ZTE Nubia Air

The ZTE Nubia Air has a non-folding, non-rugged design measuring 164.2 mm tall, 76.6 mm wide, and 6.7 mm thick, with a total volume of 84.27 cm³ and a weight of 172 g. One of its more notable physical attributes is its IP68 ingress protection rating, which certifies the device as waterproof and capable of withstanding submersion at depths of up to 1.5 metres.

The ZTE Nubia Air features a 6.78″ OLED/AMOLED touchscreen with a resolution of 1224 x 2720 px and a pixel density of 440 ppi, delivering a sharp visual output alongside a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth on-screen motion. The display is protected by Gorilla Glass 7i and supports Always-On Display functionality, though it does not include HDR10, HDR10+, or Dolby Vision, and there is no secondary screen. The device has a single, primary display with no folding or dual-screen configuration.

The ZTE Nubia Air is powered by the Unisoc T8300 chipset, built on a 6 nm process with an octa-core CPU configuration of 2 x 2.2 GHz and 6 x 2 GHz cores using big.LITTLE technology, 8 threads, and 64-bit support. It is paired with 8GB of RAM running at 2133 MHz and 256GB of internal storage, with a maximum memory bandwidth of 17.07 GB/s. Graphics are handled by the integrated Mali-G57 MP2 GPU clocked at 950 MHz, supporting a single display. The chipset also includes integrated LTE and ARM TrustZone security, and Geekbench 6 results stand at 908 for single-core and 2221 for multi-core performance.

The ZTE Nubia Air features a dual-lens rear camera system combining a 50 MP and a 2 MP sensor, using a CMOS sensor without back-side illumination and with no optical image stabilization or optical zoom. Autofocus options include phase-detection and touch autofocus for photos, as well as continuous autofocus during video recording, though laser autofocus is absent. The main camera records video at 1080p and 30 fps with slow-motion support, while HDR mode, burst shooting, timelapse, panorama, and a range of manual controls — including manual exposure, ISO, focus, and white balance — are all available; manual shutter speed, RAW capture, HDR10 recording, and Dolby Vision recording are not supported. A single LED flash is present on the rear, but there is no dual-tone or RGB flash. On the front, a 20 MP single-lens camera handles selfies without a front-facing flash, and it is not positioned under the display.

The ZTE Nubia Air runs on Android 15 and includes a broad set of privacy and usability features. On the privacy side, it offers clipboard warnings, location privacy options, camera and microphone access controls, and the ability to block app tracking, though Mail Privacy Protection and cross-site tracking blocking are not present. The OS supports dark mode, dynamic theming, theme customization, extra dim mode, widgets, split-screen multitasking, Picture-in-Picture, scrolling screenshots, a media picker, customizable notifications with notification permission controls, and sharing intents. It also accommodates multiple user accounts, app offloading, a child lock, phone tracking, and battery health monitoring. On-device machine learning is supported, as are offline voice recognition and voice commands, while Wi-Fi password sharing, focus modes, Quick Start, and the ability to function as a PC are not available. OS updates are not delivered directly from the vendor.

The ZTE Nubia Air is equipped with a 5000 mAh rechargeable, non-removable battery that supports 33W fast wired charging and includes a battery level indicator. Wireless charging and reverse wireless charging are not available on this device.

The ZTE Nubia Air includes two microphones but lacks a 3.5 mm headphone jack, stereo speakers, and a built-in radio. On the wireless audio side, none of the high-quality Bluetooth codec options are supported, including aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, or LDAC.

The ZTE Nubia Air supports 5G connectivity and accommodates two SIM cards, with Wi-Fi coverage across Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) and Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) standards. Bluetooth 5.4 and NFC are both present, while the device connects via USB Type-C with USB 2.0. There is no external memory slot, HDMI output, or DLNA certification. The sensor suite includes a fingerprint scanner, GPS with Galileo support, gyroscope, accelerometer, and compass, though a barometer, infrared sensor, heart rate monitor, and both motion and optical tracking are absent. Biometric security is limited to the fingerprint scanner, as 3D facial recognition and an iris scanner are not featured. The device does not include a stylus, built-in projector, crash detection, emergency SOS via satellite, or ANT+ support.

The ZTE Nubia Air includes a video light for use during video recording, while the display is flat rather than curved and uses neither sapphire glass nor an e-paper panel.