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nubia Z18 announced: Snapdragon 845, impressive camera specs for $410
- The nubia Z18 has been announced for China, offering a few interesting specs for roughly $400.
- Nubia’s device stands out thanks to its 16MP/24MP dual camera setup, with wide f/1.6 apertures.
- The phone is also available in a rather unique Starry Night color scheme.
Affordable flagships continue to be a trend these days, especially as the likes of the Pocophone F1 set new expectations. nubia has also delivered a few well-priced flagships over the years, so we’re glad to see a new entry from the company.
The nubia Z18 has just been announced in China (h/t: Gizmochina) and, while it might not be as cheap as the POCOphone F1, it certainly seems to offer a lot of bang for your buck anyway.
For starters, you’re getting a top-end Snapdragon 845 chipset, 6GB to 8GB of RAM, and 64GB or 128GB of storage. Other core specs include a 6-inch 2,160 x 1,080 display with waterdrop notch (presumably LCD), and a 3,450mAh battery. All of this is wrapped up in glass body, complete with a rear fingerprint scanner on the back.
A premium camera experience?
The nubia Z18’s most impressive feature might be its 16MP+24MP dual-camera setup, with each camera having a wide f/1.6 aperture. The setup boasts AI-powered scene recognition and optical image stabilization (OIS), although we’re not sure if the latter applies to one or both cameras.
The dual-camera setup has several other features too, such as Prisma-style art filters, multiple exposures, a portrait mode, and a night mode that uses AI-powered noise reduction. The selfie department isn’t quite as stacked, but the 8MP shooter should do the job just fine in theory.
What else does nubia Z18 have?
In the software department, the nubia Z18 has a collection of AI-related services and functions. These services include Google Now-style smart cards, the Maverick Voice assistant, location-based info cards (e.g. menus at fast food outlets), and suggested apps. Otherwise, the phone also packs nubia UI 6.0 atop Android 8.1.
It seem like nubia cut a few features though (presumably for economic reasons), such as microSD expansion. The spec sheet doesn’t list a headphone jack either. One shot of a woman listening to music shows that the headphones are plugged into the bottom, but look at other photos and you’ll see the bottom only has a Type-C port. The sheet doesn’t list NFC capabilities either, so that might be a no-go for some people.
The nubia Z18 starts at 2,799 yuan (~$409) for the 6GB/64GB model, while the 8GB/128GB variant costs 3,299 yuan (~$482). The phone is available in red and black, but the Starry Night edition might be the pick of the bunch for 3,599 yuan (~$526), according to Nubia’s Weibo account.
For roughly $410, it sounds like you’re getting plenty of power and a premium camera experience in theory. But we’d need to get our hands on a review unit to truly put it to the test.
What do you think of the nubia Z18? Give us your thoughts in the comments section! You can also check out the store listing via the button below, but it’s only for Chinese consumers right now.