Insane flagship-killing specs listed for new ZTE phone

ZTE Star 2
ZTE's next phone could have world-beating specs

Thought the Samsung Galaxy S6 was powerful with its 2.1GHz octa-core processor and 3GB of RAM? Think again. Sure, it's arguably the most powerful smartphone around right now, but the ZTE Nubia Z9 has just been certified in China and the specs attached to it dwarf the S6.

The specs, which appeared on TENAA (China's certification body) and were spotted by GizmoChina, should be accurate as TENAA isn't in the habit of making things up, but they just seem too high to be true.

The phone supposedly has a 3.5GHz octa-core processor and 8GB of RAM. That's serious overkill if true, we weren't expecting to see phones with those sorts of specs for at least a couple of years.

Too good to be true?

As such we have a hard time believing they're true, especially when the rest of the listed specs are more reasonable, such as a 5.15-inch 1080p display, a 16MP rear camera, an 8MP front-facing one, 32GB of storage and a 3000mAh battery with Android 5.0 on board.

Those specs aren't to be sniffed at, but they feel more like what you'd expect from a 2015 phone, so we have to assume that the processor and RAM are probably mistakes or typos. Then again if ZTE wants to make a splash it's always possible that it really has gone this overboard.

The phone is pegged for a May 6 announcement, so the truth of the matter will be known soon.

  • The OnePlus 2 could have some pretty tasty specs of its own.
James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.