Asus confirms that its smartphone business will be shut down indefinitely

An unconfirmed report earlier this month suggested that Asus was backing away from its smartphone plans, but the company declined to comment at the time. Asus CEO Jonney Shih has now confirmed the end of its smartphone business during an event in Taiwan. Instead, Asus will focus on artificial intelligence products such as robots and smart glasses.

Shih addressed the company’s future plans during a 2026 launch event in Taiwan, Inside reported. “Asus will not add new mobile phone models in the future,” Shih said (machine translated).

So don’t expect a new Zenfone or ROG Phone from Asus in 2026. However, very few phone buyers were keeping tabs on Asus’ latest phones anyway, which is probably why Asus gave up. Shih isn’t saying that Asus will never release a new phone, but that the company will take an “indefinite wait and see” approach. Again, this is a translation and can be interpreted in multiple ways.

The Zenfone line is perhaps unmissable – its claim to fame was being a bit smaller and cheaper than competing devices, but Asus’ support and update policy was light years behind the market leaders. The ROG Phone line has been a standout in the gaming phone space, offering the latest chipsets with active cooling, multiple USB-C ports, gaming console accessories, flashing lights, and even a headphone jack. However, ROG Phones are more expensive than Samsung’s flagships, with the latest ROG Phone 9 Pro starting at $1,200. Apparently, the market for those who don’t like to play on the latest iPhone or Samsung Galaxy is a very small market.

Existing Asus devices are supposed to continue getting updates, but Asus has never taken the lead in this area. The pricey ROG Phone 9 Pro only warrants two OS updates and five years of security patches. The latest Zenfones are also only eligible for two Android version updates, but only get four years of security support.

hard work

Shih’s comments suggest that Asus won’t get back into the phone game unless something changes, which is unlikely. Asus isn’t the first OEM to ditch phone plans, and this is a continuation of a trend that’s been going on for years of people upgrading phones less often.