ZTE showed off satellite connectivity in latest Axon 50 Ultra - PingWest

ZTE showed off satellite connectivity in latest Axon 50 Ultra

ZTE showed off satellite connectivity in latest Axon 50 Ultra

Ward Zhou

posted on April 13, 2023 3:00 pmEditor : Wang Boyuan

Although satellite communication is “certainly not profitable” at this point.

Chinese telecom giant ZTE teased an update of the Axon phone series on Wednesday as a response to competing rivals who offer satellite communication features, including Huawei, Apple, and Meizu.

ZTE unveiled Axon 50 Ultra (in Chinese) with encryption and satellite messaging capabilities at its spring product release event on Wednesday in China. 

ZTE claimed that the phone supports double-directional messages via China's Beidou navigation satellite system at an editable longer length while some rivals' offerings only enable sending specific SOS messages to rescue centres.

However, as the successor of the 2022-launched Axon 40 Ultra, the generation marks a major degradation, dropping previous iconic design – an under-display front camera, which can create a strong visual impact with a high screen-to-body ratio.

The new look comes in the form of a 6.67-inch punch-hole dual-curved display with a modest 1080p resolution and a high refresh rate of 144 Hz.

Also the phone is only equipped with Qualcomm's last year's flagship Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor without lateset iteration of technology.

Nevertheless, a highlight is its enhanced antenna engineering which is the company's expertise. ZTE builts 13 antennas within the phone that feature high performance even in complex network environments with its adaptive algorithms.

ZTE also emphasized the phone's security efforts, constructing two systems and an Apple T2-like separate chip to hold encryption keys.

The phone has a triple back camera design – a 64-megapixel (MP) main camera, a 50 MP ultrawide and macro camera, and a 50 MP teleport one for three times optical zoom.

Axon 50 Ultra also has a large 5000-mAh battery with 80-wattage fast charging tech.

ZTE caught its competitors' peace, introducing screencast features between its phones and tablets to this phone based on its MyOS 13 system.

Still, the Hong Kong and Shenzhen-listed firm has yet to reveal the phone's availability, including price tag and release date. The model is still absent from its official online store before the press time. The firm's stock prices were flat over Wednesday on Hong Kong.

Analyst: More Symbolic Than Practical

Phone vendors and key smartphone suppliers have been promoting satellite communication tech since last year. And some large phone makers have started to ship devices supporting such features. Last month, Chinese auto giant Geely-acquired phone maker Meizu launched its flagships with the support of sending and receiving texts via satellite and would drop audio over satellite features soon.

Arthur Guo, Senior Market Analyst from IDC China told PingWest that the application of satellite communication on mobile devices requires higher signal reception and transmission capabilities, as well as radio-frequency (RF) module requirements, resulting in a significant increase in overall cost. 

Guo added that satellite communication is “certainly not profitable” based on the current commercial model of mobile phones. And it needs to explore new business models for monetization due to the limited usage.

Two primary phone chip suppliers, MediaTek and Qualcomm, have added satellite communication features to their new chips, which could be a strong push for widespread adoption of the tech.

However, Guo suggested that its symbolic value exceeds its practical value. It may serve more as a means of advertising, maintaining a high-end brand image, and providing a differentiated selling point in a heavily homogenized smartphone market. However, based on current considerations for purchasing a phone, whether or not it has satellite communication functionality is not a primary consideration for consumers, according to Guo.