Asus and Razer Want To Make a "Gaming" Smartphone with Tencent

AlphaAtlas

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A recent report from the Taiwanese news site Digitimes claims that Razer and Asustek are both in talks with the Chinese gaming giant Tencent over the release of a "gaming smartphone that supports Tencent's games." Asus's recently released ZenFone Max Pro is reportedly the last "consumer" smartphones the company will make, and that a higher end ZenFone "for power users" is expected to come mid 2019. In related news, Digitimes claims that TSMC is about to start manufacturing the 7nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processors that will likely power these higher end (and higher margin) smartphones.

Asustek and Razer both declined to comment... Asustek is set to release a new ZenFone prior to mid-2019 for power users and is also looking to form partnership with Tencent for the ROG-brand gaming smartphone, the sources said. Asustek's new ROG smartphone is expected to come with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855 processor and priced at CNY5,000 (US$741) for the smartphone itself and CNY12,000 for the whole set. The smartphone's high gross margin will have a chance of helping Asustek's handset business turn profitable, the sources noted. Razer reportedly also contacted Tencent with a similar plan for its gaming Razer Phone 2, but Tencent so far has not yet made a decision on which it will cooperate with.
 
I am a bit curious, who buys these ?

I haven't seen one at all yet..
 
I am a bit curious, who buys these ?

I haven't seen one at all yet..
In most of China mobile gaming makes up like 80% of the gaming market and a likewise amount of the revenue they could put this out in China and not be able to make it fast enough to cover demand.. 620 Million people in China play and collectively spend upwards of 40 Billion, they are the people who will buy this phone and no outside of Asia you are unlikely to ever see it.
 
I am a bit curious, who buys these ?

I haven't seen one at all yet..

I certainly have no interest, but young children seem.to prefer app gaming like Temple Run, Flappy or Angry Birds on tablets.

Only game I've ever had on any phone I've ever owned was Scrabble/Words With Friends.
 
I understand mobile gaming, the better games made for mobile are remarkably similar to the games I grew up with. They're just gameplay and not much else, catchy and tough like old Atari, Nintendo and C64 stuff. Too bad the vast majority of them are god awful grinds made with emptying your wallet at the centre of the design philosophy.

I get the idea of making phones for gaming, I guess. I seriously love using a "smart" phone with a high refresh.

They're almost as good as a flip phone.
 
I certainly have no interest, but young children seem.to prefer app gaming like Temple Run, Flappy or Angry Birds on tablets.

Only game I've ever had on any phone I've ever owned was Scrabble/Words With Friends.

I see 2-6 year olds with tablets, then they move on to switch and then pc here.
Their mobile is something parents give to them to call them, somehow it's gone back to what they were designed for haha!
 
I am a bit curious, who buys these ?

I haven't seen one at all yet..
I'll admit they have tempted me, but for different reasons. I don't game on my phone and couldn't care less about that aspect. However I do like some of the interesting designs that aren't boring and tend to be a bit more rugged. Fortunately Kyocera put out a really nice ruggedized phone for not terribly expensive while I was still shopping, so I went with that.
 
I'll admit they have tempted me, but for different reasons. I don't game on my phone and couldn't care less about that aspect. However I do like some of the interesting designs that aren't boring and tend to be a bit more rugged. Fortunately Kyocera put out a really nice ruggedized phone for not terribly expensive while I was still shopping, so I went with that.


Huh,

I didn't even realize Kyocera made phones anymore. Haven't seen them in a long time.
 
Huh,

I didn't even realize Kyocera made phones anymore. Haven't seen them in a long time.

Yeah their duraforce pro 2 is pretty nice, especially for a mere $450. Water proof, dust proof, has a better quality Sapphire glass on screen and camera than the iPhone, headphone jack and user serviceable. A couple user programmable keys and even without an OtterBox is really damn durable. There are a couple things I dislike about it, but for its price and features it is honestly tough to beat.
 
So soon the console gamers will be getting dumbed down and upscaled mobile phone games... serves them right.

But then we'll get those same mobile phone games upscaled again for PCs... oh crap.
 


