Today we'll be getting a special first look at the ZTE Axon 30, with a Second Generation under
display camera, where the front facing camera is actually looking up through the AMOLED pixels to
get an image. Pretty futuristic stuff. Of course we'll see how it works and how durable it is,
but first let's check out the quality. You may or may not have noticed but I've been filming
with the ZTE Axon 30's under display camera this whole time. You might not have noticed,
or maybe you were already trying to change YouTube's quality settings.
But at the same time, keep in mind that this is pretty darn good. Especially when
you remember that it's looking up through 7 layers of screen in order to get this image.
While you keep analyzing the quality of this under display camera, huge thanks to Stamps.com for
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Now it's time to get an up close and very personal look at the new under display camera
inside of the ZTE Axon 30. Let's get started.
[Intro]
I'll show more images from the underscreen camera in just a second. Keep in mind though
that the front camera maxes out at 1080p for video, with a 16 megapixel front-facing sensor.
Inside the box we find the Axon 30 5G, and at first glance it looks like a solid black phone,
but in the right light it does come alive with some holographic looking shades of gray,
with some subtle green blended in. And yeah, the back might look cool and stuff, but we're
all here for the front facing underscreen camera. No notch, no hole punch, just pure pixel peeping.
The biggest difference between the camera this year and the First Generation camera last year in
the Axon 20 is the screen quality above the camera unit. Last year's Axon 20 had about 200 pixels per
inch screen resolution above that camera. And this year it's doubled to 400 pixels per inch,
which means that the pixels hide the camera under the screen much better.
It'll be less noticeable. The camera does still add some halos around my studio lights,
which isn't as noticeable on my Note 10 Plus' normal front-facing camera.
And if I switch to a white background, we can take a closer look at where that camera should be.
And compared to last year, it is indeed far more invisible. Nice work, ZTE.
With regular images, the camera quality is still a bit soft, which might be a deal breaker if
you're a professional selfie taker. But for other people that softness might be a price worth paying
to completely hide the front-facing camera. And obviously, this technology is pretty cool and fun
to see it progress, but it's also a bit scary. In the wrong hands or inside the wrong devices,
underscreen cameras can now pretty much be anywhere. Let me know down in the comments,
do you think underscreen camera tech is kind of cool, slightly spooky, or nefariously naughty?
Speaking of which, the scratch test.
With normal lighting, notice how the underscreen camera is invisible.
It's only when we lift the phone into the light to analyze the scratches, do we see a bit of square
where the tiny second screen is covering that camera unit...along with the scratches at level 6,
with deeper grooves at level 7. But with twice the resolution of last year's phone,
it's still pretty much invisible in normal lighting. Even with a completely white display.
And since it's also hidden underneath the glass, it's protected from scratching.
There is a small earpiece slit up at the top about the same thickness as my razor blade. And
then the sides...are made from plastic. The power button and volume rocker are both metal though.
Up here at the top of the Axon 30 we do have more plastic,
as well as plastic running down the left side. The bottom of the phone has no headphone jack,
but we do find a USB-C port capable of charging at 55 watts.
And a dual SIM and memory card slot, which does have a rubber ring around the opening.
Making our way around to the back. It is a conservative black color,
with some slightly holographic branding. And it also is made from plastic.
Fine with me though, it just means we get more Art Class with Jerry. Seeing the color changing Noxiv
logo, or Axon, depending on how you look at it, seeing it shift from red to green reminded me of
the old American Folklore stories about Johnny Appleseed. Turns out he was actually a real
guy who went around the Midwest in the early 1800's actually planting apple trees by seed
since grafting was apparently against his religion at the time.
Something about not wanting to hurt the trees.
John Chapman was his real name and he seems like a pretty cool guy.
We should all probably be planting a whole lot more trees.
The Axon 30 has a super massive 64 megapixel camera up here in the top circle. And right
below that we have a triple camera setup inside the other circle, with an 8 megapixel ultra wide,
5 megapixel macro camera, and 2 megapixel depth camera, all protected under the same
slab of glass. The only metal we find back here is the part separating the back plastic from the
glass camera lens. I mean, the earth is a pretty cool place. I like living here. As things warm
up though, we do gotta factor in how long our screens can last in the heat. Especially since
this crazy weather and fires are going to keep getting worse until about 2050, according to
the UN climate report. The 6.9 inch 1080p 10-bit display does last for about 20 seconds under the
heat from my lighter. And we can tell by the white spot that forms that it is indeed OLED, which just
shows that we should probably be as equally nice to our tech as we are to where we live. Along with
that under display camera, the Axon 30 also has an under display fingerprint reader, which when
slathered with level 7 deeper grooves, does appear to keep on functioning. Thumbs up for that. We'll
have to see what all these underscreen cameras look like from the inside during the teardown.
Finally, the bend test. 2021 has been a rough year for smartphones.
We've had more phones break this year than any other year.
And during the first bend, it looks like this guy is toast. It's got more flex than a dandelion in
the breeze. And when bent from the front, we hear a snap from something internally.
But surprisingly, everything externally is still working fine. I don't know if we've ever had a
phone with this much flex and still not break before. Creaks like an old wooden staircase,
but still survives. Barely surviving is still indeed surviving. Nice work, ZTE.
Not bad for a $500 phone. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with next.
Don't forget to grab your free scale from Stamps.com with the link in the description. And
come hang out with me on Instagram and Twitter. Thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.