Asus Zenfone 5 - Should you wait?

Asus is all set to launch their share of the smartphone pie this year in the MWC 2018, which is to be held on 27th February at Barcelona. Asus will be launching the successor to their already popular zenfone series. This time too, we expect Asus to launch a couple of variants for the Zenfone 5 series. There have been teasers from Asus itself with a number '5' printed on the posters which has pretty much confirmed the launch of the Asus Zenfone 5 on the MWC 2018 event. Also, as we have reported in our earlier posts that Xiaomi will also be launching the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 on 14th February, the question which now stands in front is should you wait for the Asus Zenfone 5?

Well, to answer this question we need to first look at the leaks that have surfaced around the Asus Zenfone 5 recently. The leaks hint that there are a couple of variants that will be launched in the MWC 2018 event to be held on 27th February 2018 at Barcelona. The cheaper version of the Zenfone 5 series or the budget oriented offering by Asus this year would be the Asus Zenfone 5 Lite and there might be a bigger version too like the previous year which might be named the Asus Zenfone 5 Max. The main variant would although still be the Asus Zenfone 5, which will be the highlight of the event (more on that later).

A few images of the Asus Zenfone 5 Lite have also been spotted thanks to @evleaks which clearly show that the device will sport dual camera setup at back as well as on the front, which makes it Asus's first smartphone with a quad camera setup. The Asus Zenfone 5 Lite goes by the model number ZC600KL. The phone will sport the new 18:9 aspect ratio FHD+ screen and will be available in 3 colour options - Midnight Black, Moonlight White and Rouge Red. Both cameras on the dual camera setup at the back are expected to be 16 MP while that on the front are expected to be a 20 MP shooter. A recent leak on the benchmark listings also reveal that the Asus Zenfone 5 Lite will feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC and will be running on Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box.

As for the main highlight of the event, the Asus Zenfone 5 that goes by the model number ZE620KL, the recently leaked images reveal a more sophisticated design just like the iphone X with a notch at the top of the phone. The Asus Zenfone 5 also sports 18:9 aspect ratio FHD+ full screen display. It also shows a vertically aligned dual camera setup at the back, a metal unibody and a rear mounted fingerprint sensor. Alongside, the 3.5mm audio jack is also retained with bottom firing speakers and a USB type-C port for charging and connectivity.

 

Both these devices will be released on 27th Feb at MWC 2018 Asus's event, which is about 2 weeks later than the Redmi Note 5 launch on 14th Feb. If we look at Asus's history, then it clearly hints that the company is aggresively targetting the budget oriented consumer market which makes it clear enough that the Asus Zenfone 5 and Asus Zenfone 5 Lite will be priced competitively with other offerings in the budget segment including the Redmi Note 5. So it makes perfect sense to not just throw yourselves away for the Redmi Note 5 launch and instead wait for Asus's launch to have a clear decision on what is best for you. But again, it's all up to you as the Redmi Note 5 doesn't seem to have any downside whatsover for the price and you can surely buy it, but Asus also plans to give a stiff competition to Xiaomi and others for the budget crown so you might just want to wait.

Other interesting posts -

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 leaks and launch
• Nokia 7 plus leaks
• Vivo phone may have 10GB of Ram 
• World's first under screen fingerprint sensor

In any case, we would love to know what you think of the Asus Zenfone 5 - should you wait? or go with the Redmi Note 5 instead? Tell us in the comment section down below.