Now, I don't game on my phone, so it's obviously not targeted at me, but some thoughts:

  • Does it have Pie yet?
  • How often does it get security updates? Asus wasn't that great at this when I last had one of their phones (Zenfone 2)
  • It seems a little large and bulky
  • Seems a little pricy to me, but then again all phones seem to have gone off the deep end when it comes to pricing in the last few years.
  • I'm really not a fan of the RGB ROG logo
  • What's the battery life like?
Other than that, it seems like a pretty capable device.

And yeah, I'm with you. They only just launched this, it seems odd for Asus to already be going after another gaming phone.
 
What is Tencent?
Tencent owns a LOT of gaming entities in China, they are basically China's EA, Facebook, Youtube, and Twitch, they have their own gaming console, are the Chinese publisher for PUGB, they own the guys who do League of Legends, they are also China's largest Music Entertainment company. They do everything entertainment related to the tune of 300 Billion a year in profits....
 
Now, I don't game on my phone, so it's obviously not targeted at me, but some thoughts:

  • Does it have Pie yet?
  • How often does it get security updates? Asus wasn't that great at this when I last had one of their phones (Zenfone 2)
  • It seems a little large and bulky
  • Seems a little pricy to me, but then again all phones seem to have gone off the deep end when it comes to pricing in the last few years.
  • I'm really not a fan of the RGB ROG logo
  • What's the battery life like?
Other than that, it seems like a pretty capable device.

And yeah, I'm with you. They only just launched this, it seems odd for Asus to already be going after another gaming phone.
If they get in with Tencent they are made with that product, Tencent has their own console, so this would be the equivalent of them going to MS, Sony, or Nintendo and saying "We want to build a phone that runs your games". To put it into perspective they have sold more consoles this generation than Sony and Microsoft combined and their profit margins is the same Sony made ~10 B, Microsoft ~9B, Tencent just shy of 20B.
 
So soon the console gamers will be getting dumbed down and upscaled mobile phone games... serves them right.

But then we'll get those same mobile phone games upscaled again for PCs... oh crap.
As fun as that idea sounds in China mobile gaming makes 10x more than PC and console gaming, they don't bother even porting the titles. You want it you buy it for the phone, full stop.
 
Tencent owns a LOT of gaming entities in China, they are basically China's EA, Facebook, Youtube, and Twitch, they have their own gaming console, are the Chinese publisher for PUGB, they own the guys who do League of Legends, they are also China's largest Music Entertainment company. They do everything entertainment related to the tune of 300 Billion a year in profits....
and they also have their fingers in Epic
 
Ten cent is 1/5 of fitycent
How about a phone that gets updates, replaceable battery, open source, inexpensive.
 
So it's been awhile but the ASUS ROG Phone 2 has been released and is selling in China, Malaysia, and I believe the Philippines. The normal version of the phone is a 12GB RAM model, the cheaper "Tencent" Edition is 8GB.

I watched some Youtube action on Unbox Therapy that showcased the phone and all the hardware available for the phone and it actually has me considering it as a complete entertainment system replacement. The docking station serves as home hub with 1GB RJ45, HDMI, DP, and USB3.0 ports. Add basic streaming via Cromecast as a backup/alternative or just to add flexibility to which displays in the home you care to use at any given time. The same system servers as your mobile or traveling game platform as well.

This being said, I do have reservations, 1st of course, will it meet expectations of performance? Follow this by the available gaming titles, will I find enough of the right kinds of games to keep me happy. Third, in three years when the phone's tech is getting dated, will a follow-on from ASUS be available or will I be looking for an entirely new setup?

The simple good though, the phone isn't greatly expensive, I don't have to buy every toy they make for it, and although I could hope that I'd never need to upgrade my desktop gaming rig again, I don't have to get rid of it just because I bought the phone, the risk level just isn't that high.
 
I was watching something on it also.
The amount of accessories for it is crazy. Couldn't believe what you can make it do.
Same with anything though, performance is key.
 
