After the Nubia Z9 Max and Nubia Z9 Mini, the Chinese smartphone maker ZTE has launched its Nubia Z9 smartphone, which like other high-end handsets sports the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor. The handset, currently limited to China, comes in three variants, namely ZTE Nubia Z9 Classic, ZTE Nubia Z9 Elite, and ZTE Nubia Z9 Exclusive. The variants are based on different memory and inbuilt storage configurations, and the Exclusive variant also includes a fingerprint reader.
For now, users in China can book the smartphones which are set to go on sale starting May 21. The firm has not mentioned any details on the smartphones' global rollout. While the ZTE Nubia Z9 Classic is priced at CNY 3,499 (roughly Rs. 36,000), the ZTE Nubia Z9 Elite and ZTE Nubia Z9 Exclusive are priced at CNY 3,999 (roughly Rs. 41,200) and CNY 4,499 (roughly Rs. 46,300) respectively. The handsets run on Nubia UI 3.0 based on Android 5.0 Lollipop.
As mentioned above, the three dual-SIM ZTE Nubia Z9 smartphones feature nearly identical specifications. All three sport a 5.2-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) resolution IPS display with 2.5D CGS (Continuous Grain Silicon) technology and pixel density of 424ppi. Featuring a reflective bezel that is just 0.8mm thick, the display gives the impression of stretching from edge to edge. The company has also included Frame Interactive Technology (FIT) gestures that are based on ways of holding the nearly bezel-less phone, such as unlocking the phone with a swipe along both sides, bringing up the camera app when holding the phone up with both hands, and other similar gestures.
The ZTE Nubia Z9 is powered by a 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor (four 2GHz Cortex-A57 cores + four 1.5GHz Cortex-A53 cores) with Adreno 430 GPU (600MHz). The smartphone equips a 16-megapixel rear camera powered by a Sony IMX234 Exmor RS sensor, f/2.0 aperture and 6P lenses, and an 8-megapixel front facing camera powered by a Sony IMX179 Exmor R BSI sensor and with 80-degree wide viewing angle and f/2.4 aperture. Measuring 147.4x68.3x8.9 mm, the ZTE Nubia Z9 weighs 192 grams and is backed by a 2900mAh battery. The connectivity features include 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, Wi-Fi, GPS, MHL 3.0, and USB OTG. It will be available in Black and Gold colour variants.
Coming to the differences between the three ZTE Nubia Z9 models - the ZTE Nubia Z9 Classic features 3GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 32GB of inbuilt storage, the ZTE Nubia Z9 Elite comes with 4GB of RAM (not specified if LPDDR3 or LPDDR4) and 64GB of inbuilt storage, and the ZTE Nubia Z9 Exclusive comes with 4G of RAM and 64GB of inbuilt storage as well as a TIO fingerprint sensor on both the power button and volume rocker. Notably, the company has also not specified if the smartphones come with microSD card slots.
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