While Realme and Xiaomi hiked the prices of their smartphones due to the ongoing dollar to rupee depreciation, Taiwanese giant Asus has confirmed that its Zenfone lineup will now suffer from a hike of prices despite the situation. This comes at a time when smartphone manufacturers are looking for an excuse to elevate the prices of their products and what’s safer than blaming it on the fluctuation of the rupee value against the dollar.
The announcement comes from ASUS India Mobile Business Head, Dinesh Sharma who released a statement settling all queries on the upcoming price-hike crisis for consumers.
In the official statement, Sharma said “We’re committed to the Indian market and thrive to keep our fans happy. Despite the ongoing rupee-dollar race, we have decided to absorb the cost currently and give our fans a better value proposition. We are glad to announce that none of our ZenFones will see an increase in price”.
What this means is the Zenfone Max Pro M1, Max M1, LiteL1 and Zenfone 5Z will all be available for the same price that there were before. The news also makes Zenfone Max Pro M1 the cheapest phone with a Snapdragon 636 chipset, starting at a price of Rs 10,999. The Zenfone 5Z maintains its budget flagship price tag at Rs 29,999.
This will also give Asus room for developing higher prices for its next range of Zenfone products which are expected to be the Zenfone Max Pro M2 and Zenfone Max M2. Besides this, Asus will be launching the ROG Phone in India today – a dedicated gaming smartphone with an overclocked Snapdragon 845 processor, ASUS HyperCharge and other gaming accessories.