Asus is ready to launch Zenfone AR, Zenfone 3 Zoom in India

At CES 2017, Asus detailed the world’s first augmented reality enabled smartphone, the Zenfone AR. Naturally, ever since the smartphone’s launch has been highly awaited, which keeps getting pushed for later. While the Zenfone AR has already been launched in its home country, Taiwan, earlier this month, the India launch is still awaited. Just about a week ago, Asus even teased the Zenfone AR on its official Twitter handle, touting it as the world’s first smartphone with 8GB RAM. Now, in line with a report that surfaced few weeks ago, in a statement to IndiaToday, Asus has said that the Zenfone AR will be available for sale in India by sometime around August this year.

Asus Zenfone Zoom 3

“We are, however, happy to share that consumers will be able to get their hands on the ZenFone AR this summer.” Which means the smartphone could launch internationally slightly earlier, but the launch of the smartphone is India has now been pegged to August. Asus ZenFone AR’s launch in India was confirmed by Dinesh Sharma, Director and Mobile Product Centre of ASUS India, who said, “We’re going to be shortly launching the ZenFone 3 Zoom and the ZenFone AR in India. A fair time frame would be within two months.”

Asus Zenfone AR

Post its launch in Taiwan on June 14, the smartphone retailed in the country for NT $24,990, which translates to about Rs 53,000. Additionally, beside the 8GB RAM variant, the smartphone will also come in a 6GB RAM model. It is worth mentioning that the smartphone is one of the first devices to be Project Tango-enabled after Lenovo PHAB2 Pro. Google’s Project Tango is a computing platform, which uses computer vision to allow mobile devices superimpose virtual information onto the real-world environment. To help recall, here are the specifications and features of the Asus Zenfone AR in detail. ALSO READ: Asus ZenFone AR hands-on and first impressions: Future of augmented reality seems bright

Beside the Zenfone AR, Asus is also going to launch the dual-camera toting ZenFone 3 Zoom. However, Asus may not launch the ZenFone 3 Zoom and ZenFone AR together in one go though and could announce it one at a time. “These products are ready so they could come one after the other. Which one comes first and which comes second, is something I cannot precisely confirm as of this moment,” Sharma adds. Asus Zenfone 3 Zoom, went on sale in the US back in May, retailing for a price of $329, which is about Rs 21,300.

Other than that, Asus also mentioned the launch of five ZenFone 4 smartphones that is scheduled for July. All the five variants of the ZenFone 4 series were spotted listed on Google Play Store support sheet a few days ago. The support sheet included the name along with the model number of the ZenFone 4 smartphones, which are as follows — Asus ZenFone 4 (ZE554KL), Asus ZenFone 4 Max (ZC554KL), Asus ZenFone 4 Pro (Z01GD), Asus ZenFone 4 Selfie (Z01M), and Asus ZenFone 4V (V520KL/A006). The leaked internal document was first put up on the company’s ZenTalk Forum. ALSO READ: Google Daydream View VR first impressions: Virtual Reality gets as immersive as it can