The Asus ZenFone range has for many years now been quietly turning out great devices with innovative features and top-end specs, but somehow they seem to fly under most people’s radar. Maybe 2021 will change that with the arrival of the ZenFone 8.
We gather together all the current news and rumours about the latest potential addition to the Asus smartphone line up.
When will the Asus ZenFone 8 be released?
Asus has remained tight-lipped on the prospect of a ZenFone 8 so far, meaning we’ll need to look at past releases to gain some insight into when we might expect the new model. Here are the launch dates for the last few models:
- Asus ZenFone 5: 6 August 2018
- Asus ZenFone 6: 30 May 2019
- Asus ZenFone 7: 1 September 2020
Sadly, Asus opted not to release the ZenFone 7 and 7 Pro in either the UK or the USA, so it’s unclear whether the ZenFone 8 will follow the same pattern. As the turmoil of 2020 caused all kinds of problems in the supply chain, this could explain the later release dates for the 7 series.
Whether Asus will return to the May window or stick with September is unclear, but given the fact that the smartphone has begun appearing in the Geekbench database – more on that below – we could be seeing the new smartphone soon.
To see what we thought of the last ZenFone to arrive on these shores, read our Asus ZenFone 6 review.
How much will the Asus ZenFone 8 cost?
As with the release date, there has been no official confirmation of a price for the ZenFone 8, mainly as Asus has yet to even certify that the phone exists. Once again then we’ll look at the previous models for our clues.
- Asus ZenFone 6: £499/€550/$677
- Asus ZenFone 7: £569/€634/US$749 (approx)
- Asus ZenFone 7 Pro: £725/€807/US$953 (approx)
With the standard models sitting between the £500 and £600 mark (with appropriate amounts in US dollars and Euros), it seems likely that Asus will continue this trend with the ZenFone 8.
What new features will there be in the Asus ZenFone 8?
The previous models have seen Asus introduce flappable camera units, so the main display doesn’t have notches or punch holes for the lenses, and we fully expect this to be the case with the ZenFone 8. If the standard and Pro model structure remains in place, then the ZenFone 8 should come with pretty high-end specs, but the newest silicon and larger storage options will be held back for the Pro model, as we saw with the ZenFone 7 and 7 Pro.
The latter also benefitted from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ processor, while the standard 7 came with the still very powerful Snapdragon 865. The ZenFone 7 and 7 Pro already introduced 5G capabilities and Bluetooth 5.1, so these will no doubt be features on the new model too.
Both also featured 6.67in 90Hz AMOLED displays, but Asus could follow the pattern of many high-end Android phones and bump this to 120Hz for the ZenFone 8.
There’s no confirmed details from Asus about the new model, but we’ve already seen some videos from India and other sites claiming to know some of the specs the ZenFone 8 will contain.
This video from the Technology Talks YouTube channel shows a device that it claims to be the ZenFone 8, which comes with a four-camera arrangement on the rear (which flips over to become the front-facing cameras when required).
It also states that the new phone will feature a Snapdragon 875 processor (now in fact known to be called the 888), a 6.67in 120Hz display, 12GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.
How much of this is true is questionable at the moment, and the device in the video could be another Android phone dressed to look like the ZenFone 8, but the specs don’t seem too far off what we could expect Asus to do.
Those specs were backed up by an XDA Developer report in March 2021, detailing a trio of smartphones that make up this year’s ZenFone 8 Series, including a new 5.9in “mini” model.
Per the report, the standard ZenFone 8 (codename Picasso) will feature a 6.67in OLED panel sporting a Full HD+ resolution with four cameras – a main 64Mp Sony IMX686, a 12Mp IMC363, a 24Mp Omnivision OV24B1Q and an 8Mp Omnivision OV08A tailored towards telephoto shots.
The new ‘Mini’ model (codename Sake) is said to sport a smaller 5.92in OLED panel with the same Full HD+ resolution and (expected) 120Hz refresh rate, and it’ll sport the Snapdragon 888 too.
That’s seemingly backed up by benchmark results that appeared in the Geekbench database, detailing a smartphone sporting a Snapdragon 888 and 16GB of RAM capable of achieving a multi-core score of 3681, putting it in line with other 2021 flagships despite the reportedly smaller dimensions.
The only difference aside from screen size seems to be in the camera department, with the mini model sporting only two sensors, the same 64Mp IMX686 main shooter as the regular model, and what looks to be a new Sony IMX663 sensor too.
Not much is currently known about the expected ZenFone 8 Pro (codename Vodka) aside from the inclusion of the Snapdragon 888 chipset.
ZenFone 8 concepts
A concept video has the ZenFone 8 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G processor, and dropping the flip cameras in favour of dual-rear shooters. One thing that’s confusing about this is that whereas this would no doubt help with reducing cost, there doesn’t appear to be a front-facing camera at all, which isn’t something we’d consider viable on any modern smartphone.
Concepts aside, it hopefully won’t be too long until Asus lets us know what the ZenFone 8 will actually bring to the table. Until then, check back regularly to this article as we’ll be updating it when more information comes to light. In the meantime, be sure to also read our guide to the best phones coming in 2021 to see what the ZenFone 8 will need to beat.