At the opening of ASUS’ 100th store in Ayala Malls Feliz, we were given a few minutes to talk with some of the company’s big guns, including the Country Manager, Mr. George Su, and the CEO himself, Mr. Jerry Shen, to get a better glimpse of what the future holds for the Zenfone.
The Zoom Lineup is Officially Discontinued
The Zenfone 3 Zoom will be the last of the Zoom lineup that will see the light of day. In their tests, they found out that having better light sensitivity combined with digital zoom is much more beneficial compared to optical zoom. Somehow, this makes sense as the new Zenfone 5z is already equipped with powerful and ai-assisted optics, but personally, we’d still love to see an even more camera-focused device.
The Motive Behind the Very Aggressive Pricing of the Zenfone 5 Series
ASUS wants to give its users a no-compromise user experience at the most competitive price points. The Zenfone 5Q is a good example – it’s the most affordable of the lot, but is still packed with features that you’d normally find in more expensive devices. #BackTo5 in fact, symbolizes the company’s intention to go back to the Zenfone’s core slogan, which is Empowering Luxury for Everyone.
Don’t Worry, the Max Lineup Isn’t Going Away
In fact, it’s going to be on an entire lineup of its own, moving forward. That’s the reason why the new Max devices like the Max Plus M1 and the recently launched Max M1 didn’t have a generation number in their model names. There was also mention of a Zenfone Max Pro. There’ll also be a different timeline for the launch of the Max lineup, and in the future, the term Max may no longer be just a sign of having a large battery. So will we be seeing a new Zenfone Max soon? who knows?
An ROG Phone?
ROG Concept Phone
Gaming phones are a trend these days, and ASUS wants to follow the trend. There’s your answer. So if such a device would exist, what can we expect from it? A 120Hz display? Some kind of next-gen liquid cooling for mobile devices? A dedicated gaming app? The possibilities are endless, and we’re actually quite excited for this one.
The Return of the Zenfone Go?
The ASUS Zenfone Go
Mr. George Su mentioned that they’ll be having “something” that’s below the Max lineup, something even more entry-level. Can you guess what that phone is? In previous iterations, the Zenfone Go has always been the mainstay as far as an introduction to the Zenfone is concerned. You get the essential features, for a very, and iImean very, affordable price. So will we be seeing a return of the Go lineup? Maybe! Or perhaps, we may soon see Zenfones running on the lighter version of Android – Android Go.
A New Strategy
ASUS’ new mission is to establish an effective and a very wide coverage to Filipino end-users so that they can enjoy the brand’s products anywhere in the country. Now, they’ll go to their customer, and the 100th store is just the first step.
Emman has been writing technical and feature articles since 2010. Prior to this, he became one of the instructors at Asia Pacific College in 2008, and eventually landed a job as Business Analyst and Technical Writer at Integrated Open Source Solutions for almost 3 years.
