The Asus ZenFone 2 made waves when the company unveiled the smartphone at CES in January. At the time it was described as a $199 smartphone with the kind of specs you’d expect from a much more expensive device.

Asus plans to bring the ZenFone 2 to the US this spring or summer, but if you’re in Taiwan you won’t have to wait that long to get your hands on one. It just went on sale in the company’s home country.

Update: The Zenfone 2 is now available in North America.

It turns out the ZenFone 2 isn’t exactly a $199 phone. There are actually four different models, with prices ranging from $158 for the least powerful version to $285 for a phone with a full HD display, 4GB of RAM, and a 64-bit processor.

zenfone 2_06

All four models feature Android 5.0 Lollipop software, Intel Atom processors, IPS displays with wide viewing angles, support for 4G LTE networks, Bluetooth 4.0, and microSD card slots.

Here are the specs for each model available at launch:

$158 Asus ZenFone 2 (ZE500CL)

  • 5 inch, 1280 x 720 pixel display
  • 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Z2560 Clover Trail+ processor
  • 2GB RAM
  • 16GB storage
  • 8MP rear and 2MP front cameras
  • 802.11b/g/n WiFI
  • 2500mAh battery

$190 Asus ZenFone 2 (ZE550ML)

  • 5.5 inch, 1280 x 720 pixel display
  • 1.8 GHz Intel Atom Z3560 Moorefield processor
  • 2GB RAM
  • 16GB storage
  • 13MP rear and 5MP front cameras
  • 802.11ac WiFI
  • NFC
  • 3000mAh battery

$222 Asus ZenFone 2 (ZE551ML) 

  • 5.5 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel display
  • 1.8 GHz Intel Atom Z3560 Moorefield processor
  • 2GB RAM
  • 32GB storage
  • 13MP rear and 5MP front cameras
  • 802.11ac WiFi
  • NFC
  • 3000mAh battery

$285 Asus ZenFone 2 (ZE551ML)

  • 5.5 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel display
  • 2.3 GHz Intel Atom Z3580 Moorefield processor
  • 4GB RAM
  • 32GB storage
  • 13Mp rear and 5MP front cameras
  • 802.11ac WiFi
  • NFC
  • 3000mAh battery

Keep in mind that all of these phones are unlocked, and the listed prices are converted from Taiwanese currency to US dollars. The prices could be a little different when the phones go on sale in US and Europe, and it’s not clear if all four models will be available in every market.

I was reasonably impressed with the demo units I saw at CES in January, especially given the phone’s low price. I’d kind of suspected that Asus had been overpromising on the pricing front, but now that the phones are actually available it looks like the prices really are pretty close to what the company had promised.

via Juggly

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20 replies on “Asus ZenFone 2 launches in Taiwan for $158 and up”

  1. If I didn’t have my OnePlus One I might of probably got the 4GB version of this phone. Has a micro SD card slot, same res and screen size, 64-bit Intel Processor, and US LTE bands.

  2. I am very excited for this phone. I was very ready to buy the 2.3ghz, 4gb RAM model, and I was actually guessing the price would be around $299, so $285 is a nice surprise.

    But I’m probably going to buy the $222 ZE551ML. Being that the battery size is the same between the 2 models, I’m going to go for the one that will probably provide better battery life.

  3. this is most important news of the day. i have been waiting for this phone.

  4. I can’t wait for this to come to U.S.! Seems better than my Oneplus One.

  5. How is it that specs on phones are better than desktop computers at the same price point? Asus vivopc with a lower clocked processor than the high end of this phone is over $400. No screen, no battery, no flash memory, not such strict space requirements, but $150 more…

    1. well, computers have more iron and plastic. (bigger screen, bigger battery, keyboard, ports, etc.) Also, GHz are not everything, performance depends on a lot more thing. A Baytrail Atom at 10-15W is a lot more powerful than a 3W Moorefield Atom.

      1. Ontop of that, mobile devices use really cheap components that wouldn’t suffice on a PC. Like eMMC storage, and very low powerformance RAM.

    2. asus vivotab with 8inch 1200×800, 2gig of ram, 32gb storage for around 150 usd

  6. I wonder what the battery life is like on these devices.
    The gen 1 phone was criticized for poor battery life.
    Also, the gen 1 was available in a dual SIM international
    version. I wonder if the gen 2 will be.

    If this is going to be dual boot, I would prefer Android/
    x86 Windows.

    Loooks like the $190 model will be their volume seller.

    1. The guy leaking stuff on the Asus blog got like 6hrs screen on over 19hrs off the charger. That was the Z3560 version so the 4GB Z3580 will be a little less.

    1. Pretty good — it’s unlikely to find an app that won’t run at all. Some apps need to be sort of translated in real-time to run on x86 architecture rather than ARM, but the performance hit is negligible enough that you probably won’t notice it on recent Intel chips.

      1. Asus TAKE MY MONEY!!!! I am definitely getting the $160 model…I have been needing a dual-sim LTE phone forever lol i carry two phones as it is with T-Mobile and cricket… though i might spring for the $190 model. hoping Asus follows takes a queue from other OEMs and allows dual os… looking for windows phone and android

          1. The ZE500CL isn’t much of an upgrade from last years Zenfone 5, if they want to move it they should have put Moorefield.

    2. 99.9%… if it doesn’t code intel has its own runtime for ARM. only a handful of games you never heard of won’t run. anything coded in Unity also has an x86 FAT.

    3. In my experience the only disappointment I experienced was that some apps release special editions of their apps for x86 support, and sometimes charge you to buy the app again. Minecraft is an example of this. You have to pay again for the x86 version.

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