ZTE Nubia S 5G

The ZTE Nubia S 5G has a standard, non-folding form factor with dimensions of 168 mm in height, 77 mm in width, and a thickness of 8.7 mm, weighing 197 g with a total volume of 112.5432 cm³. A standout aspect of its build is the IP68 ingress protection rating, which classifies the device as waterproof against dust and water under standard conditions. It does not feature a rugged construction, so while the IP68 rating provides meaningful water resistance, the chassis itself is not built to military-grade or ruggedized standards.

The ZTE Nubia S 5G features a 6.7″ IPS LCD touchscreen with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels and a pixel density of 393 ppi, delivering a reasonably sharp visual experience. The display does not include branded damage-resistant glass, and it lacks support for HDR10, HDR10+, or Dolby Vision, meaning advanced high dynamic range content rendering is not available. There is no Always-On Display mode and no secondary screen, keeping the design straightforward as a single-panel device.

The ZTE Nubia S 5G is driven by the Unisoc Tanggula T760 chipset, built on a 7 nm process with an octa-core CPU configuration using big.LITTLE technology — four cores clocked at 2.2 GHz and four at 1.8 GHz across 8 threads — paired with 4 GB of DDR4 RAM running at 2133 MHz across two memory channels and 128 GB of internal storage expandable up to 1024 GB externally. Graphics are handled by an integrated Mali-G57 GPU with a turbo clock of 650 MHz, supporting DirectX 12, OpenGL ES 3.2, and OpenCL 2.0, while the SoC also includes integrated LTE, ARM TrustZone security, and 64-bit support. Geekbench 5 results show a single-core score of 541 and a multi-core score of 2155, and while the maximum supported memory ceiling reaches 32 GB, ECC memory is not supported.

The ZTE Nubia S 5G sports a multi-lens rear camera system anchored by a 50 MP primary CMOS sensor, accompanied by two 2 MP auxiliary lenses, while the front carries a single 16 MP camera without a front-facing flash or a secondary lens. The main camera supports phase-detection autofocus for stills, touch autofocus, continuous autofocus during video, and a range of manual controls including exposure, ISO, focus, and white balance, though manual shutter speed is not available. Video recording tops out at 1080p at 30 fps with slow-motion support, but HDR10 and Dolby Vision recording are not available, and there is no optical image stabilization or optical zoom. A single LED flash is present on the rear — not dual-tone or RGB — and shooting options include burst mode, in-camera panoramas, and HDR mode, while RAW capture, 360-degree panorama, laser autofocus, and 3D recording are absent.

The ZTE Nubia S 5G runs Android 14, an open-source platform that supports multi-user operation, split-screen multitasking, Picture-in-Picture, widgets, sharing intents, and the ability to play games while they download. Privacy features are well represented, covering location controls, camera and microphone access management, clipboard warnings, and app tracking blocking, though cross-site tracking protection and Mail Privacy Protection are not included. On the personalization side, the OS offers theme customization, dynamic theming, dark mode, an extra dim mode, customizable notifications with granular permission controls, a media picker, full-page scrolling screenshots, and Live Text for selecting text from images. Additional capabilities include on-device machine learning, offline voice recognition, voice commands, battery health monitoring, a child lock, and device position tracking, while focus modes, Wi-Fi password sharing, app offloading, Quick Start, and PC mode are absent. OS updates are not delivered directly from the vendor.

The ZTE Nubia S 5G is equipped with a 5000 mAh rechargeable battery that supports fast charging, allowing for quicker top-ups compared to standard charging. The battery is non-removable and does not support wireless charging, so power delivery relies entirely on a wired connection. A battery level indicator is built in, giving users a straightforward way to monitor remaining charge at a glance.

The audio configuration of the ZTE Nubia S 5G is notably limited — the device lacks a 3.5 mm headphone jack and does not feature stereo speakers, so wired headphone connectivity and multi-channel speaker output are both absent. On the wireless audio side, none of the high-quality Bluetooth codec standards are supported, including aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, and LDAC, which restricts the options for lossless or enhanced wireless audio playback. There is also no built-in radio tuner.

The ZTE Nubia S 5G offers a solid connectivity package, with 5G cellular support, Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) and Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), Bluetooth 5.0, and NFC, alongside a USB Type-C port running USB 2.0 and an external memory slot for storage expansion. SIM configuration consists of one physical SIM and one eSIM, and wired video output via HDMI is not available. For navigation, the device includes GPS with Galileo support, a compass, gyroscope, and accelerometer, though a barometer, infrared sensor, heart rate monitor, and motion or optical tracking are all absent. Security is handled through a fingerprint scanner, while 3D facial recognition and an iris scanner are not present. Features such as satellite emergency SOS, crash detection, ANT+, DLNA certification, a built-in projector, and a stylus are likewise not included.

The ZTE Nubia S 5G includes a video light, which can be used to illuminate subjects during video recording. The display is flat rather than curved and does not use sapphire glass or an e-paper panel.