Update: ASUS reached out to Android Headlines with the following statement:
“ASUS will be having an event in Taiwan on June 14th, and while the ZenFone AR will be a part of it, it will not be launching then, nor has ASUS publicly specified a launch date for the upcoming smartphone. We are; however, happy to share that consumers will be able to get their hands on the ZenFone AR this summer.”
The original story is as follows:
The Asus Zenfone AR, the first smartphone to support both Daydream and Tango technologies from Google, will likely be announced on June 14. The information came from a media invitation containing the date of the announcement and the device’s name Zenfone AR. The announcement will likely be made in a press conference that will be attended by the tech reporters who received the invitation. After being announced, it is expected that it will be initially available in Taiwan with launches in the United States, Canada, and India soon afterward. In the case of India and Canada, it has been reported that the Asus Zenfone AR will be launched in July while in the United States, the device will be launched as a Verizon exclusive this summer.
The news of the impending launch of the Asus Zenfone AR puts an end to the long wait for interested consumers who have been waiting to buy the device since it was unveiled at CES earlier this year. The Asus Zenfone AR supports Google’s Tango and Daydream technologies, ensuring that the handset can deliver the best possible augmented reality and virtual reality experiences to the consumers. This handset is fitted with the necessary hardware to support Tango, including multiple cameras and sensors that will be used for motion tracking and depth sensing. Meanwhile, the primary rear camera is equipped with a Sony IMX318 sensor, which has a resolution of 23-megapixels and is capable of 4-axis optical image stabilization, 3-axis electronic image stabilization, and 4K video recording.
To provide the computational horsepower needed to build the best possible augmented reality experience, the Asus Zenfone AR is powered by a Snapdragon 821 chipset. This chipset might not be the latest from Qualcomm but it should be powerful enough to synthesize all the data coming from the device’s numerous sensors and cameras. The device will have either 6GB or 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of internal flash storage. The handset will run on Android 7.0 Nougat, with the support applications for Google Daydream and Tango already pre-installed. It is highly likely that the pricing information and detailed schedule of launch dates of the Asus Zenfone AR will be released during the press conference.