ZTE Axon 10s Pro overtakes Samsung Galaxy S20 as first Snapdragon 865 smartphone

By Aaron Mamiit February 8, 2020

The Snapdragon 865, Qualcomm’s latest chipset that will power this year’s flagship Android smartphones, finally made its debut on a device — but on the ZTE Axon 10s Pro, not on the Samsung Galaxy S20.

ZTE won the race in officially unveiling a Snapdragon 865 smartphone, which does not look like it changed much from its predecessor, the Axon 10 Pro.

The ZTE Axon 10s Pro retains the Axon 10s’ 6.47-inch AMOLED screen, with a 2,340 x 1,080 resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio. in-display fingerprint sensor, and teardrop notch.

The Snapdragon 865-powered smartphone also keeps its predecessor’s triple-camera lens camera setup. The primary sensor is 48 megapixels, which uses pixel binning technology to merge pixels and take in more light to create 12MP photos. The device also has an 8MP telephoto lens and a 20MP wide-angle lens at the back, plus a 20MP selfie camera at the front.

The improvement is in the internals of the ZTE Axon 10s Pro, with the Snapdragon 865 replacing the Snapdragon 855. The new chipset promises a 25% performance boost compared to its predecessor, with 5G connectivity, the fifth-generation A.I. Engine, the new Spectra 480 ISP image processor, and the new Adreno 650 GPU that enables “desktop-quality” gaming.

ZTE has also paired the Snapdragon 865 in the Axon 10s Pro with up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB UFS 3.0 storage. According to Android Central, the smartphone is also the first device to pack LPDDR5 RAM.

ZTE may have been the first to reveal a Snapdragon 865-powered phone, but Samsung is not far behind. At the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event on February 11, the company is expected to unveil the Galaxy S20 line of smartphones, with a name change to follow the Galaxy S10. Samsung may also use the event to reveal the Galaxy Buds+, the Galaxy Z Flip, the Galaxy Home and Home Mini, and a new Galaxy Watch.

ZTE did not provide the price tag of the Axon 10s Pro, nor did it reveal the launch date. This means that there is a chance for the Samsung Galaxy S20 to be released to the markets first, at which point the designation of first Snapdragon 865 smartphone may no longer be important.

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