Axon 9 Pro is revealed and the first ZTE phone with a notch

ZTE just revealed the first official renders of the upcoming ZTE Axon 9 Pro. This will be the first device to launch from the Chinese manufacturer since its high-profile legal troubles nearly put it out of business.

Not only is the ZTE Axon 9 Pro the first revealed device now that the company is out of hot water, but it’s also the first device in the ZTE portfolio to adopt the notched display trend.

Check out the render for yourself below:

ZTE didn’t reveal any specs for the device, but it’s clear from the renders that the phone will have an iPhone X-style notch that spans the bulk of the top of the display, as well as a fingerprint reader on the rear. There’s also a dual-lens camera and flash present on the back of the phone. The back of the device could be made of glass — which would suggest wireless charging — but it’s hard to be sure from the render alone.

We don’t know for certain, but it’s highly likely the phone will ship with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, as that is the chipset-of-choice for company flagships at the moment.

Other than that assumption, we don’t know exactly what to expect from the Axon 9. One piece of marketing material for the phone suggests it will have 5G capabilities:

If the ZTE Axon 9 Pro is 5G-ready, that would make it the first device to launch with the feature — and it would launch months before any other company’s planned devices. With that in mind, it seems unlikely that the Axon 9 Pro will be capable of connecting to 5G signals, but anything is possible.

The marketing material above also suggests that the phone (along with, presumably, the ZTE Axon 9 vanilla edition) will launch next Thursday, August 30. We’ll find out everything we need to know then.

NEXT: ZTE is officially and truly back in business