Jul 14, 2016 12:00 PM EDT By Vinay Patel, UniversityHerald Reporter

Earlier this year, Asus unveiled its new Zenfone 3 Deluxe at Computex; disclosing that the smartphone will pack an array of awe-inspiring specifications.

Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe is the first handset that packs the Snapdragon 821, a follow-up to the robust 820 that powers top-notch handsets such as HTC 10, Xiaomi's Mi 5 and Samsung's Galaxy S7. The new chip warrants a 10 percent hike over its predecessor, in addition to a maximum clock speed of 2.4 GHz for its quad-core CPU, The Verge reported.

In terms of under the hood specs, the device packs an Adreno 530 GPU, up to 256 GB of internal storage and 6 GB DDR4 RAM. Those are up for grabs in the top-notch variant; the other two comes with a Snapdragon 820 chip along with users' choice of 6 GB RAM and 64 GB of space, or 4 GB RAM coupled with 32 GB of storage, TheNextWeb reported.

Zenfone 3 Deluxe will reportedly come with a 5.7-inch all-metal unibody chassis, paired with 1080p display shielded by Gorilla Glass 4. The device sports a 23 MP front-facing camera, USB-C 3.0 and a 3,000mAh battery; that Asus says its Quick Charge 3.0 powers it up to 60 percent in just 39 minutes.

The ZenFone 3 Deluxe starts at NT$15,990 (about $500) for the 4 GB variant and NT$24,990 (about $780) for model that comes with the Snapdragon 821. The range is slated to hit the shelves in Hong Kong and Taiwan sometime in August; however the top-end variants are not expected to make an appearance until later this year.

That said, it looks like Asus might have come up with this year's most powerful phone. However, it remains to be seen how the smartphone actually performs once it's out.

Do you think any other manufacturer including OnePlus can match the Deluxe's specs at a more affordable price point later this year? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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