With the ZenFone 8 being one of the few compact flagships, ASUS updates it this year with the ZenFone 9. This time around, there’s no Flip version–if you want a big phone, then you have to go for the ROG Phone 6.
While still compact with its 5.9-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with a 120hz refresh rate, the ZenFone 9 gets a bigger 4300mAh battery inside it, along with a more powerful Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, making it the only compact flagship to date with Qualcomm’s latest silicon. On top of that, the ZenFone 9 can be availed with 16GB RAM, which is a feat for a compact flagship.
The rear camera gets a big upgrade on the ZenFone 9, as the main camera is an IMX 766 sensor with a 6-axis gimbal OIS system and Dual PDAF, while the 12-megapixel IMX 363 ultra-wide-angle camera gets Dual PDAF and also doubles as a macro camera.
Like its predecessor, you get 30w charging, along with an IP68 rating and stereo speakers.
ASUS ZenFone 9 Specs:
- Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor
- 8GB/16GB LPDDR5 RAM
- 128GB/256GB UFS 3.1 storage
- 5.9-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display, 120hz refresh rate, 1ms response rate
- 50-megapixel f/1.8 IMX 766 main camera with 6-axis Gimbal OIS and Dual PDAF, 12-megapixel f/2.2 IMX 363 ultra-wide-angle camera with Dual PDAF
- 12-megapixel IMX 663 selfie camera with Dual PDAF
- 4G, 5G
- WiFi 6e, Bluetooth 5.2, Qualcomm WSA8835 Aqstic amp, side-mounted fingerprint scanner
- Stereo speakers, IP68 rating
- 4300mAh battery
- 30w fast charging
- Android 12
The ZenFone 9 starts at 800 Euros(~Php 45.4k) for the 8GB/128GB variant in Europe, and will be available in Hong Kong Taiwan, North America, Japan, Indonesia, and parts of South America.