So I found a Chinese site selling the phone, jd.com and I recognized the name though I can't say were from. I decided to roll the dice and take a leap, I ordered one of the "Tencent Edition" phones and a current cost to me of $505.00 USD. I say current cost because I will likely be charged later for some duties/taxes as it is shipped into country. I am thinking that jd.com is a Taiwanese business and I am therefor hoping this current little trade war we are having isn't going to double the final cost of the phone.

It will be a couple of weeks before it arrives, if it arrives, and I will let you guys know how it turns out.

My reasoning was that almost any phone I was considering would cost this or more. It is still a phone and as such it's still only good for a couple of years. I am not sure that a US Release will offer the "Tencent Edition" and a fully speced phone could cost much more later on.

And so the dice were thrown.
 
Amazon has the first gen on sale right now: $700 for the 128GB and $870 for the 512GB versions. That's $200 and $270 off the original price, respectively.

https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ZS600KL-S845-8G128G-Smartphone-2160x1080-Display/dp/B07GS272K7

I got the Razer Phone 2 when it went down to $500 and I like it. It's only $400 now. If you want to do some semi-serious gaming on a phone the Razer is great. If you want to use your phone as a super-serious gaming platform then the ROG is probably the best.
 
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Whose got the time to be playing on their phones like that that is not a teenager?

It isn't much of a time thing but rather a market thing. Gaming on phones suck, touch screens are terrible for controls and the ergonomics of a thin rectangle are horrible. Sure phones are getting fast enough for basic games but without a controller it is fairly pointless. By the time you add that you loose the mobility aspect. Plus the screen is tiny, so you'd want a bigger screen. At this point you may as well get a console or PC.

Phone games do have a market. Non-gamers who want a time killer while using public transit, on flights, people who can't afford dedicating gaming devices (like young kids) and whatnot. But the idea someone would spend money and go out of their way for a gaming phone is just stupid. They'll sell some of them but the market will never take off. Seems like a waste of time but then again they mostly use the same components as regular phones so it probably isn't a huge financial drain to make/market these.
 
Whose got the time to be playing on their phones like that that is not a teenager?


If you look at the Dock you'll see it has a RJ45 port for a copper connection to your router, 4x USB 3.0 ports, and both HDMI and Display Port for wired displays. Your phone becomes a desktop replacement, monitor, mouse, whatever you want. With today's web apps and cloud services, you can do it all with this phone. Shit, you could probably do AutoCAD as a web service with the phone and that Dock.

And when you take your phone with you, you take everything else with you as well. I don't have to upgrade my desktop or buy a new video card, I buy a new phone every few years anyway. The only thing that would ruin this is poor adoption and the death of gaming centric phones.

Now I can't tell you this is going to actually work as a total solution for me. I'd say it's possible, and to me, it's worth finding out. I need a new phone anyway and this one is costing me $500 so wth, it's a phone. But if it works out, it'll save me alot of money and my computer room is going to get much quieter and much cooler.

Over the last few years I've been mostly playing Fallout4 and Skyrim, PUBG, and World of Tanks / World of Warships, and some Mechwarior Online. When it comes to mobile games, PUBG and World of Tanks Blitz are shoe-ins, and I'll be looking into what else is available that will scratch my itch.
 
It isn't much of a time thing but rather a market thing. Gaming on phones suck, touch screens are terrible for controls and the ergonomics of a thin rectangle are horrible. Sure phones are getting fast enough for basic games but without a controller it is fairly pointless. By the time you add that you loose the mobility aspect. Plus the screen is tiny, so you'd want a bigger screen. At this point you may as well get a console or PC.

Phone games do have a market. Non-gamers who want a time killer while using public transit, on flights, people who can't afford dedicating gaming devices (like young kids) and whatnot. But the idea someone would spend money and go out of their way for a gaming phone is just stupid. They'll sell some of them but the market will never take off. Seems like a waste of time but then again they mostly use the same components as regular phones so it probably isn't a huge financial drain to make/market these.


But of course this phone covers all the negatives you mentioned. Controllers, external displays, wired home network connections.
 
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