ASUS has announced its latest series of flagship Zenfone handsets at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018 in Barcelona earlier this week. Prior to its official launching, the ASUS Zenfone 5 was being built up as a groundbreaking device that can rival all other premium handsets this year. While not completely surprising, the Zenfone 5 caught the interest of the MWC participants as it bears striking similarities with Apple's 2017 flagship, iPhone X.
As reported by The Verge, ASUS has unveiled three new handsets at the MWC 2018, namely the Zenfone 5, Zenfone 5Z and Zenfone 5 Lite. The latter is the budget-friendly variant, while the other two has more advanced design and features that are borrowed from the iPhone X. For one, the Zenfone 5 and 5Z sports a 6.2-inch all-screen display with curved metal edges and a distinct notch feature on top. The bezels are made to be so thin that the screen-to-body ratio of the Zenfone 5 reaches 90 percent. Moreover, both the Zenfone 5 and 5Z are packed with 3,300mAh battery that supports quick charging, as well as a dual camera setup composed of a standard lens and wide-angle view sensor.
The ASUS Zenfone 5 and 5Z are powered by Qualcomm's latest high-end processor, the Snapdragon 845. Although, the Zenfone 5Z has slightly better specs under the hood with 8 GB of RAM and up to 256 GB built-in storage.
If there are two things that the ASUS Zenfone 5 lack in order to fully copy the iPhone; that would be the wireless charging capability and waterproofing. The almost identical appearance of the Zenfone 5 and iPhone X may have raised some eyebrows, although Asus executive Marcel Campos said prior to the MWC 2018 launch that the company has already expected the public's reaction for imitating Apple's design.
"Some people will say it's copying Apple, but we cannot get away from what users want. You have to follow the trends," Campos stated. Likewise, ASUS claims that the Zenfone 5 and 5Z have competitive artificial intellgence (AI) capabilities. For one, the smartphone can automatically adjust the screen's color temperature, which is similar to the iPhone X's True Tone feature. The Zenfone 5 also includes a special sensor that detects if the user is looking at the phone so that the screen remains on. ASUS refer to this feature as the AI Display.
