Asus ZenFone 3 Deluxe
Asus ZenFone 3 DeluxeAsus Press Kit

Asus' flagship smartphone ZenFone 3 Deluxe has been released in China, more than a week after it was launched in its home country Taiwan. It is the first smartphone to come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor clocking at 2.4GHz.

Asus ZenFone 3 Deluxe was unveiled along with ZenFone 3, and ZenFone 3 Ultra at the Computex 2016 event in May. Asus revealed the specifications and pricing of the devices, but not their release date.

ZenFone 3 Deluxe is priced at 4,999 Yuan (around $750) in China. It features an aluminium body, a fingerprint sensor, and a 5.7-inch full HD super AMOLED display with 1,080x1,920 pixels (386 ppi pixel density). Under the hood, it has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 quad-core processor, Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow based ZenUI 3.0, 256GB internal memory (expandable up to 256GB via microSD card), and 3,000mAh battery. It also mounts a 23MP primary camera with Sony IMX318 sensor, laser autofocus, Phase Detection Auto Focus, f/2.0 aperture, 4-axis optical image stabilisation, 1/2.6" sensor size, 1 µm pixel size and dual-LED (dual tone) flash, and an 8MP front-snapper with f/2.0 aperture.

The Taiwanese company has also released the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor+32GB storage+3GB RAM variant at 3,299 Yuan (around $495).

Asus ZenFone 3 Ultra is priced at 3,999 Yuan in China. It features an aluminium body, fingerprint sensor, and 6.88-inch full HD touchscreen with 1,080x1,920 pixels (324 ppi pixel density). It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor, runs an Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow based ZenUI 3.0, and comes packed with a 32/64/128GB internal memory (expandable up to 256GB) and a 3/4GB RAM. The device also has 23MP main camera with f/2.0 aperture, laser autofocus, OIS (4-axis), dual-LED (dual tone) flash, 1/2.6" sensor size and 1 µm pixel size, an 8MP front-snapper with f/2.0 aperture, and a 4,600mAh battery.

On the other hand, the Asus ZenFone 3 is priced at 2,699 Yuan. It features a metal body, a fingerprint sensor, a 5.5-inch full HD super IPS LCD display with 1,080x1,920 pixels (401 ppi pixel density), a 14nm FinFET process technology-based Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC (System-on-Chip) processor, and an Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow based ZenUI 3.0 operating system. It has a 64GB internal memory (expandable up to 256GB), a 4GB RAM, a 16MP Sony IMX298 sensor with f/2.0 aperture, laser autofocus, OIS, dual-LED flash, an 8MP front-snapper with f/2.0 aperture, and a 3,000mAh battery.

Asus has confirmed that it will launch both the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820+64GB storage+6GB RAM variant of the Zenfone 3 Deluxe and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821+ 256GB storage+6GB RAM models at Rs.49,999 and Rs. 62,999, respectively.

The handsets are expected to be made available in India on Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal and in other leading retail stores later this month, but the company is yet to announce the exact release date.