Asus Zenfone AR launches in Taiwan mid-June, US in late June or early July

Earlier this month we found out that Verizon is going to be the one sole carrier selling the Asus Zenfone AR in the US when the phone finally becomes available. That revelation came from a Google employee, though, so we've been expecting a confirmation of some sort from Asus too. And we got that today, thanks to an Engadget report that resulted from an interview with Jerry Shen, the Taiwanese company's CEO.

It turns out that the Zenfone AR is almost ready to launch, many months after its initial unveiling at CES. It will go on sale in Taiwan first, sometime around mid-June. Then you can expect it to hit the US either in late June or early July.

An exact release date still hasn't been provided, but at least we have the general time frame now. As for pricing, that's still anyone's guess, but one thing is clear: according to Asus' CEO, a Zenfone AR will not cost more than a Samsung Galaxy S8+. So there's that.

Asus says 40 to 50 of the 100 or so existing Tango AR apps now run stably on the Zenfone AR, and the list should grow once more apps are "updated for Android Nougat". Shen thinks the number of Tango apps will reach over 1,000 next year, and his company will jointly host AR developer conferences with Google to entice that to happen.

Source