ZTE Axon Pro review: Ready and willing

Synthetic benchmarks

ZTE Axon Pro packs the controversial Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset. The SoC consists of a 2 GHz quad-core Cortex-A57 plus 1.5 GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU, Adreno 430 GPU, and a generous 4GB of RAM.

We ran the entire battery of tests we typically do, and a few things became evident. One is that the phone quickly heats up when subjected to a serious load, but that was to be expected given the internals and the metal body.

Things are not as bad as we've witnessed and the phone doesn't get as hot as to be unusable. However, you will definitely feel it when it warms up under heavy loads.

With the above in mind, we can now move on to actual scores. First up is the CPU-centric Geekbench test, where the ZTE Axon Pro did better than similarly equipped devices, likely due to the extra RAM memory on board.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
  5246
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  5215
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  5095
• HTC One E9+
  4796
• ZTE Axon Pro
  4574
• HTC One M9
  3761
• LG G4
  3522
• Sony Xperia Z3+
  3402
• Huawei P8
  3380
• Motorola Nexus 6
  3285
• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
  2922

The trend continued with the AnTuTU 5 benchmark. Once again, the Axon Pro posted a better result than other Snapdragon 810 devices, falling short of the marks achieved by the Samsung Galaxy S6 family.

AnTuTu 5

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
  70938
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  70053
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  69396
• ZTE Axon Pro
  55956
• HTC One M9
  51427
• Huawei P8
  50876
• HTC One E9+
  50753
• Motorola Nexus 6
  49803
• Sony Xperia Z3+
  49441
• LG G4
  48693
• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
  48361

Basemark II 2.0 is next in line of the compound benchmarks. On this instance, the Axon Pro trailed only behind the Samsung Galaxy S6 family.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  1826
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  1769
• Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
  1650
• ZTE Axon Pro
  1565
• HTC One M9
  1526
• Motorola Nexus 6
  1509
• Sony Xperia Z3+
  1410
• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
  1267
• HTC One E9+
  1109
• Huawei P8
  1056

The single-core Basemark OS 2.0 score painted a similar picture. In the multi-core section of the benchmark however, the Axon Pro fell behind a number of competitors, including HTC One M9 and Motorola's Nexus 6.

Basemark OS II (single-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S6
  3497
• Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
  3489
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  3372
• ZTE Axon Pro
  2673
• HTC One E9+
  2439
• HTC One M9
  2401
• Huawei P8
  2111
• Motorola Nexus 6
  1967
• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
  1853
• Sony Xperia Z3+
  1453

Basemark OS II (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
  18536
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  16986
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  16856
• HTC One E9+
  16580
• Huawei P8
  14046
• HTC One M9
  10128
• Motorola Nexus 6
  9915
• ZTE Axon Pro
  8833
• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
  7002
• Sony Xperia Z3+
  6995

Graphics performance puts the Axon Pro towards the top of the charts on most instances, thanks to the Adreno 430 GPU. Naturally, the onscreen tests revealed poorer scores due to the high resolution of the handset's display.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  59
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  59
• ZTE Axon Pro
  55
• Sony Xperia Z3+
  50
• HTC One M9
  49
• Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
  45
• Motorola Nexus 6
  38.9
• LG G4
  34
• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
  30
• HTC One E9+
  15
• Huawei P8
  10

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC One M9
  50
• Sony Xperia Z3+
  46
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  39
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  38
• ZTE Axon Pro
  35
• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
  30
• Motorola Nexus 6
  27.4
• Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
  25
• LG G4
  25
• Huawei P8
  10.7
• HTC One E9+
  10

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  26
• ZTE Axon Pro
  25
• Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
  25
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  24
• HTC One M9
  23
• Sony Xperia Z3+
  21
• Motorola Nexus 6
  18.6
• LG G4
  15
• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
  13
• HTC One E9+
  6.6
• Huawei P8
  5.4

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC One M9
  24
• Sony Xperia Z3+
  21
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  15
• ZTE Axon Pro
  15
• Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
  15
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  14
• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
  12
• Motorola Nexus 6
  11.9
• LG G4
  9.4
• Huawei P8
  5.7
• HTC One E9+
  5.4

Basemark X is another GPU benchmark the Axon Pro excelled at. Only the Galaxy S6 family topped the newcomer.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
  27188
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  27169
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  27046
• ZTE Axon Pro
  22928
• Motorola Nexus 6
  20901
• Sony Xperia Z3+
  20767
• HTC One M9
  19848
• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
  13414
• HTC One E9+
  9639
• Huawei P8
  6307

ZTE Axon Pro ran in the middle of the pack in the browser-centric benchmarks. It didn't set any of them on fire, but it didn't disappoint either.

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

• Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
  3975
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  3989
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  4154
• LG G4
  4639
• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
  5057
• ZTE Axon Pro
  5374
• HTC One M9
  5500
• Motorola Nexus 6
  6088
• Sony Xperia Z3+
  9204
• Huawei P8
  11867
• HTC One E9+
  17430

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S6
  2718
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  2702
• Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
  2321
• LG G4
  1992
• ZTE Axon Pro
  1957
• Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
  1853
• HTC One M9
  1681
• Motorola Nexus 6
  1447
• Sony Xperia Z3+
  1436
• HTC One E9+
  1279
• Huawei P8
  764

The benchmark scores of the Axon Pro fell right in line with our expectations. Controversial or not, the Snapdragon 810 chipset is no slouch. When coupled with 4GB of RAM, the chipset will handle any benchmark with ease, getting the device warm in the process.

In real life, the smartphone felt fast and responsive. At no point in time did we feel that we need extra oomph to perform the task on hand.