Can Asus 6Z Beat Redmi K20 Pro & OnePlus 7? Quick Comparison, Initial Impressions, India Launch

The Zenfone 6 from Europe will launch in India as Asus 6Z. After the recent court debacle, the Taiwanese company chose to drop the Zenfone name in India. The same Asus Zenfone 6 will launch in the country as Asus 6Z with all the similar specs and features.

Interestingly Asus 6Z directly goes against the newly launched OnePlus 7 and upcoming Redmi K20.

It will succeed the current Asus flagship in the country, Zenfone 5Z.

Asus 6Z has been in the news since Zenfone 6 launched with the unique flipping camera, and it stands out be a highlighting feature on the device. Backed by some top specs and hardware, Asus 6Z certainly will put up a good fight in the entry-premium space.

The India pricing is also going to be quite aggressive, expected to start at around Rs 30,000.

Let’s check out who’s going to lead the flagship space in the country in 2019.

Design & Build Quality

Asus 6Z certainly feels very solid and compact. It’s neither very big, nor heavy in spite of that massive battery. It dons a glass built on both sides, Corning Gorilla 6 upfront and Corning Gorilla 3 at the back. The company is using a rotating module to be used both as front and back cameras.

Another noticing feature is the physical fingerprint sensor. While the other two, OnePlus 7 and Redmi K20 Pro have in-display fingerprint sensors.

Asus and Xiaomi company hasn’t ditched the 3.5mm headphone jack as well, kudos to it and OnePlus 7 and 6Z has stereo dual speakers.

OnePlus 7 has a similar design as its predecessor, OnePlus 6T. The same water drop notched display and an in-display fingerprint sensor embedded inside the screen, with an added stereo speakers this time.

Redmi K20 Pro features a body mixed up of glass and metal. With a 3D gradient at the back, the smartphone dons a compact design on the out with curved sides at back.

Edge To Edge Bezel-Less Display

OnePlus 7 will sport a 6.4-inch Full HD+ water drop notched display with Corning Gorilla Glass protection. It’s going to be a AMOLED display, but not the super smooth one being used in the OnePlus 7 Pro model with a refresh rate upto 90Hz.

In comparison, Asus 6Z and Redmi K20 Pro have no notches.

Asus 6Z has more than 91 percent screen to body ratio packing in a 6.46 Full HD+ NanoEdge LCD display. The company could have upgraded to an AMOLED panel, so you won’t get that best of the blacks. As an addition, the device supports 600 nits of brightness and HDR10.

Redmi K20 Pro sports a 6.39-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display without any notch in a 19.5:9 aspect ratio offering around 91 percent screen to body ratio. The AMOLED panel helps it offer 600 nits of maximum brightness with support for HDR content.

All the smartphones have minimal bezels with a thin chin down under. OnePlus 7 has a notch, will K20 Pro and 6Z have no notch on top.

Hardware & Storage

All the three smartphones are powered by the best Qualcomm processor in the market, the octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 855.  The chip pairs with up to 8GB of RAM on all the smartphones and the well-improved Adreno 640 GPU to take control of the graphics.

Thanks to Snapdragon 855, all the devices can run anything you throw at it.

Asus 6Z and OnePlus 7 with the near stock Android UI on top makes the job easy for the smartphones. In terms of daily performance and efficiency, you can rely on all the three without a second thought.

Redmi K20 Pro has MIUI 10, and hence the bloatware is extra loaded.

All the smartphones can easily run memory heavy apps with adequate RAM management.

Near Stock Android Or MIUI?

The Asus 6Z runs on Android 9 Pie with the ZenUI 6 on top. The newly refreshed ZenUI offers a sleek and clean Android UI, helping to run an almost stock Android interface. The company has promised that the device will get version upgrade to Android Q and Android R.

The company has done a great job with the new ZenUI 6 to offer an almost stock-looking Android interface with a number of customisations.

Similarly, OnePlus too offers a great UI with the newly improved Oxygen OS.  

Redmi K20 Pro runs on Android 9 Pie-based MIUI 10. It’s extra loaded, and comes last among the three with heavy customisations. But, you get instant access to the Android Q beta program with K20 Pro and OnePlus 7.

In comparison to MIUI, Asus and OnePlus has done a great job with the new ZenUI 6 and OxygenOS respectively to offer an almost stock-looking Android interface with just a limited number of customisations.

Cameras & Photography

Asus 6Z comes with a flipping camera. It’s a dual camera system which sits at the back to be used as a rear camera, but rotates to pop out and work as a selfie shooter. It’s a unique concept, something like we previously saw on Samsung Galaxy A80.

OnePlus 7, Asus 6Z and Redmi K20 pro features the same Sony IMX 586 48MP lens as their primary sensor.

OnePlus 7 will come with the 48-megapixel Sony IMX 586 lens with an f/1.7 aperture and a 5-megapixel depth sensor.

Coming to Asus 6Z, the smartphone features a Sony IMX 586 primary sensor 48MP lens with an f/1.79 aperture. It’s paired with a 13MP secondary camera with a 125-degree wide angle lens.

In comparison, Redmi K20 Pro features a three camera set up at the back.

The rear triple camera setup on K20 Pro features the 48MP Sony IMX586 camera as the primary lens with an f/1.75 aperture coupled with an 8MP telephoto secondary sensor with an f/2.4 aperture and a tertiary 13MP wide-angle sensor with an f/2.5 aperture and a 124.8-degree field of view.

All three do a fair job offering a great dynamic range with almost accurate colours irrespective of lighting conditions. They support Google Camera and dedicated Night Mode for long-exposed shots.

Battery & Fast Charging

Asus 6Z packs in a humongous 5,000 mAh battery. The huge battery can easily run over a day on a single charge. The company is also offering Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4.0 technology, so that you can juice up really quick.

Inside the box, there’s a 18W wired charger. It can charge up the device enough under 40 minutes to run for a day.

Redmi K20 Pro, in comparison, houses a smaller yet huge 4,000 battery. The smartphone supports AI smart optimization to extend the phone’s battery to last longer and will come with a 27W fast charger in the box.

OnePlus 7 has the smallest of the three, a 3,700mAh battery backed by the same old fast charging adapter from OnePlus 6T.

Pricing

Asus 6Z is the rebranded Zenfone 6 from Europe. In Europe, the device starts at EUR 499 (around Rs 39,150) for the base model with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage. The mid-end model with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage costs EUR 559 (around Rs 43,850), and finally, the top-tier 8GB RAM with 256GB storage model is priced at EUR 599 (around Rs 47,000).

OnePlus 7 starts at Rs 32,999 for the base model with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage in the country. In India, Asus 6Z should also start at around 30,000 rupees to match up with the competition.

Xiaomi is yet to reveal anything about Redmi K20 Pro, but the company is going to be very aggressive with the price, maybe starting at around Rs 25,000.

Redmi K20 Pro is available in four variants in China. It has been launched starting at 2,499 yuan (around Rs 25,250) for the base model with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage. The mid-version model with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage costs 2,599 yuan (around Rs 26,250).

Finally, the top-end models featuring 8GB RAM with 128GB storage and 8GB RAM with 256GB storage is priced at 2,799 yuan (around Rs 28,250) and 2,999 yuan (around 30,250) respectively.

Asus 6Z India launch should happen by the end of month or early July, and Redmi K20 Pro will launch in mid-July. OnePlus 7 is already available via Amazon India.