ZTE confirms Axon 30 Pro coming with SD888 and under-display selfie camera

Last year, ZTE made history by launching the first commercial smartphone with an under-display selfie camera — the Axon 20 5G. Although the image quality of that camera was lacking, it did prove that the tech is viable.

Related: Example shots from the ZTE Axon 20 5G

Now, just five months later, ZTE is already prepping the follow-up to that device (via GSM Arena). On Chinese microblogging site Weibo, Director of the Consumer Experience Department at ZTE Lu Qianhao shared information confirming the ZTE Axon 30 Pro is on the way.

As with last year’s model, the phone will feature an under-display selfie camera. However, it will also get some new upgrades that will put it well into flagship territory. This will make it a big step up over the affordable flagship specs of the Axon 20 5G.

ZTE Axon 30 Pro: Flagship specs

Last year’s Axon model featured a Snapdragon 765G chipset. This gave it 5G connectivity and perfectly adequate speeds, but there were definitely more capable chips on the market.

Thankfully, ZTE confirmed that the Axon 30 Pro will come with the latest-and-greatest Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. This will allow it to stand tall with other 2021 flagships, such as the just-released Samsung Galaxy S21 series.

See also: What we expect from smartphones in 2021

Qianhao’s Weibo post also strongly suggests that there will be a whopping 200MP camera sensor on the back of the new phone. While he doesn’t outright confirm this is the case, he makes heavy emphasis that the SD888 is capable of supporting a lens of that caliber. Elsewhere, other leaks suggest the phone could come with an as-yet-unreleased 200MP sensor made by Samsung. If this is true, it’s possible the launch of the ZTE Axon 30 Pro is quite a ways out.

Of course, the under-display selfie camera will be the true selling point of this phone. If ZTE can up the output quality of that sensor, it might have a big winner on its hands.