ASUS Zenfone 6 Launched with 48-megapixel Flip Camera System, Snapdragon 855 Processor

Published On: May 17, 2019

Taiwanese electronics major ASUS, earlier today, launched its new flagship-class device, the Zenfone 6 at an event in Valencia, Spain. The Zenfone 6 succeeds last year’s Zenfone 5z which was well received by reviewers and consumers alike. Unlike last year when there were two devices under the Zenfone 5 series (Zenfone 5 and Zenfone 5z), this time around, ASUS has kept things more straightforward and has announced a single model – the Zenfone 6. The international pricing of the Zenfone 6 is close to that of the recently launched OnePlus 7 series. The device is expected to be officially available in India soon. Let us take a detailed look at the features and hardware specifications of the ASUS Zenfone 6.

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ASUS Zenfone 6: Specifications, Features

The ASUS Zenfone 6, unsurprisingly, is powered by the Snapdragon 855 chipset from Qualcomm. This SoC is currently the fastest chipset that is available for Android smartphones and packs in the powerful Adreno 640 GPU for graphics. Needless to say, the device will be as powerful as any of the other flagship grade devices out there. As for the display, the Zenfone 6 gets a large 6.4-inch display with FHD+ resolution in the 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The panel is of the IPS LCD type, supports the DCI-P3 color space, and also boasts of 600 nits of brightness. For durability, the display also uses a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 6. Staying with the display, the notch that we saw on the Zenfone 5z is absent on the Zenfone 6. In fact, there is no separate front-facing camera on the device which eliminates the need for a notch in the first place.

The Zenfone 6 uses a dual camera setup for imaging. The primary sensor used by the phone is the 48-megapixel Sony IMX 586 with an f/1.79 aperture lens. The secondary camera uses a 13-megapixel sensor with a 125-degree ultra wide angle lens, making it even wider than the one on the Samsung Galaxy S10+. The most exciting part about the camera setup, however, is the way it operates. When you use the rear cameras for imaging, the Zenfone 6 works can be used just like any other smartphone currently on sale. However, when you invoke the front-facing camera, the entire camera assembly flips forward and sticks out from the top enabling it to capture selfies. This seems to be ASUS’ way of responding to the pop-up selfie camera trend that appears to be catching up globally. ASUS claims that the flip mechanism used on the Zenfone 6 is robust and that it has been built to withstand a significant amount of stress. The flip camera also means that ASUS becomes the first brand to support FK 60fps videos using the front-facing camera angle.

The Zenfone 6 has one of the largest battery capacities of any smartphone that totes the Snapdragon 855 SoC and gets a humungous 5,000 mAh battery. The phone supports QuickCharge 4.0 and comes with an 18-Watt charger in the box.

ASUS Zenfone 6: Software, Price in India

ASUS announced that the Zenfone 6 would run a tweaked version of ZenUI 6 that is closer to stock Android in terms of look and feel. With this, ZenUI, at least in my book, wins the award for the most improved Android UX. ZenUI from a few years ago was terrible, came with a ton of bloatware and was annoying to use. That just isn’t the case anymore.

At launch, the phone will run Android 9 Pie with an official update to Android 10 Q expected later this year. The Zenfone 6 will be offered in two color options; Twilight Silver, and Midnight Black. All the versions of the Zenfone 6 come with a triple slot for two SIM cards and a single microSD card.

The phone will be sold in the following versions across the globe. Their prices are also mentioned alongside.