After the launch of the Asus ROG Phone 6 series earlier this month, the brand has now launched the Asus Zenfone 9 in the global market. So, let’s check out what this phone has to offer.
Design & display
The Zenfone 9 appears to draw inspiration from the design language of Apple and Huawei smartphones. It has a metal frame and two giant circles on the rear panel housing the cameras. It has a flat back and edges, with the top of the smartphone housing a 3.5mm headphone jack, while the bottom has a speaker grille, a USB Type-C port, a primary microphone hole, and a SIM card slot. On the right side, the smartphone has a volume rocker and a power button with an integrated fingerprint sensor.
Coming to the front, the device features a 5.9-inch SAMOLED display with FHD+ resolution and up to a 120Hz refresh rate. It has 445ppi pixel density, max brightness of 1100nits (800nits typical), HDR10+ support, 112 percent DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, and color accuracy of delta-E<1. The display panel has a punch hole in the top left corner for the front camera and is surrounded by thin bezels on two sides, with a noticeable chin and forehead.
Specs
The smartphone is powered by Qualcomm’s cutting-edge Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset which is built on TSMC’s 4nm node, promising improved energy efficiency and performance compared to its predecessor. The chipset is paired with up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage.
The device has an interesting touchpad around the power button of the device which can be used for various purposes including opening the notification drawer, app shortcuts, camera, and media controls. Additionally, a sensor on the back of the device lets users tap the rear to open the camera, flashlight, sound recorder, Google Assistant, and control media. The ZenUI on the Zenphone 9 has been customized for single-handed use with smart gestures for app drawer shortcuts, camera settings, and more.
Even with its compact form factor, the smartphone houses a 4,300mAh battery with 30W fast charging support. The company claims that the battery can be charged from zero to 50 percent in under 30 minutes. It also gets access to a pair of powerful stereo speakers that are claimed to be comparable to the latest flagship devices. Lastly, the Zenfone 9 comes with IP68 dust and water resistance.
Camera
As for optics, the Zenfone 9 has a dual camera setup on the back with a 50-megapixel IMX766 primary sensor with a 6-axis hybrid Gimbal stabilization and EIS.
The primary sensor is accompanied by a 2-megapixel Sony IMX363 ultra-wide sensor with 113 degrees field of view. The ultrawide camera also doubles as a macro camera. Up front, the smartphone comes with a 12-megapixel IMX663 selfie camera that has snappy autofocus. The main cam can record video at 8K 24fps with EIS and 4K at 60fps with EIS. The 12MP front-facing camera also has Dual PDAF so it can capture sharp selfies and 4K video at 30fps (or 1080p at 60fps).
Pricing & availability
Asus has revealed that the Zenfone 9 will have a starting price of €799 for the 8GB RAM + 128GB storage model. Pricing for other variants as well as the availability date of the smartphone in the global markets is still under wraps.
The smartphone will be available in four color variants – Black, White, Blue, and Red.
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