nubia Neo 5 Max Review

Remember “phablets”? Back in the early-to-mid 2010s, phones with screens over 5.5 inches, bigger than a typical smartphone but still smaller than a tablet, got tagged with that term, popularized by devices like the Samsung Galaxy Note series.

Eventually, regular smartphone screens caught up in size, and the term just faded out. Until nubia decided to revive the niche. Meet the nubia Neo 5 Max, the first phablet we’ve seen in a long while, or as nubia likes to call it, the “PadPhone.”

It’s sporting a humongous 7.5-inch screen, big enough that it needs two hands to use comfortably. But aside from the big screen, what else does it bring to the table? We’ll see about that in this full review.

What’s in the box?

Let’s start with the unboxing experience. We got a box that matches the phone’s whole vibe, IT’S BIG.

Inside, there’s another box that holds the Neo 5 Max itself, along with its accessories, the charging brick, a 90-degree USB-C to -C cable, a SIM ejector, and a free screen protector. The other goodies are tucked into separate boxes: the nubia magnetic cooling fan, a translucent charging cable, a ring stand, and a second case with a magnetic pad that the stand and cooler can latch onto.’

And speaking of that cooling fan, it’s clearly meant for those long gaming sessions. That 90-degree cable also helps a lot here, keeping the charging cable out of your hand’s way while gaming.

Design and Construction

Right off the bat, the Neo 5 Max definitely looks like a gaming phone. I’d say the “Max” moniker could also stand for maximalism, because that’s exactly what this is. At the rear, you’ll see a two-tone finish packed with geometric elements and decorative text all around. The first thing you’ll probably notice is the cooling strip on the left, sporting the “Neo” branding. There’s also the familiar camera island with octagon-shaped camera outlines.

At first glance, it looks like a liquid cooling strip, but it’s actually just a design element. Still, the phone does pack an actual vapor chamber cooling system, more on that later. Honestly, the Neo 5 Max heavily reminds me of the REDMAGIC Astra 2, which nubia recently launched, albeit only for global markets so far.

The next thing that caught my attention is the iconic Eagle Eye design, lit up with RGB underneath. Even the “Max” text lights up here, though it’s limited to a plain white color.

Material-wise, the device is made up entirely of plastic, featuring a glossy back panel and a satin flat frame. It’s a bit of a fingerprint magnet because of that, but nubia thankfully includes a matte, hard case in the box that’s also transparent, so you can still show off the phone’s gaming-centric design underneath.

As for extra protection, the phone carries an IP64 rating, offering dust and splash resistance.

For I/Os, it follows the usual layout. Facing the screen, you’ll find the volume rocker and the red-accented power button, which doubles as a fingerprint sensor, on the right side. On the left are the Neo Triggers 5.0 for added gaming controls. Up top, there’s a loudspeaker and a mic, while the bottom houses a dual nano-SIM tray, another mic, the USB-C port, and the second loudspeaker.

There is no microSD card slot here though, which would’ve been nice to have, considering that almost every game nowadays takes up a lot of space. But, I digress.

Display, Multimedia, and Biometrics

Now, onto the main event, the nubia Neo 5 Max sports a massive 7.5-inch IPS LCD panel with a crisp 1.5K resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate.

For an LCD screen, the viewing angles here are great, and I haven’t spotted any screen bleeding or corner shadowing whatsoever. That said, it won’t be as vibrant as I’d like since it’s not using an OLED panel. Still, the display holds up well enough for everyday use. The content looks so much bigger and more immersive, and I like that it fits different layouts so well for playing games, especially emulation.

Playing games such as Nintendo 3DS titles, you’ll see that the controls don’t get in the way. And the phone is big enough to offer a more comfortable grip in portrait orientation. Going landscape, this also works for retro games with a 4:3 aspect ratio where the controls sit comfortably from the sides. We’ll talk more about gaming in a bit.

Under harsh sunlight, the screen stays fairly visible, and the high resolution helps bring out the details when you’re watching videos and the like. Fortunately, it also has Widevine L1 support, so Netflix playback stays in Full HD.

Speaking of watching shows, the sound isn’t as loud as I expected, and cranking it up with volume boost makes the audio distorted or blown out, which honestly hurts the ear. Audio quality-wise, though, it’s decent. The highs and mids come through clearly and respectable, though it does lack bass. It supports dual stereo though, so there’s still some level of immersion whether you’re watching content or gaming.

