This week nubia refreshed the Z60 Ultra and introduced a sequel to the Z50S Pro. These two have unique designs that make them look like a futuristic camera and they have the hardware to back it up. Plus, they bring Snapdragon 8-series performance at a price that undercuts most flagships.
The nubia Z60 Ultra Leading is mostly the same as the original Z60, except it switches over to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SM8650-AC, which is often dubbed “leading edition” by Chinese makers. This model also changes out the sensor inside the 35mm main camera – the nubia Z series is old school like that, basically every other smartphone line on the planet has a wide 20-something millimeter lens on the main module.
The AC version of the chipset boosts the prime Cortex-X4 CPU core to 3.4GHz (up from 3.3GHz on the original) and the Adreno 750 GPU clock goes up to 1GHz. Unlike the Red Magic cousins, this one only uses passive cooling, but the Z60 can still handle AAA games.
nubia Z60 Ultra Leading edition highlights
The nubia Z60S Pro sticks to last year’s chip, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, the same AC variant that was used in the Z50S Pro. The 35mm main camera swaps to a new sensor and the vegan leather back options have been dropped, but that’s about it.
nubia Z60S Pro highlights
Here are the prices for the two nubia Z60 models:
| Configuration | nubia Z60S Pro | nubia Z60 Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| 8GB/256GB | – | $649/€729/£649 |
| 12GB/256GB | $569/€669/£569 | $699/€779/£699 |
| 16GB/512GB | $669/€769/£669 | $779/€879/£829 |
| 16GB/1TB | $769/€869/£769 | $879/€979/£929 |
The Red Magic 9S Pro is available globally and also features a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (AC), though with active cooling. That means no IP68 rating like on the Z60 series. This one also has a larger 6,500mAh battery (vs. 6,000mAh) with 80W charging. The cameras are more basic – there’s no 64MP 85mm lens here – but with a 50MP main (wide lens) and 50MP ultra wide, it’s not bad either. Both devices have under display selfie cameras. The 9S Pro is selling for $650/€650/£580 on the international market.
The Honor Magic6 Pro features a 50MP main (23mm), 180MP 2.5x tele and 50MP ultra wide cameras. The pill-shaped hole on the front for the 50MP selfie camera and 3D ToF sensor don’t have the clean look of the nubias, however. This one is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (the regular AB variant) and a 5,600mAh battery with 80W wired and 66W wireless charging. The MSRP on this one is quite high at €1,300/£1,100 and the phone has mostly held its price.
ZTE nubia Red Magic 9S Pro • Honor Magic6 Pro • Xiaomi 14 Civi • vivo X100 Pro
The Xiaomi 14 Civi offers a mix of Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 and an interesting camera setup: 50MP main, 50MP 2x tele and 12MP ultra wide, plus dual selfie cameras with a wide and 100° ultra wide lenses. Unfortunately, it’s available only in India starting at ₹43,000 (€475 or so).
The vivo X100 series has some real gems, but availability is quite poor. The vivo X100 Pro, for example, did launch in India with a Dimensity 9300 chipset and a triple 50MP camera (23mm wide, 100mm periscope and 15mm ultra wide) with a ₹90,000 price tag (around €990).
What do you think about the nubia Z60 Ultra Leading edition? Are you considering it as an option for your next phone or not?
What about the nubia Z60S Pro – is it still a decent phone for 2024, considering it barely changed anything from the Z50S Pro?
