Asus Zenfone 9 Smartphone Review – Asus Zenfone series phones are the most underrated smartphone that Asus has, and from time to time, the company releases some interesting phones in the last few years. This time, the smartphone makers launched the Asus Zenfone 9, which is quite compact, offers distinctive shade options, brings a massive camera upgrade, and not to forget, it has exceptional performance in that small build.
Unlike many brands, where you will notice that phone size is increasing day by day, there are only a handful of phones that have a below display of 6.5 inches built. But, on the other hand, if you prefer compact phones with more reliable features and proper specs support, then the Asus Zenfone 9 smartphone is for you. It includes lots of exciting things that will unfold in the following in-depth review. Let’s head toward the Asus Zenfone 9 review to find out more details about this phone.
Table of Contents
Asus Zenfone 9 Smartphone Review
Highlights
- Asus Zenfone 9 arrives with a 5.9-inches Super AMOLED panel that brings a better refresh rate and crisp HDR support.
- Under the hood, the performance optimizes through Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset with Adreno 730 GPU.
- As for the software layering, the phone gains an Android 12 interface with ZenUI-customized skin.
- A 50MP dual camera setup gives decent camera results, while there’s also a 12MP selfie lens.
- Lastly, the phone is powered by a Li-Po 4300 mAh battery with a 30W fast charging speed.
Design and Display
The Asus Zenfone 9 key selling point is that it provides a variety of unique shade options. As smartphone makers render Black, Blue, Red, and White choice. Each of them looks pretty appealing and interesting on first impression, while if you forget the traditional shade option for a few minutes, the fancy color variant feels more premium even though they have plastic built.
It’s not common that a flagship phone comes with a cheap plastic build, but the Zenfone 9 feels classic and smooth. Plus, you will find a decided cover inside the box so that you can increase the damage protection to some extent. Since this phone has a compact build, the whole screen is received using a single hand. Furthermore, it also holds an IP rating and coloring glass victus protection on the dot notch 5.9-inch Super AMOLED display.
The colors and contrast from the AMOLED screen are quite impressive and you will obtain an impeccable viewing experience with HDR10+ support. Moreover, the 120Hz refresh rate gives a smooth user experience, and you won’t notice any problem using the phone outdoors as it offers a 1100nits brightness level. But, the most interesting part would be the customizable side-mounted fingerprint scanner.
Memory and Internal
The Asus Zenfone 9 smartphone comes with the most powerful chipset of 2022 that is offered in the Android ecosystem. Yes, we are talking about the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset that handles everything easily, while also rendering excellent graphic support with Adreno 730 GPU. Once you have dived into the world of gaming, you won’t stop as the phone will provide butter-smooth performance with subtle graphics.
Plus, the advanced refresh rate and software optimization make the overall gaming session more interesting. Following this, it’s worth noting the company brings the Android 12 interface, which clubs alongside Zen UI. Though, it might not have a clean, bloatware-free, stock-Android experience with the custom skin. But at the same time, you will obtain lots of customization perks and add-ons.
Aside from this, the phone also supports 5G connectivity, so you won’t face any trouble using high-speed internet. Asus Zenfone 9 can be purchased in three storage and RAM choice. The starting variant provides 128GB UFS 3.1 space with 6GB RAM, while the higher storage variant got 256GB space that will accompany by 8GB to 16GB RAM. But as usual, there’s no secondary storing unit inside the phone.
Camera
The Asus Zenfone 9 smartphone has a pretty decent dual camera setup, which includes a 50MP primary lens with a standard 12MP ultra-wide lens. On the front display, you will notice a 12MP selfie lens support. With this camera module, you are getting impressive daylight results with proper exposure and vivid colors with top-notch HDR support.
But in the full-Res mode, the 50MP Sony IMX 766 sensor brings raw photos, but you won’t be able to utilize HDR features. As for the lowlight, the night mode will take amazing photos 4 out of 5 times, while you won’t notice much noise. Though, the camera app takes more than 5 seconds to click low-light photos as colors are enhanced behind the scenes. Plus, the gimble stabilization appears on the primary lens which gives stable photography and videography results.
