While Asus is still relishing its success with the flagship iterations under the ZenFone 2 lineup, many fans are asking when the company will be following up with another flagship. According to rumors, Asus is targeting May or June next year to release the ZenFone 3.
In a report by Techno Buffalo, it is stated that instead of a January appearance like what Asus did with the ZenFone 2 (it was launched early this year at CES), the company will be scheduling the follow-up ZenFone 3 for a May or June launch. In addition, the industry follower also mentions ZenFone 3 to be featuring a first in the ZenFone lineup, a finger scanner.
The fingerprint scanner integrated on the ZenFone 3 has apparently been already confirmed by Asus itself. According to GSM Arena, Asus CEO Jerry Shen already made the announcement early this year. In addition, the report also mentions that the ZenFone 3 is already in production, citing some Taiwan-based supply chain makers.
The industry observer says that aside from Asus confirming the feature, Asus will most definitely include a fingerprint scanner on its next flagships, since scanners were already expected to be one of the main selling points of flagship smartphones, with at least half of all smartphone outings in the future already carrying the feature.
Meanwhile, although confirmed details about the upcoming flagship's specs are not yet available, Phandroid estimates that the ZenFone 3 will also be featuring USB Type-C connectivity. The deduction was based on Asus's statement on their next flagships' prices, since an adoption of newer tech such as USB Type-C might mean an increase in price tags.
Apparently, Asus believes that the company is known to provide above-average specs for reasonable, competitive prices, and will continue to do so to increase customer satisfaction. This means that while the ZenFone 3 launches with above-average features like fingerprint scanner and USB Type-C, it may well still stay within the $200-$300 price range.
