ASUS ZenFone AR confirmed with Tango camera, 8GB of RAM and Daydream VR support

ASUS has finally confirmed one of the worst-kept secrets of CES 2017. The company has officially announced the ASUS ZenFone AR smartphone, which is only the second such phone that will support Google’s Tango augmented reality-themed 3D camera. The phone also supports Google’s Daydream smartphone VR platform, which means it can be used with the Daydream View headset.

The Tango part of the ZenFone AR includes a 23MP rear camera,  along with separate motion tracking and depth sensing cameras.  It will allow the phone to use one of over 30 apps in the Google Play Store that have been developed specifically to use Tango’s augmented reality features.

The ZenFone AR will be a fairly large phone, with a 5.7-inch 1440×2560 Super AMOLED display. That’s still a lot smaller than the first Tango-based phone, the 6.4-inch Lenovo Phab 2 Pro. Inside, the ZenFone AR will have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor, along with a whopping 8GB of RAM. We are a bit disappointed that the phone won’t come with the just announced Snapdragon 835 chip, especially considering its release time frame, but it’s still a pretty solid powerhouse.

On the bright side, the phone will come with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. ASUS says the ZenFone AR will have a five-magnet speaker that can support DTS Virtual Surround Sound for better headset audio effects. At the moment, there’s no info on the phone’s onboard storage amount.

There’s no word yet on a price tag for the ASUS ZenFone AR, but the company stated that it plans to release the phone sometime in the second quarter of 2017.