Chinese smartphone maker ZTE is gearing up to launch another smartphone in India. The brand entered the Indian market last year with its Nubia Z9 and Nubia Z9 Mini smartphones. These phones were limited to online buyers only, which is a case with most of the Chinese brands in India. Unlike Xiaomi, ZTE did not excel at impressing Indian consumers. The company is now launching its Nubia Z11 and Nubia N1 smartphones in India on December 14.
The Nubia Z11 was launched in China back in June this year. It comes with a 5.5-inch full HD 1080p 2.5D curved glass bezel-less display featuring 81% screen-to-body ratio. It runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Nubia UI 4.0 skin on top and is powered by a 2.15GHz quad-core Snapdragon 820 chipset. There is 16-megapixel primary camera onboard with dual-tone LED flash, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), phase detection autofocus (PDAF), IMX298 sensor, and 6P lens. The 8-megapixel front snapper comes with 5P lens, f/2.4 aperture, 80-degree wide-angle lens. In China, the phone was announced in 4GB RAM/64GB storage and 6GB RAM/128GB storage variants.
Like most of the recently launched smartphones, this one also features a fingerprint sensor, placed on the rear with an unlocking speed of just 0.1 seconds (as touted by ZTE). Also, the Z11 is equipped with an AK4376 audio chip, SmartPA amplifier, and Dolby Atmos for a better sound output. Regarding design, the device looks pretty thin with a thickness of just 7.5mm. A 3000mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 backs the device. For connectivity, Nubia Z11 smartphone supports Hybrid Dual-SIM, 4G LTE with VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 / 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.1, GPS + GLONASS, USB Type-C, and NFC.
On the other hand, the Nubia N1 comes with a 5.5-inch full HD LTPS IPS LCD screen. It is powered by a Mediatek Helio P10 octa-core chipset clubbed with 3GB of RAM. There is 64GB of internal storage onboard, which can be further increased up to 128GB via microSD card. At the rear, the phone sports a 13MP camera with LED flash, PDAF, f/2.2 aperture, along with a 13MP camera on the front. A massive 5,000mAh battery backs the Nubia N1. The device runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Similar to the Nubia Z11, it also equipped with a Dolby Atmos audio and fingerprint sensor. For connectivity, it supports Hybrid Dual-SIM, 4G LTE with VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS + GLONASS, and USB Type-C.
The Z11 will be competing with smartphones under 30K such as the LeEco LeMax 2, OnePlus 3, and Huawei's Honor 8. To become a successful brand in India, ZTE needs to price its smartphones wisely as the competition is pretty stiff. It is a tough road ahead for the brand as its rivals have already made a place for themselves in the Indian smartphone market.
One of the reasons why ZTE could not fare well in the market is because of its lacklustre marketing, which failed to catch the attention of Indian consumers. Now, for its upcoming launches, we hope ZTE buckles up its strategy and offer devices at a competitive pricing accompanied by after sale services and offline stores.
