Taiwanese manufacturer Asus on Wednesday took the wraps off its brand new ZenFone 5-series of smartphones at a press event in Barcelona. The company’s F 5 lineup consists of three phones – ZenFone 5z,  ZenFone 5 and F 5 Lite, which will cater to different price-brackets and consumer segments. The ZenFone 5 Lite will be known as Zenfone 5Q in North America.

With the new ZenFone 5 line-up, the company is betting big on the imaging capabilities and AI integration in hopes of regaining the same glory that it had achieved with the first couple of ZenFone-generations. Taking cues from other Android phone makers as well as Google, Asus has included six AI-powered features in its ZenFone 5 and 5z phones, which aim to help the consumers, but don’t really bring anything exciting to the table.

“We embarked on the ZenFone project four years ago with the idea to create empowering luxury for everyone to enjoy. Today, the ZenFone 5 Series is the most intelligent ZenFone series ever, utilizing advanced AI algorithms and big-data analytics to provide users with a unique slate of intelligent camera, communication and convenience features,” said ASUS CEO Jerry Shen in a statement.

Asus ZenFone 5z

Asus ZenFone 5z is the company’s new flagship phone and it follows the likes of Apple and Essential to include a notch on the front to offer a bezel less screen. The ZenFone 5z sports a 6.2-inch full HD+ screen with 19:9 aspect ratio and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC. If you don’t already know, Snapdragon 845 is the same chip that is powering the North American variants of the Galaxy S9 and S9+ phones. Here is a look at the key specifications of the phone.

• 6.2-inch IPS screen with 2246x1080p resolution & 19:9 aspect ratio
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC
• Dual rear cameras (12MP f/1.8 + 120-degree wide-angle lens)
• 8MP selfie shooter with f/2.0 lens
• 4/ 6/ 8GB of RAM, 64/ 128/ 256GB of internal storage, microSD card slot
• Dual stereo speakers,fingerprint sensor, face unlock support
• 4G LTE, dual-SIM support, NFC, USB Type-C
• Wifi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0,
• 3300 mAh battery
• Android 8.0 Oreo
• Colours: Midnight Blue, Meteor Silver

Asus ZenFone 5

Asus ZenFone 5 is pretty much the same phone as the ZenFone 5z except the slightly underpowered internals. Here is a look at the specifications that are different between the ZenFone 5 and 5z phones.

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 SoC
• 4/ 6GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage, and microSD card slot

Asus ZenFone 5 Lite (aka ZenFone 5Q)

The most affordable phone out of three unveiled by Asus today, the ZenFone 5 Lite doesn’t pack a notch or the high-end specs like ZenFone 5/5z, but it does shine in the imaging capabilities. The phone packs four cameras – two on the front and two on the back. The rear camera setup has a 16MP main sensor and a secondary sensor with a 120-degree wide-angle lens. The front setup has a 20MP main selfie shooter and the same secondary sensor as the rear.

The ZenFone 5 Lite will be offered in two variants, one will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 SoC and the other with the Snapdragon 430 SoC. Here is a look at key specifications:

• 6-inch IPS screen with 2160x1080p screen with 18:9 aspect ratio
• 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage, microSD card slot
• Dual rear cameras (16MP shooter with f/2.2 lens + 120-degree wide-angle lens)
• Dual front cameras (20MP shooter with f2.0 lens + 120-degree wide-angle lens)
• 3300 mAh battery
• Face unlock, fingerprint sensor
• Dual-SIM, 4G LTE connectivity, NFC, Wifi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.1,
• MicroUSB 2.0 port, GPS
• Android 8.0 Oreo
• Colours: Black, Red, White

Pricing and availability

According to Asus, the ZenFone 5-series will start rolling out across the globe beginning in March with ZenFone 5 Lite, followed by ZenFone 5 in April and ZenFone 5z in June.

The company has only shared the pricing of the ZenFone 5z, which will start at 475 euros. I am looking for the prices of the other models and will update this report as I learn more.