Sadly though, the specs are not really that good.
MWC is a flexing stage for many many brands. It shows what they are capable of in terms of innovation and ZTE showed eye-catching devices during the three-day event. One of them is a purely audiophile centric phone called the Nubia Music. It features two 3.5mm jacks, a very large speaker, Quad DAC, and 600% volume! It’s like LG walked so that ZTE can run.
The back features of what we call “90s aesthetic” with its unusual colour combination and the large speaker grille next to the cameras making the phone somewhat resemble a DJ’s mixer, complete with flashy light effects and the “DTS:X” logo located on top of an orange disc.
As mentioned, there are TWO HEADPHONE JACKS here! The other is to share with a friend that terrible Spotify playlist you have. The bezels of the display also light up with RGB lighting and syncs with the music you’re currently playing which is truly one way to attract us. We have a fascination with lights dancing with music.
Beyond this music motif and skin, there’s really not much. See, inside is a 28nm UNISOC SC9863A chipset which even we thought is already phased out, about 4GB RAM and 128GB storage, a 5000mAh battery charged via USB-C, a 50MP Primary camera with an 8MP selfie and 2MP macro complement, a 6.6″ HD+ (1500x720px) IPS LCD screen with 90Hz refresh rate, and of course, virtual RAM. The phone does not seem to have Spotify or any form of audio apps.
There is no price yet but given the specs aside from the sound part, the phone should be relatively accessible and cheap starting with USD 150 (~PHP 8.4K) with 4GB RAM and 128GB storage. However, at this rate, it’s better to spend a little more money for a better-specced smartphone.
It’s not the first time a brand tried to enter the audio market. Remember the Marshall London? That too is intended for audiophiles to purchase and that too had a double 3.5mm jack but with different sizes so that you can fit in large speakers. The phone was an overpriced mess with little to no specs in offer. Maybe if OnePlus released the phone a little earlier, the impact will also be just as big.