ASUS Indonesia on Friday confirmed via Twitter that a new smartphone will be unveiled on December 11, with the tweet being accompanied by a hashtag suggesting that the device in question will be the ZenFone Max Pro M2. More recently, a number of alleged hardware specifications emerged, along with a low-resolution render (image below, courtesy of XDA-Developers) which seems to have revealed the smartphone’s notched design. According to all of this data, the ASUS ZenFone Max Pro M2 will feature a 6-inch display with a pixel count of 2,280 by 1,080 and should be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset in two main variants featuring 4GB or 6GB of RAM. Storage capacity will also vary from 64GB to 128GB, and the device will reportedly employ three rear-facing cameras, one of which will have a resolution of 13-megapixels.
This will effectively make the ASUS ZenFone Max Pro M2 the OEM’s first smartphone to make use of a triple-sensor setup, but it won’t be the first to employ a notched display. Judging by the render shared by XDA-Developers, ASUS seems to have worked on ways to minimize the notch’s dimensions and as a result, the upcoming model’s notch will be smaller compared to the one featured on the ZenFone 5Z, i.e., the OEM’s first handset to employ this particular design feature. This is due to the fact that the loudspeaker has been moved up onto the bezel and is no longer flanked by the front-facing sensors. Otherwise, the ZenFone Max Pro M2 seems to share some design characteristics with the ZenFone 5Z, including the thicker “chin” and rounded corners, along with thin side bezels. But aside from this apparent evolution in the exterior design, the ZenFone Max Pro M2 is expected to remain a mid-range smartphone, whereas the ZenFone 5Z fits in the flagship category. Still, when compared to its direct predecessor released in May, the M2 model includes more RAM, a more powerful processor, and an extra rear-facing camera. Preliminary specs also include an NXP Smart Amp, a 3.5-millimeter headphone jack, dual-SIM capabilities, Bluetooth 5, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, as well as Android 8.1 Oreo.
By all accounts, it looks like the ASUS ZenFone Max Pro M2 will be the first smartphone in the OEM’s portfolio to combine mid-range hardware characteristics with a more modern notched design. Meanwhile, according to another leak earlier this month, ASUS might be moving towards an even smaller teardrop-like display notch for its future ZenFone 6 flagship series, which is expected to be unveiled in February during Mobile World Congress. As for the ZenFone Max Pro M2 set to be unwrapped on December 11, the device could also be accompanied by a non-Pro model much like its predecessor, said to feature the Snapdragon 636 chipset from Qualcomm and two rear-facing cameras. It remains to be seen if both models will make use of a similar notched display.