Asus has again shunned the big-screen crowd for a hand-sized smartphone that packs a powerful punch. The Zenfone 10 comes with Qualcomm's flagship chipset, a 144-Hz AMOLED display, and a 50-MP stabilized main camera.
The handset's 5.92-inch display at 2,400 x 1,080 pixels is reported to offer Delta E <1 color accuracy, supporting 151.9% of the sRGB color space and 112% DCI-P3. As well as "ultravivid colors" users can look forward to a snappy response courtesy of a game-friendly 144 Hz refresh rate. Peak brightness of 1,100 nits also caters for outdoor readable visuals.
Asus boasts that users no longer have to choose between compact or powerful. With the Zenfone 10, they can have both. It measures up at a pocket-friendly 68.1 x 146.65 x 9.4 mm (2.68 x 5.77 x 0.37 in), and tips the scales at 172 g (6 oz). Inside is the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile platform with 3.2-GHz octacore processing and Adreno 740 graphics – supported by up to 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512 GB of UFS 4.0 storage.
One of the circular bumps out back belongs to a 50-megapixel main camera built around Sony's IMX766 sensor and benefiting from 6-axis optical image stabilization that can compensate for shifts of up to +/-3% for smooth run-and-gun videos. Onboard OZO Audio technology, meanwhile, "gives users the choice of eliminating wind noise for crystal-clear outdoor recordings, or capturing immersive, high-fidelity 3D surround spatial audio."
The other rear bump is home to a 13-MP ultra-wide. Completing the camera package is a 32-MP selfiecam that's promised to delivery "superb low-light performance."
Elsewhere, the new Asus flagship runs Android 13 with a new Zen UI over top, it features Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3 with support for LDAC and aptX Adaptive decoding, and comes with a 4,300-mAh battery supporting 30-W wired charging and 15-W wireless. The USB-C port is joined by a 3.5-mm audio jack, which will be very welcome indeed to some. And the whole shebang is IP65/68 weatherproof.
The small-but-mighty Zenfone 10 will go on sale toward the end of Q3. Pricing in the US has not been revealed at this time, though its European starting price is €799 – which converts to about US$870.
Product page: Zenfone 10
