In the mobile internet era, smartphones have long evolved beyond simple communication tools. The advancement of imaging capabilities has quietly transformed consumer lifestyles and habits. From capturing clearly, to shooting from afar, to reproducing reality, the evolution of smartphone cameras reflects years of steadfast commitment and innovation by manufacturers. While today’s market is saturated with numerous models, if one brand can be said to truly follow its own path, it’s undoubtedly Nubia. In 2025, as competitors chase Apple’s fruity aesthetics, Nubia remains true to its unique vision, resisting homogenized design trends by adhering to a pure full-screen form. With boundless visual appeal, it challenges the aesthetic fatigue of users — and it brings this philosophy to imaging as well.

On April 28, Nubia introduced the Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition, centered around its fifth-generation 35mm bespoke optical lens. It continues to incorporate retro classic camera design elements and stands as the only true full-screen smartphone on the market. Embracing the OmniVision custom Light and Shadow Master 990 image sensor, this device achieves dual breakthroughs in both hardware and algorithms around the 35mm golden focal length for humanistic photography. It reignites users’ passion for storytelling through imagery and encourages more brands to enter the 35mm space to bring emotional, narrative-driven photography to the public. This article, from the perspective of consumers, explores how the Nubia Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition leads the industry’s return to the essence of imaging.

Nubia Z70S Ultra

Retro Camera + Ultimate Full-Screen Design: A Balance of Recognition and Professionalism
As the saying goes, “beauty is justice.” When you’re tired of the monotonous smartphone market, the character of the Nubia Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition offers a breath of fresh air. The model in TechVision’s hands features the “Twilight Shadow” colorway, predominantly black. The combination of a flat-edged metal frame and AG frosted glass back delivers both a distinct look and a deep, mysterious, and composed poetic texture.

The back cover simulates calf leather texture — delicate and anti-slip. The red-ring lens module in the top right corner and the Neovision stamp pay tribute to professional photography, highlighting Nubia’s expertise in the imaging field. The rear camera section is split into two parts: the upper half houses the new custom Light and Shadow Master 990 sensor with a 35mm large-format main camera, using exclusive vacuum dual-coating and multi-layer texture technology that evokes a luxury watch’s tech aesthetic. The lower half features a periscope telephoto lens and an ultra-wide-angle lens — both easily recognizable in a crowd. The lower half of the back is minimal, with a smooth faux leather texture forming a visually harmonious blend with the lens module.

The volume rocker and red power button are located on the right side of the body for convenient one-handed operation. The red power button not only serves as a design accent but also improves usability, visually echoing the red-ringed lens above. The microphone, SIM card slot, and USB Type-C port are on the bottom, and the phone’s flat edges and strong lines combined with the “Twilight Shadow” color enhance its sophistication and practicality.

On the right frame, there is a two-stage mechanical shutter button — half-press to focus, full-press to shoot — recreating the feel of a traditional camera and offering tactile feedback that brings back that classic experience. The upper left side includes a customizable AI sliding switch, enabling one-touch access to tools like the camera, voice recorder, and translation features — handy and flexible for everyday use.

On the front, the Nubia Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition boasts a 6.85-inch flexible AMOLED flat display, using BOE’s Q9+ emissive material. It supports 100% DCI-P3 wide color gamut, 1.07 billion colors, and up to 2000 nits peak brightness, delivering top-tier performance in color accuracy, contrast, and clarity — even in bright outdoor light.

Nubia Z70S Ultra

More impressive than the screen specs is the high screen-to-body ratio, a standout feature of the device. It employs an exclusive 7th-generation under-display camera (UDC) technology with full-screen diamond pixel arrangement for improved pixel density and visuals. The FIAA compression routing technique optimizes internal circuitry, while the UDC Ultra independent display chip enables pixel-level display optimization. As a result, both the main display and under-display camera area reach 430 PPI pixel density. With a 95.3% screen-to-body ratio and 1.25mm bezels, users enjoy immersive experiences whether watching videos, gaming, or browsing.

The entire device combines retro camera elements with modern minimalist design, achieving a highly recognizable appearance. Whether it's the structured panel divisions, red-ring accents, or leather-like texture, everything reflects its identity as a “mobile humanistic imaging tool.”

