KUALA LUMPUR, MAY 25 — Asus Malaysia is launching its new Zenfone 8 series just slightly over two weeks after its global launch. This is their Snapdragon 888 powered flagship series that comes in two different sizes
The pricing and availability details will be revealed during its launch event which is scheduled for 8pm on Friday, 28th May 2021. You can watch the event live on Asus Malaysia’s Facebook page.
In Europe, the Zenfone 8 is priced at EUR 599 (about RM3,030) while the Zenfone 8 Flip is priced at EUR 799 (about RM4,042). You can expect both devices to be priced lower for the Malaysian market.
According to Asus Malaysia’s contest, it appears that they are offering 8GB RAM + 128GB storage for the Zenfone 8 and 8GB RAM + 256GB storage for the Zenfone 8 Flip.
Asus Zenfone 8
The Zenfone 8 is a compact flagship smartphone which is quite rare in the Android segment. It features a 5.9″ Full HD+ Samsung AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and it runs on a Snapdragon 888 processor with 5G. The device can be configured with up to 16GB of RAM and with up to 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage.
For taking pictures, the rear gets a dual-camera setup featuring a 64MP main shooter and a 12MP ultra-wide-angle camera. Upfront, the tiny punch-hole houses a 12MP selfie shooter.
The device also features dual stereo speakers and it also comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack. Besides supporting 5G, it also has dual-frequency GPS, NFC, Bluetooth 5.2 and 802.11ax WiFi 6 as well as WiFi 6E subject to regulatory approval. . On top of that, it also gets IP68 dust and water resistance.
Powering the device is a 4,000mAh battery and it supports fast charging via Quick Charge 4.0 and PD protocols. Included in the box is a 30W USB-C Power adapter.
Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
The Zenfone 8 Flip is a much bigger device featuring a 6.67″ Full HD+ AMOLED screen with 90Hz refresh rate and it comes without any punch-holes and notches. It also runs on a Snapdragon 888 5G platform with 8GB of RAM and with either 128GB or 256GB storage options.
The main highlight is its flipping triple-camera module which looks similar to last year’s ZenFone 7 series. It gets a 64MP main camera, 12MP ultra-wide-angle lens and an 8MP telephoto camera that can do 3x optical zoom. Since this module flips, you can take a selfie with the best cameras on the device.
With the motorised camera module, you can take automatic panorama, quick-angle shooting and it can even follow you via motion tracking. According to Asus, the flip module can withstand 300,000 flips which is equivalent to 100 flips per day for more than 8 years.
Since this is a bigger phone, it gets a larger 5,000mAh battery and it also supports Quick Charge 4.0 and PD charging protocols via USB-C. Also included is a 30W power adapter. Similar to the smaller Zenfone 8, it has stereo speakers and has support for up to WiFi 6e (subject to approval), dual-frequency GPS, Bluetooth 5.2 and 5G connectivity. However, it lacks IP68-rated water resistance and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Both devices ship with Android 11 with ZenUI 8 skin on top. The new Zenfone 8 and 8 Flip will be the first flagship Zenfone devices in Malaysia after the ZenFone 5 series which was launched in 2018. The Taiwanese manufacturer had introduced the Zenfone 6 and Zenfone 7 but both were not released for our local market. — SoyaCincau
