Today is officially launch day for ASUS’ Zenfone 3 series of phones. You’ve probably already seen the prices for the entire family, and aside from the Zenfone 3 Max which is the projected volume driver, all of the phones are priced over 10K, which is a little surprising considering ASUS’ reputation.
ASUS Zenfone 3 ZE552KL specs:
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor
- 4GB RAM
- 5.5-inch full HD IPS display, Corning Gorilla Glass protection, 2.5D glass, 1920 x 1080 resolution
- 64GB of expandable storage
- 16-megapixel rear camera, Sony IMX298 sensor, f/2.0 aperture, 4-axis OIS, 3-axis EIS, 6 element largan lens, laser AF, phase detection AF, continous focus
- 8-megapixel front camera, f/2.0 aperture
- 3G, LTE
- Dual-SIM
- WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS, Fingerprint scanner, USB Type-C
- Android 6.0 Marshmallow
- 3000mAh battery
So the biggest question is, are the new phones overpriced? For me personally, no. I kind of understand where the hate is coming from – the entire appeal of the Zenfone family is high specs for low price, which is still kind of relevant with the Zenfone 3. The phone easily feels like a phone built by the leading Korean company, perhaps more so in some aspects of the design.
As for the price increase (around 4K increase for the 5.5-inch model compared to last year’s iteration) that’s pretty much expected. Moving to a brand new processor (one that won’t have compatibility problems with apps down the line) and a more premium design that uses a lot of glass and metal in its construction isn’t cheap, and the phone is better for it. ASUS is fast becoming a global leader in phones, and realistically their pricing scheme won’t stay stagnant forever.
Is the Zenfone 3 overpriced? Nope. There’s plenty of value to be had in the phone, and considering how well it did in our review in both performance, battery life and camera performance, then you’d realize that the Zenfone 3 is just right.