Phones can now compete well with mainstream computers!
ZTE has updated the Z40 Pro to the Z40S Pro. The main improvements include the use of a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset and improved battery life-ish. It is a flagship in every sense of the word. It also has a larger cooling system to boot.
The screen is a 6.67in. FHD+ (2400x1080px) AMOLED with 144Hz refresh rate. This refresh rate is unchanged from the previous model. It has a peak brightness of 1000 nits and also supports HDR10+ and has a 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut, similar to many flagships of today.
There are two versions of the phone with different battery sizes and charging speeds. There is a version with 5000mAh and 80W fast charging and another with 4600mAh capacity and 120W fast charging. This seems like a pattern with ZTE as this type of pricing also occurred with the Nubia Red Magic gaming phones.
The phone has a triple camera system as well as a single 16MP front camera on the punch-hole notch. The primary camera is a 64MP Sony IMX787 sensor while the other two include a 50MP Samsung ISOCELL JN1 ultrawide and an 8MP periscopic telephoto with OIS. The phone can take 4K@120fps video. The primary lens has a 35mm focal length, the ultrawide has 14mm, and the periscope has 125mm focal length. The bigger the number, the closer your camera is to the subject.
Despite the phone having a larger battery (the 5000mAh version to be exact), ZTE managed to keep the phone thinner while also keeping important features such as DTS:X audio. From 8.4mm, the thickness was reduced to just 8.05mm. ZTE has achieved this not by removing features but by reorganizing the internal parts.
It has a USB-C port, 5G services, Bluetooth 5.2, and dual nano-SIM slots. At this rate, a MicroSD card is not needed especially if you’re getting the 1TB configuration, as most mainstream MicroSDs have nearly the same storage amount. The chipset used is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 as mentioned in the title. This is cooled by a large VC cooling chamber with a graphene sheet and synthetic diamond thermal paste. This apparently has a high thermal conductivity.
The phone comes in Magic Green and Night Sea. There is a limited edition “Special Cage” based on the manhua of the same name. This special edition is priced at CNY 4,699 (~Php 38.6K) with 12/256 RAM and storage.
The regular phones have a choice between 8/128, 8/256, 12/256, 12/512, and 18/1TB configurations. Only the 12/256 and 8/1TB have the entire 120W package. These are priced CNY 4,299 (~Php 35.3K) and CNY 6,699 (~Php 55K) respectively. The latter can get you a decent enough gaming laptop or PC!
The 80W version of the phone starts at CNY 3,399 (~Php 27.9K) for the 8/128 configuration, CNY 3,699 (~Php 30.4K) for 8/256, CNY 3,999 (~Php 32.8K) for the 12/256, and CNY 4,499 (~Php 36.9K) for the 12/512 configuration respectively.
ZTE is yet to announce whether the phone is making its way out of China and within the rest of the world.
Source: ZTE Newsroom (in Chinese), ZTE website (in Chinese), via GSMArena