Phone comparison · UK prices · October 2026
Galaxy A17 or ZTE nubia Air: which should you buy?
The short answer
The Galaxy A17 has an ultra-wide camera. The ZTE nubia Air leads on the screen, speed and toughness, and is thinner and lighter. The ZTE nubia Air costs £69 more than the Samsung.
Comparing 2 phones
Galaxy A17Overall score 61/100
ZTE nubia AirOverall score 67/100
What the extra money buys
The ZTE nubia Air costs £69 more than the Samsung.
You get: a brighter screen, a smoother screen, a sharper selfie camera and more memory (RAM).
You give up: an ultra-wide camera.
Worth it if you want a brighter screen and a smoother screen. Keep the money if an ultra-wide camera matters more to you.
Differences in daily life
Battery and charging
EvenBoth have similar battery-test results (14 h 46 min and 14 h 10 min) and similar wired charging speeds (25 W and 33 W), close enough not to matter much day to day.
Screen
Best: ZTE nubia AirThe ZTE nubia Air has the brighter screen (4,500 nits vs 800 nits on the Samsung), so it is easier to read in strong sunlight.
It also has the smoother screen (120 Hz vs 90 Hz on the Samsung), so scrolling and animations look more fluid.
Camera
Depends on youThe Galaxy A17 is the only one with an ultra-wide camera, so it fits more into group shots and landscapes.
The ZTE nubia Air's selfie camera has more megapixels (20 MP vs 13 MP on the Samsung), so selfies and video calls can look more detailed.
Speed
Best: ZTE nubia AirThe ZTE nubia Air has more memory (8GB vs 4GB on the Samsung), which helps it keep more apps open at once.
Toughness
Best: ZTE nubia AirThe ZTE nubia Air has the better water and dust rating (IP69K vs IP54 on the Samsung), so it is rated to survive being dropped in water, not just splashes.
Size and weight
Best: ZTE nubia AirThe ZTE nubia Air is thinner (6.7 mm vs 7.5 mm on the Samsung), so it feels slimmer in the hand.
It is also lighter (172 g vs 192 g on the Samsung), so it is easier to hold and carry.
Still can't decide?
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Scores
| Score | Galaxy A17 | ZTE nubia Air |
|---|---|---|
| Battery | 54 | 54 |
| Screen | 65 | 85 |
| Camera | 58 | 50 |
| Speed | 52 | 53 |
| Toughness | 65 | 90 |
| Connections and extras | 69 | 70 |
| Overall | 61 | 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 AMOLEDAMOLED
- Size
- 6.7 inches6.78 inches
- Resolution
- 1080×2340 pixels1224×2720 pixels
- Refresh rate
- 90 Hz120 Hz
- PPI
- 385440
- Aspect ratio
- 19.5:920:9
- Screen-to-body ratio
- 86 %88.2 %
- Max rated brightness
- 800 nits4500 nits
- Screen protection
- Corning Gorilla Glass Victus, Mohs level 5Corning Gorilla Glass 7i
Core Specifications
- Chipset
- Samsung Exynos 1330Unisoc T8300
- Fabrication Technology
- 5 nm6 nm
- CPU max frequency
- 2.4 GHz2200 MHz
- Microarchitecture
- 2x 2.4 GHz – Cortex-A78 6x 2 GHz – Cortex-A552x 2.2 GHz – Cortex-A78 6x 2.0 GHz – Cortex-A55
- Memory type
- LPDDR5LPDDR4X
- GPU
- ARM Mali-G68 MP2ARM Mali-G57 MP2 @950 MHz
- RAM
- 4GB, 6GB, 8GB8GB
- Storage
- 128GB, 256GB256GB
- Expandable Storage
- microSDXCN/A
Software
- Operating System
- Android 15 (Vanilla Ice Cream) , with up to 6 major Android upgradesAndroid 15 (Vanilla Ice Cream)
Main Camera
- Video Features
- Gyro-EISN/A
- Features
- High Dynamic Range (HDR) PanoramaN/A
- Lenses
- 50 MP , ƒ /1.8 ( Wide-angle ), 0.64 μm , 1/2.76" Sensor size Autofocus (AF) - Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) 5 MP , ƒ /2.2 ( Ultra-Wide angle ), 1.12 μm , 1/5.0" Sensor size 2 MP , ƒ /2.4 ( Macro )50 MP , ƒ /1.6 ( Wide-angle ) - PDAF 2 MP ( Depth ) 0. 08 MP ( Auxiliary Lens )
Selfie camera
- Matrix
- 13 MP20 MP
- Lenses
- 13 MP , ƒ /2.0 ( Wide-angle ), 1.12 μm , 1/3.1" Sensor size20 MP
General
- Announced
- Wednesday, 06 August 2025Friday, 05 September 2025
- Released
- Thursday, 14 August 2025Friday, 05 September 2025
Battery
- Wired charging power
- 25W33W
Battery Life Test
- Browsing
- 14:46 hh:mm14:10 hh:mm
- Video watching
- 10:19 hh:mm9:38 hh:mm
- Playing games
- 9:23 hh:mm11:03 hh:mm
Design
- Height
- 164.4 mm164.2 mm
- Width
- 77.9 mm76.6 mm
- Thickness
- 7.5 mm6.7 mm
- Weight
- 192 g172 g
- Resistance certificate
- IP54IP68, IP69K
- Resistance cert. meaning
- Dust-protected and water-resistant (against water splashes)Dust and water-resistant (withstands high-pressure water jets; submersible up to 1.5m for 30 minutes)
Network
- SIM cards
- Single SIMDual SIM
- Network_5G bands
- 5G: n1 (2100), n3 (1800), n5 (850), n7 (2600), n8 (900), n20 (800), n26 (850), n28 (700), n38 (2600), n40 (2300), n41 (2500), n66 (2100), n77 (3700), n78 (3500 MHz)5G: 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
- LTE: b1 (2100), b2 (1900), b3 (1800), b4 (1700), b5 (850), b7 (2600), b8 (900), b12 (700), b17 (700), b20 (800), b28 (700), b38 (2600), b40 (2300), b41 (2500), b66 (1700 MHz)LTE: 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
- Bluetooth support
- Yes, v5.3Yes, v5.4
- GPS features
- BDS, GALILEO, GLONASS, GPS, QZSSGALILEO, GLONASS, GPS
- Wi-Fi features
- Dual-band, Wi-Fi DirectN/A
Multimedia
- Radio FM
- NoN/A
- Audio type
- N/AHiFi 4 DSP sound,