Snapdragon 820 and HIFI audio.

The Axon 7 is the latest addition to the Axon flagship range of phones from ZTE and with a Snapdragon 820 chipset and 4GB RAM it matches up with similar top of the range phones from other manufacturers this year.

Highlights of the newly launched phone include a rear 20 mega-pixel camera with Phase Detection Auto Focus, OIS and a very appealing aperture size of F1.8.

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Axon have given the Axon 7 a decent HIFI audio system which includes a Sony AK4961 chipset for recording and AK4490 and Dolby Atmos for audio playback.

2 phones will be offered with either 64GB internal memory or 128GB, but both phones also come with the option of running a micro SD card of 128GB too.

The all metal phone boasts a 5.5-inch 2K AMOLED display, 8 mega-pixel front camera, and fingerprint scanner on the rear. The higher priced of the two phones also has a 3D touch display just like previous Axon phones.

Other nice touches are USB Typc C, Headphone jack, NFC, 3250mAh battery, and Qualcomm Quickcharge 3.0. Pricing starts at 2899 Yuan in China. North American markets will pay from $449 while the phone will cost 409 Euros (for the non 3D touch model) in Europe.

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About the author
Andi

Is letv 2 review coming soon?
Joel Adames
May 26, 2016
I’m very interested in this one. I wonder what would be the price for the 128gb 2K 3Dcrap version (I mean the full featured one) ???
Moose
May 26, 2016
Lots to like about this phone, great looks and high end specs. Above average battery with SD820 should mean decent battery life depending on how much it is drained by the high res display. On the other hand, it is a bit heavy at 185 grams for a 5.5 inch phone. My 2 most important criteria are battery life and compactness – size and weight.
- Assefa Hanson
  May 26, 2016
  - balcobomber25
    May 26, 2016
    I would say it is exactly average for a 5.5 inch phone. But with a 2k display and Audio chip battery life has the potential to be below average.
    - Assefa Hanson
      May 26, 2016
  - May 27, 2016
    3140 is a bit above average if you take 3000 mAh as average – but this is just a subjective judgement. I don’t have any data on average battery size.

Assefa Hanson
May 26, 2016
+beautiful design
+nice build quality
+amzing audio capabilities
+ok pricing(relative to non Chinese brands )
+nice looking display
+64 gb memory
-average battery
-2k display
-big black borders
-hybrid sim tray
(speculation from previous zte phones) possible heavy bloatware and no updates
i really like this phone
- Varun Varma
  May 26, 2016
  - Assefa Hanson
    May 26, 2016
    - Manjurul Islam
      May 26, 2016
      Why 2k seems a negative for you? I know it is overkill, but for a device with snapdragon 820, it is just okay, not a plus but even not a negative either I think. In my opinion negative are no IR blaster, probably no dual tone flash (I cannot see any), no multi axis ois and the rear camera requires more info to know, like pixel size, lens type, etc. But it looks really good so far for the price tag. I never expected axon flagship at this price.
      - Assefa Hanson
        May 26, 2016
        cause the battery man this phone has dedicated chips for audio 2 of them so thats gonna sap the battery even more then its battery is average add a 2k screen plus due to the fact that the 820 isnt what youd call “energy efficient” its more weight on the battery
        Manjurul Islam
        May 26, 2016
        Lol carry a battery bank from xiaomi 20k mah 😛
        Assefa Hanson
        May 26, 2016
Is letv 2 review coming soon?
Joel Adames
May 26, 2016
I’m very interested in this one. I wonder what would be the price for the 128gb 2K 3Dcrap version (I mean the full featured one) ???

balcobomber25
May 26, 2016
Pricing actually isn’t too bad for the US. The only problem is ZTE’s terrible software.
- Marco Lancaster
  May 26, 2016
  And they lack of sources or bootloader unlock let you without a escape from it =
- Toluene
  May 26, 2016
  Terrible software?
  Did everyone on every phone site conveniently forget that ZTE’s USA Axon Pro came with what was practically vanilla stock Android? And the Axon Pro got Marshmallow long before Samsung’s Note 5 and the Oneplus Two did, despite being released around the same time?
  It’s safe to say that ZTE shouldn’t be associated with the “bloated software” stigma when it comes to the Axon 7.
  - balcobomber25
    May 26, 2016
    Never used the Axon Pro but every past ZTE model I had used was terrible with updates and often times would change random things just to change them with no rhyme or reason why.
    - Toluene
      May 26, 2016
      Understandable. Most of ZTE’s lineup is like this. But based on past observations it looks like they’re going all in and sparing no expense with the Axon line.
      - balcobomber25
        May 26, 2016
        Good to know have to keep my eye on them. Overall it’s not a bad package for the price.

Moose
May 26, 2016
Lots to like about this phone, great looks and high end specs. Above average battery with SD820 should mean decent battery life depending on how much it is drained by the high res display. On the other hand, it is a bit heavy at 185 grams for a 5.5 inch phone. My 2 most important criteria are battery life and compactness – size and weight.
- Assefa Hanson
  May 26, 2016
  above average battery ? i dont think so
- balcobomber25
  May 26, 2016
  I would say it is exactly average for a 5.5 inch phone. But with a 2k display and Audio chip battery life has the potential to be below average.
- Assefa Hanson
  May 26, 2016
  exactly
- Moose
  May 27, 2016
  3140 is a bit above average if you take 3000 mAh as average – but this is just a subjective judgement. I don’t have any data on average battery size.

