Asus on Tuesday announced the timeline of Android 9.0 Pie update for the ZenFone Max Pro M1
Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1 is set to receive an update to Android 9.0 Pie in February 2019. The Taiwanese company on Tuesday announced the new development alongside launching the Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2 and the ZenFone Max M2 in New Delhi. The new update is expected to bring all the core Android Pie features as well as a new Android security patch. Last month, the company announced that it will bring the Android Pie update to the ZenFone 5Z in January next year. Both the ZenFone Max Pro M1 and the ZenFone 5Z debuted in India earlier this year with Android Oreo versions. While the ZenFone Max Pro M1 has a near-stock version of Android 8.1 Oreo, the ZenFone 5Z runs Android 8.0 Oreo on top of ZenUI.
While announcing the Android 9.0 Pie update rollout for the ZenFone Max Pro M1 during the launch of the ZenFone Max Pro M2 and ZenFone Max M2, Asus India Head Mobile Business Dinesh Sharma said: "You can see that we've kept up our promise and will be also delivering you the Pie update. All this is work in progress right now." Sharma also reiterated the company's plan to bring the Android Pie update to the ZenFone 5Z. Additionally, he specified that the newly launched ZenFone Max Pro M2 and the ZenFone Max M2 will receive an update to Android Pie in January - sometime around the rollout of the Pie update for the ZenFone 5Z.
The Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1 was launched back in April to take on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro. Asus also expanded the ZenFone Max Pro M1 range by adding a 6GB RAM variant alongside the 3GB and 4GB RAM options. The 3GB and 4GB RAM models of the ZenFone Max Pro M1 received EIS (electronic image stabilisation) video support in October to deliver an experience similar to the top-of-the-line, 6GB RAM variant. That October update was accompanied by some camera software and biometric improvements. In September, the company also brought a FOTA update that included improvements to the selfie camera and fingerprint sensor of the ZenFone Max Pro M1.
The dual-SIM (Nano) Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1 runs a near-stock version of Android 8.1 Oreo out-of-the-box and features a 5.99-inch full-HD+ (1080x2160 pixels) IPS Full View display along with an 18:9 aperture ratio. It is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 SoC, paired with an Adreno 509 GPU and 3GB, 4GB, and 6GB RAM options. The smartphone also has up to 64GB of onboard storage that is expandable via microSD card (up to 2TB).
Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1 Review
Alongside the dual rear camera setup, the ZenFone Max Pro M1 has an 8-megapixel selfie camera that has a five-piece, 85.5-degree lens and an f/2.0 aperture. The 6GB RAM variant of the ZenFone Max Pro M1, however, has a 16-megapixel sensor at the back. The smartphone has 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n with Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth v4.2, GPS/ A-GPS, Micro-USB, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It also has a fingerprint sensor at the back and a Face Unlock feature. Lastly, it packs a 5,000mAh battery that supports 10W fast charging.
Is Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2 the ultimate Redmi Note 6 Pro killer? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.
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