Asus ZenFone budget smartphones come to the UK: Release date, price and specs

After launching elsewhere, Asus has decided to have a push on the smartphone side of things in the UK. The budget ZenFone series, consisting of three different handsets, is on their way so here's what you need to know about release dates, prices and specs. See also: Best budget smartphones 2014.

The ZonFone range of smartphones was announced at CES 2014 back in January and has since launched in various countries including India and Sweden. We haven't given them much attention but now it's the turn of Blighty.

With the affordable prices (see below), the ZenFone devices will take on a new legion of decent budget smartphones like the Motorola Moto G, EE Kestrel and Nokia Lumia 630.

Asus ZenFone 4,5,6: UK release date and price

All three ZenFone models are available to pre-order now from Asus and will also be available from retailers including Currys PC World, Argos, John Lewis, eBuyer and Very. They will then start shipping and go on sale on 1 September.

The bigger the model, the more expensive it is so the ZenFone 4 costs £99 and the ZenFone 6 will set you back £249. See below for the full pricing.

ZenFone 4: £99
ZenFone 5 8GB: £149
ZenFone 5 16GB: £179
ZenFone 5 4G LTE: £199
ZenFone 6: £249

Asus ZenFone 4,5,6: Specs

The model number, as is typical for tech products, corresponds to the screen size. They are all different in this respect but the trio of smartphones share a few things in terms of design and specs.

Each come in various colours (the ZenFone 4 has more options) and the plasic rear cover has a 'ceramic' treatment applied to it. They also use Asus' own ZenUI interface on top of Android. They also all use Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and feature a microSD card slot for adding storage.

Most run on Intel Atom processors apart from the LTE-enabled ZenFone 5 which uses a Qualcomm chip for that 4G goodness.

ZenFone 4 specs

Processor: Intel Atom Z2520, 1.2GHz Dual-Core
Display: 4in (800 x 480), 233ppi, Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Storage: 8GB eMMC, microSD card (up to 64GB)
Memory: 1GB LPDDR2 RAM
Colours: Black / White / Red / Yellow / Blue

ZenFone 5 specs

Processor: Intel Atom Z2560, 1.6GHz Dual-Core
Display: 5in (1280 x 720), 294ppi, Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Storage: 8/16GBGB eMMC, micro SD card (up to 64GB)
Memory: 1/2GB LPDDR2 RAM
Colours: Black / White / Red / Gold

ZenFone 5 4G LTE specs

Processor: Qualcomm MSM8926, 1.2GHz Quad-Core
Display: 5in (1280 x 720), 294ppi, Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Storage: 16GB eMMC, microSD card (up to 64GB)
Memory: 2GB LPDDR2 RAM
Colours: Black / White / Red / Gold

ZenFone 6 specs

Processor: Intel Atom Z2580, 2.0GHz Dual-Core
Display: 6in (1280 x 720), 245ppi, Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Storage: 16GB eMMC, microSD card (up to 64GB)
Memory: 2GB LPDDR2 RAM
Colours: Black / White / Red / Gold