Taiwanese electronics giant ASUS announced a bunch of new smartphones at CES 2018. One of the most talked about launches from ASUS this year, however, is the Zenfone 5 with the famous iPhone X like notch at the top of its display. The notch aside, the Zenfone 5 (2018) looks like a well-rounded mid-range offering from the company. It is natural, therefore, to compare the ZenFone 5 (2018) to two other upcoming smartphones from competing brands. In today’s comparison, will take a closer look at the ASUS Zenfone 5 (2018) and see how it fares against the Mi Max 3 and the Moto G6 Plus from the house of Lenovo. As you might be already aware, all three handsets are yet to be launched in India. In fact, both the Mi Max 3 and the Moto G6 Plus are yet to officially announced internationally as well and have only made their appearances in the form of leaked images and spy shots. In fact, we are in the dark as far as some of the specifications of both these handsets.
Moto G6 Plus vs Asus Zenfone 5 (2018) vs Mi Max 3: Design, Display
The ASUS Zenfone 5 features a large 6.2-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080 x 2246 pixels. The rather odd resolution is because of the notch at the top of the panel. The display is also in the unusual 18.7:9 aspect ratio. The display ends up with a PPI density of 402. For durability and scratch protection, the handset gets a Gorilla Glass coating as well.
The Mi Max 3 as you might have guessed is the third generation of the popular Mi Max series. While we do not have all the details of the Mi Max 3, what is currently known is that it is likely to feature an aluminium body and will ship with a 6.99-inch display in the 18:9 aspect ratio – making it one of the biggest displays in this aspect ratio. The resolution of the display is likely to be 1080 x 2160 pixels thereby endowing it with a PPI density score of 345.
The Moto G6 Plus is an unannounced handset from Motorola that has only been seen in a series of leaked images. The G6 Plus is likely to feature a 5.93-inch IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1080 x 2160 pixels in the 18:9 aspect ratio. The handset is also likely to get the Gorilla Glass 3 layer for scratch resistance.
Moto G6 Plus vs Asus Zenfone 5 (2018) vs Mi Max 3: Specifications, Hardware
The ASUS Zenfone 5 (2018) is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 SoC and will use the Adreno 509 GPU for graphics. The handset will be sold in 4GB RAM and 6GB RAM versions and will come with 64GB of onboard storage. The phone also gets a microSD card slot for additional memory. The dual SIM handset also gets a 3300 mAh battery. As for the camera, the Zenfone 5 (2018) gets a dual camera setup at the rear consisting of a 12-megapixel primary camera and an 8-megapixel secondary shooter. At the front, the phone gets an 8-megapixel camera for selfies and video calls.
The Mi Max 3 is expected to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 635 SoC and is likely to be offered in three versions; a 3GB RAM + 32GB version, a 4GB RAM + 64GB version and a 6GB RAM + 64GB variant. The phone will also support memory expansion thanks to the presence of a microSD card slot. As for the camera, the Mi Max 3 us likely to get a dual 12-megapixel camera at the rear and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. The handset is also likely to get a large 5,500 mAh battery.
The Moto G6 Plus is likely to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 SoC with the Adreno 508 GPU for graphics. The phone is likely to be sold in the following versions; 3GB RAM + 32GB, 4GB RAM + 64GB, and 6GB RAM + 64GB. The phone will also get a microSD card slot. As for the camera, it is speculated that the G6 Plus could feature a dual camera setup at the rear consisting of a 12-megapixel primary camera and a 5-megapixel secondary shooter. At the front, the phone could get a 5-megapixel camera. The battery capacity of the handset is expected to be 3,200 mAh.
Moto G6 Plus vs Asus Zenfone 5 (2018) vs Mi Max 3: OS Updates, Software
All the three handsets in this comparison are likely to come loaded with Android 8 Oreo – currently the newest stable version of Android. Each smartphone will use their own custom UI. The G6 Plus, however, is expected to come with a near stock Android UI with little customisations.
Moto G6 Plus vs Asus Zenfone 5 (2018) vs Mi Max 3: Price in India
Since these three handsets are yet to be announced in India, it is premature to talk about their prices. All the three handsets are expected to be comfortably priced under the Rs.20,000 mark in the country at the time of their respective launches.
