ZTE Axon M
Specifications

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Average of 15 scores (from 31 reviews)
Reviews for the ZTE Axon M
Will that work? ZTE delivers the first "foldable" smartphone. While we would have imagined something else, the statement is right in principle. With its two displays and hinge in between, the Axon M reminds us a little of the old Nokia Communicator, but it can do so much more. What exactly that is, we gathered for you in our review.
Source: NDTV Gadgets

ZTE doesn't launch a lot of phones in India, and we don't have confirmation about whether the Axon M will come here at all. If or when it does, we'll put it through all our usual tests and spend enough time with it to give you an idea of how it might work as your next primary device.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 03/01/2018
Source: G Style Magazine

I respect ZTE for trying something different(but not new) as we have grown accustomed to a candy bar style of smartphone but right now that form factor is working. Especially with behemoth displays getting over 6” depending which phone you use. I think it has potential but I’d like to see maybe if ZTE can do it without the glaring fold in the middle, utilize more screen real estate and also not make the glass so glossy. The price tag isn’t going to garner much buyers too with its coming out to $724 and is exclusively under the AT&T brand.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 02/06/2018
Source: CNet

The ZTE Axon M has a heavy and awkward design that's genuinely useful for gaming and multitasking. But if you're not down to go double, spend your money on either a top-tier phone, or a cheaper phone with the same specs as the Axon M.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 12/06/2017
Rating: Total score: 72% performance: 80% mobility: 70% workmanship: 60%
Source: Phone Arena

When it comes down to it, this isn’t the worst effort ZTE could have made, although it is a bit half-baked, and the Axon M falls short in key areas. Unfortunately, software is the one of the most deficient areas of the M. Simply stretching and splitting content in accordance with the in-built functionalities of the Android OS leaves the user with a rather slapdash user experience. Games can’t take advantage of the large double screen in any real way, videos are rather unpleasant with the black bar in the middle, and transitions between screen modes are often dreadfully unresponsive.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 11/23/2017
Rating: Total score: 40%
Source: Tom's Guide

ZTE's dual-screen folding smartphone looks, runs and feels like nothing else on the market. But when it comes to smartphones, more isn't always better.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 11/23/2017
Rating: Total score: 50%
Source: Zdnet.com

The ZTE Axon M is clearly a unique smartphone with the two displays. ZTE has done a good job of building a solid smartphone that performed flawlessly for me. This wasn't easy considering there are different screen modes to manage.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 11/21/2017
Rating: Total score: 77%
Source: Android Authority

It isn’t enough to just put another screen on an existing smartphone if it doesn’t first address its core experience – and that, in a nutshell, is the main problem with the ZTE Axon M. It gets us excited to see what comes next, but unless you’re actually looking for a dual screen phone, simply having this one won’t dramatically change your Android life.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 11/19/2017
Rating: Total score: 70% performance: 70% display: 80% mobility: 70% workmanship: 80%
Source: PC Mag

The ZTE Axon M for AT&T has a unique design that folds out to reveal a second display, effectively transforming the phone into a small tablet, but there are some kinks to work out.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 11/16/2017
Rating: Total score: 70%
Source: Android Authority

We’ve seen a lot of interesting smartphones in 2017, but the Axon M stands out as the most unique device this year, and arguably in the past few years, too. There’s no doubt the Axon M is going to catch your attention, but do you think it offers enough? What do you think of ZTE’s latest attempt at being different? Do you need two screens? Are foldable displays the next big trend or nothing more than a clever gimmick like 3D cameras?
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 10/18/2017
Source: Techradar

The ZTE Axon M is the wildcard smartphone of late 2017, and we’re eager to see how it performs and is received. This an ambitious design idea that makes a lot of sense for the future of smartphones.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 10/17/2017
Source: PC Mag

The ZTE Axon M for AT&T has a unique design that folds out to reveal a second display, effectively transforming the phone into a small tablet.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 10/17/2017
Foreign Reviews
Source: Android Pit

Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 03/01/2018
Source: Curved

Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 02/27/2018
Source: Movil Zona

Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 02/17/2018
Rating: Total score: 70% price: 70% performance: 70% display: 70% mobility: 70% workmanship: 70%
Source: Xataka

Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 02/16/2018
Rating: Total score: 74% performance: 85% display: 70% mobility: 80% workmanship: 75%
Source: Computerhoy

Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 02/13/2018
Rating: Total score: 72% price: 70% features: 80% display: 80% mobility: 70% workmanship: 60%
Source: Tuexperto

Positive: Nice design; good display; decent hardware; good price.
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 02/27/2018
Source: El Androide Libre

Positive: Nice design; good display; high performance; long battery life.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 02/13/2018
Source: Smartphone Italia

Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 05/28/2018
Rating: Total score: 70% price: 60% features: 70% display: 90% mobility: 80% workmanship: 90% ergonomy: 90%
Source: Tech Different

Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 05/15/2018
Rating: Total score: 68% display: 70% mobility: 75% ergonomy: 50%
Source: Techzilla.it

Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 04/09/2018
Rating: Total score: 64% price: 65% display: 75% mobility: 70% workmanship: 50%
Source: AndroidWorld.it

Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 03/15/2018
Rating: Total score: 70% price: 70% features: 65% display: 75% mobility: 60% workmanship: 80% ergonomy: 80%
Source: Andrea Galeazzi

Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 02/24/2018
Rating: Total score: 69% price: 65% display: 65% mobility: 70% workmanship: 90%
Source: Panorama

Positive: Nice design; good display; decent cameras.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 05/01/2018
Source: Smartphone Italia

Positive: Impressive display; decent hardware; nice cameras; good battery life.
Single Review, online available, Very Short, Date: 04/20/2018
Source: Leonardo.it Tech

Positive: Nice design; decent hardware; good price.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 04/06/2018
Source: Panorama

Positive: Elegant design; nice display; powerful processor. Negative: Thick; short battery life; high price.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 02/23/2018
Source: HDblog.it

Positive: Solid workmanship; nice design. Negative: Low performance; poor display; high price.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 02/22/2018
Source: AndroidPit.fr

Positive: Impressive dual display. Negative: Mediocre ergonomy.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 03/02/2018
Source: Phonandroid

Positive: Good price; impressive design; decent hardware.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 02/27/2018
Source: The Gioididong

Positive: Impressive design; excellent dual display. Negative: Average performance; poor cameras in low light; easy to scratch.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 12/06/2017
Comment
Model: The ZTE Axon M has two screens stacked on top of one another and folds open to form a 6.75-inch mini-tablet. It isn't a new concept. It apes the Kyocera Echo and Sony Tablet P, both of which also had two screens attached together with a hinge and were mediocre. Thankfully, technology has progressed in the five to six years since, and the Axon M is faster, smoother and has more capabilities. Its two screens come in handy with some day-to-day tasks and can be surprisingly useful in very specific instances, like multitaskers who want to use apps side-by-side or gamers itching for that Nintendo 3DS look and feel. Compared to the streamlined design found on many of today’s smartphones, even some affordable ones, the ZTE Axon M is bulky. When closed, the Axon M is an extra-thick 5.2-inch phone with all its buttons on the left edge and a hinge on the right. When a user wants to use the extra screen, they will have to fold the second display from behind, like opening a book with the binding toward a user and the pages facing downward.
One of the control buttons on the side is a quick launch button. A user can double-click it to launch the camera. A long press lets the user assign the default app. Users can also have the "TV Mode" as default app. This automatically sets the phone to the expanded viewing option and opens a video-viewing app of their choice. From a technical standpoint, the ZTE Axon M is a small step up from the company’s last smartphone, the ZTE Axon 7. It has similar specs to the Google Pixel from 2016, complete with 4 GB of RAM and the Snapdragon 821 powering the experience. There’s only a single 20-megapixel camera on the Axon M. Hitting a button to switch between the front- and rear-facing camera on this phone actually flips the entire screen around to the other display. Photos are filled with detail and accurate color. Low-light performance is so-so, but it should be so much better with the camera’s f/1.8 aperture value. There appears to be no help on the software side of things to even out the lighting and color balance, as night-time photography does not look as well-lit. Even with heavy use of the two screens, the 3,180 mAh battery didn’t have any problems making it to the end of the day. The screens don’t hurt battery life that dramatically. The ZTE Axon M operates like 99% of all other Android smartphones. Promised to receive Android Oreo in the near future, for now, it’s loaded with Android Nougat 7.1.2. As such, a user will find stock features like split-window multitasking with ZTE’s own layer on top of it.
Hands-on article by Jagadisa Rajarathnam
Qualcomm Adreno 530: Integrated graphics card in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 that is clocked at up to 624 MHz. Early 2016 it is a high end graphics card for Android based smartphones and tablets that should be able to coop with very demanding games.
Non demanding games should be playable with these graphics cards.
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.
SD 821: High-end ARM SoC with 4 CPU cores (two fast 2.4 GHz cores in a cluster and two power saving 1.6 GHz cores) and an Adreno 530 GPU. Manufactured in a 14 nm HPM process.» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.
5.20":
It is a very small display format for smartphones. You should by no means be mis-sighted and you will generally see very little on the screen and only have a small resolution available. In return, the device should be very small and handy.
» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.ZTE:
ZTE is short for Zhong Xing Telecommunication Equipment Company Limited, which was founded in China in 1985 and is partly state-owned. ZTE's core business is wireless, optical transmission, data transmission equipment, telecommunications software and cell phones, USB sticks, routers and tablets.
68.06%: This rating is poor. More than three quarters of the models are rated better. That is rather not a purchase recommendation. Even if verbal ratings in this area do not sound that bad ("sufficient" or "satisfactory"), they are usually euphemisms that disguise a classification as a below-average laptop.
» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.