ASUS’ answer to the iPhone X is coming to Malaysia as early as next month

Just recently, ASUS had introduced its new ZenFone 5 series at MWC 2018. The Taiwanese smartphone maker is calling it the most intelligent smartphone they have ever made and the exterior looks heavily inspired by the iPhone X.

If you’ve been looking forward to this device, you won’t have to wait too long as ASUS Malaysia has teased that it’s coming to our shores very soon.

To recap, the ZenFone 5 is a flagship device which comes with a 6.2″ Full HD+ (2246×1080) IPS display with a 19:9 aspect ratio. It gets a notch at the top which ASUS claims to be 26% smaller than the iPhone X. As a result, you get a higher 90% screen-to-body ratio.

For the standard ZenFone 5, it runs Snapdragon 636 processor, which is the same chipset found on the Redmi Note 5 Pro and it comes with up to 6GB of RAM. There’s also the flagship ZenFone 5z, which is essentially the same phone but comes with a top of the line Snapdragon 845 processor that’s mated with up to 8GB of RAM.

The resemblance to the iPhone X continues at the rear as it gets a dual-camera (12MP + 8MP) setup with a vertically mounted camera bump. Instead of offering telephoto zoom, the secondary 8MP camera has a 120-degree wide-angle lens. The main camera uses Sony’s IMX 363 sensor with a 4-axis OIS and it has an aperture of f/1.8. Over at the front, it gets an 8MP f/2.0 selfie camera.

The ZenFone 5 also features dual speakers for a more immersive audio experience. There’s also a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and alternatively, you can also unlock the phone with your face. Powering the device is a 3,300mAh battery which supports 18W fast charging via USB-C. Both the ZenFone 5 and 5Z are running on Android 8.0 with ZenUI 5.0 skin on top.

There’s also a cheaper ASUS ZenFone 5 Lite which comes with a 6.0″ Full HD+ display and it runs on either a Snapdragon 630 or Snapdragon 430 processor. Aiming at the selfie-centric crowd, the ZenFone 5 Lite has a total of 4 cameras as it has dual-cameras for both front and back.

ASUS Malaysia didn’t mention any specific dates for the launch but it is expected to take place sometime in May or June. What would be interesting is the price. When it was announced in Europe, the base ZenFone 5z that has a Snapdragon 845 processor with 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage is priced from 479 Eur which is about RM2,275 if converted directly. Since phones are generally more expensive in Europe compared to Malaysia, the ZenFone 5z could possibly one of the most affordable Snapdragon 845 flagship smartphones when it comes here.

To learn more, you can read our ZenFone 5 first impressions and you can watch our hands-on video below: