ASUS Zenfone 4 Max camera not working problem not fixed even after months

Headquartered in Beitou District, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer ASUS debuted the company’s first-generation ZenFone series i.e. ZenFone 4 back in 2014. Later on, in 2017, they expanded the ZenFone 4 family of smartphones by launching more phones carrying the same moniker.

Among the ZenFone 4 (2017) lineup, ZenFone 4 Max (ZC554KL) was a budget device priced USD 199 that complimented a 5.5-inch display. Powered by a Snapdragon 425 chipset, the phone was shipped with the then-available Android 7.0 Nougat and ASUS’ customized skin ZenUI 4.

Sadly, as per reviewers, ZenFone 4 Max wasn’t much of a bang for one’s buck despite its massive 5,000mAh battery. But budget devices have a completely different target audience and the fact remains that people do buy these phones.

Irrespective of whether the device is high-end, a mid-ranger or low-end, problems and issues plague almost all smartphone devices. What matters is what kind of service the OEM provides to fix things up so that user experience is not compromised.

And as far as we can see, ASUS hasn’t really gathered much appreciation for their after-sale service and the updates they push to their phones be it the regular security ones or the once a year major Android OS update.

A recent example can be the Android 9.0 Pie update that had to be rolled back from ZenFone Max Pro M2 phones with a week of rollout due to a huge number of bugs that plagued it. The experience of Max Pro M1 users with Pie was no different, although the update wasn’t pulled.

Take a look at what one of the frustrated ZenFone Max Pro M1 user has to say about the company provided service.

Well, if that’s the case with some of ASUS’ latest phones, think about how things would be with their older devices. Not good, from what we can see. ZenFone 4 Max users have been chiming about their camera gone useless for months now.

The matter was first reported at ASUS ZenTalk (company’s official help forums) in December last year, when after receiving an update, ZenFone 4 Max (model X00ID) users started complaining of their device’s camera not working and crashing.

For a quick glance, here’s how a couple of the affected users word the issue:

Just yesterday I snapped a couple of pictures with my phone without any issues. Today the camera app opens but doesn’t seem to start the camera and crashes. Rebooted the phone and issue not resolved

I’ve got same problem here. Everytime i open the camera, i cannot use it anymore, i simply open and its all black, you cant take pictures or video neither. Help us. I seriously love asus zenfone but this is a big problem. I cant use my camera.

Going by user reports, that’s the case with both rear and the front camera. They say they can launch the camera, but all they get to see is a black screen. So they can’t take any pictures or videos. The camera is basically dead and useless because of this bug.

Here’s how another user explains the problem behavior:

I’m having trouble running the camera app. My phone is the ZenFone 4 Max model, which has a problem with its camera. Sometimes the application runs sometimes not running. This is the case for both cameras, both front and rear. When I launch the camera app, I get a black screen and it comes out of the app itself

While there’s lack of clarity as to which update exactly triggered this issue, many users blame Android Oreo 8.1 that was pushed to the phone back in December last year. Some of them who shared the details have firmware WW_ZC554KL_15.2016.1902.507 and camera v4.0.57.7_180904.

It’s also worth mentioning that the number of complainants has suddenly increased since past couple of months.

Coming to what has ASUS done so far to fix things up, one of the forums moderator has been actively responding to user queries. They initially said they’ve reported the issue to the concerned team apart asking the affected users to share more information.

Sorry for the inconvenience caused. I have reported this issue to our tech team for them to look into it.

A few days later, they updated the complainants saying the issue is being investigated.

This issue has been reported and is currently under investigation.We are actively looking into the problem. If there is any news I will notify you immediately

After repeating the same for over months, the same forums moderator has now came up with a slightly different statement. They said they have identified the problem and are working on the same.

We have identified the problem and we are actively looking into the problem.

We fail to understand what’s causing ASUS to fix an issue that has been existing for months now and is troubling a lot of ZenFone 4 Max users and has basically rendered the device’s camera useless.

We just hope ASUS fixes this one up soon. Rest assured, we are keeping a tab on the matter and will update the story as and when any new development comes to sight. Meanwhile, if you are facing the camera not working issue on your ZenFone 4 Max unit, drop a comment and share your observation.

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