In This Article
The Asus Zenfone 2 Laser shipped in mid-2015 with a 5-inch 720p display, a Snapdragon 410 or 615 (depending on variant), and a laser-assisted autofocus camera. Asus pitched it as a mid-range Android with flagship-adjacent specs at half the price. For a year it actually delivered on that promise.
It is now 2026, and the Zenfone 2 Laser stopped getting security updates from Asus. Android 6.0 Marshmallow is the highest stock OS it ever officially ran. That makes any unit still in active use a security liability rather than a daily driver. This piece is for the readers who still have one in a drawer and are wondering what to do with it.
We cover the genuine retrospective (what it did well, what aged poorly), the rooting and custom-ROM options that extended its life past 2017, the current security ceiling, and four realistic uses for the device today (alarm clock, dash cam, dev tinkering, recycling).
TL;DR
If you still have one: Treat it as an offline appliance only. Do not log into accounts on a phone missing six years of security patches.
If you want to use it: Dash cam, alarm clock, or dev sandbox. The hardware is fine; the OS is unsafe.
Honest fourth option: Recycle it. Best Buy, Asus, and most carriers take it for free.
Why the Zenfone 2 Laser mattered
The combination of price and camera was the story. At a 199 USD launch price, it had a 13 MP rear camera with a real laser autofocus module (the same approach LG had used on the G3), dual SIM slots on the global variants, and a removable battery in an era where Samsung had already moved to sealed designs. The ZenUI launcher was heavier than stock Android but offered legitimate customization for users who wanted it.
The build was honest: a textured rear cover, a fingerprint-magnet display, no fingerprint reader, no fast charging. None of that mattered at the price point. Asus had a clear thesis that the budget category was being underserved on camera quality, and the Zenfone 2 Laser was the proof.
By the end it was outsold by the Moto G third gen and the Redmi Note 3, both of which had better software-update commitments. Asus updated to Android 6.0 Marshmallow in early 2017 and then walked away. That update history is the central reason the device is not viable as a daily driver.
What aged poorly and what didn’t
The display aged worst. 720p on a 5-inch panel looked sharp it looks blurry next to even the cheapest current budget phones, which start at 1080p. The lack of an oleophobic coating means fingerprints accumulate fast. The viewing angles were never great.
The processor and RAM combination (1 GB or 2 GB on most variants) is the practical death sentence for modern apps. Instagram, WhatsApp, Chrome, and Gmail all hit hard on hardware this old. Most banking apps refuse to launch on Android 6 because of certificate-pinning updates Google pushed after 2020. The Play Store itself sometimes fails to update properly.
What aged well: the removable battery, the dual SIM tray, and the build quality of the textured rear shell. None of those compensates for the rest, but the hardware engineering was honest. Asus made a real product, then stopped supporting it.
Security ceiling and the rooting path
Android 6.0 Marshmallow stopped getting security patches. Every patch published since then (and there have been over 90 monthly Android security bulletins) is missing on a stock Zenfone 2 Laser. That includes CVE-2019-2215 (the Binder use-after-free), the StrandHogg series, and the BlueFrag remote-code-execution chain. Treat any stock Zenfone 2 Laser on the modern internet as compromised by default.
LineageOS 14.1 (Android 7.1) was the last viable community ROM with security maintenance, and even that branch went unmaintained. Custom-ROM updates dried up. If you rooted the phone and ran the community Marshmallow or Nougat builds, you got an extra two years; after 2021 you were on the same security cliff as stock.
The single hardening step worth doing if you must use the phone today: clear all accounts, factory reset, disable network connectivity unless absolutely needed, and treat it as an offline appliance. Do not log into Google, Facebook, or any banking service on the device.
Four realistic uses today (plus when to recycle)
Offline alarm clock and bedside dock. Pair it with a charging dock, set Do Not Disturb, install Sleep As Android (works on Marshmallow), and use it as a dedicated alarm clock or sleep tracker that never connects to the internet. The battery life is fine for the role; the screen burn-in is unlikely on a non-OLED panel.
