The ASUS Zenbook A16 is many things. It's a 5-star laptop, a showcase for the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme, the main story on our front page, and a warning to Microsoft about the next Surface device.
Unfortunately, it's also one more thing: more expensive than it was yesterday. Just hours after reviews went live for the new laptop, ASUS and Best Buy seemingly raised the price of the PC.
Hardware Canucks claimed on X that Best Buy and ASUS "issued the wrong prices" for several Zenbook laptops, and the differences are staggering. We've reached out to ASUS for comments.
Pre-launch prices and launch day prices are not always identical. It's quite normal to see a company announce a laptop at one price and change pricing before the PC comes out. But the ASUS situation stands out.
A $350 difference between pricing communicated while a review is under embargo, and the sudden "real" price of a laptop is striking. The latter is what Hardware Canucks suggests is the case for the Zenbook 14.
This is BAD for our Snapdragon X2E conclusion. Best Buy & ASUS issued the wrong prices. They're going 🔼 by a LOT 🫠Zenbook A16: $1,600 ▶️ $1,700 Zenbook A14: $1,150 ▶️ $1,350 Zenbook S16: $1,600 ▶️ $1,900 Zenbook S14: $1,900 ▶️ $2,000 Zenbook 14: $1,000 ▶️ $1,350April 7, 2026
The Zenbook A16 has a smaller, yet still uncomfortable, price difference of $100. And that difference isn't just between pre-launch communication and the price at launch. When we published our ASUS Zenbook A16 review yesterday, the laptop had a starting price of $1,599. Best Buy listed that price for an exclusive touchscreen model. That same exclusive model now costs $1,699.
It appears that the new prices will stick around. A statement from ASUS suggests that the starting price of the laptop was never meant to be $1,599. Despite that statement, Best Buy did actually sell the Zenbook A16 for $1,599 for a brief period to a few lucky shoppers.
"We were notified by Best Buy that an error was made on their end when sharing pricing information for the new Zenbook A series and other Zenbook launches internally and publicly on their website, and this includes several models (Zenbook A14, A16, S16, S14 and Zenbook 14)," said ASUS to Windows Central. "The price has been corrected and updated on their website to reflect it."
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