According to a report from Digitimes, the ZenFone Max Pro (M2) will be the last consumer smartphone from ASUS. You know what this means right? As luck goes sometimes, watch this last release be their most popular! This is an unlikely scenario so don’t get your hopes up. This model should sell better than it likely will, but popularity is hard to match of the big brands in this space.
Although this is being called the “last” consumer smartphone, keep in mind that ASUS is still going with the ROG Phone and something for “power users”. That likely means two phones coming from ASUS on a yearly basis. And yes, gamers and “power users” are “consumers” which makes the headline a bit misleading. It’s better to say the end of mainstream offerings.
We are still on pause waiting to see how ASUS handles their inventory. They put aside a lot of money in this restructure to their phone division and part of that is likely to include the blowing out of inventory. If or when that happens, there are a few considerations.
First, do you care about Android OS updates. With a smaller division in the company, there will be less time spent on software updates. It’s hard to say which models will and which models won’t get at least one update in the future. Secondly, how cheap will these phone be? This will be the big compromise when you look at price vs. future support. Ultimately the price is what should steer you into making the right call.
Expect two smartphones from ASUS in mid 2019. That would be a new ZenFone 6 (our best guess) and a new ROG Phone (maybe later 2019 release). We see the phrase “high gross margin” in the Digitimes article which says either of these offerings is going to be expensive and that in of itself is going to make these niche releases. Let’s hope for the best because persistence can pay off. Maybe ASUS can find the magic formula in this new direction.
[source: Digitimes.com]
