Published 11:48 IST, November 29th 2018
Asus says no to price hike ahead of Asus ROG Phone launch
Asus India’s Mobile Business Head, Dinesh Sharma, has released a statement confirming the company’s decision to stick to the original price despite weaker rupee. By not announcing a price hike, Asus wants to keep their fans happy.
Weak rupee might impact smartphone price in India in the future. Earlier this month, Chinese smartphone brands such as Xiaomi and Realme increased the price of some of their smartphones due to falling rupee and dollar getting stronger. This has led to a widespread speculation that brands such as Samsung, Oppo and Vivo might as well increase the price of their smartphones.
Amid these reports, Asus has decided not to increase the price of their smartphones (at least for now). Asus India’s Mobile Business Head, Dinesh Sharma, has released a statement confirming their move. This is what he had to say:
“We're committed to the Indian market and thrive to keep our fans happy. Despite the ongoing rupee-dollar race, we have decided to absorb the cost currently and give our fans a better value proposition. We are glad to announce that none of our ZenFones will see an increase in price.”
This could be an ideal move for a brand to maintain a foothold in India’s highly competitive smartphone market and Asus doesn’t seem interested in doing anything that's likely to make potential customers upset. Now it remains to be seen for how long does Asus stick to this plan though.
Currently, Asus India is selling a couple of handsets under their ZenFone moniker such as Asus Zenfone 5Z, Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 etc.
New Asus ROG Phone launch In India today
Asus is launching its latest smartphone Asus ROG Phone in the Indian market today. It became official in June this year. Powering the device is up to 8GB RAM, Snapdragon 845 chip and Adreno 630 GPU for graphics. It sports a 6-inch AMOLED screen featuring 2,160 x 1,080 Full HD+ resolution. It’s further protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 6. It houses 12MP+8MP dual rear cameras. Up front is a single 8MP selfie camera.
Asus ROG Phone India launch livestream
Asus India has hosted the live stream of the ROG Phone launch on YouTube. The launch event starts at 12 noon.
Updated 11:48 IST, November 29th 2018