With a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor and 12 GB of RAM, performance is silky smooth. You also get a generous 512 GB of storage. I played hours of Kingdom Rush: Alliance on the Magic V3 without a stutter, and it never got warm. The big screen is ideal for gaming and video, but I enjoyed reading on the Kindle app too. I prefer a laptop for work, but the Honor Magic V3 also proved handy as a surrogate second screen when I was missing my dual monitor setup.
Battery life is excellent. Honor’s third-generation silicon carbon battery has a 5,150-mAh capacity, and I was surprised to find it regularly lasted two days between charges. When you need to top up, you can charge wirelessly at up to 50 watts or plug in for up to 66 watts, enough to fully charge the Magic V3 in under an hour. It warns you to unfold the phone to juice up the dual batteries at maximum speed.
Final Hurdle
Photograph: Simon Hill
The Honor Magic V3 is a delightful device. Honor’s hardware is deeply impressive, but there’s always a but. As I found with the Honor Magic 6 Pro (7/10, WIRED Review), its software doesn’t quite reach the same heights. Pleasingly, the Magic V3 feels far more polished, but I still encountered a few wee irritations.
The transition between the front and inside screens occasionally went wrong and displayed something stretched or squashed. Once, the inside screen was completely unresponsive, but closing and opening fixed the issue. I got sick of the battery warning about the Oura app but could not find any way to stop it. Certain apps, like the Play Store, kept displaying the wee red icon to show something new long after there was nothing new to see.
Photograph: Simon Hill
The Honor Magic V3 runs Android 14 with MagicOS 8 on top, but it is easy to customize and comes with just a sprinkling of bloatware. You can also decide how to take advantage of the dual screen with multiple windows and different layouts in the settings. You can expect four years of OS updates and five years of security patches (short of the seven years Google and Samsung promise, but not bad).
The obvious competitors for the Magic V3 are the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 and the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, and it’s a familiar trade-off: Do you opt for slick software or superior hardware? The Xiaomi Mix Fold 4 is the closest device in terms of design, but won’t be released outside of China, so the Honor Magic V3 is a better choice for most folks. Despite the minor foibles, this is a truly excellent folding phone, maybe even the best folding phone you can buy right now. That said, you still don’t need a folding phone.
The next version of Google’s mobile operating system—Android 15—is on the horizon, with a host of new features and improvements. Google promises productivity enhancements, better privacy and security, and smoother performance. There are also upgrades for foldable and larger-screen devices. Android 15 is only available as a beta for select devices right now, with the final release a few months away. But we have been trying it out, and these are our favorite new features so far.
Google officially dropped the dessert naming back with Android 10, but it still uses codenames internally. Android 14 was Upside Down Cake, and this year’s release is Vanilla Ice Cream.
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How to Download and Install Android 15
Google released the first beta of Android 15 in April, with further releases planned for May, June, and July, ahead of the final public rollout, likely in August or October. These releases enable developers to test the forthcoming version of Google’s mobile operating system, learn about the new features, and prepare their apps or games to work properly. They also give early adopters the chance to get a sneak peek at Android 15.
While the beta releases are more stable than developer previews, you may still encounter some bugs, and you need to jump through a few hoops to install them, so it’s not recommended for everyone. If you are keen to try it, you will need a Google Pixel phone (Pixel 6 or later) or a supported partner device (including select phones from Honor, Nothing, OnePlus, and Xiaomi). You have to sign up for the Android Beta Program. Most folks who sign up for the program will get the beta updates OTA (over-the-air) without wiping their phones, but you won’t be able to quit the beta program without a factory reset. Make sure to back up your Android phone first.
Updates usually pop up automatically, but you can always check whether you have the latest version in Settings > System > System update by tapping Check for update. Want to get off the beta and go back to Android 14? Go to Google’s Android Beta page, scroll down to find your device, and hit Opt out. This will wipe all locally saved data, so back up your device first. You’ll get an update prompt to go back to the older version.
Folks without a Pixel or supported partner device should watch their phone manufacturer’s website, forums, or social media to learn when to expect Android 15.
Top New Android 15 Features
These are our favorite features and improvements so far, but we won’t know for sure what will make the final cut until Android 15 is released. You can learn more at Google’s developer site. And be sure to read our story on all the new features coming to Android and the Android ecosystem—including Wear OS, Android Auto, and Android TV—in this story here.
