I’ve been using the Nubia Z80 Ultra, and are other flagship phones overpriced?

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The Z80 Ultra has flagship performance and cameras for considerably less money than big-name devices. Are other phones just ripping you off?

Nubia Z80 Ultra mobile phone
(Image credit: Luke Baker / Digital Camera World)

Spend any time around the latest big-name devices, and it is easy to find yourself staring at four-figure prices as if they are somehow reasonable. Apple’s current iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max line starts from $1,099, while Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra starts at $1,299, and even the "flagship killers" from OnePlus have crept up to $899 for the OnePlus 15.

Against that backdrop, the Nubia Z80 Ultra landing at $799 suddenly feels less like an awkward question aimed at the rest of the market.

Because this is not some stripped-back “flagship killer” in the old sense, the Nubia Z80 Ultra still packs a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, a 6.85-inch 144Hz OLED display, a 7,200mAh battery with 80W wired and 80W wireless charging, plus IP68 and IP69 protection. On the camera side, it also has three top sensors: a 50MP 35mm main camera, a 50MP ultra-wide, and a 64MP telephoto, along with a dual-stage physical button that feels very deliberately aimed at photography fans.

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Nubia Z80 Ultra

(Image credit: Nubia)

The big brands can still charge a premium partly because they sell marketing polish, a wider ecosystem of devices, decades of built-up trust, and, often, more cool-factor. But the Z80 Ultra does make it harder to pretend that every $1,200 flagship is expensive purely because cutting-edge hardware costs that much. Sometimes it is just because brands know they can get away with it.

What I like about the Nubia Z80 Ultra is that it exposes how inflated the top of the market has become. If a phone can offer this kind of display, battery, performance, and camera ambition for this amount of money, then a lot of so-called premium pricing elsewhere starts to look less like necessity and more like positioning.

Maybe the Nubia Z80 Ultra is not proof that all flagships are overpriced. But it is a very good reminder that many of them probably are.

You can buy the Nubia Z80 Ultra from Nubia's official US store.

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Gareth Bevan
Gareth Bevan
Reviews Editor

Gareth is a photographer based in London, working as a freelance photographer and videographer for the past several years, having the privilege to shoot for some household names. With work focusing on fashion, portrait and lifestyle content creation, he has developed a range of skills covering everything from editorial shoots to social media videos. Outside of work, he has a personal passion for travel and nature photography, with a devotion to sustainability and environmental causes.

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