Asus ZenFone 3s Max’s price remains a mystery

Asus ZenFone 3s Max is the third smartphone that will be joining the ZenFone 3 Max line-up of big battery phones. The other two smartphones in the series includes a 5.2-inch display variant which runs on a MediaTek processor and a 5.5-inch display model which runs on a Qualcomm processor.

We take a look at the key highlights of the ZenFone 3s Max and what makes it better than the 5.2-inch variant of the ZenFone 3 Max which is currently selling at Rs12,999.

The price of the ZenFone 3s Max will be announced on 7 February, 2017. We expect this to be priced around Rs15,000.

In the new phone the speaker is placed at the base alongside the micro USB port.

Subtle design changes

The new smarphone’s metal finish, compact footprint and screen size is very similar to the ZenFone 3 Max yet there are some subtle design changes. The antenna band on the back of the ZenFone 3 Max has been moved towards the top in the ZenFone 3s Max. Also, the camera on ZenFone 3s Max is now placed on the top left coner of the back and not on the middle as it is in the ZenFone 3 Max.

Asus has reworked the position of the speaker and the finger print sensor too. Unlike the ZenFone 3 Max, in which both these elements are placed on the back, in the new phone the speaker is placed at the base alongside the micro USB port. Similarly, the finger print sensor is integrated with the home button on the front panel.

The new ZenFone 3s Max comes preloaded with the latest (Nougat) version of Android.

Runs new Android

The new ZenFone 3s Max is one of the first smartphones in the ZenFone 3 series which comes preloaded with the latest (Nougat) version of Android. The older ZenFone 3 Max runs on Android 6.0 and there is no information on if and when it will be updated to the new Android OS. This means the buyer of new ZenFone 3s Max will enjoy some of the benefits of new Android OS such as better battery management, double tap on multi-tasking button to access recent apps, split screen mode, bundled notifications and easy settings panel.

The ZenFone 3s Max is powered by a superior MediaTek MT 6750 octa-core processor.

Superior Hardware

The ZenFone 3s Max is powered by a superior MediaTek MT 6750 octa-core processor with higher clock speed of 1.5GHz while the ZenFone 3 Max runs on a 1.2GHz MediaTek MT6737 quad-core processor. In both the devices the processor is paired with 3GB RAM and the internal storage stands at 32GB.

The big differentiator between the two smartphone is the battery capacity. The ZenFone 3s Max offers a bigger 5,000mAh battery, which is technically more than the 4,130mAh battery on the ZenFone 3 Max. Given the fact the new OS is better equipped to handle battery drain, we expect the battery backup on the new ZenFone to be much better.