Private Space
Courtesy of Google
Android 15 includes a new Private Space where you can keep sensitive apps separate from the rest of your phone. Whether you want to safeguard health data or your banking apps, Private Space keeps them safely behind a second layer of authentication, protected with the same password you use to unlock your device or an alternative PIN. When your Private Space is locked, apps are hidden from the recents view, notifications, settings, and other apps. You can wipe your private space completely too.
More Satellite Connectivity
Courtesy of Google
There’s a significant expansion for satellite connectivity in Android 15. Some RCS and SMS apps should now be able to send text messages via satellite (it was previously limited to emergency use). Google has also standardized the pop-ups and other user interface elements to make it clearer when you are connected via satellite.
Partial Screen Recording
Courtesy of Google
Instead of recording or sharing your entire screen, in Android 15, you can share an individual app without revealing the rest of your screen or incoming notifications. Logins and one-time passwords (OTPs) are automatically hidden from remote viewers. This is already available on Pixels, but now Google has baked it into Android.
Malicious App Blocking
Several updates in Android 15 make life tougher for malicious apps. They can no longer hide behind other apps by bringing them to the foreground or overlay themselves invisibly on top. There are also changes designed to prevent the exploitation of intents, which let you start an activity in another app by describing an action you’d like to perform, as they are often misused by malware. This is behind-the-scenes stuff to keep users safer.
App Archiving
Courtesy of Google
If you haven’t used an app or game for a while, you may be prompted to delete it, but what if you think you might use it again in the future? With app archiving in Android 15, you can offload most of the app by archiving it but keep your user settings or save data in games. The auto-archiving feature was announced last year, but Android 15 makes it a systemwide option, so folks can choose to auto-archive apps when storage is running low.
Better PDF Handling
Courtesy of Google
Trying to do anything with PDF files on your Android phone can be a pain, so the news that Google has built several PDF enhancements into Android 15 is welcome. PDFs should load more smoothly, and there is now support for password-protected files, annotations, form editing, and copy selection. Perhaps best of all, you can now search within PDF files.
Enhanced Fraud and Scam Protection
Courtesy of Google
There are several updates in Android 15 aimed squarely at thwarting fraudsters and scammers. Google will employ AI through Play Protect and on devices to scan for and flag suspicious behavior. Messages containing one-time passwords (OTPs), typically used in two-factor authentication, are now hidden from the notifications system, making it harder to intercept them. Restricted settings are also being expanded for side-loaded apps—ones that aren’t downloaded through the Google Play Store.
Loudness Control
It can be jarring when you switch from one app to another and the volume suddenly booms. Thankfully, Android 15 introduces support for the CTA-2075 loudness standard. That means it will compare volume between apps, take into account the characteristics of your speakers, headphones, or earbuds, and intelligently adjust the audio to ensure no sudden jumps or drops.
Better Low-Light Camera
There are a couple of significant improvements for the camera app in Android 15. Firstly, Low Light Boost makes for better previews in low-light conditions, so you can frame your nighttime shots better and scan QR codes when light is limited. There are also new camera app options to give you finer control over the flash so you can adjust the intensity for both single flashes and continuous flashlight mode.
Taskbar Options
For Android tablets and folding phones, Google has changed the way the taskbar dock works. Initially, it was permanent, then it was transient, and now you can choose. This is handy for docked tablets where you might want a taskbar to always display, but it’s also nice to have the option to hide it. You can also pin your favorite split-screen app combinations. Android 15 allows apps to display edge-to-edge, so they can make more of the available screen real estate, even if there’s a taskbar or system bar at the bottom.
Better Battery Life
There are always tweaks and improvements to efficiency in Android updates that should have a positive impact on battery life, but with Android 15, Google is placing more checks on foreground services and clamping down on apps that keep running in an active state. Devices with a lot of RAM should also see faster app and camera launch times with lower power draw, thanks to support for larger page sizes.
Good Vibrations
Android 15 enables you to turn keyboard vibrations on or off systemwide, instead of having to dig into the keyboard settings. There’s a new toggle in Settings > Sound and vibration > Vibration and haptics, where you can also use sliders to adjust haptic intensity (this is something that’s been available on select Android phones, but is now systemwide). The second beta also introduces rich vibrations, so folks can determine between different types of notifications without looking at the screen.
More Foldable Cover Screen Options
Some of the best folding phones automatically switch whatever action you’re performing onto the cover screen when you fold them up, but Google is now integrating that choice into Android 15. If you prefer the cover screen to lock up when you fold, that will be an option too. There’s also more support for apps displaying on smaller cover screens with the more compact flip phone category.
