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Asus Zenfone 8 series to bring an iPhone 12 Mini competitor

By Martin Filipov

Updated: Jul 06, 2021, 4:05 AM

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Asus Zenfone 8 series to bring an iPhone 12 Mini competitor

Despite the fact that the Zenfone 8 series launch is still many months away, likely set for the second half of summer 2021, that doesn’t stop anyone from talking about it.

This time around, Asus is said to give us three models, as opposed to two, like they did last year. The company is clearly emulating the big dogs’ strategy. Apple announced four iPhones at once last year, and Samsung gave us three S21 models.

One of the devices is codenamed ‘Picasso’, and it is likely to keep the 6.67-inch OLED display from the Zenfone 7, but bump up the refresh rate to 120Hz. Other rumored specs are a Snapdragon 888 (no surprises here), and four cameras on the back and front thanks to the flip-out mechanism. There is another device, codenamed ‘Vodka’, which might end up being a worthy S21 Ultra challenger, but there is no further information about it at the moment. You can find a full list of the expected specifications at the end of the article.

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However, the most interesting one is shaping up to be the smallest of the bunch. Last year, Asus launched the Zenfone 7 and 7 Pro which had identical 6.67-inch screens. Perhaps inspired by the iPhone 12 Mini, the company is looking to attract people who like smaller phones. Again, like the iPhone 12 Mini, the Zenfone 8 “Mini”, which is the expected name, won’t compromise when it comes to features and hardware, as most of them will be shared between the three models. There is a codename too - Sake. We are not sure whether this is supposed to refer to the Japanese rice wine or not, but given that there’s Vodka, why not have Sake too… Although, what is Picasso doing there!? Oh, right! It's believed he was an alcoholic. We won't be the judge on this one.

The Mini’s display size is rumored to be 5.9 inches, which puts it in Pixel 5 category rather than with the similarly named iPhone 12 Mini. However the 6-inch screen size is a great middle ground for those who want a decently sized screen to get things done, but still prefer something lighter and more manageable with one hand. The Zenfone 7 series were very heavy at 230g / 8.11 oz, likely due to the big batteries (5000mAh) and flip-out camera hardware.

To put things in perspective, the Pixel 5 weighs 151g / 5.33 oz, while the iPhone 12 Mini takes it even further, with a weight of only 135g / 4.76 oz, which is not that far from being 50% lighter than many flagship phones today! Despite the relatively poor (for an iPhone) sales of the iPhone 12 Mini, it may have inspired some companies to go back to "normal-sized" phones.

The Zenfone 8 models are expected to keep the flip-out camera system, and we are definitely on board for that! It means even the display on the smaller Mini will have even more room to work with, since it won’t make us of a notch or a punch-hole. We’ll keep you updated when more information becomes available. Until then, we are very excited to see smaller phones hit the market this year!

Expected Asus Zenfone 8 specs for each model, via XDA-Developers: