Inside sits the Snapdragon 888 processor, the latter of which delivers great performance across a huge number of tasks. In Geekbench 5 benchmarks, it fits well with other flagships; can produce single core scores around 1,124 and multi core scores of around 3,637. These figures, while somewhat behind those from the iPhone 12 Pro Max, still position it as a very powerful phone that should serve well for gaming and heavy multitasking.

One positive stand out is Axon 30 Ultra’s display. 2400 x 1080 pixels resolution and just below 400 PPI pixel density is offered by AMOLED panel. There are of course higher resolutions here, like QHD, for example, but ZTE’s particular decision means that silky smooth animation is achievable with an adaptive refresh rate ranging from a paltry 30Hz all the way up to near blistering 144Hz when things are happening dynamically. It’s noted in some reviews that although the brightness levels fare on the high side — up to approximately 641 cd/m² — they could be better to compete more with other high-end devices.

The biggest selling point, by far, has to be Axon 30 Ultra’s camera system. The Trinity camera setup consists of:

1. 64MP Main Camera: Using a Sony IMX686 sensor with OIS to capture very good details and color accuracy in daylight.

2. 64MP Ultra-Wide Camera: Provides a very wide field of view at 120° with minimum distortion to hold wide shots.

3. 64MP Portrait Camera: For outstanding portrait shots with great depth of field.

4. 8MP Periscope Telephoto Lens: Offers as high as 5x optical and impressive digital zooming up to 60x.

Real-world usage, this camera did really well in daylight, offering lively colors and sharp details but does become very noisy in low light due to limited dynamic range. Still, it stayed competitive in this budget segment.

Axon 30 Ultra comes with great battery life, housing a 4600mAh cell. Support for 65W fast charging means users can juice up very quickly, too - an absolute must for modern flagships. A few reviews indicate that it may not last very long against other flagship phones that boast more power-efficient screens and/or bigger batteries once the usage becomes heavy.

In design, Axon 30 Ultra keeps things sleek and slim, with a sizeable panel that is comfortable to hold. Weighing only about 188 grams, it will feel relatively light compared to a lot of the "Ultra" models out there. Build quality is pretty good, but some people might wish more premium materials-like glass or ceramic-were used instead of plastic bits. From a starting price of around $749 in the U.S., Axon 30 Ultra significantly outclasses similarly specced handsets like the Galaxy S21 or OnePlus 9 Pro that up until recently, came at more expensive rates for basically the same phone. This alone places ZTE in a very good spot within the highly competitive landscape of flagship smartphones.

In other words, even though far from perfection, ZTE Axon 30 Ultra boasts quite an impressive number of convincing features, making it an exceptionally good offer for many clients who need powerful smartphones without having to pay flagships prices for them. With such powerful hardware, supported by a versatile camera with solid battery life, this phone takes the right position in today’s market.