Nubia Z70 Ultra Review: Does it really stand out???

Are you someone who is tired of seeing only Samsung and iPhone dominate the flagship market? Do you want to buy a smartphone which has an innovative design and is not going the minimalist route without missing out on specs? Well fear not, today we will be reviewing the ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra. The state of the art flagship smartphone from Nubia.

Come join us as we get into the nitty gritties of the Nubia Z70 Ultra so that you can see for yourself if this smartphone really stands out. Let’s dive in now…

ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra: Key Features

Below on the table we have listed some key features which we feel makes the ZTE Nubia Z70 really stand out:

ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra: KEY FEATURES

🔸 Latest Snapdragon 8 Elite (3 nm) chipset is used

🔸 Variable Aperture setting for primary camera

🔸 Under display camera which provides uninterrupted viewing area

🔸 IP68 & IP69 protection rating

🔸 Very artistic design with the Starry Night Variant

ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra: Pros & Cons: 

To save you some time if you do not want to go through the entire review here are some pros and cons we have found about the Nubia Z70 Ultra:

Pros:	Cons:
Very unique aesthetic design	Under display camera is still not up to the mark but gets the job done
No punch hole front camera provides maximum viewing area	Ultrawide camera on this iteration is not stabilised
Large battery size of 6150 mAh	Previous iteration provided 2 sets of charger however current iteration provides 2 sets of cases
80W fast charging which fully charges your phone in 38 Minutes

ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra: Design & Build

As promised on the intro the main form factor which sets the ZTE Nubia Z70 apart, the design and build. Here’s some core factors below:

Design & Build

☑️18 grams lighter than Z60 Ultra ☑️ Different areas of the back have different refractive index ☑️ 2 stage shutter key provided ☑️ IP 68 & IP69 protection rating

One of the main areas where the ZTE Nubia Z70 stands out is the design. Specifically we will talk about the Starry Night variant. I personally have not seen any other phone which has a back this beautiful (sue me I am a Van Gogh connoisseur). 

The back had a major upgrade with the design as you can see different areas on the back have different refractive index. This in turn makes the design much more eye catchy and makes it very immersive.

Moreover it is frosted matte finish so it is very fingerprint resistant and the sides are the same as well so the phone stays really clean. Now onto the buttons, Nubia has finally decided to provide a 2 stage shutter key/button.

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This is a great addition for people who shoot with smartphones. This is mainly due to the 2 stage shutter key providing a similar experience to you taking pictures with a DSLR. Furthermore, we still have the same sliding key from the previous iteration however it has been taken to the top left, kind of similar to Apple’s mute toggle. 

ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra: Display

Here are the main features of the display:

Display

☑️ BOE AMOLED ☑️ 95.3% Screen to Body ratio ☑️ 1.5K resolution with 431 PPI density

One of the primary feature which sets apart the ZTE Nubia Z70 from the rest is its under display camera technology. This tech was first brought by ZTE as well with the ZTE Axon 20 and boy it was revolutionary.

Since that day the under display tech has improved by a lot. It is almost seamless now providing you with a great experience. You still have an optical fingerprint with this phone but it is still very fast and you will not feel any delay with it.

Furthermore with Nubia claiming the peak brightness of this phone is 2000 nits. Although after some real life testing most people found out the max output is 1300 nits which is completely normal and is perfectly fine for day to day use.

The display also features a 144hz refresh rate display which is crucial for gamers. This refresh rate is also important as with the chip included, which we will go in depth later, the higher the refresh rate the more FPS you will be able to see.

That’s not all, the Z70 comes with no regular AMOLED. It is made by BOE, one of the top companies in China who design OLED screens and they are very renowned for their screens.

All in all, the Z70 has an incredible display and is sure to provide you with the best experience with the content you will be watching.

ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra: Camera

The camera for us seemed to be a mixed feeling unfortunately. Here’s some 50 MP, f/1.6-4.0, 35mm (standard)few information on the camera:

Camera

☑️ 50 MP, f/1.6-4.0, 35mm (standard) (Variable Aperture) ☑️ 64 MP, f/2.5, 70mm (periscope telephoto) (OIS) ☑️ 50 MP, f/2.0, 13mm, 122˚ (ultrawide) ☑️ Rear: 16 MP, f/2.5, 24mm (wide)

The main camera of this phone is absolutely mind blowing. This camera now features a variable aperture from F1.6 – F4.0 with 9 stops to choose from. This is perfect for professionals who want to curate their shots to perfection.

However, the ultrawide lens is a bit of a downgrade. The previous iteration had OIS with the ultrawide lens but the Z70 does not have any OIS. Now this does not make the ultrawide lens fully bad but the OIS would have been a neat addition.

The telephoto lens however had an upgrade. That lens has an OIS with which you should also be able to take macro telephoto pictures as well. The stabilisation in itself is quite decent and takes nice clicks.

The rear camera or the under display camera can be said to be a huge upgrade if we compare it to the Z60. But if we compare to other phones in this price range with pinhole cameras it seems quite lackluster. Don’t get me wrong the photos are still a lot better but it would have been great if we had even more quality in the pictures.

ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra: Performance

Performance

☑️ Snapdragon 8 Elite (3 nm) ☑️ Upto 1TB 24GB RAM ☑️ Adreno 830 ☑️ Wi-Fi 7 & Bluetooth 5.4

The ZTE Nubia Z70 is a beast in terms of performance. Manufactured with the state of the art Snapdragon 8 Elite, this smartphone can handle any of your tasks. This 3nm chip comes with snapdragons new Oryon Architecture which delivers a 45% performance boost, 44% greater power efficiency.

As per Nubia you can expect a 45% CPU boost and 40% performance boost with the GPU as well. Furthermore with 24GB of RAM you can multitask easily with this smartphone. You can also keep a lot of apps open in the background and not lose your progress or state.

Gaming with ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra

For gamers, unlike its sub brand the RedMagic 10 pro which features side touch capacitors and better cooling fans, the ZTE Nubia Z70 does not have those. However even then basic components are more or less the same. You get the same chipset and this chipset is a power house.

After some testing we found out this smartphone got an incredible 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited score of 5846. This is actually a lot and just shows how powerful this chip is. Do note only while we were benchmarking this phone got really hot probably because Nubia is letting the phone run in full throttle mode.

We did not face a single heating issue while we were gaming with this. We had constant 60 fps in Genshin without any stuttering at max graphics. This goes to show how well optimized this phone is for gaming.

There’s also the 24GB of DDR5 RAM which is super crucial if you are playing a competitive game and want to use discord in the background to communicate without teammates without losing any frames while gaming or experience any stuttering.

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The 144Hz also comes in clutch as with the processor giving the max frames you will now be able to see up to 144 FPS. This is very helpful with competitive games like CODM, PUBGM, etc as 1 extra frame more than your competitor is enough to give you that edge against them.

ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra: Software & UI

The UI and software is also really good with ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra. No bloatware or anything was found and it is based on the latest Android 15. Here are some details below:

Software

☑️ Android 15 ☑️ Nebula AIOS

The ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra is jam packed with lots of futuristic features. Some of them include a new home screen style where nothing is present and it is fully guided by your voice. Now this unfortunately is only available with the chinese variant and most likely works with only chinese.

Some other features include a full AI translator who can translate anything you speak or write live in front of you in 6 different languages, Chinese, English, French, German, Spanish and Italian, how cool is that.

They have also put in an AI search feature for your gallery which greatly helps to comb through your gallery. Let’s say you want to find a picture of your cat. You can just directly ask the AI to show you pictures of your cat and it will find it for you.

Other than that the UI and OS is quite neat, no bloatwares or anything. No annoying ads as well. The UI is also quite simple so everyone should be able to use this easily.

ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra: Battery Life

The battery life of the ZTE Nubia Z70 is ridiculous. Here’s some few info below before we get into the details:

Battery

☑️ 6150mAh ☑️ 80W fast charging

The battery size of this smartphone is huge. With 6150mAh you will be able to use this smartphone an entire day without any issues. Furthermore, this smartphone is also packed with the latest Snapdragon chipset where they are claiming to have much greater efficiency of the chip. The phone will last you longer than a day!

Moreover, even if you do get low in battery. The 80W fast charger included is sure to save your day. You get to 1-15% in 15 minutes and 1-100% in just 38 minutes. This is great value. So even if you do forget to charge your phone you can just get on track in under an hour. 

Overall Specs

Specs	ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra
Body	164.3×77.1×8.6mm | 228g
Display	6.85-inch | 2688 x 1216 | 144Hz | 430PPI | 100% DCI-P3 | AMOLED | 7th Gen UDC
Rear Camera	50 MP, f/1.6-4.0, 35mm (standard) (Variable Aperture) | 64 MP (periscope telephoto) (OIS) | 50 MP(ultrawide)
Front camera	16MP
Processor	Snapdragon® 8 Elite Mobile Platform
OS	Nebula AIOS | Android 15
RAM & ROM	12GB/16GB/24GB(LPDDR5X) | 256GB/512GB/1TB (UFS 4.0)
Battery Capacity	6150mAh | 80W wired charging
Connectivity	WiFi 7 | Bluetooth 5.4
SIM	Dual SIM (nano SIM + nano SIM)

Verdict

Here you go, this is it for the review. To sum everything up, the ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra is a fantastic phone if you are looking to get flagship level performance at a lower price point. Sure the under display camera is still not upto the mark but the design, the components, the new AI features and lastly the battery. These make it a really good phone which can take care of all your needs. Whether you are a photographer, a gamer or are just looking to buy a new phone which is eye catchy or for your day to day task this will fit all your needs.

This is all for now, thank again to those who stayed till the end and went through the entire review, it means alot. We look forward to coming back to you guys again with another review, till then stay safe and keep an eye on Apple Gadgets blog page for more updates. 

Get the ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra, if

• You want are a Van Gogh fan
• You are looking for a smartphone with the latest chipset
• You need incredible battery backup with fast charging