Last year in May, Asus Zenfone 8 series went official, which included the Zenfone 8 & the Zenfone 8 Flip. The vanilla Zenfone 8 was the more interesting of the two because it was a compact-sized flagship phone with a 5.9-inch display. The phone was also very well priced as the price started at €599. Today, we got the successor to that phone, the Asus Zenfone 9. The Zenfone 9 retains the compact form factor of the Zenfone 8 and gets new additions on top of that. The price starts at €799, so that is quite a significant jump from last year.
One of the biggest upgrades comes in the overall look and feel. The Zenfone 8 did not have the most appealing design, but that is not the case with the Zenfone 9. The Zenfone 9 has an attractive design that includes two large circles on the rear, each having a camera in it. The phone also has multiple color options, not just black and white. The frame is made of aluminum, whereas the back is made of plastic. The back has a soft-touch finish that makes it stand out from other phones with a plastic back.
The phone is IP68 certified, and on top of that, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack as well. You get stereo speakers (7-magnet + 3-magnet) with Qualcomm Aqstic smart speaker amplifier.
The phone weighs around 169g & packs a 4,300mAH battery. While it may not sound big enough, this is a huge battery for a phone this size. The battery size is increased by 300mAh when compared to the Zenfone 8. There is support for 30W fast wired charging and also USB PD 3.0.
Under the hood, the Asus Zenfone 9 has Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SOC, so it is rocking the latest and greatest by Qualcomm. There is up to 16GB LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB UFS 3.1 storage.
There is a 5.9-inch 120Hz AMOLED panel with 1100 nits peak brightness, Gorilla Glass Victus protection, HDR10 & HDR10+ support.
In terms of the cameras, Zenfone 9 has a primary camera with a 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor & 6-Axis Hybrid Gimbal Stabilizer. The secondary camera is for ultrawide/macro shots and has a 12MP Sony IMX363 sensor. For selfies, there is a 12MP Sony IMX663 sensor. The front camera can shoot 4K 30fps videos, whereas the primary rear camera can shoot up to 8K 24fps videos.
Finally, Android 12 runs out of the box.
Asus Zenfone 9 comes in four color options named Starry Blue, Moonlight White, Midnight Black & Sunset Red. The price starts at €799.