ASUS Reveals ZenFone 3 w/ Deluxe & Ultra Variants

At Computex 2016 in Taipei, ASUS unveiled three new ZenFone devices: the regular ZenFone 3, the high-end ZenFone 3 Deluxe, and the humongous ZenFone 3 Ultra. All three devices come in aluminum and glass construction (all aluminum for the ZenFone 3 Deluxe and ZenFone 3 Ultra), utilize USB Type-C, support LTE-A, and run on a heavily modified version of Android Marshmallow.

Image by ASUS

The ZenFone 3 is the successor to last year's very successful ZenFone 2. It comes with a 5.5-inch IPS LCD of 1080p Full HD resolution. Under the hood is an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC with a whopping 4GB RAM and 32GB/64GB of expandable internal storage. The ASUS ZenFone 3 also packs a 16-MP primary camera with laser auto-focus, phase-detection auto-focus, contrast-detection auto-focus, OIS, EIS, and a dual-tone, dual-LED flash. Meanwhile, an 8-MP secondary camera will take care of video calls and selfies. Its other features include a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner and a 3,000 mAh battery, which supports quick charging. The ZenFone 3 comes in three color variants: gold, white, and gray. Its pricing starts at $249.

Going up the ladder, we find the ZenFone 3 Deluxe, which is a tad larger than the regular ZenFone 3 as the former comes with a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display of 1080p Full HD resolution. Ticking inside is a top-of-the-line quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset with 6GB RAM and up to 256GB of expandable internal storage. Imaging-wise, the ASUS ZenFone 3 Deluxe has a 23-MP PixelMaster primary shooter with an f/2.0 aperture, 4-axis OIS, and dual-tone, dual-LED flash. An 8-MP 85-degree wide-angle camera can be found in front. The ZenFone 3 Deluxe also sports a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, a rather modest 3,000 mAh battery, which supports quick charging, an always-on display, a high resolution speaker, and a hybrid SIM slot. It will come in gray, silver, and gold color variants and will retail for $500 (base variant).

Last but not the least, we have the ASUS ZenFone 3 Ultra, which already pushes the smartphone boundaries to almost tablet territory as it comes with a large 6.8-inch Super AMOLED display. It has an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 chipset with 4GB RAM and up to 128GB of expandable internal storage. Its camera setup is the same with the more expensive ZenFone 3 Deluxe though. One difference it has from the other two ZenFone 3 smartphones is that its fingerprint scanner is embedded in the home button a la Samsung. The ZenFone 3 Ultra also has a large 4,600 mAh battery, which supports quick charging, and a duo of five-magnet stereo speakers with DTS 7.1 virtual surround sound support. To be available in Taiwan, China, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, the ZenFone 3 Ultra will retail for $479 (base model). Any interested buyers?