What ticks me off just a little bit are those thick bezels, especially at the chin. Although with a display this big, the bezels essentially fade into the background. Takes some getting used to, I guess.

For biometrics, the Neo 5 Max has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor that works reliably and fast enough. You might think that’s a downgrade, but honestly, it’s not. It’s way more secure this way, and I actually prefer it on the side rather than on-screen, considering the size of this thing. There’s also the face unlock method which works decently, too.

Cameras

Moving on to cameras, this isn’t really a priority since it’s a gaming phone, and it shows. The Neo 5 Max features a dual rear setup consisting of a 50-megapixel main shooter, paired with a 2-megapixel depth sensor. For selfies, it has a 16-megapixel front camera.

Unless you pixel peep, the images look decent overall. In daylight shots, colors are a bit dull to my liking, though sharpness isn’t the clearest. Even with plenty of lighting on the subject, details can look a bit blurry for some reason. It also seems to struggle with dynamic range, often having blown out highlights. Shooting indoors, colors also tend to shift into a warmer tone and noise starts to creep in more easily.

nubia Neo 5 Max sample shots

Jul 31 – Aug 4

Portraits are respectable, offering some pleasant bokeh, though the edges don’t smooth out as cleanly as I’d like. Selfies are alright too, though also a bit blurry in some parts, likely due to heavy image processing. Still, it does a respectable job overall, providing acceptable skin texture and color.

As for video, it’s okay as well. It can shoot up to 1080p at 60fps. Indoors, it bumps up the brightness a notch and makes colors a bit more saturated than they actually are. It’s also not the fastest to focus on different subjects. And it lacks proper stabilization, so you’ll need a steady pair of hands to shoot decent footage, even if the anti-shake feature is turned on.

For the most part, it’s alright. The phone does well enough for quick snaps and documentation, but I wouldn’t recommend it for heavy photography. So, there’s that.

Sample video (Anti-shake feature ON):

Sample video (Anti-shake feature OFF):

Performance and Benchmarks

Let’s talk about the most crucial part of this review: performance. Powering the nubia Neo 5 Max is the MediaTek Dimensity 7100, paired with 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM (with up to 12GB extended memory) and 256GB of internal storage.

Despite not using the fastest midrange chip out there, using the phone still feels relatively smooth. App loading times are quick, multitasking is definitely possible with the dual-screen layout and a floating window on the side for example, and RAM management is okay, too. I rarely see apps reload in the background as soon as I open them again.

The Neo 5 Max also delivers a more than good enough gaming experience. For lighter, competitive titles like Mobile Legends, gameplay is smooth, running consistently at 90 fps with “Ultra” map quality and “Super” frame rate settings. It also breezed through shooter games like Delta Force and Call of Duty Mobile.

In CODM, it managed to hit 60 fps even at Very high graphics settings. Add the Neo Triggers 5.0 into the mix and the gaming experience becomes a lot easier and more intuitive. These offer console-level triggers with 990Hz touch sampling rate.

We set the left trigger for ADS (Aim Down Sights) and the right trigger for firing, and I really like how responsive both are. This let me freely aim while still moving and firing at the same time. You get the idea.

Bumping things up a notch, titles like Wuthering Waves are playable, but not exactly smooth. Even at the lowest graphics settings, frame rates only manage to hit an average of 25 fps at best. There’s a Performance Booster built-in, and while we’ve set it to “Rise” mode, it doesn’t really help to make such demanding games run a bit smoother.

Perhaps the silver lining here is you have a bunch of extra features that you can take advantage of inside the Performance Booster.

What we enjoyed playing the most on this so-called PadPhone are retro games. Just like we mentioned earlier, the phone were able to emulate games from Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation 2. Although graphics settings for both platforms are always set to Low or the game’s native resolution.

We tried playing God of War with a physical controller paired to the phone, and it ran well overall, with some hiccups here and there. Still, it managed to hit 60fps consistently at a lower resolution.

In terms of thermal management, we’re glad to report the phone stayed relatively cool throughout our testing, at least in an air-conditioned room. This is likely thanks to its sizable 30,000 mm² vapor chamber cooling system, which is large enough to keep the internals at manageable temperatures. That said, playing graphics-intensive games does push the chipset to its limits, so it does warm up especially around the camera island, though not to an alarming degree.

OS, UI, and Apps

Onto the software side of things, the nubia Neo 5 Max runs on MyOS 16, based on Android 16.

