ASUS unveils 5.5-inch ZenFone 3 Zoom with dual-cameras, 5,000 mAh battery, on sale in February with pricing TBD
The phone has less optical zoom than its predecessor, but a a new, impressive 5,000 mAh battery — Asus has unveiled the ZenFone 3 Zoom — a successor to the ZenFone Zoom …
Context & Ripple Effects
Asus is announcing the ZenFone 3 Zoom the same day as the ZenFone AR with Tango and Daydream support, splitting its CES bet between camera zoom and AR. Where the original ZenFone Zoom chased maximum optical zoom, this successor trades some of that reach for a 5,000 mAh battery — an explicit pivot from optics to endurance.
The February sale window with pricing TBD leaves the key question open, though the related coverage later answers it: the phone ships at $329, placing it well below flagship dual-camera rivals.
First-order effects
- Buyers get a sub-flagship dual-camera option where the differentiator is battery life rather than zoom power — a repositioning from the predecessor's optics-first pitch.
Second-order effects
- The dual-camera bet scales fast: by August Asus fields a six-phone ZenFone 4 lineup built around dual cameras, suggesting the 3 Zoom validated the feature across price tiers.
Third-order effects
- The 5,000 mAh battery becomes a durable Asus signature, carried through the Zenfone 6 and the ZenFone 7 Pro — yet the smartphone line itself winds down, with Asus Chair Jonney Shih later saying no new phones will ship in 2026, a statement Taiwanese media read as an Android market exit.
The trend: Asus spent the late 2010s using big batteries and camera hardware to differentiate mid-priced Zenfones before ultimately withdrawing from the Android phone market.