Asus had launched their ZenFone 2 range of smartphones in March this year and by all reports, the smartphone has been received well by the public at large. Which is not surprising, given the high-end specifications at affordable prices from one of the most reputable names in the world of consumer electronics. With the first generation ZenFone line proving to be such a hit last year, Asus raised the stakes this time around and is looking to sell as many as 30 million devices by the end of the year, which will indeed be commendable if Asus can actually make it happen.
With India commanding a large part of Asus’ sales from last year, the company decided to launch their new range in India within days of its launch in China and Taiwan. Originally, only three models were launched with a somewhat confusing nomenclature, but Asus has launched two more variants since then. One of those new variants was launched a few days back and is the best of the best. It comes with 128 GB storage along with 4 GB RAM and is powered by the Intel Atom Z3580 quad-core processor clocked at 2.3 GHz. It is priced at Rs. 29,999 ($475). The latest variant launched on Sunday is more of a middle of the line variant powered by the Z3560 processor which is clocked slightly lower at 1.8 GHz, and has 32 GB of built-in storage, even though it still comes with 4 GB of RAM. The variant is priced at Rs. 18,999 ($300) and is listed as ‘Available’ on Flipkart.
It is worth remembering, that although some entry-level ZenFone 2 variants with 5 inch screens have been launched in Taiwan and China, the phones launched in India thus far have all been the higher-end variants with 5.5 inch screens. With the launch of this new model, there are six models overall in the Indian market, with the most affordable one amongst them being the ZE550ML with a 720p screen with the other five variants all sporting full-HD 1080p screens, and all bewilderingly named the ZE551ML. The only difference between them are the processors, the RAM and the storage, with various permutations and combinations ranging from 2 GB RAM and 16 GB storage to 4 GB RAM and 128 GB storage. All the phones sport either of the two 64-bit Intel Atom quad-core processors mentioned above – the Z3580 clocked at 2.3 GHz or the Z3560 clocked at 1.8 GHz.