ASUS ZenFone 4 won’t arrive until the end of July confirms CEO

While ASUS has never made a big splash in the realm of global smartphone sales, they’ve been cranking out Android phones and tablets for over five years now. The ZenFone series has become a pretty good budget-minded handset for those who don’t mind ASUS’ absolutely horrible OS skinning, but it looks like the ZenFone 4 won’t be arriving on time this year.

We usually see these handsets at Mobile World Congress and they hit the market right afterward, but ASUS CEO Jerry Shen has confirmed that his company won’t be releasing any ZenFone 4 series smartphones until at least the end of July 2017. That’s more than three months behind the typical schedule the company followed for its ZenFone 3 series of phones. So what’s the hold-up?

Shen says ASUS’ smartphone business isn’t doing so hot and that the ZenFone 4 family will come with competitive prices. Shen also mentions that his company has focused on “design overhaul and efficiency upgrades,” which is the likely culprit for the later-than-usual launch.

The ZenFone 4 will feature a 5.5″ screen, while ASUS will focus on other models and sizes later. The 5.5″ model is expected to cost around NT$15,000 in Taiwan, which is around $498 USD. The