New ASUS smartphone with massive battery, pure Android in India

New Delhi, April 23 (IANS) Taiwanese smartphone maker ASUS on Monday announced the global debut of ZenFone Max Pro (M1) from India, which is the first device from the company to be co-marketed and distributed online on Flipkart.

The device comes with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 Processor and a massive 5,000mAh battery that claims to give up to 42 hours of talk time, 28 hours of browsing, 199 hours of music playback and 20 hours of video playback in a single charge.

The smartphone is also ASUS' first device to offer a pure, stock version of Android with the latest version Android 8.1. 

ASUS ZenFone Max Pro (M1) will be available in two variants -- 3GB/32GB for Rs 10,999 and the 4GB/64GB for Rs 12,999 on Flipkart from May 3.

The third variant 6GB/64 GB with 16MP + 5MP dual rear cameras and a 16MP front camera will be available for Rs 14,999 later.

"India remains a key market for our smartphone business and we wanted India to be one of the first countries to receive our brand new ZenFone Max Pro (M1)," ASUS CEO Jerry Shen told reporters here.

The device has a 5.99-inch FHD+ Full View display, a rear dual-camera system (13MP + 5MP) and 8MP front camera. 

"ASUS has brought together an ideal balance of exceptional battery life, outstanding performance and consumer value," said Larry Paulson, President and Vice President, Qualcomm India.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 mobile platform is an advanced 14nm 64-bit octa-core system-on-chip (SoC) with up to 4GB RAM, which delivers over (up to) 40 per cent higher CPU performance and 10 per cent higher graphics performance than the Snapdragon 630 Mobile Platform. 

The device houses "Adreno 509" GPU to deliver enhanced mobile gaming and browsing performance. 

ZenFone Max Pro (M1) features a five-magnet speaker driven by a NXP smart amplifier that delivers higher volume with lower distortion. 

ZenFone Max Pro (M1) can shoot video at up to 4K UHD resolution and comes with two SIM slots supporting 4G LTE, and an additional microSD slot to expand storage by up to 2TB.