Zenfone Will Live On: Asus Denies Discontinuation Rumors

The Zenfone 10, which was launched earlier this year, drew praise for its compact design.

Andrew Lanxon/CNET

Asus is denying a media report that said the company’s Zenfone series would be discontinued amid an internal restructuring across the company. 

“We would like to address the rumor that Asus Zenfone 10 will be the last generation of the series and the Asus Zenfone product line will be shut down. This is not true,” Asus said in a statement published Tuesday.

“We will continue our two main phone business product lines, the ROG Phone and the Zenfone. Asus has a strong commitment to our smartphone business and customers. Please reference our Q2 earnings call for more information.”

The statement comes in response to a report by TechNewsTaiwan that said the Zenfone 10, launched in June, would be the last phone from the series as the Zenfone division would be shut down. The ROG phone team was reported to absorb employees working in the Zenfone division. 

The back side of the Zenfone 10.

Andrew Lanxon/CNET

Although Asus’ Zenfone series doesn’t sell in huge numbers, the lineup has attracted a fan base thanks to its compact design coupled with powerful performance and a clean user experience. The Zenfone 10 went up for preorders in the US last week with a starting price of $700. According to Asus’ second-quarter earnings, phones make up 2 percent of revenue, while components comprise 34% and PCs account for 64%.  

As part of the restructuring, Asus said its new commercial PC business unit would be under the leadership of its mobile business unit head, representing an expanded portfolio of responsibility.

“We will continue to provide these two product lines [ROG and Zenphone]. But internally, we will improve the leveraging between these two product lines, so that both lines can be supported with more streamlined R&D resources,” said S.Y. Hsu, Asus’ co-chief executive officer, in a transcript of Asus’ second-quarter earnings published by Seeking Alpha on Aug. 11.

“So, from the end user perspective, there will be no change in our phone lineup.”