Nubia Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition: A Unique Ultra Flagship

Until now, the mainstream Ultra imaging flagships have basically all been released, but the Ultra battle is not over.

Nubia enters the scene with the half-generation upgraded Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition, which the official has been warming up for its core selling points for a long time. Compared with the Z70 Ultra, it has been upgraded in imaging, battery, and other hardware, and also brings a special appearance paying tribute to classic retro cameras.

The only true full screen, the only design language

If you are tired of the “super-sized” models on the market, the Nubia Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition will be the one that’s not boring.

The Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition has almost nothing to do with smooth curves, at most only handling the curvature of the four corners of the frame. In addition, the Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition’s screen bezel is itself very narrow, with official data showing that the narrowest point is only 1.25mm. Together with the seventh-generation under-display camera technology, when viewed from the front, the Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition looks like a complete piece of screen.

In the past, true full screens, in order to take care of the display effect of the front camera area, generally controlled the screen resolution at the 1080P level. Combined with the latest under-display camera technology, Nubia and Red Magic’s latest flagship models are both equipped with 1.5K resolution displays, supporting 144Hz refresh rate, achieving both display fineness and true full screen.

Starting from the Z50 Ultra, Nubia has continued the combination of true full screen and square, business-like design to this day. Its design language is unique, and the relatively mature true full screen solution is currently one of a kind.

The position of the under-display camera has also been checked by Xiao Lei. Except for extremely low brightness night scenes where it may “reveal itself,” in daily use it is basically impossible to notice the presence of the front camera. As for front camera selfies, with AI HD algorithms, the usability is higher than before.

Compared with the previously released Z70 Ultra, the Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition has quite obvious changes at the back, mainly in the back cover, which has been replaced with glass spliced from two different textures. One of the textures is laser-etched, officially called “leather-textured glass,” with a very unique feel and plenty of friction.

In addition to the power and volume buttons on both sides, the Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition also has a two-stage button and a traditional two-stage physical camera shutter button, which can half-press to focus and full-press to shoot. Personally, I think it offers a more tactile interactive experience than integrated camera control schemes.

Indeed, with this whole set of designs, there is somewhat of a shooting ritual reminiscent of retro cameras.

As mentioned earlier, if you are tired of the appearance design of mainstream Ultra phones, the Nubia Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition is indeed a product worth considering. After all, by 2025, the experience and design of flagship smartphones will gradually converge, and only brands like Nubia dare to pursue differentiation.

35mm pioneer, surpassing one inch, rich filter play

Nubia’s imaging is also differentiated.

First to mention is Nubia’s fifth-generation 35mm high-end custom optical lens. As early as the Z40 series, Nubia brought a main camera with a native 35mm focal length.

Nowadays, more brands are choosing this focal length. The recently released vivo X200 Ultra has a main camera with an equivalent focal length of 35mm. Ni Fei, President of ZTE Terminal Business Unit and Nubia Technology Co., Ltd., has expressed high recognition for the 35mm focal length and hopes the industry will follow more.

That said, 35mm has higher requirements for lens group space. Considering the control of phone thickness, it is generally difficult to fit a large sensor. Even with a large aperture to achieve light intake “comparable to one inch,” the limit of a 1/1.56 sensor is ultimately limited.

Thus, the Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition replaces it with a custom Omnivision Light Master 990 sensor, with a sensor size of 1/1.3, almost the same grade as the vivo X200 Ultra’s main camera.

35mm is recognized in the industry as a humanistic focal length. Compared to the common 24mm or 28mm, it has a narrower field of view, almost negligible edge distortion, and can produce more narrative images.

Without cropping, the Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition’s 35mm main camera can fully utilize the entire sensor, better than traditional main camera focal lengths that require cropping. Combined with a large aperture, it can create a natural shallow depth of field purely optically. Whether day or night, the HDR algorithm intervenes actively, and the background processing speed is fast.

The camera interface focuses more on professional parameter presentation, displaying focal length by default instead of magnification. The photo mode defaults to 24mm cropped from ultra-wide, and in system settings, you can switch whether third-party apps call the main or ultra-wide lens, which is very thoughtful.

In style, Nubia’s default colors lean toward high saturation. In the current version, there is some sharpening and smudging, but overall it still looks good.

