ASUS have a series of ZenPad tablets ranging in price and specification, encompassing the low, mid and higher ends of the spectrum. Traditionally, many of these tablets have been based around an Intel processor, either the x86 (or x64) variety or more recently in the case of the ZenPad 8.0, the Intel / Rockchip ARM System-on-Chip. And today, we have a report of a new tablet going through the GFXBench website with the model designation of ASUS P008. The tablet is based around a 7.9-inch, 2,048 by 1,536 pixel, high resolution display. The device appears to be based around a new generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 System-on-Chip, which features two 1.8 GHz ARM Cortex-A72 application cores and four ARM Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.2 GHz. The Snapdragon 650 is backed up by the Adreno 510 GPU and 2 GB of RAM, plus what appears to be 16 GB of internal storage (although the benchmark shows as there only being 9 GB of free space). The device lists a 7MP rear camera, a 1.8MP front facing camera and comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow installed, presumably running under ASUS’ Zen UI customized interface.
Unfortunately, we are not in a position to be able to substantiate this rumor or not. Certainly, Mobile World Congress, or MWC, is only a matter of weeks away and ASUS may well be preparing a follow up device to the ASUS ZenPad S 8.0 tablet, but based around a newer generation, mid-range Snapdragon processor. If this were the case, we might reasonably expect the P008 to be joined by a number of other tablets and the P008 to be a middling to higher end model in the range. Alternatively, these benchmarks could be a fake, albeit an elaborate one at that!
Given ASUS’ fondness for mid-range tablets at value prices and how they have promised since 2014 to introduce more ARM-based System-on-Chips into their devices, the P008 seems entirely plausible. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 is a logical mid-range chipset to find in such a new device; and ASUS have had some success selling tablets at the 8-inch size. We may see additional tablets appearing in the GFXBench database or other leaks around the Internet.