GTrusted

Comparing the ZTE Axon 7 vs the ZMAX PRO (Both Have USB Type-C)

Chinese telecom giant ZTE joins Huawei in continuing their charge into the US market with the Axon 7 which enjoyed visible end of aisle display space at Best Buy.

The Axon 7 is positioned very different from the ultra economy model ZTE ZMAX PRO being sold at PCS Metro at a quarter of the price ($165 on Amazon and $99 at PCS Metro if you purchase 1 month service).  Although both support the new USB Type-C connector, they do so in a very different way. 

The Axon 7 supports USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5 Gb/s) and Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 for fast charging.  The ZTE ZMAX PRO, on the other hand, supports USB 2.0 (480 Mb/s) and Qualcomm Quick Charge 1.0 for fast charging.

The Axon 7 has a newer and faster Qualcomm MSM8996 Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm while the ZTE ZMAX PRO uses an older MSM8952 Snapdragon 617.  The Axon 7 also has double the memory with 4GB RAM and 64GB ROM while the ZTE ZMAX PRO has 2 GB RAM and 32 GB ROM.

The ZTE ZMAX PRO's larger size allows it to be able to support a slighting bigger 3400 mAh Battery compared to the 3250 mAh Battery found in the Axon 7.

The Axon 7 also supports the faster 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac compared to the ZTE ZMAX PRO just supporting 802.11 a/b/g/n.  Both support similar specs for Bluetooth and SD card support.

The ZTE ZMAX PRO is an unbelievable value but does so based on using earlier generation components and technology.  If you want to explore using ZTE but want to stick with a premium Android experience, the Axon 7 can be had for $399 on Amazon.