Asus announces 6.2" Zenfone 5 and $499+ flagship 5Z with iPhone X-like design and notch, Snapdragon 636 and 845 respectively; 5 available in April, 5Z in June
Vlad Savov / The Verge :
Context & Ripple Effects
Asus built its phone business on aggressive unlocked pricing — the $199 unlocked Zenfone 2 set that template in 2015, followed by niche experiments like the Tango-and-Daydream ZenFone AR. The Zenfone 5Z continues the value-flagship play at $499+, but the design language has changed: both new models adopt the iPhone X's notch, making Asus one of the first Android vendors to copy Apple's cutout wholesale.
This 2018 launch sits mid-arc in a line whose endpoints are now visible: a year later Asus abandoned the notch entirely for the Zenfone 6's flip-top camera, and by 2026 Chair Jonney Shih said the company will ship no new smartphones at all — a statement Taiwanese media read as an Android-market exit.
First-order effects
- Buyers get a Snapdragon 845 flagship at $499+, undercutting the premium tier's typical pricing, while the notch-equipped Zenfone 5 ships first in April on the cheaper Snapdragon 636.
- Asus signals design deference to Apple: copying the iPhone X notch puts the Zenfone line visually inside the trend Apple defined rather than differentiating it.
Second-order effects
- The notch proves short-lived as a strategy — within a year Asus pivots to motorized hardware (the Zenfone 6's flip camera), effectively conceding that screen-cutout mimicry wasn't a durable identity for the brand.
- Sub-$500 Snapdragon-flagship pricing pressures rival Android makers' mid-premium tiers, a lane Asus keeps pushing through the ~$950 ZenFone 7 Pro era before consolidating around ROG gaming phones like the $1,100+ ROG Phone 8.
Third-order effects
- If Shih's 2026 no-new-smartphones statement holds as an exit, the Zenfone 5 generation marks the peak of Asus's me-too flagship era — after which the company's phone presence narrows to gaming-branded ROG devices and partnerships like the Xreal R1 glasses rather than mainstream handsets.
- The arc illustrates the structural squeeze on second-tier Android vendors: without design differentiation or ecosystem lock-in, value pricing sustains volume but not the line itself.
The trend: Mainstream Android vendors chased the iPhone X's notch-led design language with value-priced flagships, but the follow-the-leader playbook proved unsustainable for second-tier brands like Asus, whose phone line wound down toward a gaming-only niche.