Asus is launching two new smartphones with flagship specs. Both feature Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processors and support for 5G mobile networks, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and NFC.

The Asus Zenfone 8 is designed to be a compact phone (by modern standards), with a 5.9 inch display, a 4,000 mAh battery, dual rear cameras, and a single selfie camera. The new Asus Zenfone 8 Flip is a larger model with a 6.7 inch screen, a 5,000 mAh battery, and a tripled-camera system that can flip over the top of the phone, allowing you to use the same high-quality cameras for selfies as you do for everything else.

Both phones go on sale in Europe starting May 13, 2021. They should be available in the United States later this year.

Asus Zenfone 8

This small(er) phone has a 5.9 inch, 2400 x 1800 pixel AMOLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate, 240 Hz touch sampling rate and 1ms touch response time.

With a starting price of 599 Euros ($730), you might think this is a budget offering, but Asus is positioning it as a flagship with support for up to 16GB of LPDDR5 memory and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, although the entry-level model will have just 6GB and 128GB.

It has a USB 2.0 Type-A port with support for 30W wired fast charging, a n IP68 water resistance rating, and an under-display fingerprint sensor. The phone also has a headphone jack, something that’s increasingly difficult to find on flagship phones.

The camera system includes a 64MP Sony IMX686 primary camera paired with a 12MP Sony IMX363 ultra-wide camera featuring dual phase detection autofocus (something that you don’t often find un wide angle smartphone cameras), plus a 12MP IMX663 selfie camera that also has 12MP dual phase autofocus.

Asus Zenfone 8 Flip

This model is larger and pricier, selling for 799 Euros ($965) and up. But only some of the specs are incontrovertibly better than the phone’s smaller sibling.

The Asus Zenfone 8 Flip is only available with 8GB of RAM and a choice of 128GB or 256GB of storage. Its 6.67 inch, 2400 x 1080 pixel AMOLED display only supports up to a 90Hz refresh rate and 200 Hz touch sampling rate. And there’s no headphone jack.

What this model does have to offer is a single camera system that you can use for everything. Not only can it snap photos from the back or front of the phone, but you can also slide the camera out at any angle to capture shots at a 45 degree, 90 degree, or 135 degree angle – those are just some of the presets, but you can choose your own.

Asus says you can even record video while the camera is in motion, or use an auto-panorama mode to hold your hand still as the camera takes a picture, moves, takes another, and so on in order to stitch together a panoramic image.

The camera system consists of:

  • 64MP Sony IMX686 primary camera
  • 12MP Sony IMX363 ultra-wide camera
  • 8MP OmniVision OV08A telephoto (3X optical or 12x digital zoom)

The Zenfone 8 Flip also has at least one thing the standard Zenfone 8 lacks – a microSD card reader. The larger phone supports dual SIM and a removable storage card.

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3 replies on “Asus launches Zenfone 8 and Zenfone 8 Flip”

  1. “With a starting price of 599 Euros ($730), you might think this is a budget offering”

    No, I wouldn’t have thought that for a second.

  2. I am unsure of the durability of an expensive Asus phone. Samsung and Apple make many phones and their average durability is excellent in my opinion. Why should I take a chance on Asus?

  3. I’m a little disappointed.
    Both models should have the 3.5mm Jack, and microSD slot. Both screens should’ve been 120Hz, 1ms, using 240Hz-Touch, with Gorilla Glass Victus. For variants, they both should come with a minimum 8GB and 256GB storage. And both devices should be at least $100 cheaper on top.

    Also the Flip8 should have been IP68 certified, if difficult, they could’ve certified it to IP66 and let buyers know. The cherry on top: the 8 could’ve been a tad smaller, which would make it distinct and popular…. and the Flip is oversized it needs to be smaller (medium-large sized?), it’s annoying since ASUS already has an oversized phone in the RoG 5.

    Their current offers?
    Both devices are compromised. And it’s’s going to lose the value proposition to competitors in the market. Plenty of comparable-sized devices out there.

Comments are closed.