The ZTE Nubia Flip 5G, which for less than 600 euros surprises with an advanced clamshell design and acceptable performance, although it does have issues with the software and the camera.
We have been hearing about foldable phones for a long time, and even debating whether they are a passing fad, but until now they have always been high-end phones that were not for everyone because of their price. For this reason, for many people, until mid-range foldable phones arrive, the format will not be truly popular.
Now, the phone that best fits the label of mid-range foldable has been launched on the market: the new ZTE Nubia Flip 5G, which has been on sale since the end of June in Spain for 599 euros.
It is the first foldable to be launched in our country by ZTE, once a very prominent Chinese brand in the smartphone market but which has been losing ground in recent years due to the effects of sanctions by the United States, despite the fact that they have mostly affected its telecommunications business and that in fact they were lifted in 2018.
Its clamshell design is more advanced than I expected, but with pointed corners
ZTE has successfully designed a mid-range foldable phone without it appearing to be of lower quality than other brands in most respects, although in others the price reduction is somewhat noticeable.
Despite costing less than 600 euros, the Nubia Flip 5G does not have some of the design flaws that have historically affected foldables.
For example, there is no separation between the two halves of the screen when it is closed, something that until not long ago occurred even in the high-end range. The terminal’s hinge is solid, it opens smoothly without any strange sounds, and it stays in a semi-open position without any problems.
As for the exterior, the Nubia Flip 5G has a construction very similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip of two generations ago or last year’s Motorola Razr 40, as they both use an external screen of small dimensions that only serves a very limited purpose.
However, on this occasion the secondary screen is round and is located around the camera, as if it were part of the module. I thought it was a rather elegant solution that also disguises the camera module quite well and at the same time protects the screen.
In terms of materials, the rim is made of aluminium as is the outer part of the hinge, while the back is made of a plastic with a rather pleasant feel that is resistant and of good quality. I have tried the black version and it has a sheen that makes it less monotonous.
ZTE has opted for a design with flat edges, the current trend in mobile phone design, which gives the Nubia Flip 5G a more solid appearance when closed and a more natural appearance when open, but this has two consequences that I am not completely convinced about.
The first is that it makes the phone seem too thick and heavy. Although it only weighs 214 grams, the same as most smartphones, it feels heavier in the hand, something that has happened to me and to the rest of the people who have touched it. Also, its 15 millimeters feel a bit too thick.
And the second is that on the upper part, surrounding the hinge, it has some straight edges that I didn’t like because I find them too sharp. They don’t hurt, but they bother me when I hold the phone from above or when I have my hands in my pocket with the phone in them.
In terms of connectivity, it really shows that it is a mid-range model, because although it has 5G – it couldn’t be any other way in 2024 – it not only has Wi-Fi 6 (not 6e or 7, the fastest and most recent), but it also has Bluetooth 5.1 which in my opinion is incomprehensibly outdated compared to the more recent 5.3 and 5.4.
It also has a fingerprint reader on the side home button that works but it’s not one of the best either, although I like the red touch it brings to the black design.
The exterior screen is very improvable although the interior one complies
Screens are the central aspect of foldable phones and this is also the case with this ZTE Nubia Flip 5G.
With a clamshell format, the inner screen stands out especially for offering a very similar form factor, and I can confirm that it is the one I liked the most of the two, by far.
The 6.9-inch, 21:9 aspect ratio interior screen is slightly larger and more elongated than current phones (20.5:9 and 6.7 inches), but it’s so little that I haven’t even noticed it and it hasn’t bothered me at all.
It is a good quality OLED panel, with a brightness value that is not indicated and which is not the highest but does not bother either. It also has a refresh rate of 120 hertz which makes the image fluid when there is movement.
You can tell that the ZTE Nubia Flip 5G is a mid-range phone when you look at the crease that forms in the hinge area, which is not one of the best achieved at the moment because the crease is noticeable when you run your finger over that area and it can be seen when you look at the phone diagonally, but hardly at all when you look at it head-on.
