Asus 8Z will be launched in India on February 28, Asus announced today. The 8Z, which is nothing but a rebranded Zenfone 8, was supposed to launch in India in May last year alongside global markets, but it was deferred indefinitely due to COVID-19 surge. Asus does not mention the Zenfone 8 Flip in today’s announcement, so we’re assuming it’s not coming to India at this point.

The late arrival means the Asus 8Z will carry older hardware, more specifically, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip. Asus has since launched the ROG Phone 5s and 5s Pro in the country—again later than usual—with the more powerful Snapdragon 888+ under the hood. For what it’s worth, the 8Z targets an entirely different set of people, those who may be looking for a compact Android flagship.

Asus 8Z expected specs and features

The global Zenfone 8 model has a 5.9-inch Samsung-made HDR10+ ready E4 AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and optical in-display fingerprint reader. It is the first Asus phone to come with an official IP68 rating. The back is made of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.

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It has dual rear cameras with OIS on the primary lens. Rounding off the package are dual stereo speakers, Android 11-based Zen UI 8, Hi Res Audio support, Wi-Fi 6E and 5G. the battery is 4,000mAh and there is 30W fast charging support. The Zenfone 8 comes in 6GB/8GB/16GB RAM and 128GB/256GB storage configurations with price starting at Euros 599 (roughly Rs 50,500).

Asus 8Z: Late to the party

The 8Z is launching in India at a time when rival brands, from Samsung to Motorola and Vivo spin-off iQOO, are out with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and Android 12-toting flagship phones which is to say, the 8Z might have a very difficult time justifying its existence. Pricing will therefore be key to its future. Watch this space for our full coverage on Asus 8Z India launch as it happens.