The ZTE Axon 7 is powered by a Snapdragon 820 chipset, which is pretty much as good as a mobile chipset for Android gets these days and to find it in a device in this price range is rather amazing. As a result, the Axon 7 is capable of stepping up to the ring of the big 2016 flagships.
It only seems natural to pit the Axon 7 against the likes of the OnePlus 3, Huawei Honor 8 and even the big dogs from Samsung, LG and HTC.
We kick things off with GeekBench 4 and AnTuTu, which is a compound benchmark. Sadly for ZTE, it turns out that the Axon 7 isn't as feisty as the rest of the Snapdragon 820 crop. The gap in the results isn't worrying though, and we are inclined to think that poor software optimization is to blame.
In the CPU-based GeekBench tests, especially the multi-core one, the Axon 7 is left in the dust of the Galaxy S7 and the Kirin chip found in the Huawei Honor 8.
GeekBench 4 (multi-core)
Higher is better
Huawei Honor 8 5447
Samsung Galaxy S7 5245
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 4456
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 4130
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon) 4128
OnePlus 3 4045
ZTE Axon 7 3990
LG V20 3890
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 3885
GeekBench 4 (single-core)
Higher is better
Samsung Galaxy S7 1854
Huawei Honor 8 1720
OnePlus 3 1719
ZTE Axon 7 1702
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon) 1696
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 1694
LG V20 1590
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 1551
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 1546
AnTuTu 6
Higher is better
HTC 10 154031
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 151619
OnePlus 3 141764
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon) 132849
Samsung Galaxy S7 132084
ZTE Axon 7 129926
LG V20 101167
Huawei Honor 8 94892
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 85162
Alcatel IDOL 4S 82744
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 77442
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) 35134
Moving on to graphics, the Adreno 530 inside the Snapdragon 820 is a definite powerhouse by current standards. The QHD resolution of the Axon 7's 5.5" panel doesn't seem to be much of a hurdle for the GPU. Sadly, the slight, but notable, performance handicap we saw in the CPU department is present in GPU tests as well.
Our review unit didn't exhibit any signs of overheating during the tests, so the culprit is definitely not thermal throttling.
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 32
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon) 32
ZTE Axon 7 31
HTC 10 31
OnePlus 3 31
Samsung Galaxy S7 28
Huawei Honor 8 10
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 9.5
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 9.5
Alcatel IDOL 4S 9.3
Huawei Mate S 3
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
OnePlus 3 30
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 18
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon) 16
ZTE Axon 7 15
Samsung Galaxy S7 15
HTC 10 15
Huawei Honor 8 11
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 9.5
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 9.4
Alcatel IDOL 4S 5.1
Huawei Mate S 3.4
GFX 3.1 Car scene (offscreen)
Higher is better
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 19
OnePlus 3 18
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon) 18
HTC 10 18
ZTE Axon 7 15
Samsung Galaxy S7 15
Huawei Honor 8 6.3
Alcatel IDOL 4S 5.6
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 5.4
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 5.4
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
OnePlus 3 18
ZTE Axon 7 16
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 12
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon) 10
HTC 10 9.9
Samsung Galaxy S7 7.9
Huawei Honor 8 6.9
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 5.4
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 5.4
Alcatel IDOL 4S 3.4
Basemark OS II
Higher is better
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 2698
OnePlus 3 2677
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon) 2045
Huawei Honor 8 2029
Samsung Galaxy S7 2004
HTC 10 1965
ZTE Axon 7 1889
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 1648
Alcatel IDOL 4S 1575
Huawei Mate S 981
Basemark X
Higher is better
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 36322
OnePlus 3 32715
Samsung Galaxy S7 32345
ZTE Axon 7 32243
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon) 32160
HTC 10 28882
Huawei Honor 8 16592
Alcatel IDOL 4S 14651
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 13666
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 12190
Huawei Mate S 5368
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) 5210
Basemark OS 2.0
Higher is better
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 2690
OnePlus 3 2365
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon) 2352
ZTE Axon 7 2346
Samsung Galaxy S7 2128
Huawei Honor 8 2099
HTC 10 1839
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 1728
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 1696
Alcatel IDOL 4S 1647
Huawei Mate S 914
Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal
Higher is better
Samsung Galaxy S7 732
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 648
OnePlus 3 625
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon) 624
ZTE Axon 7 606
Huawei Honor 8 345
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 287
Alcatel IDOL 4S 244
All in all, the performance offered by the Axon 7's hardware is spectacular, although not trailblazing. It's a well spec'd phone, which is let down by poor utilization of its resources. On a positive note, it's still plenty fast and responsive. You won't have any troubles or hiccups using the Axon 7, even under heavy loads.
Tip us
1.7m 126k
RSS
EV
Merch
Log in I forgot my password Sign up