I also didn’t like the fact that during use I noticed marks that remain on the inner screen, probably from fingernails and that are only noticeable on the protector, but which in my opinion impoverish the experience, as does the slight looseness that is perceived in the part of the hinge, despite how solid it feels.
In terms of the screen, the main area for improvement is the secondary display, which, although it is well integrated into the exterior design, at 1.43 inches I found it too small for most actions.
It is a panel with very limited functions, as you can only see the time and the weather, open the camera, calendar, music, stopwatch and recorder, but you can’t even open a notification to see a message. At least being able to see the information in these notifications – I’m not asking to reply to them – or change the brightness would be desirable.
In terms of sound, the ZTE Nubia Flip 5G has a speaker at the bottom and another at the top located in the call speaker, which has surprised me with a higher power than other clamshell-type folding phones, although it does not stand out in quality when the volume is high or in being particularly immersive.
Its mid-range performance is sufficient for everyday use but it tends to heat up with demanding tasks
In terms of power, the ZTE Nubia Flip 5G is not the best, but honestly it hasn’t disappointed me and I think it opens up an interesting path for similar models from other brands.
Its configuration, although it starts from 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage, reaches a more than respectable 12 GB and 512 GB in the model I have tested, which allows for smooth operation in day-to-day tasks and even correct performance in not too demanding video games.
The terminal runs on a processor that offers good results but which by 2024 has become somewhat outdated, namely the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, a mid-to-high-end processor launched in mid-2022. Several chips in its range have since been launched that are more powerful, such as Snapdragon 7 Gen 2, 7+ Gen 2, 7 Gen 3 and 7+ Gen 3.
For everyday use, opening several applications at the same time and even activating the split screen, I haven’t noticed that the phone suffers or slows down, but it’s true that a delay of two generations of chips seems too careless on ZTE’s part, no matter how long it has taken to develop what is its first foldable so far.
Static performance tests show that the Nubia Flip 5G stands up to comparison with the only other mid-range foldable, Motorola’s Razr 40, and in fact outperforms it slightly thanks to its superior RAM, as well as other upper-mid-range models from last year with the same chip.
The Nubia Flip 5G is not a smartphone for video games, but its internal screen allows you to play titles such as Pokémon Unite in several consecutive 10-minute online games without noticing a slowdown and with good fluidity of performance and image.
However, the device does overheat more than other current mobile phones, without being a cause for concern but which, in the end, suggests that it is a mobile phone costing less than 600 euros.
Its MyOS software hardly takes advantage of the folding format
The software is probably what I liked the least about the ZTE terminal and where I think the difference with respect to the current folding devices from other brands is most noticeable.
The Nubia Flip 5G runs the latest version of ZTE’s interface, MyOS 13 based on Android 13, so it’s a generation behind, as it should at least come with Android 14. That, in a context where Android 15 is about to start arriving on the first handsets, seems to me a difficult mistake for the Chinese manufacturer to justify.
MyOS is not one of my favorite interfaces as it is a mixture of stock Android with few customization options and the things I like least about the most overloaded systems, such as the excess of pre-installed apps, especially games that I never plan to open.
But if there is something I have missed in the terminal, it is more software functions that adapt its use to the folding format and take advantage of the possibilities of multitasking, for example. Don’t look for any hidden options in the settings because there aren’t any: the system is essentially the same as a traditional mobile phone.
Only in the camera, where you can take advantage of the folding format to place the phone at a 90-degree angle as if it were a tripod, have I found a case in which ZTE’s software has made life easier for me when using the folding format.
I think it’s a great missed opportunity, because I don’t think being mid-range justifies inferior software compared to the competition, but to be kind, I hope ZTE works on this for future models.
The selfie camera is OK but the main one fails too much, especially indoors and because of the focus
I’m not going to beat about the bush: the camera on the ZTE Nubia Flip 5G is not good at all, especially indoors.
I believe that in a mid-range mobile there is always room for improvement, so I find it understandable and personally I accept it because I don’t take that many photos in my day-to-day life either, but if this is an aspect that you value especially, maybe this mobile is not for you.
Before getting into the details, these are the sensors it has:
Main rear camera: 50-megapixel wide-angle, PDAF.
