Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2 REVIEW: The Next Budget Killer Phone?

Most people are familiar with the Taiwanese brand Asus from their computer hardware, routers, and many other office devices. Also, Asus produces smartphones, but they are not very popular. The reason is a big competition on mobile market. In my opinion, the main problem of Asus smartphones is names. The mobile devices are very difficult to remember. Only real fans or professionals remember all smartphones from ZenFone series.

More recently, the Taiwanese company announced new smartphone Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2. It should come to replace the last year’s Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1.

In this article, we will review new smartphone, talk about its specifications in details, and compare with other phones on the market 2018.

Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2: Specifications

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 660, eight Kryo 260 cores, peak operating frequency – 2200 MHz, design standards – 14 nm
Graphics processor: Adreno 512, operating frequency – up to 850 MHz
AnTuTu Points: 139000
RAM: 3 GB, 4 GB, memory type – LPDDR4X, maximum operating frequency – 1866 MHz
ROM: 64 GB, 128 GB
Display: IPS-matrix, 6-inch diagonal, resolution – 1080 by 2280 pixels, density – 420 ppi + Corning Gorilla Glass 6
Main camera: dual – 12 + 5 MP, the aperture value of the diaphragm of the main module – f / 1.8
Front camera: 13 megapixel, lens aperture – f / 2.0
Battery: 5000mAh + fast charging technology
OS: Android 9.0 Oreo
SIM slots: 2, Nano-SIM
Expansion card support: available, microSD, separate slot
Wired interfaces: 2.0, Micro USB + On-The-Go
Sound: NXP Smart PA
Mobile standards: LTE Cat 13 (150.7 Mbit / s transmission, 391.6 Mbit / s reception)
Body material: aluminum alloy
Color: black, purple, gradient blue

Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2: Design

Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2 has a classic design for 2018. There is notch above the display, and thin bezels around. The front panel looks very similar to iPhone X. The notch hides front camera, earpiece, light and proximity sensors.

Before the official presentation, many resources thought Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2 will have triple rear camera. However, as you can see from the image above, it has dual camera and big flashlight. Next to the camera is fingerprint reader, but earlier many people suggested that it will be built into the screen. Of course, there is company logo ASUS on the back.

Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2: Display

New Asus smartphone has quite large display, but it is not surprise for 2018. ZenFone Max Pro M2 is equipped with 6-inch IPS screen with Full HD+ resolution, 1080 x 2280 pixels. The pixel density 420 PPI.

The front panel is covered by 2.5D glass, and you can see rounded corners on sides of the screen. Asus didn’t forget about protection against damage and various physical effects. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 6.

In general, the display of Asus smartphone is very good. Both the size and the image quality are stunning.

Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2: Performance

The smartphone is powered by Snapdragon 660 processor. It is good mid-range chipset, and perhaps one of the best among Qualcomm 6th series processors. The cores are divided into two clusters according to the following scheme: the first cluster is 4×2.2 GHz Kryo 260, while the second – 4×1.84 GHz Kryo 260. As you can see, the maximum operating frequency is 2.2 GHz.

The hardware is energy efficient, because of decent architecture standards – 14 nm. Yes, it is far from the best 7 nanometers, but Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1 is not a flagship product.

In benchmark test AnTuTu the smartphone scores 139 thousand points, which is not the best result for the end of 2018, but still very good for mid-range device.

Now let’s talk about memory. First of all, you should pay attention to RAM/ROM configurations. We are always pleased when smartphone comes in different versions, so you can choose the best option for you. Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2 offers 3 and 4 GB of RAM. The type of memory is LPDDR4X, while the peak frequency of operation is 1866 MHz.

As for internal memory, you can choose from 64 GB and 128 GB. Also, there is slot microSD card, which will expand the flash memory up to 128 GB.

Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2: Camera

The main camera of Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 consist of two sensors: 12MP and 5MP. The aperture of the lens is f/1.8. The second sensor acts exclusively as an auxiliary sensor, which is designed to expand the basic functionality of the camera. It can be used for portrait mode or smart image improvement. The aperture of the second lens is f/2.4.

You may notice a huge LED flash on the rear panel. It allows taking decent shots at night. Also, there is special Night Mode in camera app.

The camera supports Full HD video recording at 60 frames per second.

The front camera has only single sensor, but this is enough for high-quality selfies. It is 13-megapixel sensor with f/2.0 aperture. The front camera also shoots video Full HD, but at 30 frames per second.

Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2: Battery

The smartphone is equipped with 5000mAh battery. We are used to smartphones with 4000mAh batteries in 2018, but Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 has much bigger battery. The lithium-polymer battery supports fast charging technology.

Another interesting feature of Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2 is the latest Android 9.0 Pie operating system. Also, new smartphone supports dual SIM and microSD.

Asus has not refused in its new product from the headphone jack. If you are using wireless earphones, then there is Bluetooth 5.0. The smartphone is charged via MicroUSB version 2.0 with support On-The-Go technology. It is known that the mobile device works in 13th category LTE bands.

Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2: Price

The official presentation of Asus smartphone will be December 11 in Indonesia. The device will enter the world market in 2019. There is no exact information about the price, but the expected one is about $200;
The price of ZenFone Max Pro M1: for version 3/32 GB – $180, for version 4/64 GB – $200;
Asus ZenFone Max M2: currently available exclusively on the Indian market.