ZTE’s latest tablet brings back something we haven’t seen in years

Tyler Lee
2 years ago

Some of you might recall that many years ago, there was a brief trend where we saw some companies try to create a glasses-free 3D smartphone experience. This was spurred on by the popularity of 3D movies and also handheld consoles like the Nintendo 3DS, but suffice to say that trend did not last very long and these phones quickly died out.

We haven’t really seen anyone try to replicate this tech in years and thought that maybe it would fade to obscurity quietly, but it seems that one company isn’t letting it die a quiet death. At MWC 2023, ZTE has announced its latest tablet, the nubia Pad 3D, which offers users a glasses-free 3D experience.

According to ZTE, this tablet was developed together with Leia, where the tablet will be using Leia’s 3D lightfield technology. Combined with AI, this will apparently help with face-tracking in real-time so that users can look at the tablet at any angle and still achieve that 3D effect, something that was lacking in previous smartphones.

ZTE also claims that by using advanced neural networks and deep-learning algorithms, they are able to convert 2D content like videos, games, and movies, into 3D. But ZTE doesn’t want us to think that the nubia Pad 3D is only just for consuming 3D content. The company has included a set of cameras on the front and back of the tablet that help capture stereoscopic images and videos, allowing users to create their own 3D content if they want.

The tablet itself will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset and will feature the use of UFS 3.1 storage and LPDDR5 RAM. It also comes with a massive 12.4-inch 2.5K adaptive dimming IPS LCD screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, and will also boast a 9,070mAh battery with 33W fast charging support.

There was no mention of the tablet’s pricing and availability yet, so we’ll have to wait and see.