The portrait photos do steal the show with their precise details and edge detection that will give impressive results. As for the camera app features, you will obtain tons of different options to capture selfies. Finally, let’s talk about video recording, the primary camera setup can shoot up to 8K videos with proper stabilization, while the front camera goes up to 4K video recording without gyro-EIS support.
Battery and Others
The Asus Zenfone 9 don’t have a massive battery like most flagship device due to its compact build. But, the company ensures to optimize the Li-Po 4300 mAh battery according to the user’s requirements. Even if you are a heavy user, you can effortlessly utilize 5+ hours of screen time. As for the charging support, you will find a 30W fast charger inside the box.
The smartphone also supports 5W reverse charging. But it’s quite sad to say that the makers don’t include wireless charging support on this phone. It’s one of the factors that distinguish the regular phone from a proper flagship-level phone. Anyway, the 3.5-mm jack port introduction is completely unexpected in the first place. With these features, the phone stands out from the competition. The starting variant of the Asus Zenfone 9 smartphone is priced at $649 (Rs. 53,640 in India) approx, which is so far the best price for a flagship phone.
Asus Zenfone 9 Specifications Detail
Down below you can see the full specifications of the Asus Zenfone 9 smartphone.
| Specifications | Asus Zenfone 9 |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G |
| Announced | July 2022 |
| SIM | Dual SIM |
| Dimensions | 5.77 x 2.68 x 0.36 inches |
| Weight | 169 g |
| Size | 5.9 inches |
| Display | Super AMOLED Always-on display 120Hz HDR10+ 1100 nits brightness 20:9 ratio ~445 PPI density |
| Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass Victus IP68 dust/water resistant |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels |
| OS | Android 12, ZenUI |
| Chipset | 4nm – Qualcomm SM8475 Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 |
| CPU | Octa-core 1×3.19 GHz Cortex-X2 3×2.75 GHz Cortex-A710 4×1.80 GHz Cortex-A510 |
| GPU | Adreno 730 |
| Card slot | No |
| RAM | 8GB, 16GB |
| Internal | 128GB, 256GB UFS 3.1 |
| Camera | 50 MP (wide), PDAF, gimbal OIS 12 MP (113°ultrawide), AF LED flash, HDR, panorama Max – 8K@24fps, gyro-EIS, HDR |
| Selfie | 12 MP (standard), dual pixel PDAF Max – 4K@30fps |
| Loudspeaker | Yes (stereo speakers) |
| 3.5mm jack | Yes 24-bit/192kHz audio |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot |
| Bluetooth | 5.2, A2DP, LE, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, LDAC |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS. Up to dual-band: GLONASS (1), BDS (2) GALILEO (2), QZSS (2), NavIC (1) |
| NFC | Yes |
| Infrared port | No |
| Radio | No |
| USB | USB Type-C 3.0, USB On-The-Go |
| Sensors | Side-mounted fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
| Battery | Li-Po 4300 Fast charging 30W USB Power Delivery 3.0 Reverse charging |
| Colors | Black, Blue, Red, Silver |
| Expected Price | $649 (Rs. 53,640 in India) approx. |
Conclusion
The Asus Zenfone 9 smartphone does things right with no less compromise with the latest features. Though, there’s no denying that there are a few minor flaws with not having wireless charging, a telephoto lens, slow night mode results, and more things. But on the other hand, the phone brings a top-end chipset, long-lasting battery life, and a 3.5-mm jack port are the primary selling point of this phone.
Overall, the Zenfone 9 is a compelling flagship offering, which brings a compact design layout, and it is totally worth your money. Aside from this, if you are looking for an alternative smartphone option, we would suggest you go with the Google Pixel 7 is a fabulous choice to look into the future.
