Before the end of 2018, ASUS has unveiled the Zenfone Max Pro M2. It’s their last smartphone that was unveiled late last year and just like the previous Zenfone Max series, the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M2 features a large battery life which will make sure that you have a long battery life with the smartphone. If you’re into that market then you better check out our review of the smartphone below.

Design and hardware

The ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M2 features a more premium and better build compared to the other Zenfone Max smartphones. The Max Pro M2 opted for a laminated glass at the back which feels like an actual glass which is pretty solid and it has a curvy back which makes the smartphone easier to hold and more ergonomic. Adding to that is the Corning Gorilla Glass 6 which can withstand 1-meter drops.

Unlike other ASUS Zenfones, this one doesn’t have a single concentric-circle pattern on the smartphone. Instead, we have the beautiful wave finish at the back. Actually, the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M2 is more beautiful to look at than the ASUS Zenfone 5.

Below the smartphone is where you can find the micro USB port and also the headphone jack. I was not surprised that the smartphone still uses Micro USB as a lot of mid-range smartphones at this price range still uses that port instead of USB-C. The smartphone also supports a triple card tray so you can place two sim cards along with the MicroSD card.

Another good feature that I love on the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M2 is the pretty loud speaker. Well, it’s not the best one but I really appreciate the loudness of the speaker of the smartphone.

At the back is where you can find the fingerprint scanner which is pretty fast but if you’re not contented with that, you can opt for the face unlock which is a lot better compared to other ASUS Zenfones that we’ve reviewed before.

Battery life

The ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M2’s biggest strength is its battery. The smartphone features a 5000mAh of battery and I’m actually pretty happy with the battery life of the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M2 as I was able to have a battery life of up to 13 hours 35 minutes in PC Mark with auto brightness as 50% brightness keeps on crashing on the smartphone

Nonetheless, the PCMark score was still impressive. Actually, I can last a day and a half of usage on the smartphone even at average use with gaming. While the battery of the smartphone is pretty juicy, the smartphone doesn’t come with fast charging. It only supports 5V/2A charging which will take some time before you can fully charge your smartphone.

Display

The ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M2 features a 6.3-inch display with a Full HD+ resolution. There’s a notch on the display but it wasn’t as wide as the one on the ASUS Zenfone 5. Nonetheless, the quality of the display of the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M2 was fine to me and I really didn’t have any problems with it even when I’m using the smartphone outside and at direct sunlight.

Aside from that, the smartphone packs a Corning Gorilla Glass 6 which is one of the few smartphones to have this feature. The only other smartphones that we know that sports this glass is the OPPO R17 Pro and also the ASUS ROG Phone.

Decent mid-range performance

The ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M2 features a Snapdragon 660 AIE Octa-Core Processor and actually, the smartphone is a decent performer. However, the SD660 inside it has the same clock speed of the Vivo V11 so don’t expect the same performance of other smartphones with the same chipset with different clock speed.

When it comes to gaming, I was very satisfied with it, especially for its price range. The ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M1 was able to run most decent games with decent temps and also, the FPS were just fine to me. Check out the Gamebench scores that we got on the smartphone below.

You can check out the GameBench Benchmarking app at (https://www.gamebench.net)

You can also download the app at the Play Store (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gamebench.metricscollector)

If you’re a fan of benchmarks then better take a look at the benchmarks of the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M2 that we got below.

As you can see, the smartphone is really a decent one and it is really competitive in its price range. Actually, the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M2 even got a higher score than the ASUS Zenfone 5 in Antutu. Surprisingly, the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M2 got a really good FPS stability on both games but we’re locked to 30fps on PUBG Mobile at high settings due to the framerates being locked at high only and not ultra.

The stock Android is fast and responsive

ASUS has made a bold move in the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M1 by bringing in stock Android to the smartphone and thankfully, they didn’t change their mind on the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M2. And yes, there are only a few pre-installed apps on the smartphone and mostly are Google apps.

Navigating on the smartphone is pretty fast and it was really smooth. I didn’t experience any lags most of the time when I’m using the smartphone and the UI was very precise in almost everything.

Camera

The ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M2 features a 12-megapixel rear camera with a 5-megapixel depth sensor for better bokeh and depth sensing. True enough, using portrait mode on the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M2 is noticeably better when it comes to portrait mode. Check out the shots that I took using the ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M2 below.

The shots that we took were mostly fine. The details are sharp at well-lit conditions and the colors were good both on the front and rear camera of the smartphone however at lowlight, I notice that it sometimes produces under-exposed images and a little bit pinkish. It might not be the best mid-range smartphone when it will do in everyday normal usage.

Verdict

The ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M2 is one of the best smartphones in its price range. It packs a powerful Snapdragon 660 processor, a large battery, a solid build quality, and it runs on stock Android which is pretty fast and smooth. The smartphone also impressed us with its gaming performance as we got a pretty good FPS stability and the thermals were fine.

However, the camera of the smartphone isn’t as good as I expected but it will do. Another thing that I didn’t like about this smartphone is the lack of fast charging but hey, at least we got a big battery.

The ASUS Zenfone Max Pro is available in 4/64GB and 6/64GB in for P12,995 and P14,995 respectively.

ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M2 Specs

• 6.3-inch Full HD+ all-screen IPS Display with Gorilla Glass 6
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 Octa-Core chipset
• 6GB RAM
• 64GB Internal Storage expandable via MicroSD
• 12MP+5MP Rear Camera with AI
• 13MP Front camera
• Dual SIM, LTE
• Fingerprint Scanner
• Face Unlock
• 5000mAh Battery
• Stock Android 8.1 Oreo with coming upgrade to Android 9.0