Introduction
A small camera reshuffling, more battery, and the newest chipset, all of it in a familiar yet different standout physical package – the Z80 Ultra is the latest in the lineage of nubia smartphones that became known for their 35mm main cameras, first and foremost.
This latest model also features a 35mm camera, of course – same as last time. The telephoto is also unchanged – 85mm in the camera app, but really 70mm. The Z80 Ultra also brings back an ultrawide from a couple of generations prior – a good thing, given the previous one’s performance. Another staple of the company, the underdisplay selfie camera is also here to stay, for all the good and not so good implications. It’s a most unusual camera setup in its entirety, that’s for sure.
The display on top of that front camera is then cutout-free most of the time, and it’s a spacious 6.85-inch OLED, now brighter than before. The battery capacity has gotten a bump too, and we’re quite liking the 7,200mAh number. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is also easy to like.
There are other, not so trivial bits to appreciate too. Nubia started fitting two-stage shutter release buttons on the Z70 Ultra, and there’s one on the Z80 Ultra too. That’s in addition to the slider switch that’s been around for a while longer – on nubias and on related brands alike (looking at you, RedMagic). Small niceties like the ultrasonic underdisplay fingerprint sensor and the infrared emitter are also on board, of course.
ZTE nubia Z80 Ultra specs at a glance:
- Body: 164.5×77.2×8.6mm, 227g; Glass front, aluminum frame, glass back; IP68/IP69 dust tight and water resistant (high pressure water jets; immersible up to 1.5m for 30 min).
- Display: 6.85″ AMOLED, 1B colors, 144Hz, 2592Hz PWM, HDR10, 2000 nits (peak), 1216x2688px resolution, 19.9:9 aspect ratio, 431ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM8850-AC Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (3 nm): Octa-core (2×4.6 GHz Oryon V3 Phoenix L + 6×3.62 GHz Oryon V3 Phoenix M); Adreno 840.
- Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM, 1TB 16GB RAM; UFS 4.1.
- OS/Software: Android 16, Nebula AIOS 2.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.7, 35mm (standard), 1/1.3″, 1.2µm, PDAF, OIS; Telephoto: 64 MP, f/2.5, 70mm, 1/2.0″, 0.7µm, multi-directional PDAF (15cm – ∞), OIS, 2.7x optical zoom (vs. 26mm cam); Ultra wide angle: 50 MP, f/1.8, 18mm, 1/1.55″, PDAF.
- Front camera: 16 MP, f/2.0, 24mm (wide), 1/2.8″, 1.12µm, under display.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 8K@30fps, 4K@30/60/120fps, 1080p@30/60fps, gyro-EIS, HDR10, 10‑bit video; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 7200mAh; 80W wired, PD3.0, QC4 (International), 90W wired, PD3.0, QC4 (China), 80W wireless.
- Connectivity: 5G; Wi-Fi 7; BT 6.0, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive; NFC; Infrared port.
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, ultrasonic); stereo speakers.
nubia Z80 Ultra unboxing
The Z80 Ultra arrives in a cardboard box that’s two thirds black, one third silver – to evoke classic rangefinder camera styling cues, probably. The red strip on the bottom helps with that too.
Gone is the charger found in previous generations, but the red USB-C cable is still here. A translucent snap-on hard plastic back cover is also included, traditionally.
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