ASUS ROG Phone 9 vs ROG Phone 9 Pro: What’s the difference?

When you place the two ROG Phones 9 phones against one another, you can immediately tell the difference in design. The ROG Phone 9 has a familiar design with the ROG brand logo at the back. However, the ROG Phone 9 Pro has a special spark. On the rear panel, it houses 648 programmable mini LEDs. This allows users to not only customize their smartphone’s aesthetic with unique animations. This can even interact with games for a more unique experience. ASUS has basically doubled the number of LEDs, even introducing retro games on the AniMe Vision display.

The company unveiled the ROG Phone 9 series with Qualcomm’s brand new Snapdragon 8 Elite SoCm, which promises 45% faster CPU performance, 40% improved GPU capabilities, and a significantly enhanced NPU for AI-driven tasks. This chipset is paired with up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage on the ROG Phone 9.

Meanwhile, the ROG Phone 9 Pro is released with up to 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage. The storage configuration is definitely overkill, but it ensures future proofing for next gen mobile games, multitasking, and heavy applications.

ASUS features capable images sensors on the ROG Phone 9 series, despite these models being gaming smartphones. The ROG Phone 9 and ROG Phone 9 Pro features a 50MP primary camera (Sony LYTIA 700 sensor) along with a 13MP ultra wide angle lens. But while the vanilla version has 5MP marco shooter, the more expensive ROG Phone 9 Pro has a 32MP telephoto shooter with 3x optical zoom. For selfies and video calls, the flagship gaming phone lineup houses a 32MP sensor.

Another major difference between the ROG Phones is the pricing. The ASUS ROG Phone 9 starts from 999.99 US Dollars and is available in two color options, namely Storm White and Phantom Black. On the other hand, the ROG Phone 9 Pro costs slightly higher, with a starting price tag of 1,199.99 US Dollars. However, this device is only available in a lone Phantom Black.