Rumor | ZTE teases IR blaster functions as well as under-display cameras in the Axon 40 series

ZTE's official Axon 40 Ultra design teasers have prompted a famous leaker to back the smartphone as the 'perfect Galaxy S22 Ultra', as the device does indeed look like one with the 2022 Samsung flagship's silhouette, but with a truly edge-to-edge, uninterrupted display due to its third-gen under-display camera (UDC). Now, it seems it may also be a top-end smartphone with an infra-red (IR) blaster to boot.

This feature had been a part of flagships throughout Android history, yet have been steadily (if inexplicably) phased out over the last few years - in fact, the last Galaxy S devices to have one were the S6 and S6 Edge.

However, according to ITHome, ZTE is bringing it back in the Axon 40 series so that its users can transfer their gameplay to a connected TV in the most seamless and convenient way possible.

Should the OEM's alleged new posters be anything to go by, the spec might be coming to the Axon 40 or 40 Ultra - or possibly both. This is because those 2 variants are linked to new UDC panels, whereas the 40 Pro is not.

A seperate leak indicates that this middle-child variant is coming with a conventional punch-hole display, and will offer an ISOCELL HM2 as a main rear camera as a selling point instead. This large sensor may be found in an angel-eye camera hump in this device.

Finally, ZTE is said to introduce an in-house chipset for enhanced security in the Axon 40 series.