Asus wants to be the next Samsung of smartphones

It’s an amazing feat considering that Asus wasn’t a serious smartphone player two years ago.  Its success with the Zenfone 5 last year catapulted the Taiwanese company into the Top 6 smartphone brand in the Philippines, up from 12th spot the year before.

Last week, Asus launched another batch of Zenfones in the Philippines. The new shipments include a couple of Zenfone 2 Laser, the Zenfone Selfie, an entry-level Zenfone Go and its flagship model, the Zenfone 2 Deluxe, which boasts of 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage.

Add to that the current line-up of Zenfones already released in the Philippines this year and Asus already has more than a dozen variants of their smartphones in the market with prices ranging from as low as P4,000 to a high of P18,000.

The Zenfone 2 Deluxe  is the most expensive of the entire lineup at P18,000 but it carries a hardware configuration worthy to be compared of any other global flagship around. With 4GB of RAM and 128GB, it even beat Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S6 and Note 5 with that combo at half the price.

It’s an amazing feat considering that Asus wasn’t a serious smartphone player two years ago. Its success with the Zenfone 5 last year catapulted the Taiwanese company into the top six smartphone brand in the Philippines, up from 12th spot the year before.

This year, Asus wants to be in the mythical top five, at least in the Philippines. It’s a very saturated and competitive market – one that is also dominated by many aggressive local players like Cherry Mobile (currently at the top spot), MyPhone (in third place) and the rarely heard Torque (which is surprisingly in 5th place due to its strong provincial presence).

To achieve that goal, Asus is following the footsteps of Samsung and how the Korean giant catapulted itself as the top smartphone brand globally, with a huge help from Google’s Android platform.

The formula might seem very simple but it is a delicate balancing act. Looking at the lineup of Zenfones, Asus is carefully positioning specific models of their smartphones (as well as a few variants separated by display size, RAM and storage) in the price range where consumers are highly price-sensitive.

It’s obvious that the P4,000 range is the sweet spot for entry-level pricing while the P6,000 to P10,000 is the mid-range level. The P12,000 to P18,000 price range is also very competitive but Asus is proving to be the brand to beat in that category by offering something only found in high-end flagship phones – 4GB RAM and 128GB storage. So far, that perception is holding up with consumers.

But Asus is not yet done. There are a couple more Zenfone models coming up this October. One is the Zenfone Max, which comes with a 5,000mAh battery, and the Zenfone Zoom, which is its most ambitious variant that boasts of high-end camera sensor reminiscent of the Nokia PureView technology implemented in the Nokia 808 and the Lumia 1020.

Of course, that will come with a steep price tag. We heard the Zenfone Zoom will be priced somewhere in the vicinity of P27,000, give or take a thousand. That’s still uncharted territory for Asus. At that price point, consumers put a lot of value in brand affinity. It will definitely be a litmus test on how the market values Asus as a smartphone brand. Nevertheless, it is a challenge Asus is seriously taking on.