After a few days of experience, the most fun part of the Nubia Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition is actually the filters, including the filters in the street photography mode. The playability is very rich. If the built-in filters are too few, you can import third-party filter files, giving you full control over the fun.

The flagship-level periscope telephoto and ultra-wide-angle lenses are both good, with the former also supporting a closest focusing distance of 15cm.

In addition, based on AI functions, each special imaging mode of the Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition has the ability for intelligent scene recognition and algorithm matching. Sunsets and starry skies are also very iconic modes in the Nubia camera family.

From the Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition, it can be seen that Nubia’s thinking in making imaging flagships is also based on differentiation. The 35mm focal length that was “pre-booked” in advance now exerts greater power under the new large sensor, with better dynamic range and stronger adaptability to scenes.

With rich film filters and local filter import, Nubia treats the Ultra flagship’s imaging like a retro camera, playing with stronger artistry and stylization. For those who pursue the output style of CCD, film cameras, or retro cameras, perhaps this kind of “niche” existence will be more interesting.

Solid performance and battery life, Ultra not inferior to performance phones

Flagship phones with the Ultra suffix often compromise on battery and cooling for heavy imaging hardware to preserve top-tier imaging capability. Therefore, due to stacking space limitations, although imaging flagships are equipped with the latest flagship chips, performance release is relatively conservative, and battery capacity is difficult to enlarge.

The Nubia Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition chooses “have it all,” equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Edition, and packs the largest battery capacity in an Ultra flagship — 6600mAh.

Speaking of performance, Xiao Lei briefly ran “Wuthering Waves” (5G network + ultra-high graphics, 15 minutes of city running in Laguna City + 15 minutes of wild monster fighting). The average frame rate was kept at 60fps throughout, with little fluctuation, and the CPU frequency scheduling was very active.

The heat was mainly concentrated in the middle frame. Because of aggressive scheduling, long-term high-load gaming inevitably brings a noticeable temperature rise. But thinking positively, an Ultra-positioned imaging flagship that can play large games for a long time without frame locking or brightness reduction is also a kind of “Ultra.”

The Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition supports 80W wired charging, taking about 46 minutes from 1-100%. Honestly, looking at the charging curve, the Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition’s strategy is not much different from mainstream models, but in the trickle charging stage, it still maintains about 30W input power, which is one reason why its charging time is relatively short.

Charging separation is an old tradition of Nubia phones, making it convenient to use while charging and reducing heat generation somewhat.

At the same time, the box includes a C-to-C charging set. The phone itself also supports relatively high-power PD public protocol, so it is not picky about chargers — a sign of good design.

As for system experience, Xiao Lei briefly summarized: Nubia’s latest Nebula AIOS 1.5 has made some upgrades in interaction and AI functions, deeply integrating the DeepSeek large model. It supports long-pressing the bottom navigation bar to wake it up, AI Ask Screen, and other expected functions. Overall, it is very smooth to use, with quick response to taps, and Nubia’s underlying system scheduling optimization is indeed solid.

If the entire system’s visual style and interaction consistency could be further upgraded, Nebula AIOS would be a near-perfect deeply customized system.

Summary: A solid and unique “Ultra”

In today’s world where experience and design are highly converged, it is actually difficult to find some different value in the smartphone market. Xiao Lei is not saying mainstream products are wrong — they target the “correct” side — but there are also people in the market who want something different.

Honestly, whether in performance, design, or imaging, any aspect can prove the uniqueness of the Nubia Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition. In some respects, it can even surpass mainstream Ultra models.

Apart from its uniqueness, the Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition’s hardware configuration is as close as possible to the industry average level: reasonably placed optical fingerprint unlock, dual speakers, full-function NFC, X-axis linear motor...

From this perspective, Nubia’s personality is not out of “willfulness.”

Is the personality-filled Z70S Ultra Photographer’s Edition still worth choosing? The answer depends on how much you desire “different.” But Xiao Lei believes this is a unique yet relatively balanced “Ultra.”

Being able to retain exclusive and core technologies and selling points for so many generations, Nubia does have some substance and persistence. The innovations that once amazed users have now been followed by the industry. Xiao Lei is also pleased to see that this brand, which has always stuck to its original intention, is leading a new direction in mobile imaging development with continuously iterative hardcore technological strength.