ASUS is apparently getting ready to dump Intel for Qualcomm for its future ZenFone smartphones, the company's CEO has revealed in a recent interview.
Talking with YugaTech, ASUS CEO Jerry Shen detailed some of the plans the company has for future devices. First off, ASUS will start naming its products by numbers so people can remember them easier. Apple and Samsung have already been naming their products using numbers for a good while now, and ASUS will follow the same strategy from now on. This means that the successor to the recently-unveiled ZenFone 2 will arrive as the ASUS ZenFone 3.
Shen further revealed during the interview that ASUS will release new ZenFone devices every six months, and new flagships every year. Perhaps the most interesting part of this interview, however, is the fact that ASUS plans on teaming up with Qualcomm for its future ZenFones.
For several years now, ASUS has used only Intel processors for its ZenFone flagships, but the company is now ready to ditch this partnership and instead go for Qualcomm. In this case, the next-generation ASUS ZenFone 3 may be the first one in the series to rock a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip under the hood instead of an Intel processor.
This will likely be great news for Qualcomm as well, especially since the chip maker lost an important customer this year when Samsung decided to launch its new-generation Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge flagships with in-house Exynos processors rather than the 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810. The rumor mill has been buzzing for a while with claims of overheating issues affecting the Snapdragon 810, and Qualcomm has some work to do to straighten its image.
ASUS, meanwhile, has already been relying on Qualcomm chips for its PadFone line, but it has never launched a ZenFone device with a Snapdragon chip so far. It's an important step for the company and it will be interesting to see how a ZenFone will perform with a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, especially since some consumers may find it more appealing. Qualcomm processors are commonly used in smartphones and tablets of all types, from low-end to top-notch, and even wearables such as smartwatches now pack chips from Qualcomm.
For more information, check out the video below to see YugaTech's interview with ASUS CEO Jerry Shen.
