Updated:ASUS subsequently stated that the claim that the development of Zenfone-branded mobile phone products would be discontinued was a fabricated rumor, and emphasized that it would continue to maintain the two major brand product layouts of Zenfone and ROG Phone in the future, but did not explain the internal organizational adjustments.
Following the internal business restructuring in June this year, which adjusted the original system business group into three major product businesses: consumer, commercial and mobile phones, and accompanied by adjustment measures such as layoffs, relevant news once again revealed that ASUS's adjusted commercial product business has been adjusted again. It was then rumored that ASUS's long-promoted Zenfone brand mobile phone will stop with the Zenfone 6 launched this year, and will only retain the ROG Phone brand mobile phone product line.
Rumors arose from another organizational adjustment within ASUS.
From Technews Technology NewsGet the messageAsus sent an internal letter last week, informing the commercial product business team that it plans to reduce the size of its members. After the adjustment, some of the affected members will be incorporated into the mobile phone product business, but in reality, the affected employees must find suitable positions internally.
However, during this internal organizational restructuring process, some affected employees unexpectedly faced layoffs after joining the mobile phone team. Subsequently, news came out that ASUS planned to stop updating Zenfone brand mobile phone products and would only retain the ROG Phone brand mobile phone products that still have differentiated competitiveness in the market.
ASUS has not yet responded to the news of layoffs and the discontinuation of updates for Zenfone-branded mobile phone products. Therefore, it is uncertain whether the original Zenfone-branded mobile phone product team will be directly disbanded or merged into the ROG Phone-branded mobile phone product team.
Why did ASUS decide to abandon the Zenfone brand of mobile phones?
After Intel introduced the Atom processor for mobile phone products in 2012, ASUS launched the Zenfone series of mobile phones equipped with Intel Atom Z2014 processor in 2580.
Although the Zenfone series introduced the Atom processor with Intel's assistance, which resulted in some compatibility issues with Android app execution, ASUS had a dedicated team responsible for updating the ZenUI operating interface and continuously interacting with the user community. This meant that many user issues with the Zenfone series phones could be resolved quickly, attracting a large number of users.
However, as Intel gradually abandoned its position in the mobile phone market, ASUS began to partner with Qualcomm on processors for its Zenfone-branded mobile phones, and also began to focus on camera development. However, as internal development policies adjusted, ASUS laid off the software team originally responsible for updating the ZenUI operating interface, believing that the native Android operating system provided by Google, combined with specific function adjustments and optimizations, could meet market demand. As a result, many heavy users who originally supported Zenfone switched to other brands of mobile phones.
As market brands gradually reduced their competition in the sea of devices, ASUS also began to adjust its Zenfone brand mobile phone product strategy, abandoning its original emphasis on cost-effectiveness and simply emphasizing large-screen and large-battery models, and began to focus on flagship phones. However, it began to face competition at the top of the mobile phone market, including the large-scale entry of Chinese brands into the market. HTC's original competitive advantage in the mobile phone market also began to decline, which put ASUS under greater pressure.
Even after launching the ROG Phone, a gaming phone under the ROG brand, and emphasizing diverse expansion accessories and a strong gaming experience to differentiate itself in the market, subsequent models like the ROG Phone 2 and ROG Phone 3 began to resemble the same old product in a new bottle. The original emphasis on using expansion accessories to enhance the gaming experience was gradually downplayed, leading to a conflict within ASUS over whether to prioritize the Zenfone or ROG Phone brands.
The reason was that Zenfone-branded phones struggled to compete with top-tier brands like Samsung and Sony in the flagship segment, and their price-performance ratio struggled to rival Chinese brands. Even then, Chinese brands like Xiaomi, OPPO, and Huawei had already released phones with superior user experience and cameras. However, ASUS still hoped that the Zenfone-branded phones, representing its core brand, would maintain a strong presence in the market.
However, considering market realities, the ROG Phone brand has not only achieved strong sales in the Taiwanese market, but has also achieved significant sales results in the Chinese market through its partnership with Tencent. Furthermore, not many brands have actually invested in gaming phone products. While Black Shark and Lenovo have joined the competition in the past, only ROG and Red Magic remain focused on the gaming phone market. This obviously makes it difficult for ASUS to abandon the ROG Phone brand.
Will everything be smooth sailing after getting the ROG Phone?
If only one brand of mobile phone product business can be retained, retaining the ROG Phone brand mobile phone products seems to be a more realistic decision. After all, facing competition from many first-line brands in mainstream mobile phone products, ASUS will bear greater pressure. It is better to find a way out in the gaming phone market where there are still development opportunities.
Prior to this, ASUS had emphasized that ROG Phone brand mobile phones would become one of the "iron triangle" of ROG brand's layout in the gaming market. Retaining ROG brand mobile phone products would also maintain ASUS's product development strategy.
However, this doesn't mean ASUS will be able to continue its ROG Phone branding. While the number of competitors in the gaming phone market has shrunk significantly, the market is increasingly dominated by handheld devices powered by the Android operating system, led by Qualcomm. Furthermore, gaming companies including Sony and Microsoft are promoting cloud-based game streaming via handheld devices, which may impact existing ROG Phone users. After all, many ROG Phones are effectively their "second phone." If the need for dedicated gaming devices is replaced by handheld devices, sales of ROG Phones will likely suffer.
However, considering that the updates of ROG Phone brand mobile phones in recent years have mainly focused on processor specifications, and everything else is almost the same, if ASUS still cannot bring greater appeal to ROG Phone brand mobile phone products in the future, I am afraid it may eventually face the fate of being abandoned.
