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The modern-looking Axon 10 Pro 5G is ZTE’s first 5G-ready smartphone

The ZTE Axon 10 Pro is available overseas with up to 12GB of RAM

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ZTE took the wraps off of the ZTE Axon 10 5G and Axon 10 at Mobile World Congress 2019 , alongside the slightly more midrange ZTE Blade V10. As the name suggests, the ZTE Axon 10 5G is ZTE’s first 5G-compatible smartphone — meaning that if you live in an area with 5G, you’ll be able to take advantage of the new super-fast speeds.

Both of the new phones feature contemporary designs and decent specs, though the Axon 10 Pro is easily the more interesting of the two. Here’s everything you need to know about the the ZTE Axon 10 Pro, Axon 10 Pro 5G, and the ZTE Blade V10.

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ZTE Axon 10 Pro 5G and Axon 10 Pro

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As the name suggests, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro 5G features 5G connectivity, and it’s the first phone from ZTE to do so. What does that mean? When 5G networks go live, you’ll be able to connect to the fifth-generation mobile network, which will deliver faster speeds. The 5G rollout will take some time, though, so don’t think you need to buy a 5G phone this year. There’s also, however, a non-5G version of the device, which is identical in specs and design apart from the 5G connectivity.

It looks modern, too — the Axon 10 Pro has an edge-to-edge 6.47-inch AMOLED display with a small teardrop-shaped notch for the front-facing camera. On the back of the phone is a triple-sensor camera, but that’s about it — the fingerprint sensor has been moved to under the display, similar to the Galaxy S10 and the OnePlus 6T, but we’re not sure what technology it’s using just yet.

It’s perhaps what’s under the hood that’s really important here. The Axon 10 Pro is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor with the X50 modem on the 5G model, which is what enables the 5G connectivity. The 855 processor is what almost all flagship Android phones are using this year, so expect powerful performance. Coupled with that chip, the phone gets either 6GB, 8GB, or a hefty 12GB of RAM, and storage options of either 128GB or 256GB.

According to ZTE, the Axon 10 Pro 5G also features an artificial intelligence performance engine that adjusts CPU, GPU, RAM, and ROM assignment using A.I. algorithms. What that means exactly remains to be seen. That engine is also used for things like motion camera, scene recognition, and more.

On the back of the phones, you’ll get a triple-lens camera with a 48-megapixel primary sensor with an f/1.7 aperture, a 20-megapixel wide-angle sensor with a 125-degree field of view, and an 8-megapixel telephoto camera. On the front of the phones, you’ll get a 20-megapixel selfie cam.

The standard 4G version of the ZTE Axon 10 Pro is available in China for 3,199 CNY, or $473 for the 6GB RAM, 128GB storage model. Prices range up to the 12GB RAM, 256GB storage model, which is available for $621. It’s also now available in Germany through retailers like MediaMarkt and Amazon, where it’s available for 600 euros. According to ZTE, the 5G version of the phone will be available “at a later date” starting at 900 euros.

ZTE Blade V10

The ZTE Blade V10 phone also features a modern design, with a similar-size notch for the front-facing camera. What is different is that it has a larger chin bezel, and does away with the triple-lens camera in favor of a dual-lens sensor instead. On top of that, there is a fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone — there isn’t one under the display. The screen comes in at 6.3 inches with a Full HD resolution. On the bottom of the phone, you’ll get a USB-C port.

When it comes to specs, the Blade V10 features an oct-core 2.1GHz processor, along with either 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, or 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. As mentioned, the camera is dual-lens, with one 16-megapixel sensor and one 5-megapixel sensor for depth-sensing. The front-facing camera, interestingly, is a whopping 32 megapixels, and it features what ZTE calls “smart selfie” technology, though we don’t know much else yet. The battery powering everything has a 3,100mAh capacity.

The ZTE Blade V10 is available in Black, Blue, or Green, and it’s available in China, Europe, and Latin America.

Updates on May 8, 2019: The ZTE Axon 10 Pro is now available in China and Germany. 

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Christian de Looper
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