While a ton of smartphone OEMs are going for large-screened devices these days, ASUS has decided that it wants to give consumers the option of going with a small, albeit powerful flagship device with the Zenfone 10, its latest smartphone. Announced just recently, the Zenfone 10 comes with more than just a small size though.
Power in your Pocket
ASUS has decided to pack some high-powered internals with the handset, and has fitted the Zenfone 10 with Qualcomm’s much-adored Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, which is supported by up to 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of internal storage. There are also options for lower RAM and storage configurations, the lowest being 8GB + 128GB. Powering the phone is a modestly-sized 4300 mAh battery, which comes with support for Qi wireless charging.
One of ASUS’ main selling points of the Zenfone 10 is its compact size, which is smaller than most phones thanks to its 5.92-inch Super AMOLED display – this also comes with a 1800×2400 pixel resolution, and can get pretty bright at up to 1100 nits of peak brightness. The screen also comes with a 144Hz refresh rate, although not in the way that you’d expect – the high refresh rate setting can only be used with ASUS’ Game Genie feature, with a select number of mobile games.
Familiar Design
If you were to mistake last year’s Zenfone 9 for the 10, then you’d be forgiven – ASUS has essentially used the same overall design, a move that we’ve seen from the likes of other OEMs like Apple, Samsung, and Google. There are some key differences though, such as a slight redesign on the phone’s camera bumps at the back.
Elsewhere though, the design remains mostly the same, such as the matte textured rear panel, and the black metal frame that surrounds the entirety of the handset. ASUS offers the Zenfone 10 in several different colours, including your standard black and white, with the addition of red, green, and blue variants. The frame around the phone houses a fingerprint reader, speaker and USB-C ports, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack, something that we haven’t seen on modern flagship phones aside from Sony Xperia models. There’s also an IP68 rating, which should add a bit of protection from splashes nd accidental dunks in water.
Cameras and Pricing
The ASUS Zenfone 10 comes with Sony’s IMX766 50MP sensor, complete with 6-axis hybrid gimbal stabilisation. This main lens is accompanied by a 13MP ultrawide camera, and on the front you get a 32MP selfie camera. Video quality maxes out at 8K resolution although this is limited to 24fps – should you wish to go at a higher 30 or 60fps, you’ll have to dial back a bit to 4K resolution footage.
In terms of price, the Zenfone 10 starts at 799 Euros for the base model, which gets you 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, while it goes for 849 Euros for the 8GB RAM and 256GB storage variant, and 929 Euros for the maxed-out 16GB RAM and 512GB setup. The phone is expected to launch sometime in July, so fans will want to keep an eye on any announcements from ASUS.
