Phone comparison · UK prices · October 2026
iPhone 17e or ZTE nubia Air: which should you buy?
The short answer
The iPhone 17e leads on speed and is smaller. The ZTE nubia Air leads on the screen, the camera and toughness, is thinner, and has the bigger screen. The iPhone 17e costs £494 more than the ZTE.
Comparing 2 phones
iPhone 17eOverall score 77/100
ZTE nubia AirOverall score 67/100
What the extra money buys
The iPhone 17e costs £494 more than the ZTE.
You get: wireless charging, a faster chip and a smaller body.
You give up: a bigger battery, faster charging by cable, a brighter screen and a sharper selfie camera.
Worth it if you want wireless charging and a faster chip. Keep the money if a bigger battery matters more to you.
Differences in daily life
Battery and charging
Depends on youThe ZTE nubia Air has the bigger battery (5,000 mAh vs 4,005 mAh on the iPhone), which may help it last longer between charges.
The iPhone 17e is the only one that charges without a cable (15 W), so it can top up on a wireless pad.
Screen
Best: ZTE nubia AirThe ZTE nubia Air has the brighter screen (4,500 nits vs 1,200 nits on the iPhone), so it is easier to read in strong sunlight.
Camera
Best: ZTE nubia AirThe ZTE nubia Air's selfie camera has more megapixels (20 MP vs 12 MP on the iPhone), so selfies and video calls can look more detailed.
Speed
Best: iPhone 17eThe iPhone 17e's chip (Apple A19) scores higher in benchmark tests than the one in the ZTE (Unisoc T8300), so it should feel quicker in demanding apps and games.
Toughness
Best: ZTE nubia AirThe ZTE nubia Air has the better water and dust rating (IP69K vs IP68 on the iPhone), so on top of surviving a dunk it is also rated against high-pressure water jets.
Size and weight
Depends on youThe iPhone 17e is smaller overall (146.7 × 71.5 mm vs 164.2 × 76.6 mm on the ZTE), so it is easier to reach across with one hand.
The ZTE nubia Air has the bigger screen (6.78 inches vs 6.1 inches on the iPhone), which gives more room for videos, maps and reading.
Still can't decide?
Up to 3 quick questions, one tap each.
Scores
| Score | iPhone 17e | ZTE nubia Air |
|---|---|---|
| Battery | 57 | 54 |
| Screen | 71 | 85 |
| Camera | 68 | 50 |
| Speed | 91 | 53 |
| Toughness | 95 | 90 |
| Connections and extras | 77 | 70 |
| Overall | 77 | 67 |
How these scores are made: Each score is calculated from the maker's published specs and benchmark results, using one fixed formula for every phone. We have not tested these phones in the hand. How we score phones
Specs side by side
Display
- Type
- Super Retina XDR OLEDAMOLED
- Size
- 6.1 inches6.78 inches
- Resolution
- 1170 × 2532 pixels1224×2720 pixels
- Refresh rate
- N/A120 Hz
- PPI
- 460440
- Aspect ratio
- 19.5:920:9
- Screen-to-body ratio
- ≈ 86 %88.2 %
- Display features
- Capacitive Touchscreen, HDR10, Multi-touch displayCapacitive Touchscreen Multi-touch display
- Max rated brightness
- 1200 nits4500 nits
- Screen protection
- Anti-reflective coating, Ceramic Shield 2 Glass, Mohs level 5Corning Gorilla Glass 7i
Core Specifications
- Chipset
- Apple A19Unisoc T8300
- CPU cores
- 68
- Fabrication Technology
- 3 nm6 nm
- CPU max frequency
- 4.26 GHz2200 MHz
- Microarchitecture
- 2x 4.26 GHz – Performance cores, 4x 2.60 GHz – Efficiency cores2x 2.2 GHz – Cortex-A78 6x 2.0 GHz – Cortex-A55
- Memory type
