ZTE Axon 40 Ultra review

MyOS 12 on top of Android 12

The Axon 40 Ultra runs Android 12, enhanced by a layer of in-house MyOS, also labeled 12. In most visual respects, MyOS 12 is identical to the previous iteration that we saw on the Axon 30 Ultra.

One of the most prominent ZTE interventions that used to differ from stock Android and other makers' overlays were in the quick toggles area, where the initial swipe would get you 4 large bubbles for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, mobile data, and flashlight (of all things). That's still the case on MyOS 12, but whaddayaknow - now that's the 'default' Android 12 look, too.

There's also a large brightness slider with an Auto toggle. You still can't change the four bubbles, but you can rearrange the regular-sized toggles that appear on the second swipe.

The settings menu is also custom, with ZTE opting for their own iconography and colors and a menu system that's different from Google's but still entirely logical. The About screen is ZTE's own and is pretty nice.

Quick toggles • Quick toggles • Quick toggles • Settings • About screen

ZTE has enhanced the customization options for this version, and all of them are grouped in the Personalization settings submenu. That's where you'll find the Always-on display settings - the feature can be that can be set to show all the time, according to a schedule, or just for 10 seconds after a tap - standard stuff. You get a host of different clock styles, which you can further customize. The fingerprint recognition animation is also customizable.

Always-on display

Also, here you'll find the themes of which there are three pre-installed and no obvious way to get more. You can change app icon shapes and the shapes and colors of other UI elements independently; you can choose between different clock styles for the lockscreen. There's an easy way to set the animation speed without going into developer options.

Personalization settings

Fingerprint recognition is the obvious way to unlock the Axon. It uses an optical sensor, and we had no unusual run-ins with its operation - it unlocks quickly and virtually every time. We appreciate the relatively high position, even though it may require some getting used to.

There's a feature that lets you assign up to 5 app shortcuts that will be available directly after unlocking when you press and hold the fingerprint sensor. It's somewhat quirky because the phone unlocks and takes you to the homescreen for a brief instant first and only then shows you the shortcuts, but it could be handy for the right situations.

You can also set up face recognition as the sole authentication method or have it work in conjunction with the fingerprint reader - whichever works first. Of course, this being a simple 2D camera-only face recognition, it's less secure than the fingerprint option.

Passwords and security

The lockscreen has a clock-style setting of its own and offers standard functionality, including a camera shortcut in the lower right corner. In the lower left, there's a pull-up tab of sorts, which gives you shortcuts to the flashlight (again) and a voice recorder, but no dialer or a way to change these.

The homescreens are simple, and the leftmost pane is the Google feed which you can disable. ZTE hasn't implemented the Android 12 enhanced widget interface. You can choose whether to have all your apps on your homescreens or take the two-tiered approach with homescreens for shortcuts and an app drawer to keep all apps. The app drawer does none of that MIUI category sorting, nor is there a row of frequently used apps, but you can sort it by frequency of use.

Lockscreen • Lockscreen shortcuts • Homescreen • Folder view • Google feed • App drawer

The task switcher is nothing out of the ordinary, and neither is the notification shade (when it comes to the actual notification cards, that is). Notification history has made an appearance, a native Android 11 feature, which ZTE hadn't implemented in the previous MyOS release. They've been speedier with the introduction of the Android 12 Privacy dashboard, though, which is nice.

There are few in-house apps on the Axon. Most key functionality is outsourced to Google's apps, including Photos, Contacts, and Messages, but the File manager is custom.

File manager • Storage settings • Battery settings • Privacy dashboard • RAM expansion

There is a fair number of proprietary features in the Features menu in Settings. That includes the Z-POP arrow shortcut that gives you access to some actions from the sides, but we found that to clash with the back gesture for navigation, plus it feels like a fairly niche feature to begin with.

A standard set of gestures is available, including raise to wake, and flip to mute. There's also a double-shake to start the flashlight from the lockscreen, and that's the third way to access the flashlight so far. This one is kinda picky though because it only works on the lockscreen - not on the always-on display and not with the phone already unlocked.

There's a mistouch prevention setting, too, if you're one to have trouble with the display's curved edges. There are three pre-set levels and a 0-10 slider but going too far to the right is counterproductive - it's almost enough to make the end keys in the keyboard inoperable. The default 'Light' setting (which corresponds to a 1 on the slider) worked fine for this reviewer's palms.

Z-POP • Z-POP settings • Screen recorder • Gestures • Mistouch prevention

Performance and benchmarks

The Axon 40 Ultra is using the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 as most high-end Android phones this year. There's hardly anything we can tell you about Qualcomm's chip that you don't already know, but we'll rehash the specs - octa-core CPU in a 1+3+4 configuration with the prime core topping at 3.0GHz, Adreno 730 GPU.

RAM and storage configurations span a wide range, starting from our 8GB/128GB review unit, and going all the way up to 16GB/1TB, though the global version may only get 12GB/256GB in addition to our review spec, while the rest will probably remain confined to China.

