A ZTE-made device with the model number ZTE Z982 was certified by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) earlier this week, with the regulator publishing a number of documents pertaining to the product on Friday. The model number itself indicates that the handset may be a revision of the ZTE Grand X 4, an affordable Android phone that was launched last September before being released in the U.S. through a number of wireless carriers. If previous product naming practices of the Chinese original equipment manufacturer (OEM) are any indication, the handset may be marketed as the ZTE Grand X Max 4 once it hits the market at some point in the future.
The ZTE Z982 is compatible with Bluetooth 4.2 and doesn’t feature support for near-field communication (NFC) protocols, the FCC’s testing documents reveal, in addition to indicating that the handset will sport a single-lens primary camera setup on its rear panel. The smartphone is also 4G LTE-enabled, as confirmed by the federal agency, though the rest of its listing doesn’t reveal any other notable details about ZTE’s upcoming product. Provided that the Z982 is indeed the successor to the Grand X 4, it will likely boast a screen size that’s well into tablet territory, having a diagonal of at least 5.5 inches. Last year’s handset was powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 system-on-chip (SoC) and 2GB of RAM, in addition to having 16GB of internal flash memory which was expandable by up to 128GB via a microSD card tray. Its rear panel housed a 13-megapixel sensor accompanied by an LED flash unit, with its top bezel featuring a 5-megapixel one, and all of that hardware was fueled by a 3,140mAh lithium-ion battery that wasn’t removable. The supposed Grand X Max 4 would likely provide an upgrade in a number of those aspects, if not all of them.
With the Grand X 4 being launched last September, the Chinese tech giant may opt to unveil its successor around the same period this year and while no firm details on its availability have been uncovered by now, the sole fact that the Z982 was certified by the FCC indicates that this particular model should eventually launch stateside.