Asus launched the ZenFone Max Pro M1 in India yesterday and the phone comes with some pretty great specs for its starting price of ₹10,999. At that price, the ZenFone is competing against some of India’s most loved budget smartphones — the Redmi Note 5 and the Redmi Note 5 Pro.
While the ZenFone Max Pro has a lot of amazing specs, including a Snapdragon 636, up to 6GB of RAM (although that variant will be out later), and a dual camera set up on the back, the phone doesn’t support 5GHz WiFi.
There has been some discussion around this, with people wondering why the phone doesn’t support the 5GHz WiFi frequency, and while I can’t speak to Asus’ mindset behind not including that particular feature in the phone, I can tell you that it doesn’t really matter. Let me take you through a few reasons why it’s completely okay that the ZenFone Max Pro M1 doesn’t support 5GHz WiFi networks.
What is 5GHz WiFi Anyway?
Normally, WiFi networks use the 2.4GHz frequency to communicate with devices. At this frequency, WiFi signals can only support a maximum (theoretical) speed of up to 600 Megabits per second. However, a 5GHz network can support much faster data speeds and can go up to 1300 Megabits per second. Awesome right?
However, while 2.4GHz supports lower speeds, it also has more range than a 5GHz network thanks to the much longer waves it uses in comparison to a 5GHz network; but 2.4GHz is also very congested. The frequency is used by a number of wireless electronics including cordless phones, garage doors, and a lot of other electronics that communicate wirelessly, and this higher congestion can result in much lower speeds, spotty network, and just poor connectivity in general — all problems that don’t exist in 5GHz networks because they’re simply not as crowded.
So the ZenFone Max Pro Doesn’t Have 5GHz Support. Big. Deal.
The ZenFone Max Pro may not support 5GHz WiFi networks but it doesn’t really matter.
Firstly, for the most part, 5GHz networks are useful only if you have an absolute need for higher speeds than what the 2.4GHz network can support. This is useful if you’re streaming concurrent 4K videos on multiple devices or some other data-intensive activity that needs a much higher throughput than a standard 2.4GHz network can provide, and I doubt anyone would be watching a 4K video on the ZenFone Max Pro M1 anyway.
Second, most routers in India use 802.11n standard and support speeds of up to 450Mbps or 600Mbps, which also happens to be way more than what most ISPs give out anyway.
How often have you used a network that was running at a higher speed than 600Mbps? Even if you have, and I doubt it, chances are you don’t need such speeds on your smartphone. Maybe on your laptop, maybe on a smart TV, but definitely not on a budget smartphone.
Third, and this is kind of related to the second point, most routers in India are single band 2.4GHz routers that simply won’t broadcast in 5GHz anyway, so you probably won’t even notice an issue. Plus, most dual-band and tri-band routers have a 2.4GHz WiFi network broadcasting as well and for everything that the ZenFone Max Pro might be used for, 2.4GHz is way more than enough.
I’m not saying 5GHz WiFi isn’t useful, it undoubtedly is but in very specific use cases. Use cases that simply don’t apply to the ZenFone Max Pro or most other smartphones for that matter.
Comments
24
Arjun Sha
Arjun Sha
Arjun Sha
Sagnik Das Gupta
Arjun Sha
Anshuman Jain
Arjun Sha
Anshuman Jain
Arjun Sha
We can get 1 GBPS of only 1800.
The idiot that wrote the article never heard of future proofing the hardware or have taken hefty fees from Asus to write this crap. Today bandwidth is dirt cheap and every decent router comes with 5Ghz bandwidth, and Asus restricts its bandwidth to 50mbps?!!!!!! Damn! I wish I noted this abysmal feature at that time.
These is the most stupid article in the net.. to cover the zenfone max pro .. aka pay it by asus
you speak theoritically about the 2.4ghz maks speed.. but in reality this phone only support speed about 50mbps.. thats really low low low speed.. thats why we use and create 5gzh wireless technology.. and thats why the reason 5ghz network exsitance. nobody will argue that.
the reason asus doenst provide 5ghz is to save cost. and to save their pride .. and now they are gone with the unpopularity of their phone.. they fail to compete !! thats the end of zenfone max pro m era… – asus will always a small player on smartphone.. SUUCK that pride as top tier computer peripheral manufacturer.
Fuckin writer,..
So many interferensi signal signal in 2,4ghz, i need 5g, i cant event connect to my 5g drone wifi.. ,
guys if any mobile not supporting 5Ghz then don’t buy. i have worst experience with Asus Zenfone max pro M1
O Why i did not see this before buying the phone?????!!!!… Called a “limitless Gaming” and without 5Ghz wireless radio i think its because they are using some sort of old motherboard with new CPU and GPU with a lot of Ram, but when you live in a department fulled of 2.4 wifi signals its not just about the speed is more about the ability to connect…..