Secondary rear camera: 2-megapixel depth sensor.
Selfie camera perforated in the screen: 16 megapixels.
The main camera produces quite good results outdoors, with shots with enough light, especially during the day, and good definition in which its 50-megapixel main lens really stands out.
The problem arises indoors or in situations where there is not much light, where it fails miserably: it has a hard time focusing.
Notice how badly it has done focusing on my face in all these situations, despite the fact that it is technically what all current smartphones are best prepared for, or how badly it has managed to focus on this cat indoors, or on these churros with chocolate.
If you manage to come out in focus, the portrait mode of the ZTE Nubia Flip 5G can even offer reasonably good results in cropping the figure in the background, although it is far from being one of the best portrait modes I have tried in recent years.
If I had to choose one camera mode that I particularly liked, it would be portrait mode, but not with the main lens but with the selfie camera, which allows for a much more natural and focused result, and with it smooth video calls with the phone in a 90-degree position.
The night mode on ZTE’s first foldable also goes by without fanfare: it’s just a long exposure mode that softens intense light sources that in normal mode can look a bit blown out and white, like street lamps. But beware, because it’s one of those that change the color of the light, as you can see in these traffic lights in green, which look blue.
Zooming is not a strong point for the ZTE Nubia Flip 5G either. It only goes up to 10x and the quality soon starts to deteriorate, with excessive distortion when it reaches the maximum.
Instead of the usual 1x and 2x in the camera app, ZTE displays it as 26mm and 50mm, but in reality what it is doing is simply a crop of the main 50-megapixel lens, sometimes adding quite a lot of noise. So despite what the camera app interface says, don’t expect studio-quality photos or multiple lenses, just a digital zoom – and not a very good one.
In terms of video, the ZTE Nubia Flip 5G also offers the most basic features, as it performs well in static situations and with lots of light but tends to struggle with movement. Don’t expect advanced features like night mode or steady mode video either.
ZTE has allowed a zoom of up to 10x, the same as in photos, something that I found excessive and that, as you can see in the example, adds intolerable noise – and that’s even though I didn’t even reach 10x, what you see is barely 6x.
ZTE achieves a decent battery life of up to a day without problems
One of the major drawbacks of clamshell-type folding phones is that their compact design and a hinge in the middle means they have a smaller battery capacity than traditional phones, something they have always suffered from.
But I must say that ZTE has done quite well in the battery department with the Nubia Flip 5G, as its 4, 310 mAh capacity – the minimum is usually 5,000 – together with the mid-range Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 processor, which logically does not consume as much, achieve better results than one would expect in a device costing less than 600 euros, because they are not worse than those of the high end.
ZTE’s first folding phone manages to get through the day without problems despite having been used intensively, taking dozens of photos, recording video, playing content and playing video games, which is the most that can be asked of a mobile phone with this compact format today.
Its fast charge is neither surprising nor outstanding, because it barely reaches 33W, which allows it to go from 0 to 100% in approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes. This charging speed is far surpassed by today’s high-end and many mid-range models.
The big surprise with the battery, which is very welcome, is that it includes the 33W charging adapter in the box, so you won’t have to buy it separately. Although this will soon not be possible due to European ecodesign regulations, these have not yet come into force, so ZTE has done well to take advantage of this window to avoid making a product that is priced to be a great value more expensive.
The ZTE Nubia Flip 5G Is What You’re Looking For
For all the above reasons, the ZTE Nubia Flip 5G is a mobile phone that, without bringing anything especially new, represents a before and after in the market because it manages to be a mid-range foldable and begins to be accessible to the pockets of more consumers, although it is not lacking in things to improve.
Its smooth mid-range performance and its design, which despite not having the most useful external screen, I think are its great attractions, as well as a battery that stands up to comparison with much more expensive folding phones, would make me recommend it without hesitation.
But in the end the price reduction is noticeable in important shortcomings that mainly affect software with practically no options to really get value out of its folding format or a camera that is among the weakest I have tried in a long time, so if this is important to you, you will have to spend more money or wait for another mid-range folding phone in the future.
