CES 2022: Leak Tips ASUS Zenfone AR, Second Google Tango Phone

It appears that someone at Qualcomm hit the 'publish' button a bit early today and posted a blogpost that tipped the ASUS ZenFone AR, the first Tango-enabled smartphone to be powered with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor.

CES 2022 Bug Every bit GSM Arena noted, the post is dated January four. Information technology has since been removed, though a cached version is still alive and it detailed a smartphone that taps into Google'due south Tango AR and Fantasize VR platforms.

Look for a "loftier-resolution display, ultra-smoothen graphics, and high-fidelity sensors for precise head tracking."

This afternoon, reliable leaker Evan Blass tweeted photos of what he says are the Zenfone AR.

ASUS ZenFone AR (2nd Google Tango phone) flick.twitter.com/ctKQ9IKfeC
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) January 2, 2022

His tweet noted that this is the second Google Tango phone, the first beingness the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro (pictured above). We found that it served equally more of a showcase for Google Tango than a example for augmented reality (AR), but the future looks promising, and the new ASUS smartphone is solid in its own correct.

While the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro sports the small-scale Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor, the ASUS ZenFone AR reportedly runs the newer Qualcomm Snapdragon 821. Qualcomm revealed this specific mobile CPU in July and touted 10% better functioning than its predecessor. Shortly thereafter, ASUS appear that its ASUS ZenFone 3 Deluxe would exist the first smartphone to run Qualcomm's Snapdragon 821, though information technology had merely been available to customers in Asia who selected the top-of-the-line model.

"Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processors are designed to bring a few significant advantages to Google Tango and the ASUS ZenFone AR," according to Qualcomm'south blogpost.

The Qualcomm Adreno 530 GPU within the peak-end Qualcomm Snapdragon brings a forty% improvement in graphics performance at 40% less power than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810," the blogpost shared. "And so you can go more hours of augmented reality forth with great graphics on the ZenFone AR.

Qualcomm too talked up "how well 3D graphic overlays match up with bodily concrete surroundings."

Google's Daydream VR platform, meanwhile, arrived before this year, and is also bachelor on the Google Pixel and Motorola Moto Z line-upward of smartphones.

About Chloe Albanesius

Chloe Albanesius

Chloe has led PCMag's news coverage for more than ten years, editing and writing stories about the innovations that have shaped the final decade and the companies behind them. She besides oversees the site's how-to coverage. Before joining PCMag.com, Chloe was a reporter roofing tech policy on Capitol Hill for The National Periodical's Technology Daily and fiscal IT for Incisive Media in NYC. She's held internships at NBC's Meet the Printing, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a available's degree in journalism from American University in Washington, D.C.