ZTE S30 Specifications and Price

ZTE has unveiled the new ZTE S30 series in China. The latest lineup included three models namely, the high end S30 Pro, the base S30, and the S30 SE.

ZTE S30

The vanilla ZTE S30 is similar to the Pro, except with specs and price tag dialed back a bit. The 5G connectivity is courtesy of the Dimensity 720 chipset this time around and the base configuration gets half the storage – 8/128GB (though 8/256GB is available if you want it).

The chipset still gets a heat pipe and the antenna layout is similarly designed to work in any orientation. Like on the Pro, the phone can tap into 4G and Wi-Fi networks when 5G coverage is spotty.

The 6.67” 1080p+ display (20:9) switches over to an LCD with 90Hz refresh rate and good color rendering (95% NTSC). Touch sampling rate is 240Hz, which is still pretty fast. Few games support 144Hz, e.g. Fortnite mobile is capped at 90 fps, so you won’t miss out on many titles (the GPU can’t handle 144fps, anyway).

This phone has a 4,000 mAh battery that charges at 30W. Unfortunately, ZTE doesn’t list charge times, so it’s not clear how much slower this will be in practice compared to the 55W charging of the Pro.

The rear camera on the vanilla S30 is almost the same as the one on the Pro. That means 64MP main, 8MP ultrawide (120º), 2MP macro and 2MP depth sensor. The one major change is that 4K recording is limited to 30 fps.

The vanilla S30 has mostly the same camera setup, 64+8+2+2 MP, though it loses the 4K 60fps modeThe vanilla S30 has mostly the same camera setup, 64+8+2+2 MP, though it loses the 4K 60fps mode

The selfie camera has been demoted to a 16MP sensor, so selfies and vlogging are still on the table, the image quality just won’t be as nice as on the Pro. One interesting feature is auto-generated subtitles (AI transcribes people’s speech).

ZTE S30 Specifications

Network Properties                         

• 2G bands: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – SIM 1 & SIM 2
• 3G bands: HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
• 4G bands: 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 34, 38, 39, 40, 41
• 5G bands: 1, 28, 41, 78 SA/NSA
• Speed: HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A (CA), 5G

Launch

• Announced: 2021, March 31
• Status: Exp. release 2021, April 03

Design

• Dimensions: 164.8 x 76.4 x 7.9 mm (6.49 x 3.01 x 0.31 in)
• Weight: 184 g (6.49 oz)
• Colors: Black, Pink/Blue
• SIM: Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)

Display

• Type: IPS LCD, 90Hz
• Size: 6.67 inches, 107.4 cm2 (~85.3% screen-to-body ratio)
• Resolution: 1080 x 2400 pixels, 20:9 ratio (~395 ppi density)

Operating System

• Android 11, MyOS 11

Hardware

• Chipset: Qualcomm SM7125 Snapdragon 720G (8 nm)
• CPU: Octa-core (2×2.3 GHz Kryo 465 Gold & 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 465 Silver)
• GPU: Adreno 618
• RAM: 8GB
• Internal Storage: 128GB, 256GB
• Memory Card slot: No

Cameras

• Main Camera: Quad
  • 64 MP, f/1.8, 26mm (wide), 1/1.72″, 0.8µm, PDAF
  • 8 MP, f/2.4, 120˚, 16mm (ultrawide)
  • 5 MP, f/2.4, (macro)
  • 2 MP, f/2.4, (depth)
• Features: Dual-LED flash, HDR, panorama
• Video: [email protected], [email protected], gyro-EIS
• Selfie Camera: Single – 16 MP
• Features: HDR
• Video: [email protected]

Multimedia

• Radio: No
• Loudspeaker: Yes
• Audio 3.5mm jack: Yes

Connectivity

• WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
• Bluetooth: 5.1, A2DP, LE
• GPS: Yes, with A-GPS, BDS
• NFC: No
• USB: USB Type-C 2.0

Features

• Sensors: Fingerprint (side-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass

Battery

• Battery Type and Capacity: Li-Ion 4000 mAh, non-removable
• Charging: Fast charging 30W

Models: 9030N

ZTE S30 Price and Availability

The ZTE S30 will be available in China on April 3. The base 8/128GB model will cost CNY 2,200 ($335/€285). You can double the storage for just CNY200 more – and do keep in mind that none of the S30 phones have a microSD slot.