The ZTE Axon 7 is now official and aiming for the big leagues

ZTE hasn't really been shy when it comes to the new Axon. Originally thought to bear the logical Axon 2 moniker, the device cleared TENAA all the way back in April and has been exciting fans with its specs and premium appearance since. Well, today, as promised, the device was finally made official as the ZTE Axon 7. That's a rather odd choice for a second in-line device with a 5.5-inch display, but hey, 7 seems to be the number to have this year, considering the Samsung Galaxy S7, upcoming iPhone 7 and perhaps even a Galaxy Note 7.

ZTE Axon 7 Quartz Grey

Odd naming convention aside, the ZTE Axon 7 is one gorgeous and powerful device. It's constructed with an aluminum unibody, measuring 151.8 x 75 x 8.7 mm and weighing in at 185 grams. You can opt for either the Ion Gold or Quartz Grey color options and both do look quite exquisite. The Axon 7 is not only a charmer, but it also packs some impressive hardware, that definitely put in the flagship league this year.

It is equipped with a 5.5-inch AMOLED panel with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels (538 ppi) and covered by a 2.5D glass and Gorilla Glass 4 finish. Powering the show is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC, which brings along an Adreno 530 GPU, as well as other goodies, like Cat. 6 LTE, VoLTE and Quick-charge 3.0 for the 3140 mAh non-removable battery pack. As for memory, you get a choice of two options: 4GB of RAM, plus 64GB of storage or the impressive 6GB of RAM and 128GB of on-board space, both also extendable with a microSD card.

The camera setup on the ZTE Axon 7 consists of a 20MP, f/1.8 main shooter with a Samsung Isocell sensor, sapphire lens and various goodies like OIS, EIS and PDAF with a close loop VCM for better auto focus. It is capable of capturing video at up to 4K at 30fps. There is also a dual-LED flash and an 8MP selfie shooter on the front.

ZTE Axon 7 Ion Gold

As already mentioned, audio seems to be a big deal with the ZTE Axon 7, as evident by the dedicated AKM 4961 + 4490 audio chips, dual speaker setup and Dolby Atmos support. The handset is also impressive on the audio capture side with Dimensional and Omni Directional recording. We also can't fail to mention the rear-mounted fingerprint reader and the USB Type-C connector thrown in the mix.