Skip to main content

ZTE’s new Axon Mini phone has a pressure sensitive screen, just like the iPhone 6S

ZTE first mentioned the Axon Mini back in July at the same time it announced the Axon Watch, but didn’t share anything about it other than the name. It has taken until October for the company to reveal the specs and release date for the device, so here’s everything you need to know about it.

The big news is the Axon Mini will have a pressure sensitive screen, for force touch-like features, as seen on the Apple iPhone 6S and the Huawei Mate S. The features it will enable are a mystery, outside of it being part of the security system, for gaming and in the UI.

When you find out the Axon Mini has a 5.2-inch, 1080p Super AMOLED display covered in 2.5D glass, it doesn’t sound very small, but the body in which the screen is mounted has been shaved right down to make the overall device surprisingly compact. ZTE says the aluminum chassis is just 3.5mm thick, the bezels either side of the display are less than a 1mm wide, and the whole phone is just 70mm across.That’s the same as the Samsung Galaxy S6, which has a 5.1-inch screen.

The new Snapdragon 616 octa-core processor with 3GB of RAM gives the Axon Mini its power, and the 32GB of internal memory can easily be increased with a MicroSD card up to 128GB in capacity. ZTE has added phase detection autofocus to the 13-megapixel rear camera, which it says will focus in on an object in less than 0.1 seconds, and there’s an 8-megapixel camera around the front.

Like the Axon Elite — the international version of the Axon — the Axon Mini has three biometric security features: Fingerprints, eye scanning, and voice authentication. The voice control system can be used to dictate messages, plus the phone has a voice translator for English, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese languages built in. We expect the Axon Mini to run Android, but ZTE hasn’t told us what version will be installed yet.

The phone will come in ion gold, rose gold, and chromium silver when it goes on sale in China soon, plus it’ll subsequently be sold in parts of Europe, Russia, Japan, India, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Australia. The price is $440 or 390 euros for the “premium edition,” or $380 for the standard model. We’re confirming what the difference between the two is, but it may be like the Huawei Mate S, and only the premium model will have the pressure sensitive screen.

Editors' Recommendations

Andy Boxall
Senior Mobile Writer
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge vs. iPhone 6S Plus: Which flagship is best?
samsung galaxy s7 olympic edition news version 1467711528 edge price

Both Apple and Samsung have deviated from their standard phones in the past few years, Apple by offering a larger version of the iPhone, Samsung by releasing an "Edge" phone alongside each device in the Galaxy S series. If you want some good reading, check out our full reviews of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and the iPhone 6S Plus. But if you want the quick lowdown on which one you should buy, stick with us: We've laid the devices out side to side to help you out.

Apple is the well-respected design king, but Samsung's designers has upped their game over the past few years. But perhaps you don't care about design, and would rather opt for the phone with the most robust hardware under the hood. Both devices are at the top of their game; read on to find out which one is better for you.

Read more
Mophie cuts the cord with its first wireless charging iPhone 6S and Galaxy S7 cases
mophie wireless charging case magnets

Charging devices is a little annoying, but it's set to get easier -- wireless charging is on the rise, and while only certain phones currently allow for it, some companies are trying to bring it to everyone.

Take Mophie, for example. The company has launched a new series of battery cases, called Juice Pack Wireless cases, with wireless charging built in, as well as a number of accessories for those cases, all designed to make your charging life a little easier.

Read more
ForcePhone uses sonar to add 3D Touch-like system to practically any phone
forcephone university michigan 3d touch smartphones force phone

Over the past few months, Apple, Huawei, ZTE, and others have made splashes in the smartphone world with tech accurate enough to measure the amount of downward force on a screen, or "force touch," as the capability's become known.

Only a select few new phones sport it -- short of a significant amount of soldering, older handsets can't be retrofitted with the combo of sensors and motors required. But researchers at the University of Michigan may have discovered a low-cost, easy solution: a 3D Touch-like system of feedback that's adaptable to practically any smartphone, recognizes when weight's being applied to the touchscreen, and that can even tell when the phone's being squeezed.

Read more