Asus pauses Zenfone and ROG Phone in 2026: no Zenfone 13 or ROG Phone 10
Asus confirms a 2026 pause for Zenfone and ROG Phone production—no Zenfone 13 or ROG Phone 10. Support and software updates continue during the hiatus.
Asus confirms a 2026 pause for Zenfone and ROG Phone production—no Zenfone 13 or ROG Phone 10. Support and software updates continue during the hiatus.
© ASUS
Asus has officially confirmed it will pause production of its Zenfone and ROG Phone smartphones in 2026. As a result, there will be no Zenfone 13 or gaming-focused ROG Phone 10 next year. The news comes from Taiwan and was corroborated by the industry publication Digitimes, lending far more weight to earlier reports about a timeout for the company’s mobile business.
Asus’s smartphone story has rarely followed a straight line. The Zenfone family, around since 2014, often stood out with experimental ideas, including rotating cameras and the compact flagships the company backed from 2021 despite their limited commercial success. Later, Asus returned to larger devices, releasing the Zenfone 11 Ultra and Zenfone 12 Ultra. The ROG Phone line, launched in 2018, long ranked among the market’s most recognizable gaming series, but after the ROG Phone 9 Pro arrived at the end of 2024, no follow-up appeared.
Rumors about shuttering Zenfone first surfaced in 2023, and Asus firmly dismissed them then. Now the tone has changed: production is not being closed for good, but it is going on hold for at least a year. The company stresses that support for existing devices will continue—Zenfone and ROG Phone owners will keep receiving software updates and can count on warranty service. For current users, that commitment helps steady the ground during the pause.
The main reason cited for the move is intensifying competition from Chinese and South Korean brands that dominate both the mid-range and flagship tiers. Acer once took a similar route, exiting the smartphone market back in 2016. Whether Asus returns with new Zenfone and ROG Phone models in 2027—or whether this hiatus marks the end of the road for the mobile division—remains an open question. For now, the step looks like a pragmatic reset in an overcrowded field.