Xiaomi Mi Max 2 vs ASUS Zenfone 4 Max Comparison, Battery Review

Both the Xiaomi Mi Max 2 and the ASUS Zenfone 4 Max ZC554KL are considered great beasts when it comes to battery life.

But is that really all there is to ASUS and Xiaomi’s latest phones of 2017? Here we are to compare both Xiaomi and ASUS’s respective battery-powered beasts, Xiaomi’s Mi Max 2 and ASUS’s Zenfone 4 Max.

Related:

• ASUS Zenfone 4 MAX Review: Battery Life Over Everything Else?
• Xiaomi Mi Max 2 Now Official, Packs 5300mAh Battery for P12k

Display

As a phablet, the Mi Max 2 has a large 6.44-inch Corning Gorilla Glass display, which helps capture each detail that you can ask for in a phone. Obviously, the Mi Max 2 trumps the Z4 Max in this aspect, the latter of which has a 5.5-inch Corning Gorilla Glass display. Both of their GPUs aren’t exactly far from each other, with the Mi Max 2 being powered by an Adreno 506 graphics card, while Adreno 505 powers the Z4 Max.

Unlike the Mi Max 2, the top left corner of the Z4 Max also lights up whenever you receive a notification, so if you’re the type that finds flashing LED lights handy, then I’d give it to ASUS’s Android phone for including this.

Overall, though, the bigger display works well with the Mi Max 2.

Winner: Xiaomei Mi Max 2

Design

The top part of the metal-covered Z4 Max has its earpiece, its 8MP camera, and the LED flash, while its bottom half has three capacitive navigation keys, namely the Back and Overview buttons, found on both sides of the large Home button in the middle, which also serves as the Z4 Max’s fingerprint scanner.

Meanwhile, the Mi Max 2 is also covered in a surprisingly thinner metallic unibody, with the cameras at the top half of the phone and three touch-based keys at the bottom half of the phone. Unlike the Z4 Max, the Mi Max 2 has a smaller Home button that doesn’t act as its fingerprint scanner – that’s found at the back of the phone.

Found at the back of the Mi Max 2 are its single lens camera and the fingerprint scanner at the center, while the Z4 Max has its dual lens camera at the top-left corner.

Both the Mi Max 2 and the Z4 Max weigh more than most phones. But in terms of portability, the Z4 Max has the better deal, again with its smaller 5.5-inch display and its 181-gram weight, which originally made it the heaviest among its ASUS Zenfone 4 siblings.

Oddly enough, despite the Mi Max 2 being heavier on paper, it feels lighter compared to the Z4 Max, which I noticed after holding both in each hand. The Mi Max 2 feels lighter and thinner compared to the more compact and thicker Z4 Max.

Meanwhile, the Mi Max 2 not only has the larger display but a bigger bulk at 211 grams, which makes it harder for you to carry around (unless you happen to have big hands or long fingers).

But design-wise, I’d hand it to the Mi Max 2 for cramming such a large battery in a flatter, smoother unibody.

Winner: Xiaomei Mi Max 2

Camera

The Z4 Max has the upper hand in terms of camera specs. Compared to the Mi Max 2’s 12MP single-lens camera, the Z4 Max dominates the camera department with its 13MP dual lens rear camera, which the Z4 Max can also be used to take wide-angle shots.

Both work pretty well on low-lit conditions, though from what I’ve experienced between the two, the Mi Max 2 ran its Camera app more smoothly compared to the Z4 Max, which may be attributed to its higher processor. The Z4 Max also has the same Beauty features it inherited from its Selfie siblings, including the BeautyLive app, which gives you the ability to take live videos and photos with your “beauty” features set. The Mi Max 2 also has preinstalled filters, along with its own Beauty mode, but I noticed that it’s automatic and can’t be adjusted accordingly, unlike the Z4 Max’s Beauty filter mode.

Although the Mi Max 2 has a decent camera (partly due to its slightly faster loading time), I’d give it to the Z4 Max for having better features.

Winner: ASUS Zenfone 4 Max

Performance

Although both are powered by Android operating systems, the Mi Max 2 comes with Xiaomi’s MIUI 8, which works well with the Mix Max 2’s powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor.

Likewise, the Z4 Max comes with ASUS’s latest ZenUI 4.0, which has a pretty good interface and feels smooth for a phone that runs using the less-powerful Snapdragon 430. However, if you’re not satisfied with ZenUI, ASUS also gives you the option to upgrade to Android 8.0 Oreo later this year.

Benchmark tools also revealed the following results:

ASUS Zenfone 4 Max:
AnTuTu Benchmark v6.2.7 – 42132
Geekbench – Single-core: 661; Multi-core: 2546
PCMark – 3722

Xiaomi Mi Max 2:
AnTuTu Benchmark v6.2.7 – 59477
Geekbench – Single-core: 880; Multi-core: 4299
PCMark – 4846

Although both the X4 Max and Mi Max 2 responded well without lags, the Mi Max 2 felt smoother and faster, partially due to its higher processor, which I particularly noticed when scrolling through pages and booting games.

Winner: Xiaomi Mi Max 2

Battery Life

The large battery life is where both battery powerhouses shine the most.

Using the ManilaShaker Battery rating, we can confirm the following:

• Xiaomi Mi Max 2 – 65 hours and 20 minutes
• ASUS Zenfone 4 Max – 63 hours and 12 minutes

In this case, the Mi Max 2 can give you two additional hours of battery life compared to the Z4 Max, but the fact that ASUS’s phone can grant you an amount of battery life closest to that of a phablet makes it impressive.

Winner: Xiaomi Mi Max 2

Sound

In terms of sound, both phones sound relatively okay. The Z4 Max’s speakers are located at the bottom half of the phone, which I think might be a problem if you need to talk to someone on the phone in the middle of a large crowd.

The Mi Max 2’s speakers, however, are pretty loud and you can hear the audio resonate through the phone, which means receiving calls in noisy places wouldn’t be a problem.

Winner: Xiaomi Mi Max 2

Capacity

The Mi Max 2 comes in either 64GB or 128GB worth of memory with 4GB worth of RAM, which you can expand up to 256GB through a microSD card. Meanwhile, ASUS’s Z4 Max comes in only 32GB worth of memory and with 3GB worth of RAM, which you can easily compensate by expanding it up to 2TB, also through a microSD card.

Winner: ASUS Zenfone 4 Max

Verdict

Personally, both phones are great in their own way, but it truly depends on what you need your phone to do.

In terms of battery life, the Mi Max 2 wins hands down, although the Z4 Max is no slouch in that department either, considering how its battery life is only missing two hours worth of battery power.

Camera-wise, however, I’d give it to the Z4 Max for boosting high battery power AND good dual lens cameras. Its camera is considered “basic” compared to its other Zenfone 4 siblings, but between this and the Mi Max 2, the former still has a great edge.

In terms of portability, I’d say the thinner Mi Max 2 would do great if you’re willing to carry it around and not put it inside your pocket, considering it’s a phablet. But if you’re the type that’s picky enough to want to carry a more compact phone with an equally great battery power, no matter how stockier it feels, then the Z4 Max wins in this aspect.

Xiaomi’s Mi Max 2 dominated most of the categories at 5-2, however, so Xiaomi’s phablet wins this review!

The Xiaomi Mi Max 2 and the ASUS Zenfone 4 Max are now available in local and online stores. The Mi Max 2 costs P15,500 while the Z4 Max is worth P9,995.

Xiaomi Mi Max 2 vs ASUS Zenfone 4 MAX Comparison, Full Specs, Philippines Pricing