Yeah true, sorry I almost forget people download the .zip version anymore. Your error just seemed like missing 3rd party headers which the download-dependencies, well, downloads. 
Turns out that this is a problem specific to cocos2d-x v3.17. I am now able to build my project both with v3.15.1 and v3.17. I see the problems only with the v3.17 build.
For both builds I’m not allowing Android Studio to make any updates to the project and I’m using ndk versions close to those that were current at the time of the cocos release: r11c for v3.15.1 and r16b for v3.17
So, we do have a depth buffer problem on Android.
Should I report this as a bug?
cpptests also shows the problem
46 Sprite3D => 7 basic toon shader test: where the spout joins the main body of the teapot, the polygons constantly pop in and out
46 Sprite3D => 8 light map test: when you drag the scene, several of the shapes’ bases pop in and out.
It would be great if someone could confirm these problems.
This issue seems to be specific to the Galaxy S6, because I cannot reproduce it on a Google Nexus 6P with Android 8.1 installed. The tests you listed are working fine, without the glitches you mentioned.
I’ve opened https://github.com/cocos2d/cocos2d-x/issues/19115. I was intending to upload the apk that I’ve build here, in case the problem is specific to my build environment rather than to the Galaxy S6, but when I place the apk on my device and try to install it, I get an error message claiming it is corrupt - strange given that Android Studio installs and runs it okay when I build the project.