Asus has just announced several new smartphones in the Zenfone 4 family, many of which are coming to the Europe and the UK in late 2017 and early 2018. Here’s how the standard Zenfone 4 stacks up against the Zenfone 4 Pro, Zenfone 4 Max and Zenfone 4 Selfie, in terms of specs, features, design and camera tech.
The Zenfone 4 will hit the UK in November 2017 and we’re already enjoying this £450 mid-tier mobile, which packs a smart dual-lens camera, some serious media chops and a sleek design. Go check out our early Zenfone 4 review if you haven’t already, to see what we think.
However, to complicate matters, Asus has launched several other handsets in the Zenfone family. The 4 Pro, 4 Max and 4 Selfie all offer different internals and camera tech, so it’s worth figuring out which might be best for you before committing.
Here’s our full Zenfone 4 family comparison to help out.
Asus Zenfone 4 comparison table
| Phone | Zenfone 4 | Zenfone 4 Pro | Zenfone 4 Max | Zenfone 4 Selfie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen size | 5.5-inches | 5.5-inches | 5.5-inches | 5.5-inches |
| Screen resolution | 1920×1080 | 1920×1080 | 1280×720 | 1280×720 |
| OS | Android 7 + ZenUI 4 | Android 7 + ZenUI 4 | Android 7 + ZenUI 4 | Android 7 + ZenUI 4 |
| Fingerprint sensor? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Processor | Snapdragon 630 | Snapdragon 835 | Snapdragon 430 | Snapdragon 430 |
| Memory | 4GB | 6GB | Up to 4GB | 4GB |
| Storage | 64GB | 64/128GB | Up to 64GB | 64GB |
| microSD? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Battery | 3300mAh | 3600mAh | 5000mAh | 3000mAh |
| Rear camera | 12MP + 8MP wide-angle | 12MP + 16MP zoom | 13MP + wide-angle | 16MP |
| Front camera | 8MP | 8MP | 8MP | 20MP + 8MP wide-angle |
| UK price | £450 | TBC | £250 | TBC |
Asus Zenfone 4 comparison: Design
We like the look and feel of the standard Zenfone 4 and the Zenfone 4 Pro, which sport an aluminium unibody and glass front and rear plates. They’re impressively slender (and a bit slippery, to be honest), not to mention quite rugged.
In comparison, the Max and Selfie models lose the glass rear end and go with a metal surfacing instead. The Selfie model is definitely more ‘fun’, coming in a range of colours including the obligatory pink/rose gold. Meanwhile the Max is a little heavier and chunkier than its siblings, thanks to the mighty battery stuffed inside.
None of these phones are water resistant sadly, although they do all sport a fingerprint sensor built into the home button.
Asus Zenfone 4 comparison: Screen and media
The vanilla Zenfone 4 sports a solid 5.5-inch Super IPS+ display, boasting strong brightness levels, customisable colours and a Full HD resolution to keep your images sharp.
The ‘Max’ model surprisingly keeps the screen at 5.5-inches, rather than boosting the size as you might expect from the name. This is a standard IPS screen, which isn’t as bright or colourful as the standard Zenfone 4 panel. The resolution has also been dropped to 720p, so you’ll notice some grainy image reproduction if you look close. Ditto for the Selfie model.
You also lose the Hi-Res audio support and other nifty music features with the Max and Selfie handsets.
The Pro model is again a 5.5-incher, this time sporting a super-colourful AMOLED display. You can expect all of the customisation and audio features of the standard model, with enhanced vibrancy to really make your images stand out.
Asus Zenfone 4 comparison: Features and OS
All four of Asus’ new handsets offer up Android Nougat, with the company’s own ZenUI software laid on top. This adds a host of bonus features, including gesture support, impressive customisation and plenty more besides. Check out our Zenfone 4 hands-on video below to see ZenUI in action.
While the standard Zenfone 4 can only fit two SIMs or one SIM and a microSD memory card, the Max model boasts three slots, so you can have dual SIMs and expandable storage at the same time.
Asus Zenfone 4 comparison: Performance and battery life
The Pro model is the king when it comes to performance, blessed as it is with Qualcomm’s super-powered Snapdragon 835 chipset. This offers slick performance and strong connectivity. The standard Zenfone 4 uses the mid-tier Snapdragon 630 instead, so you’ll see some little stammers here and there. Meanwhile the Selfie and Max bring up the rear, with a budget Snapdragon 430 chipset.
As for battery tech, the Max is the winner in that department, cramming in a massive 5000mAh cell. That’s on par with the brilliant Lenovo P2, so we’re hoping to get around two to three days of life per charge. The other phones here offer smaller batteries, as you can see in our comparison table up top.
For recharging, only the standard Zenfone 4 and the Pro model sport Type-C USB connectivity. This offers faster data transfer than the older non-reversible USB ports of the Selfie and Max models.
Asus Zenfone 4 comparison: Cameras
Okay, this is where things get a wee bit confusing.
The standard Zenfone 4 and the Max model both pack a dual-lens camera on the rear, with a secondary wide-angle lens to fit more of the scenery into your shot. The specs are different however, with the standard version offering a more capable Sony sensor and a wider f/1.8 aperture main lens, as well as OIS for blur-free shots. You can therefore expect stronger photo and video quality compared with the Max.
Meanwhile the Pro model offers up an optical zoom secondary lens, rather than a wide-angle snapper. This can be used to get up close to your subject, without any loss in quality. You still get a Sony sensor, plus an f/1.7 aperture main lens. The Pro and standard Zenfone 4 can shoot up to 4K resolution video, while the others here can only manage up to Full HD resolution footage.
Completely changing things up is the Zenfone 4 Selfie, which sports only a single lens camera on the rear. To make up for this, you’ll find two lenses around the front instead, one of which is wide-angle. There’s even an LED flash for those glamorous night shots. This sure is a phone made for selfie lovers.
The other Asus handsets by comparison offer up an 8-megapixel selfie camera. All of these phones boast the ‘beauty mode’ which can digitally tweak your mug in real time, if that’s your bag.