Nubia Neo 2 5G: The cheapest gaming smartphone in Malaysia with shoulder triggers

Gaming smartphones are often times fairly expensive, typically packing only powerful hardware under the hood but also additional features meant for mobile gamers such as shoulder buttons and bypass charging. ZTE sub-brand Nubia though is aiming to buck that trend with their latest gaming phone that’s priced below RM1,000—the Nubia Neo 2 5G.

Nubia Neo 2 5G Malaysian pricing and availabilty

Nubia Neo 2 5G: The cheapest gaming smartphone in Malaysia with shoulder triggers

The Nubia Neo 2 5G will come in a single configuration with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, priced at just RM999. Available from 28 April onwards, you can already pre-order it today at the official Nubia store on Shopee, with a free pair of Bluetooth headphones worth RM159 for the first 100 buyers. The Nubia Neo 2 5G will be available in three different colour options, which are Sunfire Yellow, Frost Silver and Storm Grey.

Nubia Neo 2 5G specs

There are a fair bit of upgrades on the Nubia Neo 2 5G compared to its predecessor the Nubia Neo 5G, but one thing that has remained the same is its processor. The Nubia Neo 2 5G features a Unisoc T820 system-on-chip, a 6nm midrange processor with eight cores, mated to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. It runs Android 13 out of the box, with claims of up to a 550,000 score on the AnTuTu v10 benchmark.

As for its display, the Nubia Neo 2 5G packs a 6.72-inch LCD display pushing an FHD+ resolution with an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate. You’ll also find its Live Island feature around the front camera cutout at the top, similar to the iPhone’s Dynamic Island. It lets you view things such as your notifications, reminders, timers and so on. Speaking of the front camera, it’s a 16MP selfie shooter while on the back is a 50MP main camera with an auxiliary 2MP portrait sensor.

Other features of note include a massive 6,000mAh battery with 33W fast charging via USB-C; you can also turn on a bypass charging feature for when you’re gaming to reduce the strain on your battery and get power directly off the included charger. You’ll also find a pair of touch sensors on the side of the Nubia Neo 5G, which act as shoulder triggers while you’re gaming, giving you a leg up over your rivals. There’s also improved stereo speakers here with DTS: X Ultra certification, as well as their own Game Space 2.0 software for mobile gamers.