More Health Connect Data
Health Connect started as an app to pull together all your health and fitness data from different devices and apps. It came preinstalled with Android 14, but Android 15 is adding two new data types: skin temperature (collected by wearables like the Oura ring and the Pixel Watch 2) as well as training plans—which can include completion goals for calories burned, distance, duration, repetition, and steps, but also performance goals around as many repetitions as possible (AMRAP), cadence, heart rate, power, perceived rate of exertion, and speed.
Enhanced Theft Protection
Courtesy of Google
Many of the new Android safeguards that Google is rolling out to deter thieves—such as automatic locking when someone snatches your phone, as well as remote lock options—will be coming to devices running Android 10 and up. But the update to factory reset protection, which stops thieves who force a reset of a stolen device from setting it up again without knowing your device or Google account credentials, is only in Android 15.
Your phone is the guardian of your digital life. It has that video of your child’s first words, the heart-warming message from your significant other that never fails to cheer you up, and the latest save from your favorite mobile game. You have invested time in getting it just the way you want, and there are irreplaceable memories onboard. Spending a couple of minutes backing up is a small price to pay to ensure you don’t lose it all.
We will show you how to back up your Android phone in a few ways, so pick the one that appeals. We have separate guides on how to back up your iPhone and how to back up your computer.
Updated March 2024: We verified all steps, updated Samsung’s backup steps, and added screenshots to illustrate.
Table of Contents
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Backing Up to Google
The simplest and easiest backup option is Google’s cloud service, which is built into Android.
Android via Simon Hill
Go to Settings, Google, and choose Backup.
You can see how much storage is available for the Google account you are signed into listed at the top.
Below that, you will likely see an option that says Backup to Google Drive with a toggle next to it. (If you have Google One installed, it might say Backup by Google One.) Make sure it is toggled on.
There is a Back up now button beneath. Tap it. Remember that backups can take several hours to complete if you haven’t backed up before. It’s best to leave your phone plugged into a charger and connected to Wi-Fi overnight.
The section at the bottom shows details of your backup. Tap on Photos & Videos and make sure that Backup is toggled on. You can also do this in the menu in the Google Photos app.
At the bottom of the Backup details section, you can tap Google Account data (also accessible via Settings > Accounts > [Your Google Account] > Account sync). This is where you can choose what to sync with your Google Account. The list of toggles that appears here differs based on the apps and services you use.
Managing Backups and Extra Storage
Google via Simon Hill
You can find your backups in the Google Drive app by tapping the menu at the top left and choosing Backups.
It can be a challenge to stay under Google Drive’s free 15 GB of storage, so you might consider signing up for a plan with Google One. You can get 100 GB for $2 per month or $20 annually, 200 GB for $3 per month or $30 annually, or 2 TB for $10 per month or $100 annually. Once you subscribe you will see options for even more storage from 5 TB for $25 per month or $250 annually all the way up to 30 TB for $150 per month. You can share this storage with up to six family members.
The Google One app offers more insight and control for your backups, found on the Storage tab listed under Device Backup.
You might not want to pay for extra space, so let’s look at how to back up files directly to your computer before we dip into alternative backup services.
Backing Up to Your Windows PC
Google via Simon Hill
It is easy to back up files from your Android phone on a Windows PC. Here’s how:
Back in 2022 at the annual Code Conference, where tech luminaries submit to on-stage interviews, an audience member asked Apple CEO Tim Cook for some tech support. “I can’t send my mom certain videos,” he said, because she used an Android device incompatible with Apple’s iMessage. Cook’s now-infamous response was, “Buy your mom an iPhone.”
Cook’s remark and Apple’s recent decision to block a third-party app from bridging the Android-to-iMessage interoperability chasm are two of the many examples of allegedly monopolistic behavior cited in the US government’s antitrust suit against Apple. Central to the case is Apple’s practice of “locking in” iPhone customers, by undermining competing apps, using its proprietary messaging protocol as glue, and generally making it challenging for people to switch to other phones.
Those accusations are backed up by lawyerly references to the Sherman Act. But the complaint also shows the Department of Justice crafting a cultural narrative, trying to tell a technology tale with a clear message—like an episode of crime drama Dragnet, says antitrust expert William Kovacic, who teaches at George Washington University and King’s College, London.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday by the DOJ and more than a dozen state attorneys general, claims that in addition to degrading the quality of third-party apps, Apple “affirmatively undermines the quality of rival smartphones.” Because messages sent between iPhones via Apple’s proprietary network appear in blue bubbles, but those from Android phones appear in green and are excluded from many iMessage features, Apple has signaled to consumers that rival phones are of less quality, the suit alleges.
