Asus releases compact ZenFone 9 with Snapdragon 8+ Gen1 for 799 euros

Asus has introduced the ZenFone 9. The smartphone gets a SnapDragon 8+ Gen1-soc, a 50-megapixel camera, a 5.9-inch AMOLED screen with a refresh rate of 120Hz and a 4300mAh battery that supports fast charging at 30W. The device is available from 800 euros.

The Asus ZenFone 9 is a relatively compact Android smartphone that measures 146.5×68.1×9.1mm. The device weighs 169 grams. The 5.9-amoled screen has a resolution of 1080×2400 pixels, has an aspect ratio of 20:9 and supports 112% of the P3 color space. The panel supports HDR10+ and is protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus.

The Taiwanese manufacturer gave the ZenFone 8 two cameras on the back: a primary camera with a 50-megapixel sensor that received both optical image stabilization and electronic image stabilization and an ultra wide camera with a 12-megapixel sensor. The angle of view of that wide-angle lens is 113 degrees. The camera on the front of the device has a 12-megapixel sensor.

The ZenFone 9 has a 3.5mm connection and 4300mAh battery that supports fast charging at 30W. The fast charger is included in the box upon purchase. The phone does not have a wireless charging function. The device received an IP68 certification. As a result, it should in theory be resistant to dust. It can also keep water out; at least for a maximum of 30 minutes and if the device does not go deeper than 1.5 meters. The smartphone supports bluetooth 5.2, Wi-FI 6E, dualsim, lte, 5G connectivity and can handle aptX HD, aptX Adaptive and the LDAC codec.

The smartphone comes with Android 12. On top of that, Asus’s own launcher, called ZenUI 9, runs. The company is committed to making the smartphone easy to operate with a single hand via the launcher. Asus installed a fingerprint scanner on the right side of the housing of the device. So the company did not place a fingerprint scanner under the screen. That fingerprint scanner can be used to further operate the device via gestures or touches.

The ZenFone 9 comes in four colors: black, white, red and blue. The device does not have a glass back, but it does have a plastic back with a coating that should provide extra grip. The ZenFone 9 comes in multiple variants. First of all, there is a version with 8GB of LPDDR5 ram memory and 128GB of non-expandable storage memory that should cost 799 euros. This version will be available in all four colors listed above. Then there is a version with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage that should cost 849 euros. This version only comes in a black and white color. Finally, there will be a version with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage memory. It should cost 899 euros and will only be available in black. The devices will be on sale from mid-August.