ZTE announces Axon 7s with Snapdragon 821 and dual-camera setup

The ZTE Axon 7 was one of the best budget smartphones of 2016. The Chinese manufacturer has now announced a new, upgraded version of the device called the Axon 7s.

It brings a few new things to the table, as it is powered by the Snapdragon 821 chipset instead of the Snapdragon 820 found in its predecessor. It also features a dual-camera setup on the back and has a redesigned speaker grill. The rest of the specs should stay the same, although this hasn’t been confirmed yet.

ZTE, unfortunately, didn’t share all the details regarding the smartphone with the public. Its press release mainly focuses on the security features of the device, which is apparently designed for government use.

It will, however, likely maintain at least some specs of its predecessor, including a 5.5-inch screen with QHD resolution. The Axon 7 was originally released with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage, but ZTE launched a limited edition of the device a few months later with 6 GB of RAM, 128 GB of space, and a Force Touch display. We’re not sure if any or all of those additional features are on board the Axon 7s.

It sports a metal body, a 3,250 mAh battery, and a fingerprint scanner located on the back, below the camera. The device ships with Android Marshmallow on board, which can be upgraded to Nougat.

As already mentioned, ZTE hasn’t shared a lot of info regarding the device. For now, it looks like the Axon 7s might only be available for government use in China, meaning that “regular” consumers won’t be able to get their hands on it. We’ll keep you updated on this topic once we hear more. ZTE also announced the Axon 7 Max with a 4,100 mAh battery and the Snapdragon 821 chipset.