The suit includes references to the negative cultural and emotional impact of the restrictiveness of some Apple products. It ranges beyond the typical antitrust case, in which investigators might focus on supracompetitive pricing or the conditions of corporate deals that restrict competition. The core of US antitrust cases has long been proving consumers paid higher prices as a result of anticompetitive practices. But a few key paragraphs within the 88-page filing mention the exclusion and social shaming of non-iPhone users confined inside green chat bubbles, distinguishing this case from some of the more recondite explanations of tech market competition in recent years.
“Many non-iPhone users also experience social stigma, exclusion, and blame for ‘breaking’ chats where other participants use iPhones,” the suit reads. It goes on to note that this is particularly powerful for certain demographics, like teenagers, who the Wall Street Journal reported two years ago “dread the ostracism” that comes with having an Android phone.
The DOJ argues that all of this reinforces the switching costs that Apple has baked into its phones. Apple is so dominant in the smartphone market not because its phones are necessarily better, the suit alleges, but because it has made communicating on other smartphones worse, thereby making it harder for consumers to give up their iPhones.
Legal experts say this social stigma argument will need much stronger support to hold up in court, because it doesn’t fit with traditional definitions of antitrust. “What is Apple actually precluding here? It’s almost like a coolness factor when a company successfully creates a network effect for itself, and I’ve never seen that integrated into an antitrust claim before,” says Paul Swanson, a litigation partner at Holland & Hart LLP in Denver, Colorado, who focuses on technology and antitrust. “This is going to be an interesting case for antitrust law.”
Regardless, the DOJ’s complaint builds a powerful message from the cacophony of consumer voices that have vented frustrations with iMessage’s lack of interoperability in recent years. And it’s part of a broader, democratizing theme introduced by Jonathan Kanter, the Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, says Kovacic, who previously served as chair of the Federal Trade Commission. “Kanter basically said, ‘We’re trying to make this body of law accessible to ordinary human beings and take it away from the technicians,” Kovacic says. “Storytelling is overstated in some ways, but my sense is that a lot of work went into this filing.”
The US Department of Justice had long been expected to file an antitrust lawsuit against Apple. But when the suit arrived Thursday, it came with surprising ferocity.
In a press conference, attorney general Merrick Garland noted that Apple controlled more than 70 percent of the country’s smartphone market, saying the company used that outsize power to control developers and consumers and squeeze more revenue out of them.
The suit and messaging from the DOJ and 15 states and the District of Columbia joining it take aim at Apple’s most prized asset—the iPhone—and position the case as a fight for the future of technology. The suit argues that Apple rose to its current power thanks in part to the 1998 antitrust case against Microsoft, and that another milestone antitrust correction is needed to allow future innovation to continue.
Like the Microsoft case, the suit against Apple is “really dynamic and forward looking,” says John Newman, a law professor at the University of Miami. “It’s not necessarily about Apple seeing direct competitors,” he says. “It’s more about them trying to grab the territory you would need if you were going to even try to compete against Apple.”
Antitrust action in the tech industry has been a focus of the Biden administration’s agenda, which has seen suits brought against both Amazon and Google by the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission. “This case demonstrates why we must reinvigorate competition policy and establish clear rules of the road for Big Tech platforms,” Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar told WIRED in a statement.
Rebecca Hall Allensworth, a law professor at Vanderbilt University, says that though the government almost always faces an uphill battle in antitrust cases, the Apple case appears relatively solid. “It’s a lot stronger than the FTC Amazon monopolization lawsuit from last year,” she says. “And yet, it’s very hard to win antitrust cases.”
In a statement, Apple spokesperson Fred Sainz said that the lawsuit “threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets,” including the way its products work “seamlessly” together and “protect people’s privacy and security.”
Apple has long argued that keeping its mobile operating system, app store, and other services closed offers greater security and safety for customers. But Newman says that the DOJ complaint indicates that Apple doesn’t enforce these policies consistently as would make sense if the goal was to protect users.
“Instead [Apple] heavily targets the types of app developers that pose the biggest competitive threat to Apple,” Newman says. The DOJ alleges that restrictions Apple places on iMessage, Apple Wallet, and other products and features create barriers that deter or even penalize people who may switch to cheaper options.
