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Asus debuts iPhone 7 Plus-style dual cameras in lower cost ZenFone 4s

Asus wants to bring dual-camera smartphones to everyone with its new range of ZenFone 4 smartphones.
Written by Liam Tung, Contributing Writer
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The ZenFone 4 Pro, with a blended metal-glass body, is at the top of the new lineup.

Image: Asus

Asus clearly doesn't believe that the dual camera on the iPhone 7 Plus and OnePlus 5 should only be available on premium smartphones.

The company has taken the wraps off six new 5.5-inch display handsets, from entry level to premium, each with a rear dual phone camera.

All rely on photography to stand out among peers, but only the top-end phone is equipped to create an iPhone 7 Plus-like 'bokeh' blurred background effect, while the others offer improved wide-angle or low-lighting shots.

At the top of the lineup is the ZenFone 4 Pro with a blended metal-glass body, Qualcomm's premium-end Snapdragon 835 processor, 6GB RAM, and up to 128GB storage. The phone has an HD AMOLED display with a front-facing eight-megapixel (MP) camera. The dual rear cameras are 12MP and 16MP with 2x zoom.

The full-HD ZenFone 4 runs on Snapdragon 660. However, its 12MP and 8MP dual cameras on the rear are designed to deliver 120-degree wide-angle shots. It has an 8MP front camera, up to 6GB RAM, and up to 64GB storage.

The ZenFone 4 Pro could be seen as a more powerful cousin to the ZenFone 3 Zoom, while the ZenFone 4 updates the affordable ZenFone 3.

For selfie-lovers, Asus has two dual front-facing camera phones with a sensor larger than many rear cameras. The ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro has a 24MP main selfie-shooter with a 5MP wide-angle lens, and a 16MP lens on the rear. It runs on a Snapdragon 625, and comes with 3GB or 4GB RAM, and 64GB storage.

A step down from that is the ZenFone 4 Selfie, with a 20MP front camera and an 8MP wide-angle lens, with a rear 16MP lens. It has a Snapdragon 430, HD display, 4GB RAM, and 64GB storage.

Asus also launched the ZenFone 4 Max and ZenFone 4 Max Pro with Snapdragon 430 processors.

The phones don't follow the recent trend for full screen displays and leave space at the bottom for a physical home button with fingerprint reader between capacitive navigation keys.

The ZenFone 4 will start at $399 and the Pro model will cost $599.

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