- LPDDR5XLPDDR4X
- GPU
- Apple A19 GPU (5 cores)ARM Mali-G57 MP2 @950 MHz
- Storage
- 256GB, 512GB256GB
- Storage Type
- NVMeN/A
- Expandable Storage
- NoN/A
Software
- Operating System
- iOS 26.3, Upgradable to iOS 26.5Android 15 (Vanilla Ice Cream)
Main Camera
- Matrix
- 48 MP50 MP
- Video Resolution
- 2160p @ 24/25/30/60 fps, 1080p @ 25/30/60/120/240 fps1080p @ 30 fps
- Video Features
- 3D (spatial) audio, Dolby Vision HDR, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), Stereo Sound RecN/A
- Features
- High Dynamic Range (HDR), PanoramaN/A
- Lenses
- 48 MP, ƒ/1.6, 26 mm (Wide angle), 0.7 μm, 1/2.55" Sensor size - Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) - PDAF50 MP , ƒ /1.6 ( Wide-angle ) - PDAF 2 MP ( Depth ) 0. 08 MP ( Auxiliary Lens )
- Flash
- Dual-LED dual-tone flashLED Flash
Selfie camera
- Matrix
- 12 MP20 MP
- Lenses
- Single camera: 12 MP, ƒ/1.9, 23 mm (Wide angle), 1.0 μm, 1/3.6" Sensor size20 MP
- Video Resolution
- 2160p @ 24/25/30/60 fps, 1080p @ 25/30/60/120 fps1080p @ 30 fps
- Video Features
- 3D (spatial) audio, Dolby Vision HDR, Stereo Sound RecN/A
- Features
- Dolby Vision HDR, High Dynamic Range (HDR)N/A
General
- Announced
- Monday, 02 March 2026Friday, 05 September 2025
- Released
- Wednesday, 11 March 2026Friday, 05 September 2025
Battery
- Capacity
- 4005 mAh5000 mAh
- Type
- Li-IonN/A
- Wired charging power
- 15 W33W
- Wireless charging support
- Yesno
- Wireless charging power
- 15 WN/A
- Fast charging support
- Yesno
- Features
- MagSafe wireless charging, Qi2 wireless charging, Wired charging from 0-50% in 30 minutes (as advertised)N/A
Battery Life Test
- Browsing
- N/A14:10 hh:mm
- Video watching
- N/A9:38 hh:mm
- Playing games
- N/A11:03 hh:mm
Design
- Height
- 146.7 mm164.2 mm
- Width
- 71.5 mm76.6 mm
- Thickness
- 7.8 mm6.7 mm
- Weight
- 169 g172 g
- Resistance certificate
- IP68IP68, IP69K
- Resistance cert. meaning
- Dust-tight and water-resistant (submersible up to 6m for 30 minutes)Dust and water-resistant (withstands high-pressure water jets; submersible up to 1.5m for 30 minutes)
Network
- SIM cards
- Dual SIM (Nano-SIM + eSIM + eSIM), Dual SIM (eSIM + eSIM)Dual SIM
- Network_5G bands
- n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n8, n12, n14, n20, n25, n26, n28, n29, n30, n38, n40, n41, n48, n53, n66, n70, n71, n75, n77, n78, n795G: n1 (2100), n3 (1800), n7 (2600), n8 (900), n20 (800), n28 (700), n38 (2600), n40 (2300), n41 (2500), n71 (600), n77 (3700), n78 (3500 MHz)
- Network_4G bands
- b1, b2, b3, b4, b5, b7, b8, b12, b13, b14, b17, b18, b19, b20, b25, b26, b28, b29, b30, b32, b34, b38, b39, b40, b41, b42, b48, b53, b66, b71LTE: b1 (2100), b2 (1900), b3 (1800), b4 (1700), b5 (850), b7 (2600), b8 (900), b20 (800), b28 (700), b38 (2600), b40 (2300), b41 (2500 MHz)
- Network_3G bands
- HSPA: 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 MHzHSPA: 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz
Connectivity
- WiFi support
- Yes (Wi-Fi 6)Yes ( Wi-Fi 5 )
- Bluetooth support
- Yes, v5.3Yes, v5.4
- USB ports
- USB Type-C 2.0USB Type-C 2.0,
- GPS features
- BDS, GALILEO, GLONASS, GPS, NavIC, QZSSGALILEO, GLONASS, GPS
- Wi-Fi standards
- 802.11/a/b/g/n/ac/ax802.11/a/b/g/n/ac
- Wi-Fi features
- Dual-band, Mobile HotspotN/A
Multimedia
- Radio FM
- NoN/A
- Audio type
- Stereo speakersHiFi 4 DSP sound,