Asus Zenfone 10 adds wireless charging, Gimbal stabilizer 2.0 to small form factor
The Asus Zenfone 10 is official and it brings several important improvments over its predecessor. While it looks identical from the front once you scratch the surface updates start showing up.
It all starts with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset with up to 16GB of RAM, which brings 15% faster computing, 20% faster gaming performance, and perhaps most important of all – 15% better efficiency.
The latter is what enables the Zenfone 10 to improve the endurance of the 4,300mAh battery by nearly 13%. One of the main complaints with the Zenfone 9 was the lack of wireless charging and Asus has fixed this in the 10, by adding 15W Qi charging support. There’s no seemingly change to the wired 30W HyperCharge.
Upfront, you still get a 5.9-inch 1080x2400px AMOLED display, but it’s been bumped up to a 144Hz refresh rate. The highest speed is reserved for gaming, so for the most part you’re getting the same 120Hz-ready sub-6-incher. It keeps the Zenfone 10 in the very exclusive club of compact flagship phones on the market.
The display is DCI-P3 calibrated, has a below-1 Delta-E color accuracy, 1100 nits of peak brightness, and Gorilla Glass Victus protection.
Asus has changed the rear design a bit, although it still contains its nametag just like the Zenfone 9 did.
Asus added two new colorways – Eclipse Red and Aurora Green – to the Midnight Black, Comet White, and Starry Blue palette.
The cameras have changed too with the 50MP 1/1.56-inch main unit with a 24mm f/1.9 lens updated with the second generation 6-Axis Hybrid Gimbal Stabilization. There’re also 12MP ultrawide, and a 32MP selfie cameras. Both of these cameras have lost their autofocusing, but Asus promises the new camera has improved night mode imaging hugely.
The gimbal, on which the main camera is mounted, should be quite impressive, given how steady the Zenfone 9 already was. The system detects camera shake using the gyroscope, which then engages the electronic image stabilization in conjunction with the optical one to move the image slightly, resulting in a steady overall shot.
Adaptive EIS chooses the optimal field of view based on the shot and can crop further if needed to give you the best possible steadiness.
The Zenfone 10 uses its gimbal to enable Light Trail mode – letting you take traffic trails, light graffiti, and long-exposure waterfall and people-in-motion photos all handheld.
The Asus Zenfone 10 ships in an environmentally-conscious box made without adhesive and using recycled paper and soy ink. Packed inside is the Zenfone 10, a USB-C cable, a 30W charger, and a bumper case.
Asus is offering the Zenfone 10 on its website and through select retail partners from today, starting at €799 for the base 8/128 GB version. Doubling the storage hikes the price to €849, while a 16/256 GB will be €929. A 16/512GB model is also on the way, but its pricing is yet to be confirmed.
