ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra (256GB / 12GB RAM)

The ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra has a non-folding, standard-form design measuring 164.3 × 77.1 mm with a thickness of 8.6 mm and a total volume of approximately 108.94 cm³, coming in at a weight of 228 g. One of its more notable physical attributes is its IP69 ingress protection rating, which classifies the device as fully waterproof and capable of withstanding high-pressure water exposure. The build does not qualify as rugged in the traditional reinforced sense, but the IP69 certification nonetheless reflects a strong level of water resistance for everyday and demanding environments.

The ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra features a 6.85″ OLED/AMOLED touchscreen with a resolution of 1216 × 2688 px and a pixel density of 400 ppi, producing a sharp and detailed image across its large panel. The display runs at a 144Hz refresh rate backed by an exceptionally high touch sampling rate of 2500Hz, ensuring smooth motion and highly responsive input. Typical brightness is rated at 1500 nits, and the screen supports both HDR10 and HDR10+, while Dolby Vision is not supported. An Always-On Display mode is available, whereas there is no secondary screen. The panel does not include branded damage-resistant glass.

The ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, built on a 3 nm process with an 8-thread CPU configured at 2 × 4.32 GHz and 6 × 3.53 GHz, a TDP of 8.2W, and support for big.LITTLE architecture with HMP and multithreading. It comes with 12 GB of DDR5 RAM running at 5300 MHz across 2 memory channels, a maximum supported memory amount of 24 GB, and 256 GB of internal storage; memory bandwidth peaks at 85.1 GB/s and ECC memory is supported. The Adreno 830 GPU operates at a clock speed of 1100 MHz with 1536 shading units, supports DirectX 12, OpenGL 3.2, OpenGL ES 3.2, and OpenCL 3, and can drive up to 2 displays. Cache configuration includes 192 KB L1, 12 MB L2, and 8 MB L3. On the benchmark side, the chipset scores 2,710,000 on AnTuTu, 10,059 multi-core and 3,234 single-core on Geekbench 6, 24,225 on PCMark Work 3.0 performance with a battery endurance result of 548 minutes, and 2,161 on 3DMark Steel Nomad. The SoC includes integrated LTE, integrated graphics, TrustZone security, and full 64-bit support.

The ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra carries a multi-lens rear camera system with three sensors rated at 64 MP, 50 MP, and 50 MP, paired with apertures of f/1.6, f/2.5, and f/2.0 respectively, along with 3.3× optical zoom and built-in optical image stabilization. The system uses a CMOS sensor and supports phase-detection autofocus for stills as well as continuous autofocus during video recording, though a back-illuminated sensor is not present. Video capture reaches up to 4320 × 30 fps, and slow-motion recording is also supported. Flash is handled by a dual-tone LED setup with four LEDs in total, while an RGB LED flash and a front-facing flash are not included. Manual controls cover exposure, ISO, focus, white balance, and shutter speed, and shooting modes include HDR, burst, timelapse, in-camera panorama, and touch autofocus; 360-degree panorama and RAW capture are not available. The 16 MP front camera sits under the display and is a single-lens unit without its own flash, and 3D photo or video recording is not supported.

The ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra runs Android 15, a free and open-source platform that supports multiple user accounts and includes a broad set of privacy controls — among them clipboard warnings, location privacy options, camera and microphone access management, and the ability to block app tracking; cross-site tracking blocking and Mail Privacy Protection are not present. The interface supports theme customization, dynamic theming, dark mode, and an extra dim mode, while widgets, split-screen multitasking, Picture-in-Picture, and sharing intents are all available. Notification handling is flexible with both notification permissions and customizable notification settings, and a media picker is included alongside full-page scrolling screenshots and Live Text for selecting text within images. Additional capabilities include on-device machine learning, offline voice recognition, voice commands, phone tracking, a child lock, battery health check, app offloading, and the ability to play games while they are still downloading. Focus modes, Wi-Fi password sharing, Quick Start, and the ability to function as a PC are not supported, and direct OS updates from the vendor are not provided.

The ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra is equipped with a 6150 mAh rechargeable, non-removable battery that supports wired fast charging at 80W, and a charger is included in the box. A battery level indicator is present for monitoring charge status. Wireless charging is not supported.

The ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra features stereo speakers and a triple-microphone setup, but does not include a 3.5 mm headphone jack or a built-in radio. On the Bluetooth audio side, the device supports aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, and aptX Lossless, covering a wide range of wireless audio codec options, while LDAC is not supported.

The ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra supports 5G cellular connectivity with download speeds up to 10,000 Mbit/s and upload speeds up to 3,500 Mbit/s, and accommodates two SIM cards. Wi-Fi coverage spans Wi-Fi 4 through Wi-Fi 7, including Wi-Fi 6E and the 802.11be standard, while Bluetooth 5.3 handles short-range wireless communication. Wired connectivity is provided via a USB Type-C port running USB 3.2, though HDMI output is not available and there is no external memory slot. NFC is present, and biometric security is handled by a fingerprint scanner; 3D facial recognition and an iris scanner are not included, nor is a stylus. The sensor suite covers GPS with Galileo support, a gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, and infrared sensor, while a barometer, heart rate monitor, ANT+ support, motion tracking, and optical tracking are absent. Crash detection, emergency SOS via satellite, DLNA certification, and a built-in projector are also not part of the feature set.

The ZTE Nubia Z70 Ultra includes a video light for illumination during video recording. The display is flat rather than curved, uses neither sapphire glass nor an e-paper panel.