ASUS ditches some of its bloatware for Google’s official apps in upcoming Android M updates

ASUS’ most recent phone entry to launch may be the much-delayed ZenFone Zoom, but it’s definitely not the most popular offering. Last year, at CES, the ASUS ZenFone 2 was basically the equivalent of this year’s Honor 5X. The phone was praised for its more-than-decent specs at a pricepoint that helped usher in the state of the market today. You can now get a few flagship-level phones at a mid-range price.  And while the ZenFone 2 wasn’t necessarily a flagship or an amazing phone (terrible software and bloatware held it back), it was a great phone for the price.

Now, ASUS has come out to announce the full list of phones that are getting Android Marshmallow in an upcoming update. And in this update, ASUS says it is planning to ditch at least 3 of its default ASUS-branded apps and replace them with official Google apps as default on the phones…

The company mentioned that several of these — including the ZenFone 2 — were tentatively getting Android Marshmallow a few months ago, but this list seems to be finalized.

• PadFone S (PF500KL)
• ZenFone 2 (ZE550ML, ZE551ML)
• ZenFone 2 Deluxe (ZE551ML)
• ZenFone 2 Deluxe Special Edition (ZE551ML)
• ZenFone 2 Laser (ZE500KG, ZE500KL, ZE550KL, ZE551KL, ZE600KL, ZE601KL)
• ZenFone Selfie (ZD551KL)
• ZenFone Max (ZC550KL)
• ZenFone Zoom (ZX551ML)

With the update, ASUS says that “Google Messenger, Calendar, and Gmail apps will automatically be included,” and that “these apps will replace three ZenUI apps—ASUS Messenger, ASUS Mail and SUS Calendar—as the default apps in the Android M version of ZenUI.” The company is sure to note that your configured ASUS apps won’t simply disappear upon upgrade, but if you do a factory reset, you’ll instead see Google’s apps. The ASUS-branded apps will remain available on the Play Store.

The Android Marshmallow update for these phones is coming “in Q2 of 2016,” ASUS says. We’ll let you know as soon as we see the update making its first arrivals.