First ZTE Axon S leak - Five cameras, side slider, 5x optical zoom, UD fingerprint reader

ZTE has been rather quiet over the past year. The Axon 9 Pro was expected to be a successor to the impressive Axon 7 phones but it was met with a lukewarm reception when it was unveiled in August. ZTE may be set to make restitution for its mistakes, though, and a new device from the company’s stables has leaked.

The device, the Axon S, will be the most innovative device ZTE has ever made, if the leak is to be believed. The Axon S is expected to sport a 95% screen to body ratio, which has to be the highest we’ve ever seen on a mainstream device. That screen to body ratio is made possible by the phone’s slider design. The display is apparently a 6.8-inch 21:9 AMOLED one, and there’s a fingerprint reader embedded into it.

We’ve seen manual sliders in a couple of phones—the Mi Mix 3 and Honor Magic 2 come to mind—but most have opted for sliders at the top. The Axon S will do things differently, though, as it uses a side slider. 

The Axon S will feature five cameras in total: Three rear cameras, and two front-facing ones. The triple rear camera setup comprises of a 48 MP sensor—possibly the Sony IMX586, a 19 MP sensor, and a telephoto lens supposedly capable of 5x optical zoom. Considering the fact that 3x optical zoom is the most we’ve seen so far—the Huawei P30 Pro will supposedly have 5x optical zoom too but it's not been unveiled yet—we’re very much interested in seeing what the Axon S is capable of. There's also a Xenon flash below the rear cameras.

The Axon S is said to have 5G support, so we expect it to be rather pricey.