ASUS currently develops and sells two smartphone lineups to consumers in several markets; Zenfone and its esteemed gaming handsets, the ROG Phone, but according to the latest report, only one of them is said to be retained in the future. Apparently, the Taiwanese firm is undergoing some organizational restructuring that will force a merger of its two smartphone series.
Zenfone team said to be merged into other departments or directly into the ROG Phone team, suggesting that the Zenfone 10 will be the last model
Though the Zenfone 10 harbored impressive specifications and was tailor-made for consumers who preferred smaller Android smartphones, this lineup was never considered a popular pick for individuals and neither was it selling in droves. TechNews claims that an internal letter from ASUS revealed the latter’s plans to move several employees from its Zenfone division to the ROG Phone team or other segments.
Mishaal Rahman has also reported on X that ASUS has taken down several older firmware packages of existing phones. Though the company’s website is under maintenance, some users have stated about the removal of firmware in the past few days. Given how the smartphone market has slowed down, several manufacturers, including Apple, have cut down production and lowered their shipment estimates for the remainder of the year.
In addition to halting its bootloader unlocking tool (which I was told was supposed to be temporary), ASUS has also apparently recently taken down a lot of its older firmware packages for its existing devices. (Their website is currently under maintenance but users have reported…
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) August 27, 2023
Zenfone 10 pre-orders recently opened up in the U.S. earlier this month, with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered flagship starting from $699, making it a pretty compelling offer for those on a tight budget. Unfortunately, the clean ZenUI might not have appealed to everyone, and even if the interface delivered a user-friendly, uncluttered look, the fact that ASUS was only provided OS updates for up to two years during the time of launch would have discouraged a ton of potential customers, irrespective of the pricing.
The report does not talk about the future of the ROG Phone team, and considering that this division was churning out smartphones with ‘over the top designs’ and best-in-class hardware, its unique aesthetics would be a primary reason for ASUS to keep it alive, but whether this lineup is on life support, or thriving, is something we cannot comment on at this time.
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