Joel Adames
May 26, 2016
Quick there’s a video from AA with a quick hands on , on YouTube, hahahaha it got me all hyped up!!!
It is that nice. I bet with some tweaks it will be what I was specting for. Let me go and check the honor V8 to compare.
- E8hffff
  May 26, 2016

Assefa Hanson
May 26, 2016
+beautiful design
+nice build quality
+amzing audio capabilities
+ok pricing(relative to non Chinese brands )
+nice looking display
+64 gb memory
-average battery
-2k display
-big black borders
-hybrid sim tray
(speculation from previous zte phones) possible heavy bloatware and no updates
i really like this phone
- Varun Varma
  May 26, 2016
  The western devices will have an option to switich to vanilla android
- Assefa Hanson
  May 26, 2016
  ok well thats good
- Manjurul Islam
  May 26, 2016
  Why 2k seems a negative for you? I know it is overkill, but for a device with snapdragon 820, it is just okay, not a plus but even not a negative either I think. In my opinion negative are no IR blaster, probably no dual tone flash (I cannot see any), no multi axis ois and the rear camera requires more info to know, like pixel size, lens type, etc. But it looks really good so far for the price tag. I never expected axon flagship at this price.
- Assefa Hanson
  May 26, 2016
  cause the battery man this phone has dedicated chips for audio 2 of them so thats gonna sap the battery even more then its battery is average add a 2k screen plus due to the fact that the 820 isnt what youd call “energy efficient” its more weight on the battery
- Manjurul Islam
  May 26, 2016
  Lol carry a battery bank from xiaomi 20k mah 😛
- Assefa Hanson
  May 26, 2016
  lol that could work
E8hffff
May 26, 2016
Seems like they got every thing right on this phone. Possibly a bigger battery capacity, but that can be overlooked. Now to availability.
- Joel Adames
  May 27, 2016

E8hffff
May 26, 2016
Considering the price, this is when you’d hope they’d also have an Helio X25 model of the same specs. The price needs to come down about $100 USD.
- Öysan Kulbay
  May 27, 2016
  Why should it come down 100$?
  You’d rather pay 700$ for a Samsung when you got this for up to 500$?
  ZTE is a big brand and they make as you can excellent phones.
  - E8hffff
    May 27, 2016
    I never go to the market looking for a $700 nor a $500USD phone. I think it’s crazy spending that money on a phone. ZTE can get $100 off the price if they bring out a X25 version and make the phone more palatable for purchasing.

Riccardo Benzoni
May 26, 2016
with a 4000mah battery, this one could have been the phone I’d drool for, the rest seems really impressive. Seems we will see a streak of fully loaded beasts in the upcoming months.
- Joel Adames
  May 27, 2016

MUG3NHC
May 26, 2016
As seen on one of the photos here, it appears that there’s an option to turn on capacitive buttons just above the bottom speaker instead of the on screen ones. Interesting.
My only gripe is the battery. Again…
Oh, and i would love it in black:(
- Fl Oh
  May 26, 2016
balcobomber25
May 26, 2016
Pricing actually isn’t too bad for the US. The only problem is ZTE’s terrible software.
- Marco Lancaster
  May 26, 2016
  And they lack of sources or bootloader unlock let you without a escape from it =
- Toluene
  May 26, 2016
  Terrible software?
  Did everyone on every phone site conveniently forget that ZTE’s USA Axon Pro came with what was practically vanilla stock Android? And the Axon Pro got Marshmallow long before Samsung’s Note 5 and the Oneplus Two did, despite being released around the same time?
  It’s safe to say that ZTE shouldn’t be associated with the “bloated software” stigma when it comes to the Axon 7.
- balcobomber25
  May 26, 2016
  Never used the Axon Pro but every past ZTE model I had used was terrible with updates and often times would change random things just to change them with no rhyme or reason why.
- Toluene
  May 26, 2016
  Understandable. Most of ZTE’s lineup is like this. But based on past observations it looks like they’re going all in and sparing no expense with the Axon line.
- balcobomber25
  May 26, 2016
  Good to know have to keep my eye on them. Overall it’s not a bad package for the price.

Joel Adames
May 26, 2016
Quick there’s a video from AA with a quick hands on , on YouTube, hahahaha it got me all hyped up!!!
It is that nice. I bet with some tweaks it will be what I was specting for. Let me go and check the honor V8 to compare.
- E8hffff
  May 26, 2016
E8hffff
May 26, 2016
Seems like they got everything right on this phone. Possibly a bigger battery capacity and lower price, but the battery size can be overlooked. Now to availability.
The only thing that would stop me buying this phone is the Vernee Apollo having similar specs. Vernee is the company to watch as they have fantastic community support with kernel code.
- Joel Adames
  May 27, 2016

E8hffff
May 26, 2016
Considering the price, this is when you’d hope they’d also have an Helio X25 model of the same specs. The price needs to come down about $100 USD.
- Pezzo
  May 27, 2016
  Why should it come down 100$?
  You’d rather pay 700$ for a Samsung when you got this for up to 500$?
  ZTE is a big brand and they make as you can excellent phones.
- E8hffff
  May 27, 2016
  I never go to the market looking for a $700 nor a $500USD phone. I think it’s crazy spending that money on a phone. ZTE can get $100 off the price if they bring out a X25 version and make the phone more palatable for purchasing.

Riccardo Benzoni
May 26, 2016
with a 4000mah battery, this one could have been the phone I’d drool for, the rest seems really impressive. Seems we will see a streak of fully loaded beasts in the upcoming months.
- Joel Adames
  May 27, 2016
MUG3NHC
May 26, 2016
As seen on one of the photos here, it appears that there’s an option to turn on capacitive buttons just above the bottom speaker instead of the on screen ones. Interesting.
My only gripe is the battery. Again…
Oh, and i would love it in black:(
- Guest
  May 26, 2016
  Jeah would be nice if somebody can solve the riddle … Capacitive yes or no ?
- MUG3NHC
  May 27, 2016