History Repeating
The antitrust case against Microsoft in the late 1990s accused the company of illegally forcing PC manufacturers and others to favor its web browser Internet Explorer. It is widely credited with causing the company to be slow to embrace the web, falling behind a wave of startups including Google and Amazon that grew into giants by making web services useful and lucrative.
When asked about the threat the new antitrust lawsuit might pose to Apple’s business, a DOJ official noted that “there are actually examples where companies, after having been charged and had to change business practices because they violated the antitrust laws in the long run, end up being more valuable than they were before.” Microsoft, thanks to its success in cloud services and more recently AI, is now the most valuable company in the world.
As China’s largest phone maker, Xiaomi makes excellent Android smartphones, boasting some of the best hardware. If you fancy something different from the latest Samsung or Apple, the Xiaomi 14 might be for you. With a versatile camera, lovely display, and top-notch specs in a relatively compact package, this refined Android smartphone will suit most folks.
While Xiaomi reserves the truly cutting-edge stuff for its Ultra model (coming soon), the Xiaomi 14 is no slouch. More pocket-friendly in both senses, this is an elegant all-rounder with Xiaomi’s revamped HyperOS over Android 14. At first glance it looks much like last year’s Xiaomi 13, but improvements across the board make the Xiaomi 14 more tempting.
Elegant Design
Photograph: Simon Hill
Photograph: Simon Hill
The Xiaomi 14 is similar in size to my Pixel 8 and iPhone 14 Pro, but the design is closer to Apple’s phone, with flat edges around the frame. The dominant, square camera module at the top left of the back has a stepped design. It’s not too heavy at 193 grams and is a fine size for most folks to manage one-handed. The curved glass on the back is a fingerprint-resistant matte black on my review unit, but it also comes in white or a more interesting green.
The Xiaomi 14 feels durable and scores an IP68 rating for water resistance. Gorilla Glass Victus protects the flat screen. The USB-C port and SIM card tray are on the bottom edge, and there’s a power button with volume rocker above on the right spine. Overall, it’s a classy, refined design, albeit quite conservative.
The 6.36-inch AMOLED display has a camera cutout at the top and a fingerprint sensor under the screen at the bottom. I found the fingerprint sensor very responsive. The screen is a highlight. It sports a 2,670 x 1,200-pixel resolution, giving you a sharp 460 pixels per inch (matching the iPhone 15 Pro). It has a dynamic refresh rate capable of going from 1 Hz up to 120 Hz for smooth animations and scrolling, and to save on battery life where possible.
The display was bright enough for me to read outdoors in direct light and can reach 3,000 nits peak brightness for highlights. The Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support make this a solid phone for movie watching. The stereo speakers offer Dolby Atmos and boast surprising depth. I watched a few scenes from Dune and Blade Runner 2049 to put it through its paces, and it looked and sounded good enough on the Xiaomi 14 that I was quickly sucked in.
Solid Performer
Slick performance comes courtesy of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, ably backed by 12 GB of RAM. You also get a generous 512 GB of storage, and it’s the latest, speedy UFS 4.0. The Xiaomi 14 has enough power to multitask or play the most demanding games without stutters or dropped frames. After almost two hours of Grimvalor and Defense Zone HD, it remained cool.
Playing 20 minutes of Asphalt 9: Legends used 4 percent of the battery. Rated at 4,610 mAh, you can expect the Xiaomi 14 to get through all but the busiest days, but you’ll want to charge every night. The 90-watt charger and USB-C cable in the box can fully charge the Xiaomi 14 in just over half an hour. This phone also supports up to 50-watt wireless charging, but you need Xiaomi’s wireless charger (£60) to get that rate.
Connectivity is top-notch. The Xiaomi 14 supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. It also supports a good spread of bands across 5G and 4G. It maintained a strong signal here in the UK, and should be fine in Europe, but folks in the US should check with their carrier, and it does lack mmWave 5G bands.
Versatile Camera
Photograph: Simon Hill
One of the main reasons you might consider a Xiaomi phone is its photography prowess. The rear camera in the Xiaomi 14 combines three 50-megapixel lenses. The main lens boasts a 1/1.31-inch sensor, an f/1.6 aperture, and a 23-mm focal length. The telephoto lens offers 3.2X optical zoom with an f/2.0 aperture and 75-mm focal length. And there’s an ultrawide lens with an f/2.2 aperture and 14-mm focal length. All your bases are covered with this trio.
