14 DAY TRIAL // Back at CES 2015 in January, ASUS was one of the first companies to announce a handset equipped with a mighty 4GB of RAM.
The ZenFone 2 takes advantage of an Intel Atom Z3580 CPU and runs Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box, but we’re yet to see it arrive in retail.
Anyway, the ZenFone 2 is the successor of the original ZenFone which ASUS introduced back in 2014.
The device maker managed to ship 4.5 units of the phablet during Q4 of 2014, but this year ASUS has set up higher expectations for the ZenFone 2, a lot higher.
ASUS will diversify the ZenFone 2 even more
ASUS apparently wants to ship at least 17 million of its ZenFone 2 handset and it has a plan in order to achieve this target. According to a report coming out of Focus Taiwan, ASUS is planning to introduce a lower priced model in Q2 taking advantage of a yet-unnamed Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC.
Given the fact that this will apparently be a budget model, we can rule the Snapdragon 810 out right off the bat. But there's more.
ASUS also plans to launch a version of its ZenFone 2 equipped with a MediaTek chip with 3G. This version will be targeted at emerging markets such as India and you can expect to see it arrive in the second half of the year.
As for the high-end ZenFone 2, we can expect to see it arrive in retail starting next month. The phone will first be available in countries such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, China and France.
Come April, ASUS will be rolling out the phone into the US, Italy, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. We’re yet to find out how the company will price the 4GB version of the device.
What the ASUS ZenFone 2 is all about
In case you missed our earlier coverage, the ASUS ZenFone 2 arrives with a 5.5-inch Gorilla Glass 3-protected display with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, 403 ppi and 400 nits of brightness.
The handset enjoys the perks of a 13MP snapper with 5 elements, f/2.0 aperture lens plus a dual-color “Real Tone” LED flash.
Up front, we have a 5MP selfie snapper with wide-angled (85-degree) lens that has the ability to shoot in panorama mode.
Alongside the 4GB model, ASUS will also offer a 2GB model which has been announced as being super affordable, coming in at $199 / €166.