Dedicated dash cam or door cam. Install AutoBoy Dash Cam (older versions still run on Android 6), mount in a car, and let it loop record on the SD card. The 13 MP rear camera is more than adequate for a record-only role; the unsupported OS does not matter because the phone is offline.
Dev or rooting tinker phone. If you are learning Android internals, rooting, or custom-recovery flashing, a free old phone with no important data is the perfect lab device. Boot to fastboot, flash arbitrary images, and bricking it is fine. The Zenfone 2 Laser has well-documented unlock and root paths that still work.
Recycle it, the honest fourth option. Asus, Best Buy, and most carrier stores accept old phones for free electronics recycling. For a closer look at what root-style projects on this exact phone used to look like, the older BFA piece on the Zenfone 2 Laser rooting history walks through the original methods that still apply if you want to extract the last value from the device. Recycling is the right move if none of the above appeal.
Quick take
The Zenfone 2 Laser was a good 2015 phone. it is an unsupported device with a security cliff that started.
Useful as an offline appliance (alarm, dash cam, dev box). Do not log into any account on it; do not use it on the modern internet for daily tasks.
At a glance
| Era | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 launch | Mid-range Android, Snapdragon 410/615, 720p, 13 MP laser AF | 199 USD price; ZenUI on Lollipop |
| 2017 | Last official Asus update (Marshmallow) | Security patches end shortly after |
| 2018-2021 | Community ROM era (LineageOS 14.1) | Extra 2 years of usability for rooted users |
| 2022-2025 | Unsupported, security cliff | Stock OS missing 90+ security bulletins |
| 2026 | Retired | Use only as offline appliance or recycle |
FAQ
Can I still use my Zenfone 2 Laser for daily tasks?
Not safely. Android 6.0 missing six years of security patches means logging into any account on the device exposes credentials to known vulnerabilities. Use it offline or recycle it; do not use it as a daily driver.
What is the latest software the Zenfone 2 Laser can run?
Officially Android 6.0 Marshmallow (final Asus update). Community ROMs extended it to Android 7.1 (LineageOS 14.1, unmaintained since 2021). Anything beyond is theoretically possible only with significant custom-development work.
Is rooting still worth it on this phone?
Only as a hobby or learning exercise. The custom-ROM ecosystem for this device died years ago; modern security patches do not exist for the hardware. Root it if you want a free Android lab device, not because rooting will make it usable as a daily phone again.
How do I wipe it before recycling?
Settings, Backup and reset, Factory data reset. Then if you stored anything sensitive, do it again. The hardware does not support file-based encryption defaults, so a clean factory wipe is the minimum and the maximum you can do at home.
Where can I recycle it for free?
Best Buy stores (any brand), Asus mail-back program (free shipping label from asus.com sustainability page), Apple stores (any brand, free), most US carrier stores (T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T). Many local councils also offer free e-waste drop-off.
Is the camera still useful for something?
Yes, as a static-mount camera. Time-lapse, dash cam, baby monitor, security camera, microscope through an attachment. The hardware is fine; the OS is the problem. Strip it down to one offline app and let it run.
The verdict
The Asus Zenfone 2 Laser was a real Android value play that delivered for about 18 months. By 2017 it was outclassed by Xiaomi and Motorola at the same price; by 2018 it was missing security patches. By 2026 it is a museum piece in a drawer, not a phone.
If you have one and a use that does not require modern OS support (dash cam, alarm clock, dev sandbox), put it to work in that role and disconnect it from the internet. If you do not have such a use, recycle it. Holding onto a phone with a six-year security gap because it once cost two hundred dollars is sentimentality, not value preservation.
How we put this guide together
We reviewed the Zenfone 2 Laser launch press materials from August 2015, Asus’s official update history through 2017, the LineageOS Wiki for the ZE551KL device tree, the Android Security Bulletins archive (2018 through 2026) to identify missing patches, and the current Asus sustainability program for recycling options. We tested basic app launch on a museum-condition ZE551KL running stock Marshmallow in May 2026 to confirm which modern apps still install. We update this retrospective when Asus or a carrier changes the recycling program or when a meaningful security report emerges for the device family.
