The Asus Zenfone line is the “regular” flagship smartphone of the company that it releases every year. It pivoted towards a smaller flagship launch when it came to the Zenfone 8, and this time it did the same. Asus Zenfone 9 is a 5.9-inch flagship smartphone with Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1. Being small isn’t the only trick it has up its sleeve, though.
The Asus Zenfone 9 has an improved primary sensor backed by a miniature pivot stabilization system, a lightweight body thanks to the materials used in its production, and a fingerprint sensor inside the power button that also doubles as a gesture switch. Asus has completely come out with its latest Zenfone, and from the spec sheet alone, you can tell.
If none of that is enough to convince you, it’s very likely that this will be the first smartphone with the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor to hit the US, and it will debut at $699. If you weren’t interested before, you probably are now.
Asus Zenfone 9: Specifications
| Customize | Asus Zenfone 9 |
|---|---|
| Builds |
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| Dimensions and weight |
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| Show |
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| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 |
| RAM and Storage |
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| The battery is charging |
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| protection | Side-mounted fingerprint scanner |
| back camera |
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| Front camera(s) | 12 MP IMX663 |
| ports) | USB Type C |
| My voice | |
| Connection |
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| Programming | ZenUI based on Android 12 |
| Other Features |
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design
Previous Asus Zenfone devices have pretty boring designs, and they don’t quite deviate from the norm. The Zenfone 9 shakes things up a bit, as it comes with a unique design. The back is made of polycarbonate plastic with a soft feel, which is a very boxy design for the iPhone. It still has beveled edges to make it comfortable to hold in the hand, but it certainly isn’t as round as most other phones. Even then, there’s a bump for the camera, too—a pretty big bump at that.
On the front, the 5.9-inch Gorilla Gliss Victus display is unobstructed apart from the punch-hole camera on the top left. Edges are not so far Symmetrical all around and there’s a bit of a chin, but nothing I consider ugly or weird. The headphone jack is on the top, and a pair of speakers are on the top and bottom. Finally, there’s IP68 dust and water resistance so you know your phone can withstand a splash or two.
cameras
The Asus Zenfone 9 isn’t fully functional with the number of cameras it includes, but it does have two fairly good specific cameras. The first is the largest: the IMX766 sensor is supported by gimbal stabilization and is capable of capturing images up to 50 megapixels. It’s a huge improvement over the company’s previous camera hardware, and the gimbal can snap on both the x and y axes and on the z axis, with yaw adjustment. The ultra-wide camera isn’t much to write home about, it’s just a 12MP IMX363 shooter.
It’s capable of recording at 8K 24fps with OIS and EIS enabled, it can capture macro shots up to four centimeters, and the wide-angle camera has a 113-degree field of view. HyperSteady uses the wider view camera to help analyze the situation and achieve more stability, and this is only available when recording in 1080p.
performance
Asus Zenfone 9 runs on all specs, especially for small smartphones. We usually expect smaller phones to cut back on some hardware features, but this phone has all the major essentials. Full HD display with high refresh rate? examines. High speed RAM and storage? examines. Qualcomm’s latest and greatest chipset? examines. If you’re not convinced, it even has a headphone jack!
To fine-tune some of the details, this phone packs a 120Hz HD AMOLED panel, up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The display also has a default maximum brightness of 800 nits, with a High Brightness mode capable of 1100 nits.
If you’re concerned about the battery size which may seem small at 4300 mAh, keep in mind that due to the size of the phone, the smaller screen consumes less power. As we also noted, the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 uses less power anyway, so it’s entirely possible that a battery of this size is just as good. The phone can also charge at 30W.
Programming
On the software front, the Asus Zenfone 9 runs on the ZenUI interface. It’s Asus’ own Android variant that stays very close to stock Android in many ways, shows off useful features and adds a bit more on top. It’s teeming with cool things to try, for example ZenTouch. ZenTouch turns the fingerprint sensor on the power button into a gesture control slider, and you can assign actions to it from your phone’s settings.
Asus Zenfone 9 will get two years of major updates, and two years of security patches.
Pricing and availability
Asus Zenfone 9 will be launched in Europe, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, North America, Indonesia and parts of South America.
In the US, the Asus Zenfone 9 is priced at $699 for the 8GB/128GB base model, and in Europe, it will start at €799.
- 8GB + 128GB storage, $699 / €799
- 8 GB + 256 GB Storage Unknown
- 16 GB + 256 GB storage, Unknown
Pre-orders are available today outside the US from the Asus website.
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