In a quest to increase its foothold in the smartphone market, PC and tablet manufacturer Asus has announced the introduction of its third generation of smartphones at this year’s Computex event in Taiwan. The line-up for these products includes; Zenfone 3, Zenfone 3 Deluxe and Zenfone 3 Ultra.
Speaking during the unveiling, ASUS Chairman Jonney Shih said. “We are delighted to introduce a new series of smartphones that will enrich users’ digital experience. Our ambition has always to been to introduce products that are uniquely differentiated and highly targeted.”
For the selfie and mobile photography enthusiasts, the ZenFone 3 Deluxe comes with a 23MP camerafeaturing the latest Sony image sensor, a large aperture lens, and an optical image stabilization feature for high-resolution, blur-free, and low-noise photos in almost any lighting condition.
On the other hand, the Zenfone 3 and Zenfone 3 Ultra are both targeted at trendy and entertainment fanatics. The Zenfone 3 Ultra features five-magnet stereo speakers with a smart amplifier that provides clear, defined sound and protects the speakers. It’s also the world first smartphone with virtual 7.1-channel sound.
The Zenfone 3 features a premium design with a 5.5 inch display that delivers a superior visual experience for apps, videos and games. It also has a built in fingerprint sensor that’s perfectly positioned on the rear of the phone to sit underneath the user’s fingers and unlocks the phone in just a fraction of a second.
The unveiling of the mobile devices comes at a time when the local industry has been experiencing an increasing appetite for smartphones. Latest statistics by e- commerce site Jumia; indicate that last year, 3.1 million mobile devices were sold in Kenya, of these 1.8 million were smartphones. This means that one in two mobile devices sold in Kenya is a smartphone.
Additionally, this shows that the country’s mobile phone industry is moving further away from feature phones and more towards feature enhance smartphones.
Other products introduced during the tech event include; a range of notebooks PCs such as Zenbook 3,Transformer 3 and Transformer 3 Pro. The Zenbook 3 is redesign of original Zenbook that is targeted at the premium market. It features an ultra-seek 11.9mm body, with a spun-metal finish. It also comes in different colours; Royal blue, Rose Gold and Quartz grey- to appeal to either gender.
The Transformer 3 and Transformer 3 Pro are 2-in-1 hybrid PCs that have also been restyled under the Transformer model. Targeted at the highly mobile users, they are largely similar. The only major difference lies in their processors and storage capacity. While the Transformer 3 is powered by 7th Gen Intel processor with storage of space of 512 GB SSD and 8 GB RAM, the Transformer 3 Pro is built with the Intel Core i7 processor and has upto 1TB SSD and 16GB RAM.
Zenbo, a home robot, designed to provide assistance, entertainment and companionship to families, was also another major attraction during the event.