The standard Asus ZenFone 3 is reportedly not coming to the United States, while the higher-end ZenFone 3 Deluxe will no longer be launching in Canada.
Meanwhile, the ZenFone 3 Deluxe is available in the United States, while the standard ZenFone 3 is available in Canada.
ZenFone 3 US Release Not Happening
The Asus ZenFone 3 Deluxe and the Zenfone 3 Laser became available for purchase in the United States through Amazon back in September, but the standard ZenFone 3 was nowhere to be found. Asus started selling the ZenFone 3 Deluxe, ZenWatch 3 and ZenPad 3s 10 through its own store back in October, with the standard ZenFone 3 version still MIA.
The ZenFone 3 Deluxe (ZS570KL) is undoubtedly a sleek powerhouse and was the first smartphone to rock the Snapdragon 821 processor, but higher-end specs also mean a higher price compared to the standard ZenFone 3.
Those interested in buying the cheaper ZenFone 3 in the United States, however, are apparently out of luck as Asus has confirmed to MobileSyrup that this particular variant will not make its debut stateside.
As a reminder, the standard ZenFone 3 has a 5.5-inch full HD IPS display, a Snapdragon 625 processor, 3 GB or 4 GB of RAM (depending on version), a 16-megapixel rear camera, an 8-megapixel front shooter and a 3,000 mAh battery, among the highlights.
ZenFone 3 Deluxe Canada Release Canceled
One the other side of the border, Canadians waiting for the ZenFone 3 Deluxe are also in for some bad news.
Asus had previously said that its ZenFone 3 Deluxe would become available in Canada in early November, launching at CAD$699 at Best Buy, Newegg.ca, Canada Computers, Memory Express and Staples. That obviously did not happen since we're now in late November already, and it now looks like the company had a change of heart and scraped the Canadian launch altogether.
Asus representatives reportedly told MobileSyrup that the planned Canadian release of the ZenFone 3 Deluxe has been canceled, but did not offer any details as to why the company made this decision.
If this proves to be accurate, Asus fans in Canada will have to settle for the standard ZenFone 3, which launched in the country back in September at a CAD$429.99 price point.
Asus has yet to confirm whether the standard ZenFone 3 will indeed skip the United States, or whether the ZenFone 3 Deluxe Canadian release was indeed canceled. As always, we'll keep you up to date as soon as more information hits the surface.
