Deal | Huge discounts announced for the Asus ZenFone 5Z and the ZenFone Max Pro (M1) during Flipkart's Big Billion Days sales

If you've read our hands-on review of the Asus ZenFone 5Z but are still on the fence despite its already reasonable entry price, the new deals below should help alleviate at least some of the confusion, at least for Indian buyers. Flipkart is one of the leading online retailers in India and it runs an annual sale season similar to Amazon's Prime Day called the Big Billion Days. During this time, customers can avail steep discounts for their favorite products and apparently, Asus wants you to make the most of it. The company has partnered with Flipkart to introduce new offers during the Big Billion Days sale from October 10 to October 14 for Indian customers interested in buying the mid-range ZenFone Max Pro (M1) or the flagship ZenFone 5Z.

The ZenFone Max Pro (M1) is Asus's latest offering built to break the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5's hegemony in the Indian mid-range market. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 SoC and comes in 3/32, 4/64, and 6/64 variants. Perhaps, one of the pluses of this phone is that it runs stock Android 8.1 Oreo and has received multiple updates over the past few months that have addressed some of the initial shortcomings with the cameras and other issues. Under the Big Billion Days offer, the base 3/32 variant comes with a ₹1000 instant discount resulting in a final price of ₹9,999. The 4/64 and the 6/64 variants receive a ₹2000 instant discount and will retail for ₹10,999 and ₹12,999 respectively. There are also lucrative exchange offers available if you trade in your Redmi 4 or Redmi Note 4. 

The ZenFone 5Z is Asus's flagship offering powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC and comes in 6/64, 6/128, and 8/256 options. Asus was determined to eat into OnePlus 6's sales and it was quite successful in doing so until the Xiaomi Poco F1 came along. To lure prospective customers away from the Poco F1, Asus is offering a flat ₹5000 off for the Big Billion Days on all variants along with special exchange offers for trading in any OnePlus phone. The quantum of exchange discount varies depending on the OnePlus model but Asus is offering an extra ₹3000 exchange value irrespective of the exchanged model. As an example, the ZenFone 5Z 6/64 variant, which currently retails for ₹29,999 will now retail for ₹24,999. If you happen to exchange your OnePlus 5, you get a base exchange value of ₹9,750 along with an extra exchange value of ₹3000 bringing the final effective price to just ₹12,249.

On top of all these discounts, customers who have an HDFC Bank debit or credit card can avail a further 10% discount on the final net price. Another bonus is that Flipkart's Complete Mobile Protection plan now covers smartphone theft as well.

The discounts are no doubt aggressive and while they will be effective for only a few days, it is clear that Asus does not want to concede ground to the Poco F1, which already managed to undercut the ZenFone 5Z by a fair margin right at launch. However, competition from the OnePlus 6 and other smartphones such as the Honor Play is still very much alive as Amazon is prepping up its Great Indian Sale in the same timeframe wherein the OnePlus 6 base variant will retail for just ₹29,999. If you're in India, there has never been a better time for grabbing some lucrative mobile deals.

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