Phablets! I can’t believe I’m writing that word in 2026. But believe it or not, there was once an era in the smartphone industry where you have very big phones that also happen to be small tablets, hence! “Phablets.”

Looking back now, the smartphone industry may have been onto something at that time. It was a time when the market was pushing for these big phones. Why? Mobile gaming was slowly becoming a thing, and video streaming was taking off. Plus people realized they can work on their phones. Of course it would make sense to have a phone with a big screen.

Then the time of phablets came to pass, and phone sizes found some balance between how big and small they can be.

Fast forward some ten or so years to now, streaming, gaming, and work have been deeply integrated into our devices. So maybe it is time to try to experiment with phablets once more? Well, nubia is certainly taking the leap, with their nubia Neo 5 Max 5G.

The nubia Neo 5 Max 5G (Max, going forward) has an immense 7 '5-inch 1.5K resolution screen, a thing nubia themselves call a “PadPhone.” This is backed up with a MediaTek Dimensity 7100, which is a chip powerful enough to definitely run some of the most demanding game apps out there. The Neo Triggers, AKA, the shoulder buttons have a 990Hz, meaning these two buttons are very sensitive to the touch, giving mobile players a competitive edge during intense gaming sessions.

I found the screen size and its performance a perfect match. I’ve downloaded some of the typical games, both Wild Rift and MLBB, along with some Netflix-oriented games that also happen to be available on PC and consoles. And yes, the larger screen space is very much appreciated. It’s not exactly like handheld consoles, but it’s as close as it can ever be. I can open my favorite ereader app to read ebooks with, and the screen size has made it a very comfortable and satisfying experience.

It is IP64, so a little splashes here and there is nothing to worry about. It’s also tuned with what nubia says is Magic Touch 3.0, which basically means the screen’s touch sensitivity won’t be affected by water, sweat, or greasy fingers. So yes, you don’t have to wipe your hands when snatching a chicken nugget between gaming sessions.

One of the more generous things I like about nubia’s partnerships, in this case, with the operator-based extraction shooter, Delta Force, is that it comes with a bunch of goodies. The box that was sent to us for review is quite large by itself, with some rad designs that aim to make itself feel special for owners who purchased it. It comes with two cases, one of which has a magnet ring. It ships out a magnetic cooling fan to ensure things don’t get too hot, and this is important, because the lower the temperature of a device is the better it can perform and preserves battery life.

The review unit we got shipped with a 256GB storage, which 12GB of that can be borrowed to give the 8GB RAM a boost, helping speed up the performance. Battery life is set at 7100mAh, which lasts an entire day with some medium gaming and watching. And to complement that battery size is 45W charging.

It also features a 16MP front camera, coupled with a duo of rear cameras, one with 50MP and the other with 2MP for depth. Along with this, nubia boasts a host of AI functionalities such as AI Scam Alert, which sounds pretty useful.

For the nubia Neo 5 Max 5G we are giving it the review grade, A, which is our highest rating. Because it is a device that doesn’t pretend to be anything else. It is marketed as a large device to let you play games, while allowing you to do other things like catch up on your series of backlogs and can act as a device for productivity. But as we always say, don’t just take our word for it, go out! Find this nubia Neo 5 Max 5G in your favorite stores and see for yourself if it’s the perfect fit for you.