Global ZB602KL Version A model : LTE Cat4 150 Mbps DL, LTE Cat5 75 Mbps UL
Global ZB602KL Version B model : LTE Cat13 400 Mbps DL, LTE Cat5 75 Mbps UL
*Indian ZB601KL model : LTE Cat4 150 Mbps DL, 50 Mbps UL ( WHY ??? )
What an endorsement… Guys stay away from these advice, looks like the writer lives in 19th century and doesn’t own a dual band router, is a big deal not to have 5ghz support.
I want to know when note5pro and max pro uses the same processor sd 636 and asper snapdragon official sd 636 is capable of a/b/g/n/ac wifi standard and wifi fancality is integrated to soc (processor) ,,,,,then why asus only supports 2.4ghz wifi whereas note5pro supports dual band wifi…is it os / software level issue and can be resolved via update , or its hard ware level issue in case of asus that they have changed/modified hardware level…but in max pro specification shit it shows wifi b/g/n and my redmi2prime also specified to wifi b/g/n and it has option of automatic or 2.4ghz/5ghz wifi…then why asus does not have 5ghz…I m totally confused … Wifi b stands for 5ghz if I m wrong correct me…
Am I the only on here who thinks some of the comments here are really stupid?? People have 100 mbps speed internet which costs around 15k per month which I dont think who can afford that much will opt for a budget oriented phone which costs less than the internet tariff plan.
I get 60mbps unlimited plan for 600/- here in Kolkata.. Soo
Na, you know nothing. I have been using an AC router for a very long time, when i’m connected to a 2.4ghz band, the maximum speed i got was 50mbps on a speed test, even though my ISP provides me a speed of 100mbps. And, when I do the same test with a 5ghz wifi band i get a speed of 95-100mbps on speed test. Because the link speed of 2.4ghz is limited to 72 mbps in my phone, where the link speed of 5ghz is 433mbps, which is a lot higher than 2.4ghz band.
Seriously guys, who writes these articles, probably a novice, or someone whom Asus pays.
150MBps on 2.4 GHz is through band pairing. And hardly any mobile phone supports 40Mhz paired band on 2.4 GHz. So generally you are limited to 75MBps(20Mhz half speed). And you never get 100% throughput anyways. So you need 5Ghz band to get more than 40MBps.
And if you have 100MBps or more connection, well lets just say you are missing a lot.
Now people use wifi routers, range extenders, always connected iot devices, etc… and that too in appartments of 700/800 in numbers in close vicinity, and 2.4 GHz limits us to 11 bands. So all have to share, and everyone waits for their turn. You just slow down on 2.4 GHz in day time, even when you have 100 MBps connection.
With range extenders 5GHz range can be increased. why would anyone in sane mind these days restrict to 2.4 GHz. Please don’t promote false information.
100% agreed, the person who wrote this article looks like an amateur to me. Probably, doesn’t know anything about how 2.4 and 5ghz bands work in a mobile phone.
I don’t agree, every budget phone when connected simultaneously to 2.4ghz WiFi and Bluetooth, you will see decreased WiFi speeds(my 60mbps speed drops to 1-2mbps) which matter a lot. It’s because of signal interference which won’t be there on 5ghz network. Check yourself if you have doubt
5ghz band does matter to me. I have a 100mbps downloading and 100mbps uploading internet connection, without 5ghz i won’t be able to get full speed, the 2.4ghz gives a very limited speed. The speed would be limited to only 50mbps, which is not good.
please use logic.Mb and MB are diff, that 5ghz is for up to 150MB/s not just some router with speed of 100Mb/s(up to) from ur ISP.
the only good thing on 5ghz is its jam free since its so lonely there
Na, you know nothing. I have been using an AC router for a very long time, when i’m connected to a 2.4ghz band, the maximum speed i got was 50mbps on a speed test, even though my ISP provides me a speed of 100mbps. And, when I do the same test with a 5ghz wifi band i get a speed of 95-100mbps on speed test. Because the link speed of 2.4ghz is limited to 72 mbps in my phone, where the link speed of 5ghz is 433mbps, which is a lot higher than 2.4ghz band.
I know the difference between Mb and mb
No You dont because difference is not with small or capital M but with small and capital b.
Does it have NFC
NO
Does it support video recording in slow motion? if yes what fps?
NO, but only if you install gcam. In 60 fps