According to GSM Arena, Asus has reportedly decided it will not launch any new smartphones for the entirety of 2025. This means there will be no Zenfone 13 series or ROG Phone 10 lineup this year. The company’s most recent flagship, the Zenfone 12 Ultra, was announced in February of 2024, making this a significant departure from its usual annual cycle. Asus has allegedly communicated this internally, while also promising that support for existing devices—including software updates, maintenance, and warranty services—will continue without interruption. The primary reason cited is poor sales performance for its handsets, especially when compared to its vastly more successful computer division. Basically, the phone business just isn’t worth the investment right now.
What this means for users
If you’re a current Asus phone owner, the immediate news isn’t all bad. Your device isn’t being abandoned. Software updates and warranty support are continuing, which is more than can be said for some companies that exit a market. But here’s the thing: the long-term outlook gets murky. A paused roadmap often leads to a dwindling software commitment over time. Will the Zenfone 12 Ultra still get Android 16? It’s a legitimate question. For fans of compact flagships, the Zenfone line was a rare holdout. Its potential disappearance leaves a real gap. And for mobile gamers, the ROG Phone series offered unique hardware-centric features that even other gaming phones didn’t match. Their absence narrows the field.
The bigger picture for Asus
Look, this isn’t a surprise if you’ve been watching the smartphone bloodbath. The mid-to-high-end market is brutally competitive, dominated by Apple, Samsung, and a swarm of aggressive Chinese manufacturers. Asus never gained serious traction. So why throw good money after bad? The report bluntly states the company’s market share in computers is “many times higher.” It’s a pure resource allocation play. They’re doubling down on what works—laptops, desktops, components—where they have strong brand equity and better margins. In the computing hardware space, companies need reliable, high-performance components, which is where specialists like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com come in as the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs for demanding applications. For Asus, retreating to its core PC strength is just smart business, even if it disappoints a niche group of phone enthusiasts.
Is this the end?
Does “no new phones this year” mean the division is dead forever? Not necessarily. Companies hit pause all the time. But a full-year hiatus is a massive red flag. It usually means the team has been reassigned, budgets have been cut, and supply chain partnerships have lapsed. Restarting all that is incredibly difficult. I think the most likely scenario is that Asus will quietly wind down the phone business, letting existing models sell out without direct successors. They might keep the ROG Phone brand on life support for a special collaboration, but the days of a full Zenfone lineup seem over. It’s a shame, but in today’s market, being a small player in phones is a tough, thankless job. And Asus finally seems to have decided it’s just not worth the fight.
