ZTE Axon 7 Mini debuts with 5.2-inch display and metal unibody design

ZTE has been going after the unlocked market in the U.S. with its Axon family of smartphones, with the most recent release being the Axon 7 in July. Now the Axon family is growing again.

The ZTE Axon 7 Mini was announced today at IFA 2016. As you might expect, the Axon 7 Mini is a smaller version of the Axon 7, but both phones offer a similar outer shell. They’ve both got the same design, they’ve both got front-facing speakers, and they’ve got both got fingerprint readers below their rear cameras. Things get a bit different when you compare spec lists, though.

The Axon 7 Mini boasts a 5.2-inch 1920×1080 AMOLED display, whereas the Axon 7’s got a 5.5-inch 2560×1440 AMOELD screen. Inside the Axon 7 Mini’s all-metal unibody shell is an octa-core Snapdragon 617 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, dual SIM slots (slot two can also hold a microSD card), a 2,705mAh battery with Quick Charge support, and a USB Type-C port.

There’s a 16-megapixel camera on the back of the Axon 7 Mini that offers phase detection autofocus and a dual LED (single-tone) flash, and around on the front of the phone there’s an 8-megapixel camera for your selfie needs. The software powering the Axon 7 Mini is Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow.

Finally, the Axon 7 Mini’s wireless connectivity includes GSM 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA 850/900/1700/1900/2100, and LTE bands 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/17/20/38/40/41. ZTE tells me that the Axon 7 Mini will support LTE band 12 and VoLTE on T-Mobile, but not Wi-Fi Calling.

ZTE plans to launch the Axon 7 Mini in Russia, Germany, Spain, Poland, Japan, Australia, India, and Saudi Arabia at the end of September for €299 ($333 USD). The Axon 7 Mini will be sold in the U.S., too, but ZTE hasn’t yet divulged its U.S. launch and pricing plans for the phone.

The Axon 7 Mini isn’t quite as high-end as its larger Axon 7 sibling, but it’s still got a respectable feature set with premium features like a metal unibody design and dual front-facing speakers. We’ll have to wait and see how ZTE ends up pricing the Axon 7 Mini, but if you’re in the market for an affordable Android phone, this one might be worth keeping an eye on.