On the surface, MyOS offers a near-stock Android experience, though there’s still plenty of customization to play with, like different built-in themes. It defaults to a Delta Force theme, which is a given since it’s a collab, but you also have the freedom to switch to a more standard look if you’d rather tone down the gaming vibes a bit.

There’s some bloatware here, though you can remove it if you want, along with disabling those app suggestions tucked into folders.

Surprisingly, the phone comes packed with a suite of AI features, ranging from Gallery and Notes to Live Translator, and even AI Memory. This lets you screenshot anything and save it to “Memory” for the AI to expound on later. Interestingly, there’s also AI Copilot Demi 2.0, which acts as a gaming coach, offering strategies for titles like Free Fire, PUBG, and Mobile Legends.

Now, when it comes to software support, nubia promises up to two years of OS upgrades and five years of security patches for the Neo 5 Series. That means the phone could reach Android 18 and receive security updates until 2031, if nubia follows through on that promise.

Connectivity and Battery Life

Besides the large display as its strongest point, battery life is another strength.

The nubia Neo 5 Max packs a 7100mAh unit, paired with 45W of wired charging. In our PCMark battery life test, it lasted 18 hours and 43 minutes, which is a pretty good result if you ask me. It lasts even longer in our video loop test, where it passed 23 hours and 48 minutes of uptime.

Additionally, even at 5% battery, the phone can still squeeze about 30 minutes of gaming if you need more time before charging. Either way, you can always take advantage of bypass charging (or charging separation in nubia’s words), which you can manually enable in Settings or through the Performance Booster.

You can also set it to auto, letting you choose a threshold, say 80%, before the phone switches over to drawing power directly from the wall charger instead of the battery.

Connectivity-wise, it packs the essentials, including 5G, NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. Then again, I do wish it had a microSD slot for storage expansion. One issue I ran into is that the Wi-Fi connection felt a bit more spotty than usual. There was even a time when the phone couldn’t load a website at all, but when I tried the same site on another phone, it worked just fine.

Conclusion

So, after seeing how the nubia Neo 5 Max performed, let’s answer the question, does it bring enough to be a compelling option this 2026? Honestly, yes, and it does bring more to the table than I expected.

That 7.5-inch screen alone is a HUGE advantage (pun intended) since it’s the only phone in its segment with a display this big. It’s an IPS LCD, I know, but it still delivers crisp, bright, and clear visuals that’ll satisfy whatever content you’re watching. And with solid battery life to back it up, it’s a daily driver you can rely on.

Gaming, for the most part, is also great. Being able to play competitive titles, and even retro games more comfortably on a large screen is genuinely an enjoyable experience. Performance is a bit on the mid side though, so its price-to-performance ratio isn’t that great. But considering how high prices have gotten these days, it’s honestly something I can’t hold too much against it.

With a launch price of PHP 17,999 (8+256GB), the nubia Neo 5 Max is shaping up to be a nice option for those who prioritize entertainment, love playing competitive games, and want a large phone with a solid battery life. That said, the  Php25,999 (8+256GB) retail price hurts quite a bit. So, I’d suggest grabbing this one during its initial sale, since it comes with a pretty big discount.

At the end of the day, you can still play plenty of games that the nubia Neo 5 Max can handle without slouching on endurance, and that’s essentially the whole point of the very first “PadPhone” in a while.

What we liked:

• Massive 7.5-inch display
• Solid battery life
• Decent gaming performance
• Console-level shoulder triggers

What we didn’t like:

• Spotty Wi-Fi connectivity
• No microSD slot
• Mediocre cameras
• Unpolished UI design

nubia Neo 5 Max specs:
7.5-inch 1.5K IPS LCD
2664 x 1280 pixels, 120Hz refresh rate
MediaTek Dimensity 7100
6nm, octa-core, up to 2.4GHz
ARM Mali-G610 MC2 GPU
8GB LPDDR5X RAM (+12GB extended memory)
256GB storage
(Not expandable)
Dual rear cameras:
– 50MP main
– 2MP depth
16MP selfie shooter
Dual nano-SIM
5G, 4G LTE
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
GPS
USB Type-C
NFC
Side-mounted fingerprint sensor, face unlock
IP64 dust and splash resistance
Dual stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos
990Hz Neo Triggers 5.0 (shoulder triggers)
MyOS 16, Android 16
7100 mAh dual-cell battery
45W charging (wired)
Supports bypass charging
Shadow Black, Titanium Gold, Cyber Silver (colorways)