MWC was a busy one for ZTE and its subsidiary Nubia, with the launch of five new phones. We managed to get some hands-on time with the new models and these are our first impressions of the nubia Flip, Focus Pro, Neo 2 and Music smartphones.
nubian flip
The nubia Flip is arguably the most interesting device of the bunch – a budget clamshell foldable device that rivals the Galaxy Z Flip5 and Moto Razr 40. It feels great in the hand, has a beautiful brushed aluminum frame, and folds completely flat. It’s a little heavier than its main rivals, at 214 grams, but we didn’t mind the extra weight as the folding mechanism feels solid.
Getting started with nubia Flip
The pearly gradient purple back on this demo unit looks great and changes color depending on the angle you’re viewing it from. Speaking of which, we should mention the 1.43-inch overlay screen. It displays the time, date, and notifications, but you can also use it to answer incoming calls, control media playback, display weather information, and serve as a viewfinder for the 50MP main camera.
When you unfold the nubia Flip, you can see a 6.9-inch OLED main display with a resolution of FHD+ and a refresh rate of 120Hz. At first glance, the display looks good, but you’ll notice the thick bezels around it. Viewed from the side, the crease in the middle is very noticeable and you can definitely feel your fingers running through it as you slide it.
The software front-end here is covered by ZTE’s MyOS 13.5 based on Android 13, and there are a few tweaks to take advantage of the foldable screen, such as splitting the camera UI across the two halves of the display. The Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chip here is a mid-range chipset that’s nearly two years old, but that’s where the nubia Flip’s $599/€599 starting price starts. The decent-sized 4,310 mAh battery should provide enough juice to get you through the day, and you’ll be able to charge at 33W speeds.
ZTE will provide more detailed pricing and availability details in the coming months, but for now the nubia Flip looks like a solid budget contender in the clamshell foldable segment.
Nubia Focus Pro
The nubia Focus series aims to deliver a camera-centric experience to the mid-range market. The Focus Pro features a 1/1.67” 108MP Neovision primary sensor with f/1.75 aperture and OIS. The primary shooter offers in-sensor cropping and covers five focal lengths from 18mm to 72mm. The camera can also shoot RAW HDR and RAW Super Night Mode photos and record video up to 4K.
The camera focus also extends to the phone’s design, with a physical slider on the right for quickly switching to the camera app. There’s a capacitive shooting button on the bottom of the frame, which provides good feedback for taking shots.
The vegan leather back and two-tone finish combined with the large round camera island make the Focus Pro look a bit like an old-school camera, although this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this design – it’s more or less based on last year’s nubia Z50S Pro.
Elsewhere, the Focus Pro features a 6.72-inch display with FHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate, a 32MP front-facing camera, and a Unisoc T760 chipset paired with 8GB of RAM. You also get a 5,000 mAh battery with 33W charging power. ZTE says the Focus Pro will be available later this year and will retail for around $199, which is pretty impressive considering the camera-centric features.
Nubia New 2
The nubia Neo 2 is a budget gaming phone that is said to retail for around $199 when it is officially launched later this year. For that price, you get an impressive set of specs, including a 6.72-inch display (FHD+ 120Hz), 5G-ready Unisoc T820 chipset, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage.
Nubia New 2
The right side houses capacitive shoulder triggers, usually reserved for high-end gaming phones, but here they’re a welcome addition.
There were both yellow and purple Neo 2s at the ZTE booth, and both phones clearly sported gorgeous gamer designs. We even spotted some nods to past Red Magic gaming phones and their cooling fans – only this time the fans are simply painted in colour.
The Neo 2 features the same Game Space 2.0 overlay as the Red Magic 9 Pro, which brings access to a range of customization options, CPU and GPU monitoring, and quick switching. The last item on the spec sheet is a 6,000 mAh battery with 33W charging power.
nubian music
The nubia Music is arguably the strangest phone of its kind – its main selling point is the speaker on the back, which nubia proudly claims is 600% louder than traditional smartphone speakers. The speaker’s design was inspired by vinyl records, and although there was a lot of commotion in the event hall, we certainly noticed that the Nubian music got pretty loud.
Nubian music in action
ZTE is pitching the device as an ideal replacement for the small Bluetooth speakers you probably see everywhere, but also as an entry-level Android 13 smartphone with a 6.6-inch (HD+ 90Hz) display, 5,000 mAh battery, and dual cameras.
While most other manufacturers are ditching the headphone jack, nubia Music has dual 3.5mm ports at the top. The idea here is that you can share your music with friends via wired headphones, which is a bold move in a world where Bluetooth headphones are becoming the new normal.
nubia Music is powered by the Unisoc SC9863A chipset coupled with 4GB RAM and 128GB storage, which clearly positions it in the entry-level segment. The device will launch later this year and is expected to retail for $149.