ZTE Blade Max View and Blade Max 2S first look: 4,000mAh batteries for under $200

After a bit of a hiatus, ZTE is finally making its way back into the U.S. market. While we saw the introduction of a new flagship back at IFA, ZTE’s bread and butter has always been the budget sector in the U.S. With the Blade Max View and Blade 2S, ZTE has come back to its roots.

ZTE Blade Max View

ZTE’s first new phone is the Blade Max View. This device is optimized for Verizon and GSM networks, and sports a 2,160 x 1,080 LCD display. It is definitively mid-ranged, with a Snapdragon 435, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage. It does have a couple of features consumers might want, like a headphone jack and microSD expansion.

On the back you’ll find a set of dual cameras — one with a 16MP sensor and one with a 2MP sensor. The second sensor is primarily for depth sensing and portrait mode. The front-facing camera is 8MP.

Surprisingly, ZTE is including a fairly large 4,000mAh battery in the Blade Max View. It has USB Type-C charging as well, proving MicroUSB is almost completely gone from the market. A fingerprint reader is stationed on the rear under the dual camera.

There’s a huge downside though: the ZTE Blade Max View will launch with Android Nougat. Yep, an over-two-year-old version of Android. ZTE is promising an update to Android Oreo in December, but let’s be honest — no device should be launching with Nougat in 2018.

The Blade Max View launches Oct. 31 for $199, available from B&H and Newegg.

ZTE Blade Max 2S

Launching alongside the Blade Max View, the Blade Max 2S has one rear camera instead of two (13MP rear and 5MP front), 2GB of RAM, and it’s optimized for Sprint and GSM networks. The ZTE Blade Max 2S will launch with Android Oreo instead of Nougat, thankfully.

Besides those few differences, you get the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor, 32GB of storage, 1080p display and 4,000mAh battery.

The Blade Max 2S will launch at a lower $179, also at B&H and Newegg on Oct. 31.

Thoughts on the Blade Max View or Blade Max 2S?