Daytime shots with the main camera are detailed, with a decent depth of field, but it doesn’t always nail the exposure, and colors sometimes appear oversaturated. There’s a warm, pink tone evident in several of the photos I took. You can get a touch of natural bokeh using the main camera if you tap to focus on your subject, and there’s a portrait mode if you want a more pronounced blur on the background. When the sun goes down, you can expect noise to start creeping in, and bright areas can get blown out. But hold still and night mode does a decent job.
Disappointingly, the main camera is flanked by an average 8-MP ultrawide and a virtually useless 2-MP macro lens. The ultrawide takes photos with slightly cooler colors, but it’s much noisier than the main camera and struggles in low light. I can’t see the point of the macro lens at all, as it only seems to produce unfocused low-resolution shots. The main camera takes better close-ups.
The poor secondary cameras might not be a big deal, since most folks will stick to the main shooter. There is also a decent 16-MP front-facing camera for selfies and video calls. The best-quality video option is 4K at 30 frames per second, or you can opt for 1080p at up to 240 fps. The video I shot looked reasonably smooth and sharp.
Sorry Software
Photograph: Simon Hill
Beyond the inconsistent camera, the other major compromise here is the software. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro+ runs Android 13 out of the box, with Xiaomi’s busy and frustrating MIUI over the top. I would have preferred Xiaomi’s revamped HyperOS over Android 14, as you get with the Xiaomi Poco X6 Pro (7/10, WIRED Review). You get three years of Android updates and four years of security patches with the Redmi, which is the minimum we would expect.
Bloatware is an issue, with a host of apps and games that you will likely want to uninstall immediately. But the phone comes with Google’s Play Store out of the box and will happily accommodate your favorite apps, with bags of storage available. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro+ does support 5G and worked just fine here in the UK, but check the specs page for bands. It also supports Wi-Fi 6, rather than 6E or 7, but that will suffice for most folks.
Ultimately, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro+ is a solid option for the money. The biggest quandary I see for shoppers looking at the Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro+ is that the comparable Xiaomi Poco X6 Pro is almost £100 cheaper. In this price bracket, you should also consider Google’s Pixel 7A (8/10, WIRED recommends) and Samsung’s Galaxy A54 5G (8/10, WIRED recommends). You can find more options in our Best Android Phones guide.
I did not expect to like the Nubia Z60 Ultra. It’s a big, chunky slab packed with high-end specs at a relatively affordable price from a lesser-known Chinese manufacturer. The usual proposition is that you sacrifice on the software front to get cutting-edge hardware without breaking the bank. Sure enough, Nubia’s unimaginatively named MyOS adds little to Android 14, but the Z60 Ultra confounded my expectations in other ways.
Photograph: Simon Hill
Refreshingly free of bloatware, the Nubia Z60 Ultra has an expansive screen, uninterrupted by any camera cutout (there’s one under the display). Performance is near flawless, with a flagship processor providing plenty of grunt under the hood. But what really won me over was the versatile triple-lens camera. It’s a little inconsistent, but after a week with the phone, I have captured some lovely photos.
While the Nubia Z60 Ultra has a design that will turn some folks off, I have thoroughly enjoyed using it. There are things you can criticize, and I’ll get to them, but if you hunger for something different, and gaming and photography are priorities for you, the Nubia Z60 Ultra is worth a look.
A Bold Brick
Nubia was originally a subsidiary of the ZTE brand, but it became an independent company in 2015. (Nubia’s PR team specifically mentioned that the two are separate companies.) Nubia’s gaming subbrand RedMagic has been turning out impressively powerful, aggressively priced, and slightly unrefined gaming phones for several years now, and the Z60 Ultra bears some relation.
Here is the Nubia Z60 Ultra side by side with the Apple iPhone 14 Pro to give you an idea of its size.
Photograph: Simon Hill
Sliding the Nubia Z60 Ultra from the box, I was struck by its heft. This phone weighs 246 grams. For context, Apple’s biggest phone, the iPhone 15 Pro Max (8/10, WIRED Recommends), weighs 221 grams. The Z60 Ultra is a rectangular slab in a matte black or silver finish. My black review unit has an aluminum frame with textured glass on the back and a prominent camera module. The bold design also has shiny red metallic highlights around the main lens and a textured power button. Above the power button is a volume rocker, and below is a handy sliding switch that quickly launches the camera but can be used for a different shortcut. The SIM card tray and USB-C port are on the bottom edge. The Z60 Ultra is thick enough that it’s easy to balance on its sides or ends.
