Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2: The latest budget king from Asus has been launched in Russia

Image collected

       The Taiwanese hardware company made a whopping comeback in the Indian smartphone market with its Zenfone Max Pro M1. This smartphone started the process of dethroning Xiaomi from the no. 1 position in the Indian smartphone market. It directly competed with Xiaomi's most popular smartphone series in India, the Note series and provided better specs than the Note 5 Pro in less price. After the huge success of its most value for money product, Asus has decided to bring the successor for it in India. That's the Zenfone Max Pro M2. It was teased before to be launched on 11th December in Indonesia. But Asus launched it on 6th December in Russia first. Here are the specs and pricing of the phone launched in Russia.

Image collected

Design and Display:

      Asus this time has moved to non-metallic glass body with its Zenfone Max Pro M1 successor. All the other things remains same in the back side. A glossy look will be provided to give the smartphone more impressive looks. In the front side it will include a regular notched 6.3 inch Full HD+ IPS LCD screen this time with 1080x2280 resolution and 400 PPI pixel density. The most attractive feature of the display this time will be the Corning Gorilla Glass protection which was skipped by the manufacturer with the predecessor. And this time they have come with the best of the segment, the latest Corning Gorilla Glass 6 in the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2.

Also check: Lenovo Z5s: Lenovo can launch the first in display camera phone before Samsung with triple cameras

Performance:

      The Zenfone Max Pro M1 has already beaten most of the competitors in its segment. The successor has come up with the new upgraded SoC which will be the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE clocked at 2.2 GHz having octa core based 260 Kryo cores with 14nm FinFETT technology. It also has Adreno 512 GPU support for better gaming experience. It has come with the one year old Android Oreo (8.1) out of the box same like its predecessor. Well both of them will be waiting for the latest Android to run in them. But the best part with it will be the UI as the Zenfone Max Pro M2 will have near stock UI which was one of the USPs of its predecessor. This provides the users a better experience and it was admired very well with the M1.

Image collected

Cameras: 

       Well, the cameras was one of the or the only major problem with the Zenfone Max Pro M1. Inspite of good hardware and software the Max Pro M1 failed to satisfy most of its users due to the camera segment. Though it was the only smartphone that provided 4K video recording option in the segment but the lower aperture and the camera software made it quite tough to go for the camera lovers. Specially the low-light photography section was complained many times. But this time Asus has come up with better solution as the rear camera will be packed with a 12 MP main sensor with f/1.8 aperture (which is one of the lowest in the segment) and also a 5 MP depth sensor for better portrait photography. The front camera is also upgraded to a 13 MP selfie shooter for better selfies. Asus must introduce a new camera app after the disastrous implementation of Snapdragon camera app in the predecessor.

Also check: Slow Android updates: Why your Android smartphone still doesn't have the latest software from Google

Variants and pricing: 

       Asus can launch its Zenfone Max Pro M2 in India in two variants. The base variant can have 4 GB ram with 64 GB storage option. There are also a 6 GB variant with 128 GB storage option. The Russian pricing of the base variant is quite high as per the expectations. The base variant is priced  nearly 19,000/- INR. The higher variant is priced near about 22,000/- INR. But Asus must keep it under 15,000/- in India as there are another options available already in the market. The Zenfone Max Pro M2 has two color options of blue and grey that give the users different experience according to their choice.

Image collected

Battery and others:

      Now this is the most exciting part of this particular smartphone. As we have already seen the Zenfone Max Pro M1 having a massive 5000 maH battery in it but in a lighter body-weight. The Zenfone Max Pro M2 will also follow it by having the same huge power house of 5000 maH in it. It can run the phone for upto 2 days in a single charge. Though any fast charging support has not been confirmed till now and neither there's any hope as the Russian version doesn't have that. But Asus will not change any other feature like Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth 5.0 and the same micro USB port. Again type c port is skipped by Asus.
      This smartphone from Asus can be another blunder in the Zenfone series. But if Asus keeps the pricing of it like the Russian version in India, this will definitely fail drastically and people will find options in the segment. For now, we have to wait for the launch event which is scheduled on 12th December. So till then stay tuned.

Also check: 1. Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1: Why this is the king of the budget segment

                     2. 6 biggest battery smartphones of 2018 under 20,000/- INR