ZTE's flagship nubia Z9 is coming to the U.S. later this year

ZTE has just announced that it’s bringing the flagship nubia Z9, which was first announced back in May, to the United States sometime in Q3 of this year. The phone will be available in three models, ranging from $564 to $725. The ‘Exclusive Edition’ (most expensive) will come with 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage and a fingerprint scanner, the ‘Classic Edition’ (least expensive) will have 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, and the ‘Elite Edition’ features just about the same specs as the Exclusive Edition, aside from the omission of the fingerprint scanner.

When the ZTE nubia Z9 was first announced, it not only caught headlines for its high-end specifications, but also for its interesting implementation of a fingerprint sensor which is found on the side of the device. As you can tell from the photo above, the smartphone also features extremely thin side bezels, measuring just .8mm thin. Because of the thin borders, this allows ZTE to add in a few nifty hand gestures. ZTE explains:

By adopting nubia’s Frame interactive Technology (FiT), the nubia Z9 allows users to control their phones by using grip and gesture based controls, such as touching the edge of the screen. For instance, users can quickly launch the camera feature by simply turning the phone sideways and placing four fingertips on the edge of the screen or take a one-handed selfie by squeezing the handset without touching any buttons. With FiT technology, users will reduce the average smartphone process to 2.7 steps as compared to traditional smartphones.  In addition, the nubia Z9’s new ergonomic design makes it easier to hold the phone and less likely to drop it.

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The phone’s other specs include a 5.2-inch Full HD display, a Snapdragon 810 processor, a 2900mAh battery and a 16MP rear-facing camera with optical image stabilization. The phone also ships with Android 5.0 Lollipop. ZTE says all three models will be available in Black and Gold color options in Q3 through select retailers and at nubia.cn.

It will certainly be interesting to see just how well the nubia Z9 does in the U.S., mainly because of its high price tag. Of course, the phone does offer some pretty great specifications, but the phone’s expensive price will also pit it up against major players in the U.S. like Samsung, HTC and LG. With that said, would you be more inclined to purchase a device like this, or would you rather go with a more mainstream product like the Galaxy S6 or G4?