The Axon 40 Ultra posted somewhat inconsistent results across the benchmarks we threw at it. A fairly high single-core score in GeekBench came together with a noticeably low for its chip multi-core result.

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Poco F4 GT
  1244
• Realme GT2 Pro
  1238
• iQOO 9 Pro
  1231
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  1207
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  1196
• vivo X80 Pro
  1184
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  1176
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  1169
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  1165
• Honor Magic4 Pro
  1127
• ZTE Axon 30 Ultra 5G
  1124
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  975
• Realme GT Neo3
  968
• OnePlus 10R
  881

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Realme GT Neo3
  4079
• iQOO 9 Pro
  3708
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  3682
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  3665
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  3658
• Poco F4 GT
  3637
• ZTE Axon 30 Ultra 5G
  3582
• OnePlus 10R
  3564
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  3528
• Honor Magic4 Pro
  3512
• vivo X80 Pro
  3505
• Realme GT2 Pro
  3501
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  3447
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  3189

The Antutu result was similarly one of the lowest ones we've gotten out of an SD 8 Gen 1 handset, though still better than what we squeezed out of the Dimensity 8100 inside the Realme GT Neo3.

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  1007133
• vivo X80 Pro
  1002570
• iQOO 9 Pro
  997948
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  985226
• Honor Magic4 Pro
  980755
• Realme GT2 Pro
  966251
• Poco F4 GT
  952124
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  941895
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  886916
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  886248
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  884923
• Realme GT Neo3
  819348
• ZTE Axon 30 Ultra 5G
  804626
• OnePlus 10R
  759929

Graphics benchmarks paint a similar picture - the Axon 40 Ultra is underdelivering for what its hardware suggests it should be capable of. Others seem to be more adept at extracting higher results from similar bits.

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  61
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  59
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  50
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  46
• Realme GT Neo3
  42
• Honor Magic4 Pro
  40
• ZTE Axon 30 Ultra 5G
  39
• OnePlus 10R
  39
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  37
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  36
• Realme GT2 Pro
  36
• iQOO 9 Pro
  36
• vivo X80 Pro
  34

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 10 Pro
  43
• Realme GT2 Pro
  42
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  41
• vivo X80 Pro
  41
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  41
• Honor Magic4 Pro
  40
• iQOO 9 Pro
  40
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  39
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  35
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  31
• ZTE Axon 30 Ultra 5G
  27
• Realme GT Neo3
  27
• OnePlus 10R
  26

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  61
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  60
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  51
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  45
• Honor Magic4 Pro
  45
• Realme GT Neo3
  43
• ZTE Axon 30 Ultra 5G
  41
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  41
• Realme GT2 Pro
  39
• OnePlus 10R
  39
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  37
• iQOO 9 Pro
  37
• vivo X80 Pro
  34

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 10 Pro
  48
• Realme GT2 Pro
  46
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  45
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  45
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  44
• iQOO 9 Pro
  44
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  42
• vivo X80 Pro
  37
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  34
• Honor Magic4 Pro
  32
• ZTE Axon 30 Ultra 5G
  29
• Realme GT Neo3
  28
• OnePlus 10R
  26

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  82
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  78
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  68
• Honor Magic4 Pro
  59
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  58
• ZTE Axon 30 Ultra 5G
  54
• Realme GT Neo3
  53
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  48
• Realme GT2 Pro
  48
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  46
• iQOO 9 Pro
  46
• vivo X80 Pro
  44
• OnePlus 10R
  42

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 10 Pro
  97
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  96
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  96
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  95
• Realme GT2 Pro
  95
• iQOO 9 Pro
  95
• vivo X80 Pro
  90
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  80
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  76
• Honor Magic4 Pro
  72
• ZTE Axon 30 Ultra 5G
  69
• Realme GT Neo3
  60
• OnePlus 10R
  48

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Honor Magic4 Pro
  10183
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  10008
• vivo X80 Pro
  9778
• iQOO 9 Pro
  9673
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  9664
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  9610
• Realme GT2 Pro
  9487
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  9406
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  8670
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  7405
• ZTE Axon 30 Ultra 5G
  5714
• OnePlus 10R
  5600
• Realme GT Neo3
  5428

For what it's worth, the Axon 40 Ultra showed remarkable stability under prolonged maximum CPU load - an 88% result in the CPU throttling test with no significant dips in performance is not a trivial achievement for a top-end chipset. More in line with other SD 8 Gen 1 flagships were the 64% stability rating from the 3DMark Wild Life stress test - not great, not terrible.

With that said, the Axon ran super hot in these sustained load benchmarks, reporting temperatures in excess of 60 degrees. It was also so hot on the outside that it was impossible to hold in your hand. You could argue that it's the thermal dissipation solution doing its thing to the max and getting heat away from the components that generate it, and that's evidently the case, but that doesn't change how hot the handset got to the touch. On the flipside, 100% CPU and GPU loads are not what a phone normally experiences in real life, so you shouldn't actually be worried about skin burns.

CPU Throttling test • 3DMark Wild Life stress test