Robert Triggs / Android Authority
TL;DR
- A report from Taiwan means that ASUS has shut down the Zenfone division, transferring staff to the ROG Phone division and different areas of its enterprise.
- The report follows incidents of disallowing bootloader unlock and elimination of older firmware.
- This may mark the top of the Zenfone line.
The ASUS Zenfone 10 is our choose for the most effective compact flagship, delivering a robust expertise in a compact kind issue with none of the standard downsides. The Zenfone 10 and even the Zenfone 9 have acquired essential acclaim from reviewers like us. Many reward ASUS for persevering with with developments like together with a 3.5mm headphone jack and sustaining a compact flagship with no actual compromises. But it might be the top of the lineup, as new studies have emerged about ASUS shutting down the Zenfone division.
According to a report from Technews Taiwan, ASUS is finishing up inner restructuring, and as a part of the method, sure departments have been minimize down. One of the unlucky victims of this inner restructuring is the Zenfone division, which is claimed to have been shut down. Employees working on this division have been absorbed into the ROG Phone staff and different components of the enterprise.
The report additional asserts that the Zenfone 10 would be the final cellphone within the Zenfone collection. Since the staff no longer exists, there’s unlikely to be a successor to this cellphone.
The report follows different incidents round Zenfone. Earlier within the month, ASUS stopped permitting bootloader unlocks for Zenfone homeowners. The firm maintained that they aren’t stopping the potential for unlocking, simply that the software is at present unavailable.
Just a few weeks in the past, neighborhood members additionally noticed that ASUS had eliminated older Zenfone firmwares from its web site. Community moderators responded that ASUS no longer gives earlier firmware variations or downgrade packages to make sure customers stay on up-to-date firmware.
Both of those incidents don’t straight level to the shutdown of the Zenfone division. But they add the worth of hindsight to the report, and we will’t assist however marvel if the writing was on the wall all this time.
We’ve reached out to ASUS to verify the report and for his or her assertion on the identical. We will replace this text as soon as we hear again from them.
If true, the lack of the Zenfone lineup will likely be an enormous blow to the smartphone ecosystem. While we will nonetheless hope to see more ROG-branded telephones, the Zenfone lineup will likely be sorely missed for bringing the clear Android expertise to small smartphone lovers. Consumers profit from more choices, however such departures imply we inch towards a boring duopoly. ASUS may make a smaller gaming cellphone beneath the ROG Phone model, however it could be serving a distinct segment market inside a distinct segment market, and we wouldn’t maintain our breath on it.