Newsletter 
Taiwanese manufacturer Asus introduced the second generation of its ZenFone lineup amidst much fanfare earlier this year. Now, according to reports emanating out of Taiwan, the company may well be prepping to launch a new selfie-centric smartphone, dubbed the Asus ZenFone Selfie. Asus is expected to take the veil off the device during Computex, which is scheduled to be held in Taiwan next week. The rumored new phone is said to feature a massive 13 megapixel front camera – its biggest USP – with dual LED flash and a laser auto-focus, a feature first seen on the LG G3. The rear camera is also said to come with a 13 megapixel sensor. The only other detail that Taiwanese publication Sogi could garner is that the phone will sport a 5.5-inch display of unknown resolution. There’s no word on any other hardware specification whatsoever, so whether the phone will be powered by an Intel processor like the previous ZenFone devices or by a Qualcomm or Mediatek SoC is still not quite evident at the moment. However, the display size makes one believe that the upcoming phone will be variant of the ZenFone 2, which has been released with both 1080p and 720p displays in various markets around the world. Asus is also said to be ready to launch two new tablets during Computex, one each with 8 inch and 7 inch screens.
There’s also talk of yet another Asus phone being in the pipelines, which has reportedly already been certified by Chinese regulator TENAA. The device reportedly is a more basic device compared to the flagship ZenFone 2, with a 5-inch 720p display, and comes with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage, according to reports. The device is said to be powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core 64-bit CPU, and has a Mali GPU and features an 8-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash. Other hardware details about the phone however is unavailable and this one may or may not come with laser auto-focus.
With selfies becoming the buzzword in social media interactions, and celebrities like Beyonc©, Kim Kardashian and Rihanna (among many others) raising selfies to an art-form and making Instagram and Snapchat the coolest online places to be for youngsters, the front-facing camera on a smartphone has now gained tremendous importance among today’s youth. More and more manufacturers have been proactive in catering to this niche but growing segment, and are releasing selfie-centric devices. Global heavyweights like Sony, Nokia and HTC have joined the battle that was started by entrepreneurial Chinese OEMs, who were as usual, the first to latch onto the trend. Some notable selfie-centric devices in the market include the HTC Eye, which comes with a 13 megapixel front cam, while the Sony Xperia C3 and the Lenovo Vibe X2 have also been heavily advertised for the strength of the front cameras, both of which come with 5-megapixel sensors.