Asus isn’t really known as a smartphone superpower, but each year the company is making strides with its offerings – and this year’s ZenFone 3 line might be the first to really get people to take notice.
Revealed yesterday, the ZenFone 3 Deluxe is the real star of the lineup: it’s a 5.7in phone with an all-metal unibody design, but unlike the vast majority of similar phones on the market today, you won’t find obvious antenna lines running along the back. Asus says its design hides them well, and from the images we can’t really disagree.
Specs-wise, the ZenFone 3 Deluxe also hangs tough with the current crop of flagships in most categories. It has a Snapdragon 820 processor, albeit with a whopping 6GB RAM – the Samsung Galaxy S7, HTC 10, and LG G5 have 4GB, by comparison.
The only real trade-off is the 1080p panel (Super AMOLED), which is a step down in clarity from the aforementioned flagships. However, at a price of $499 (about R7,820), you lose a nice chunk of the typical flagship price tag without losing much overall functionality.
The Ultra trims down the components a bit despite the size boost, featuring a Snapdragon 652 processor and either 3GB or 4GB RAM, while the starting storage is 32GB in the cheapest model (ranging up to 128GB). However, the battery is a gigantic 4,600mAH cell. And between the additions and subtractions, the price takes a slight dip at $479 (about R7,600).
You’ll find a 3,000mAh battery on the core model, plus a 16MP back camera, but the price is surprising for the components and the premium iPhone/Galaxy-esque build: it sells for just $249 (about R4,000).
New king of the mid-rangers? We can’t wait to find out, but there’s no word yet on a release date for any of the phones.
Source: Asus