ZTE Axon Elite quick look: what's the difference?

ZTE’s latest flagship smartphone is making its way to many other markets after a successful launch in the USA and China. The biggest focus is on Europe, but the Chinese manufacturer wants to be clear that this is a global release. But why are they now calling it the ZTE Axon Elite? Yes, it’s essentially the same phone, but it does come with a few particular changes.

Customers will be able to handle the same beautifully built device and enjoy nearly identical specifications. Below the 5.5-inch 1080p display you can find a Snapdragon 810 processor, 4G LTE antennas and a set of dual cameras for depth perception. The main camera touts a 13 MP sensor, and the front-facing shooter sports 8 MP of pure fun. From there, we also have a 3000 mAh battery, 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage, which can be expanded via microSD cards.

That is all old news, though. What we want to focus on is the main additions that make this an “Elite” smartphone. One of the main differences will be found in the aesthetics. The back now touts leather-like designs on the top and bottom parts of the handset. I suppose that gives it a bit of a more executive look, but I also can’t deny these elements look out of place in a phone that is meant to be mostly metallic.

In addition, the ZTE Axon Elite adds a fingerprint reader to the back, as well as the eye scanner and voice commands. These can all be used to unlock your smartphone, giving you plenty of options and secure ways to access your data. These all seem to work well, but I did find some issues with the eye scanning and voice command technology. These were not really huge slowdowns, though. The main problem with voice commands is that you can’t really use it in loud environments, and it was quite noisy at the show floor. Also, I had trouble having the phone scan my eyes with my glasses on. Take them off for a second and it all works seamlessly, though.

In short: The ZTE Axon Elite is pretty much a slightly better version of an already awesome phone. Of course, you can always check out our ZTE Axon review to learn more about our full experience with the US iteration. Otherwise, keep it tuned to Android Authority and let us know what you think of the Axon Elite. Do you wish these extra features came to the ZTE Axon?