Pioneering the 35mm Track: Balancing Optical Purity and Computational Photography
If the retro design of the Nubia Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition pays tribute to classic aesthetics, then its 35mm main camera is a testament to Nubia’s leadership in mobile humanistic imaging. Observers may have noticed that a high-end imaging flagship from a competing brand recently changed its native focal length from 23mm to 35mm without altering the sensor size. This was an effort to provide a composition angle closer to the human eye’s natural perspective, delivering superior portrait video capabilities. While this move received praise due to strong hardware and software algorithms, no brand has explored the 35mm focal length as deeply as Nubia.

Back in 2021, Nubia debuted a model featuring a 35mm main camera with humanistic photography as its core appeal. Through custom sensors and optical designs, it aimed to bring this classic focal length into smartphones. The Z40 Pro and Z40S Pro, launched in 2022, became milestones — not only did they feature the world’s first custom 35mm main camera (Sony IMX787 sensor), but they also supported a full 14mm–125mm zoom range with low distortion and high resolution. A physical sliding key for street photography mode and instant-capture algorithms significantly boosted photo success rates. Features like enhanced starry sky shooting and AI motion detection added narrative depth to environmental portraits — forming an early “hardware + algorithm + experience” framework.

In 2023, Nubia developed a new-generation 35mm main camera with a larger aperture (over F1.4) and optimized light path design. With high-transmittance lenses, it achieved breakthrough light intake capabilities, mitigating small sensor limitations in low-light settings. By 2024, multi-layer stereoscopic lens assembly reduced module protrusion by 50% compared to competitors. Two-stage shutter keys and bypass power supply tech enhanced physical interaction for professional photography.

Nubia Z70S Ultra

The earlier Z70 Ultra introduced fourth-gen 35mm optics with variable aperture technology, allowing for more natural depth transitions in photos. Now, the Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition upgrades to fifth-gen custom 35mm optics, featuring the OmniVision Light and Shadow Master 990 sensor — with a larger image area and superior quality.

Thanks to its large aperture and DAG-HDR technology, the Z70S Ultra Photographer's Edition captures complex lighting environments with high precision. It does this by merging multiple images taken at different exposures and intelligently analyzing highlights, shadows, and midtones in each photo to extract the best details. These are then seamlessly fused into a single high dynamic range image using advanced algorithms. This results in significantly improved light sensitivity and light intake for the main camera, giving it a competitive edge over other brands' 1-inch sensors. Paired with an F1.4–F4.0 variable aperture, it enables DSLR-level depth-of-field control. Let’s take a look at real sample shots.

In native photo mode at the 35mm focal length, the Z70S Ultra Photographer's Edition captures landscapes and architecture with a high degree of authenticity and completeness. Image distortion at the edges is minimal, while spatial and depth representation is accurate. The color style emphasizes realistic reproduction, and details in elements like plush toys, building glass walls, and glazed tile decorations are richly and delicately rendered.

Nubia Z70S Ultra

The 35mm focal length in the street photography mode focuses on the relationship between the subject and its environment. By enhancing contrast and color saturation, it creates a unique interplay of light and shadow, adding storytelling depth and visual impact to the frame. As shown in the examples, the Z70S Ultra Photographer's Edition subtly compresses the frame to make subjects stand out more prominently. Scenes featuring pedestrians, crafted floral arrangements, and artisan sculptors appear vibrant and saturated, exuding a strong sense of narrative and artistic atmosphere.

It’s worth noting that the 35mm focal length in street photography mode is a creative feature specifically designed by Nubia for documentary-style shots. The Z70S Ultra Photographer's Edition comes with built-in film-style filters like GRCC and FJ200. This allows users to take artistic, documentary-style photos without the need for post-processing, lowering the barrier for beginners and sparking their enthusiasm for photography.

We also tested other classic telephoto focal lengths in street photography mode. At 50mm, the phone clearly reproduces scenes like traditional opera costumes and lanterns. At 63mm, it naturally captures the focused expressions of artisans painting fans, with no noticeable distortion and precise spatial and distance representation, highlighting the interaction between subject and background. At 85mm, the background is effectively blurred, drawing strong focus to the subject. The artisan painting a lantern, the street behind, and passing pedestrians are all softly defocused, and spatial compression magnifies the subject, adding emotional and compositional tension. Whether shooting people or objects, the color tone and texture add an artistic touch to documentary-style photos.

