by The Asus Zenfone 10 could be one of the best phones of 2023, but the company needs to learn from the mistakes of the Asus Zenfone 9, which was one of the most disappointing phones of 2022 in many ways.
It scored 3.5 stars in our review, which isn’t bad at all, but it’s a massive drop from the 4.5 stars the Asus Zenfone 8 achieved last year. There’s a lot of potential in these phones though, so we’re cautiously optimistic about the next model.
However, it will likely be a while before we wait, and we haven’t really heard anything about the Asus Zenfone 10 yet. However, once we have done that, we will add all the leaks, news and rumors to this article. But in the meantime, find our release date and price predictions, as well as a wish list of things we’d like to see.
In a nutshell
- What is it? The next model in the Zenfone range
- when is it out Probably around July 2023
- How much will it cost? In terms of price, it should be more in the upper midfield
Asus Zenfone 10: release date and price
There’s no news on when the Asus Zenfone 10 might be released, but it will likely be quite a while since the Zenfone 9 only landed in July 2022. The company isn’t entirely consistent with its launches, however, as the Zenfone 8 launched in May of its release year and the Zenfone 7 in August of its.
So we can’t say for sure when the Asus Zenfone 10 will be announced, but our guess would be mid-2023.
We also can’t say how much it will cost, but for reference, the Zenfone 9 starts at $699 / £699 (roughly AU$1,210), so the price of the Zenfone 10 could be similar.
Asus Zenfone 10: news and leaks
While we haven’t heard anything about the Asus Zenfone 10, we do know that one or more Asus phones will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, so there’s a good chance the Zenfone 10 will be among them, especially as the Zenfone 9 became available powered by the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1.
The Gen 2 will be the best Snapdragon chipset of 2023 (at least until a Plus version is launched) and it will likely be the best chipset to be found in any Android phone for at least the first half of the year.
what we want to see
The Asus Zenfone 9 left a lot of room for improvement, so the following things are what we expect most from the Zenfone 10.
1. More cameras
The Asus Zenfone 9 only has two rear cameras, which isn’t very many by Android phone standards. So for the Zenfone 10, we’d wish for at least a third to be added – specifically a telephoto lens.
It would also be good if Asus could improve the shutter speed, as we found in our Zenfone 9 review that the phone often takes a while to actually take a picture, which can result in blurry shots.
2. A lower price
The Asus Zenfone 9 has an upper-mid-range price point, but it borders on high-end, falling just slightly short of the Samsung Galaxy S22 and iPhone 14. It’s also more expensive than the Google Pixel 7, and the specs and features on offer just can not justify.
So for the Asus Zenfone 10, we’d want either a lower price point or a significant improvement in the phone itself.
3. A small screen
The Zenfone 9 has a compact 5.9-inch display, and we want the Asus Zenfone 10 to have a similarly small screen. So we’re not asking for any changes here – we really want this aspect to stay the same.
There aren’t many compact phones these days, and especially not with fairly premium specs like the Zenfone 9, so we’d like to see that continue with the Zenfone 10 as there’s certainly an audience for them, no matter the niche.
4. A glass back
Although the Zenfone 9 comes with a fairly steep price tag, it has a plastic back, which is something we’d expect more of from a budget phone, despite Samsung’s attempts to make it acceptable at the high-end.
So hopefully the Asus Zenfone 10 will have a glass back. We can’t imagine that this would add significantly to the cost and make the phone look and feel much more worthy of its likely upper mid-range price point.
5. A bigger battery
The Zenfone 9 packs a fairly small 4,300mAh battery and while that might seem reasonable given the relatively small screen, it’s worth noting that the Sony Xperia 5 IV is only slightly larger but still packs a 5,000mAh battery.
Regardless, the Zenfone 9 doesn’t have great battery life, so it clearly needs a bigger Juice Pack or some tweaking, and we’d like to see the Asus Zenfone 10’s lifespan improve. If so, then this could end up being one of the best small phones.
