[Updated] Asus ZenFone 5Z Amazon Prime HD streaming support is an issue that Amazon needs to address

This story is being continuously updated…. New updates are being added at the bottom…..

Original story (published on Feb 26) follows:

Asus ZenFone 5Z launched with built-in Widevine L1 support, meaning those who bought the phone and have a subscription account with Netflix or Amazon Prime Video can stream HD content.

Regardless of the certification, the ZenFone 5Z didn’t include support for HD streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime out of the box. A bummer, if you ask me, but if the Asus 6z/ZenFone 6 is anything to go by, this is a fixable issue.

Yeah, the ZenFone 6 also had a similar issue where the device came with Widevine L1 support out of the box, but unable to stream HD videos on Netflix and Amazon Prime – something that has since been resolved.

Apparently, Asus reportedly pushed a software update that enabled Netflix HD streaming on the ZenFone 5Z. Matter of fact, owners of the device have been able to stream HD content before switching to the latest Android 10 OS.

But soon after installing the ZenUI 6 skin, the 5Z loses the ability to stream HD content on Netflix and Amazon Prime apps, leaving users of the device stuck with SD quality content.

Asus Zenfone 5z does not support Amazon prime videos in HD format. Which is shame having a flagship for Asus as all mid-rangers now support that, but being a 2018 flagship phone, it doesn’t support HD format. Contacted prime videos about it they said the problem is from Asus’s end. Now its been 1 ½ years but I think asus never notices customers problems.
Source

After contacting many times through Asus support I was told that this issue would be resolved in the next FOTA update.
Still no success, HD playback is still not available. Please fix this issue ASAP.
Source

As you can see on the screenshot below, Netflix streaming quality drops to SD after the ZenFone 5Z Android 10 update. It also shows Widevine L3 instead of the device-certified Widevine L1. The story is the same with the ZenFone 5Z Amazon Prime HD streaming.

So, what now? The guaranteed fix is to roll back to the older Android Pie firmware that had no issues streaming HD content on Netflix and Amazon Prime. But this will expose your device to security risks related to running old, unpatched software.

Alternatively, Asus should push a software update that fixes the issue once and for all, but according to the Taiwanese company, the ZenFone 5Z Amazon Prime HD streaming issue is something that only the giant online retailer can address and not them.

While there is nothing ZenFone 5Z owners can do to make Amazon enable HD streaming on the device, there is definitely something Asus can do. By all means, this is an absurd response, but I’ll take it that he meant Asus will contact Amazon for the issue to be addressed without a FOTA update.

This means you might actually never know when exactly the device gains support for HD streaming, so keep an eye on it and let us know in the comments section just in case things change on your end.

In the past, we’ve seen Asus address similar Widevine L1 issues through software updates on the ZenFone Max Pro M1 and ZenFone Max Pro M2 so it shouldn’t be a problem fixing the ZenFone 5Z HD streaming issues.

Asus ZenFone 5Z Amazon Prime HD streaming support not on cards. Head here for more coverage.

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