After seeing how successful the OnePlus One was, companies like Motorola and ZTE decided to release their own high-end smartphones with mid-range prices, and it’s definitely paying off. The ZTE Axon may not be as popular as the Moto X Style or the OnePlus 2, but it’s definitely just as good as either of them, and it’s been successful enough that the Chinese company has decided to release a miniature variant, known as the ZTE Axon Mini. Just like the upcoming OnePlus X that it no doubt takes inspiration from, the ZTE Axon Mini is a smaller and weaker version of the ZTE Axon, but it’s also even more affordable.
ZTE is continuing its push in to the market of competitively priced premium smartphones with today’s official announcement of the ZTE AXON mini. The phone was initially unveiled back in July, but today it gets official pricing and release details for the first time. Like the Huawei Mate S and iPhone 6s, the ZTE AXON mini has a pressure-sensitive touchscreen to add a level of enhanced functions to the user interface, including interactive gaming. Inside, there’s a Snapdragon 616 octa-core processor paired with 3GB RAM and an Adreno 405 GPU. There’s also a 5.2-inch 1080p resolution Super AMOLED display panel packed in to a body that’s only 70mm wide. That means the bezels are only 0.85mm thin. On the back, there’s a 13MP camera with phase detection autofocus, on the front is an 8MP snapper. Other specs include an impressive 2800mAh battery, 32GB internal storage and up to 128GB expandable storage via MicroSD card. All of this is built in to a handset made primarily from Boeing 787 aircraft-grade aluminum-titanium alloy. To add an element of class, the front glass covering the display is slightly curved towards the edges. If all that tech isn’t enough, you’ll be glad to know it also has both a fingerprint scanner and an eye scanner. What’s more, customers will have a choice of three metallic finishes – Ion Gold, Chromium Silver and Rose Gold.