Nubia Z70S Ultra

Thanks to the high-spec camera and ample light intake, night shots taken with the Z70S Ultra Photographer's Edition appear clean and clear. Light sources like signboards, clock towers, and neon lights are well-controlled with excellent highlight suppression. Architectural details and colors are rendered faithfully. With OIS (optical image stabilization), handheld shots remain stable and sharp, making the phone ideal for travel and on-the-go photography.

In addition to the 64MP periscope telephoto lens, the Z70S Ultra Photographer's Edition also features a 50MP ultra-wide macro lens. With its 122° field of view, it clearly captures elements like trees on both banks of a moat and commercial buildings, maintaining image sharpness and color style consistent with the main camera. This makes it well-suited for scenes like lakes, mountains, and group photos.

Beyond standard hardware, the phone is equipped with a professional AI imaging model. It brings fun features like Radiant Light mode, ultra-fast capture, Milky Way night shots, and multi-frame super-resolution. We compared native 50mm shots with the Radiant Light mode and observed subtle differences in visual perspective. With AI intervention, the camera intelligently adjusts color, contrast, and exposure. The originally cool, natural tones of the sky and sunset become richer and more vibrant, producing an oil painting–like ambiance.

Nubia Z70S Ultra

The Z70S Ultra Photographer's Edition also includes a dedicated Milky Way night mode in the camera UI. As shown, it uses multi-frame synthesis and AI optimization, capturing elements like lanterns, signboards, and text through long exposure. AI denoising and light pollution reduction enhance image clarity and color saturation. With a tripod outdoors, it’s even possible to capture starry skies and the Milky Way.

For portraits, the Z70S Ultra Photographer's Edition supports manual aperture and lighting effect adjustments. As seen in the 35mm humanistic focal length example, the photo has a strong narrative depth, excellent flare control, accurate colors, rich shadow details, and minimal noise. Whether photographing cityscapes, natural scenery, or portraits, the phone delivers a professional-level experience.

Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Leading Edition processor and Nubia's NebulaAIOS 1.5, the phone delivers strong overall performance. Enhanced LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage ensure smooth multitasking and responsiveness. According to GeekBench 6, it scores 2925 for single-core and 8872 for multi-core performance. In AnTuTu's storage test, it achieves sequential read/write speeds of 3894MB/s and 3019MB/s, respectively — more than sufficient for all current mobile apps.

In Awakening Mode, the phone runs Genshin Impact at high settings and 60 FPS. Whether exploring Mondstadt, Liyue Harbor, or fighting enemies in the wild, the frame rate remains consistently above 60 FPS. Even with multiple characters using skills simultaneously, the visuals remain smooth and responsive. The powerful GPU ensures that foliage, water reflections, character hair, and clothing textures are vividly rendered.

For battery life, the Z70S Ultra Photographer's Edition includes a 6600mAh third-generation Nanhai battery with 80W wired fast charging. Thanks to its silicon-carbon anode materials, the phone performs well even in low temperatures. Real-world tests show just 4% power loss after 30 minutes of video playback, and 8% after 30 minutes of Genshin Impact. After 4 hours of heavy use, 58% battery remained. Charging from 1% to 100% takes 47 minutes, and 60% charge is reached in just 20 minutes — ideal for quickly powering up outdoors.

On the software side, the NubiaAIOS 1.5 system has upgraded the Super Xiaoxing AI Assistant. With advanced natural language understanding and the DeepSeek R1 model, it responds quickly to voice commands and engages in natural, continuous conversations. Swiping the left-side AI button activates Xiaoxing, which can provide weather updates, navigation, outfit suggestions, and more. When encountering unfamiliar objects, simply take a photo and tap with two fingers — the AI will instantly identify the object, translate foreign text, and extract summaries to boost work efficiency.

Overall, the Z70S Ultra Photographer's Edition delivers impressive performance across the board. It honors professional camera design while sticking to a full-screen form, showing Nubia’s long-term commitment to innovation in the 35mm photography space. Through “optics + algorithms + interaction,” it is pushing the industry from a spec race toward focal length storytelling. Combined with solid performance, battery life, and system optimization, the Z70S Ultra Photographer's Edition is a great option for photography enthusiasts who want a unique experience without breaking the bank. If you’re looking to capture emotional, documentary-style street scenes, this is an excellent choice.