ZTE launches its upgraded Axon 30 5G phone - with under-display camera - in China

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ZTE’s Axon 20 was the world’s first phone with an under-display front-facing camera, and the Axon 30 delivers a host of upgrades.

ZTE Axon 30 5G phone.
(Image credit: ZTE.)

With its under-display camera in the Axon 20, ZTE was able to place a camera under the display, and this world-first innovation provided a glimpse into the future of phone design, and provided early-adopters with a cool, new feature to have in their phones.

And with the launch of the Axon 30, now available in China, ZTE says that one of the most innovative 5G phones on the market has now overcome “numerous technical challenges and brought about a qualitative leap in the front camera invisibility and the display performance”. 

“Today, we bring our new-generation under-display camera smartphone ZTE Axon 30."

Ni Fei, ZTE.

"Screen and photography are the two development directions of future smartphone evolution,” said Ni Fei, senior vice president of ZTE Corporation. “Today, we bring our new-generation under-display camera smartphone ZTE Axon 30. With further reinforced performance and comprehensive upgrades, the ZTE Axon 30 proves a leap-forward improvement and brings our users a revolutionary full-screen visual experience compared to the previous generation.”

We are notch amused

Phone notches - the small, cut-out area at the top of a phone screen that enables a front-facing camera to be included - are extremely divisive amongst smartphone users. Some prefer a whole section of the screen to be set aside for camera inclusion, so there’s no interference with the display; whilst other users prefer displays that take up the whole front-face of a phone, which requires a notch at the top of the screen.

In the new Axon 30, ZTE has improved the special pixel matrix, unique driver circuits, independent display chip, front camera, in-house selfie algorithm, whilst upgrading to a larger light-sensitive 4-in-1 2.24um pixel camera.

The ZTE Axon 30 is the first under-display camera smartphone to include a screen of 120Hz refresh rate and 360Hz touch sampling rate. And the ZTE Axon 30 also comes with a 6.92-inch AMOLED screen and a 20.5:9 cinema-grade screen ratio.

Performance-wise, the Axon 30 is equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870G mobile platform, and has a maximum core frequency of 3.2GHz. And the Axon 30 supports mobile gaming, graphics rendering, improved networking capabilities, and a 5G super antenna 3.1, and comes equipped with a "anti-lock" antenna system (which prevents your hands from blocking the signal).

The ZTE Axon 30 5G will be available to Chinese users via the ZTE Mall, with the base model (6GB + 128GB storage) priced at CNY 2,198 (around $340), the mid-range model (8GB + 128GB) costing CNY 2,498 (around $385), and the top-tier version (12GB + 256GB) costing CNY 3,098 (around $480).

ZTE says that the global version is coming soon, and will be available via the ZTE official website.

Dan Oliver
Dan Oliver

Dan is a British journalist with 20 years of experience in the design and tech sectors, producing content for the likes of Microsoft, Adobe, Dell and The Sunday Times. In 2012 he helped launch the world's number one design blog, Creative Bloq. Dan is now editor-in-chief at 5Gradar, where he oversees news, insight and reviews, providing an invaluable resource for anyone looking to stay up-to-date with the key issues facing 5G.