Asus ZenFone 3 series to feature USB Type-C ports

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber found the water heating around him earlier this year when he claimed that “informed little birdies” told him Apple invented USB Type-C.

Speaking to Trusted Reviews, Shih said, “I think Type C is the way to go, frankly speaking”. According to Shih, the reason for not including a USB Type-C in the Zenfone 2 series of phones was the cost factor.

The smartphone was launched in India back in August and also pre-orders were taken for the device along with other smartphones – ZenFone Selfie and ZenFone 2 Deluxe. “You will see the answer when you see the ZenFone 3”. Asus wants to be ahead, but sometimes being too far ahead can be disastrous. We would like to be more aggressive than other competitors, but sometimes we also need to be a little bit practical. So that’s our strategy. [Apple] can always try to lead in a very aggressive way.

Going by the launch trends of the Zenfone and Zenfone 2 lineup you can expect the Zenfone 3 series to hit the market in the first quarter of 2016. Will all of them come with USB Type-C ports? Google has since used the technology on the LG Nexus 5X and Huawei Nexus 6P.

Nevertheless it would be interesting to see whether Asus plans to include the USB Type C port into their budget devices i.e. those price blow Rs 10,000. A Type-C plug can be hooked in either way to a Type-C connector.

CEO Jonney Shih, apart from confirming the new line of ZenFone smartphones and inclusion of USB Type-C ports, revealed nothing else about the devices.