Now this is a rare beast: the Asus Zenfone 9 is a small phone with a big battery and a powerful chipset. It really is a beast, in our review it surpassed the Galaxy S22 powered by Exynos, the Xiaomi 12 powered by SD 8 Gen 1 and others.
It was in Performance mode and the phone can’t last long at full throttle, but Asus’ new vapor chamber cooling system handled the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset better than expected.
The Zenfone 9 measures 146.6 x 68.2 x 9.5mm and weighs 165g. For comparison, the Galaxy S22 measures 146 x 70.6 x 7.6mm and 167g (although it is with a smaller 600mAh battery). The iPhone 13 mini measures 131.5 x 64.2 x 7.7mm and weighs 141g. So, the Zenfone isn’t a mini, but it’s as small as Android’s flagships (we know there are tiny Android, but they seriously compromise on functionality).
The Zenfone has an IP rating, Gorilla Glass Victus, 120Hz display with Always On mode, up to 16GB of RAM, a large 4,300mAh battery with fairly fast 30W charging (0-100% in over an hour in our tests), as well as a pair of good quality speakers tuned by Dirac.
Speaking of audio, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack, which most phones skip, and there’s a 10-band equalizer to boot. Also there are many settings for charging, games and so on, so you can tweak the device to your liking.
It feels more like an enthusiast phone than a mid-range offering (Zenfone is Asus’ mass-market series).
The Zenfone 9 has some flaws, however. For starters, we would have appreciated a microSD slot. The 128/256 GB storage space will likely be sufficient for most, but that would have been another advantage over traditional models.
However, software support is the biggest black mark on the phone. Asus has only committed to two major OS updates (and Android 13 is around the corner) and “at least” two years of security patches. That’s not much, considering the $ 700 / € 800 price tag and that the software on the phone is mostly stock Android with some Asus magic sprinkled on top.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 ($ 800 / € 850) will receive four OS updates and five years of security patches. It’s better than Google’s Pixel 6 (3 updates, 5 years patch). And much better than the Pixel 6a, which is more comparable in size (but only gets 3 years of patches instead of 5).
The S22 isn’t as fast as the Zenfone and falls short in terms of battery life, but it has a 3x telephoto lens instead of relying on the main sensor zoom. The Zenfone is thicker (9.1mm vs 7.6mm) and while we liked the back material, we feel all the lettering and decals belong to the ROG series, not here.
As for the Pixel 6 ($ 600 / € 650), it’s a lot bigger, so it’s not a great comparison. The Pixel 6a ($ 450 / € 460) is closer to the mark. Its OLED panel lacks a high refresh rate mode and only has Gorilla Glass 3 protection (the phone as a whole is IP67 rated). It uses the same Tensor chipset as the flagship Pixels, but the main camera is a small, old 12MP sensor that has to rely on Google’s processing magic to get decent shots.
Samsung Galaxy S22 5G • Google Pixel 6a
The Sony Xperia 5 IV will likely be the most direct competitor, but it doesn’t exist yet, so let’s take a look at the Mark 3 ($ 800 / € 900). It has the same width (68mm), which we think amounts to more than an inch of height. This has a 120Hz display, a microSD slot, and a 12MP telephoto camera with two focal lengths, which offers 3x and 4.4x magnifications. The large 4,500mAh battery didn’t last as long as the Zenfone (100 hours vs 108 hours of endurance), but this is with the older Snapdragon 888 chipset. Sony is also not great with upgrades, so it can’t hold a candle to Asus.
Sony Xperia 5 III
If you want a suitable mini phone with high-end features, the Apple iPhone 13 mini ($ 700 / € 800) is almost the only option. Forgo luxuries like an HRR display or a telephoto lens and, according to some rumors, there will be no iPhone 14 mini to right those wrongs. Also, being small means battery life isn’t great (75 hours of endurance). That said, all iPhones from late 2016 or newer happily run the latest iOS.
Apple iPhone 13 mini
The Asus Zenfone 9 will soon be available in Europe, Hong Kong and Taiwan, arriving in North America, Japan, Indonesia and parts of South America a few weeks later. You can already read our review (and don’t miss our video review) if you want more details on the pros and cons.
Okay, it’s time to vote – will you buy a Zenfone 9 or choose something else?
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