In a world full of powerful smartphones that cost an arm and a leg, there are also tech companies that cater to the more budget-conscious crowd that also need good performance with their gadgets. “ZTE” is a Chinese company that built its reputation on providing budget-friendly smartphones and tablets, and its new offering enters a whole new dimension of affordability with its price tag of $99.
“ZTE” is building on the momentum that it has built around its business model of providing customers with cheap smartphones, CNET reports, and its latest attempt at pushing into the sector even deeper is the “ZMax Pro.” The Chinese company also partnered with the pre-paid carrier “MetroPCS,” where the phone will cost around $99 once the rebate kicks in.
The “ZMax Pro” is a follow up to the “ZMax 2,” which came out in 2015, without much notice from the public. With the current iteration, “ZTE” is really committed to capturing a significant chunk of the market with a combination of great specs and the cheap price.
The phone has a 6-inch display, which makes it comparable in size to the iPhone 6 or Samsung Galaxy S6. According to PC Mag, this makes the unit a phablet, though the site notes that it doesn’t feel all that heavy.
It also sports a 13MP rear camera, a 5MP front camera, 2GB of RAM, and has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor. The battery is at a decent 3,400-mAh as well, and the phone has quick-charging capabilities.
By all accounts, the ZMax Pro is capable of providing users with the efficiency and performance that they need for their daily smartphone activities such as video streaming and chatting without much difficulty. However, demanding apps that take up a lot of processing power such as high-end mobile games are going to be a challenge.


Nvidia, ByteDance, and the U.S.-China AI Chip Standoff Over H200 Exports
SpaceX Prioritizes Moon Mission Before Mars as Starship Development Accelerates
Google Cloud and Liberty Global Forge Strategic AI Partnership to Transform European Telecom Services
Elon Musk’s Empire: SpaceX, Tesla, and xAI Merger Talks Spark Investor Debate
AMD Shares Slide Despite Earnings Beat as Cautious Revenue Outlook Weighs on Stock
OpenAI Expands Enterprise AI Strategy With Major Hiring Push Ahead of New Business Offering
SoftBank Shares Slide After Arm Earnings Miss Fuels Tech Stock Sell-Off
Palantir Stock Jumps After Strong Q4 Earnings Beat and Upbeat 2026 Revenue Forecast
SoftBank and Intel Partner to Develop Next-Generation Memory Chips for AI Data Centers
Global PC Makers Eye Chinese Memory Chip Suppliers Amid Ongoing Supply Crunch
Tencent Shares Slide After WeChat Restricts YuanBao AI Promotional Links
Nintendo Shares Slide After Earnings Miss Raises Switch 2 Margin Concerns
Jensen Huang Urges Taiwan Suppliers to Boost AI Chip Production Amid Surging Demand
Oracle Plans $45–$50 Billion Funding Push in 2026 to Expand Cloud and AI Infrastructure
SpaceX Pushes for Early Stock Index Inclusion Ahead of Potential Record-Breaking IPO
Nvidia Confirms Major OpenAI Investment Amid AI Funding Race 



