Asus may release a small Zenfone 8 to counter the iPhone 12 Mini

Have you seen the iPhone 12 Mini and wish there were Android peers offering its small but powerful formula? You could get your wish – so to speak. XDA and developer Freak07 have discovered kernel code indicating a Zenfone 8 “Mini” that offers full performance in a more compact format.

The device, codenamed “Sake”, would focus on a 5.9-inch 120 Hz OLED screen with a resolution of 2,400 x 1,080. That’s still considerably larger than the 5.4-inch display on the iPhone 12 Mini, but it would make this Zenfone 8 variant compared to the 6.67-inch models in the Zenfone 7, 7 Pro, and larger 8-series make tiny.

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You wouldn’t have to make a lot of compromises elsewhere. This Zenfone 8 Mini would run on a Snapdragon 888 chip and contain two camera sensors, a 64MP Sony IMX686 (also used in the Zenfone 7) and an unknown IMX663. There’s no mention of a front-facing camera, though we wouldn’t expect a flip-up array like we did on previous Zenfones.

The “mini” leak also mentions two other Zenfone 8 models. One, “Picasso,” seems to be a more familiar design with the aforementioned 6.67-inch OLED screen, a Snapdragon 888, and an extended array of cameras that includes the 64-megapixel sensor as well as a 12.2-megapixel -Camera from Sony IMX363 and Omnivision includes a 24MP unit as well as an 8MP telephoto shooter. There is also a “vodka” device, but little is known about the Snapdragon 888 inside.

Asus introduced the Zenfone 7 line in August 2020. So you could wait a while for a Zenfone 8 Mini, provided it ships. Even so, it gives hope to Android fans who are missing out on the days when you can easily buy a powerful phone that is small enough to be operated with one hand.