ZTE Axon 30 5G

Huge, vibrant display ; Brilliantly well-hidden selfie camera ; Strong performance

Drab design ; Mediocre cameras ; Underwhelming battery life

The ZTE Axon 30 5G is a fairly ordinary mid-range smartphone with one stand out feature: a large, fluid, and notchless OLED display. As a package, it’s not as compelling as the OnePlus Nord 2, and the Poco F3 provides superior value, but it’s a solid...

Lightweight design.

Sub-optimal camera performance across the board.

Looking ahead, the Axon 30 5G may go down the price ladder, and then you can probably consider buying one. But for now, we suggest you skip it unless you are here solely for the novelty of the under-display camera.

Great under-display camera ; Fantastic big display ; Good specs

Plastic back ; No telephoto lens ; No wireless battery charging

An under-display camera better than rivals - including Samsung ; Big and bold 120Hz display ; Capable performer

Software stalls some notifications ; Battery life isn't that great ; So-so cameras ; Build quality isn't the best

While the under-display camera here is without rival - it's easily the best implementation of the technology to date, meaning the big screen can dominate - much of the Axon 30 5G's other features don't live up to quite such lofty heights. So-so...

Gorgeous 6.9-inch display ; Speedy performance from Snapdragon 870 ; Strong speakers ; Decent battery life ; Under-display selfie cameras are the future, but...

...selfies are bad ; Average cameras ; Below-average battery life ; Phablet size is not for everyone

The ZTE Axon 30 5G is a decent phablet, but the under-screen selfie camera is poor and you can get more powerful phones with longer battery life at the same price.

Gorgeous 6.92in AMOLED display ; Second-gen under-display camera tech ; Great performance

Middling battery life ; Plastic build ; Cameras aren't quite up to scratch

The ZTE Axon 30 5G is a competitively priced mid-range smartphone with premium features, including a gorgeous 6.92in AMOLED display and second-gen under-display camera tech that blows the UDC competition out of the water - even if it's still not quite...

'All-screen' design with under-display camera ; Very light for the screen size and comfortable to hold ; Good set of cameras, including the under-display and macro ones ; Very fast charging ; Smooth near-stock interface with useful extra features ;...

The display could be a bit brighter ; Tailored towards T-Mobile's mid-band 5G network only ; Hidden selfie cameras still have some image quality catching up to do ; Pictures could be sharper and with more uniform white balance across cameras

Good-looking exterior ; Fast performance ; 120 Hz mode ; Excellent AMOLED display

Weak cameras all around ; Fingerprint magnet ; Lack of update gurantees

Under-display camera is much improved from ZTE Axon 20 ; Huge, high-quality display ; Strong performance ; Decent battery life and charging speed

Produces average photos at best ; Undersized battery ; Messy design

The Axon 30 is a much better phone than the Axon 20 was, but unfortunately the competition has moved forward, too, as you can see with comparable phones from OnePlus and Samsung. At least the Axon 30 can still lay claim to having the best under-display...