Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro review: the most powerful phone around

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro: Two-minute review

Asus took a bold turn towards the mainstream with the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro in 2023, repositioning its flagship (but typically niche) gaming phone as something you might actually want to use day-to-day. You don’t get two consecutive radical overhauls in the modern smartphone era, so the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro serves as more of a gentle refinement.

The chief improvement comes from the switch to Qualcomm’s impressive Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, which provides a measurable bump in performance. This is paired with a whole lot of RAM and a passive cooling system that has been beefed up yet further.

Whatever the contributing factors, the ROG Phone 9 Pro addresses our concerns over its predecessor’s sustained performance, remaining consistently fast over longer gaming sessions.

The ROG Phone 9 Pro sticks to the design template of last year’s model, with the same (relatively) discrete shape and style. Quality of life features like wireless charging and IP68 certification make a return, too, and continue to be unique among gaming phones.

Hardcore mobile gamers will likely continue to regard this as a compromised layout, however. Asus has only half-heartedly addressed the lack of dual front-firing speakers, while the display continues to be partially obstructed by a hole punch camera, unlike that of the Red Magic 9S Pro.

One gamer-friendly change on the ROG Phone 9 Pro is the provision of a larger 5,800mAh battery, which ensures epic stamina in regular usage. More to the point, you’ll be able to indulge in some serious gaming on your commute without fear of running out of juice. Charging speeds are quick enough, and there’s a secondary USB-C port on the left-hand edge for easy charging while gaming.

Asus’ rear-mounted AniMe Vision system, introduced in the ROG Phone 8 Pro, has been improved, with a bunch more LEDs. You can even play a series of simplistic games on it, using the returning mappable Air Trigger controls. It’s a fun addition, but pretty superfluous given the range of games (both simple and otherwise) that can be played on the main screen.

Talking of which, Asus has stuck with broadly the same 6.78-inch AMOLED panel as before. The only real difference is that the refresh rate now goes up to 185Hz, but you’ll struggle to find many games that can capitalize on such a feature.

Also similar is the ROG Phone 9 Pro’s camera system, which adds an improved gimbal stabilization system to the package. It’s far from one of the best camera phones out there, especially among its premium-priced flagship competition, but it’s capable of capturing solid shots in a variety of scenarios.

The software provision remains the most thoughtful of any gaming phone, with a straight choice between Asus’ bespoke gamer aesthetic and a more traditional stock(ish) Android UI. It’s a real shame you’ll only be getting two major Android updates, though at least the AI-enhanced Android 15 is available out of the box.

For all its many minor improvements, it’s questionable whether the ROG Phone 9 Pro is the best out-and-out gaming phone on the market, and it’s certainly not the best value. However, it’s quite clearly the best option if gaming is merely the first among many interests.

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro review: Price and availability

• From $1,199 / £1,099.99 / AU$1,999
• Shipping expected second half of December

Global Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro pre-orders are open now, with shipping expected to begin in mid-to-late December. The US launch will follow sometime later, but American customers can sign up to be notified of the announcement on the US Asus Official Store.

The ROG Phone 9 comes in three variants: the regular Asus ROG Phone 9 (eyes peeled for a separate review), the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro, and the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro Edition. It’s the latter that I’ve been testing for this review, though it’s broadly the same phone as the regular Pro.

Pricing starts at $1,199.99 / £1,099.99 / AU$1,999 for the ROG Phone Pro with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The ROG Phone Pro Edition is the same phone, but with 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, as well as an external AeroActive Cooler X Pro fan included in the box. This top-tier model costs $1,499.99 / £1,299.99 / AU$2,499.

It’s worth mentioning that there’s a little more meaningful differentiation for the regular ROG Phone 9 this year. It has a simpler AniMe Vision LED set-up on the back, and swaps out the dedicated telephoto camera for a lesser macro one.

Pricing for the regular model starts at $999.99 / £949.99 / AU$1,799 for 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. In the UK and Europe, you can bump the latter up to 512GB for £999.99, but this model won’t be available in the US or Australia.

All of this pricing is consistent with last year’s models. Make no mistake, this is an expensive phone whichever variant you opt for, especially with Nubia turning out similarly performing gaming phones for hundreds less (see the Nubia Red Magic 9S Pro, for instance). However, the ROG Phone 9 Pro is a unique proposition for the way it attempts to give gamers a phone they’d be happy to use day-to-day.

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro review: Specs

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro review: Design

• Same more refined design as ROG Phone 8
• Dedicated Air Trigger shoulder buttons
• Two USB-C ports
• Bundled AeroActive Cooler X Pro fan

Asus dropped its juvenile gamer aesthetic for the ROG Phone 8 Pro in favor of something a little more subdued and mature. Indeed, so comprehensive was the transformation, Asus essentially re-released the phone several months later as the normie Zenfone 11 Ultra.

Unsurprisingly, it has stuck to its design guns with the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro. The phone looks and feels almost exactly the same as its predecessor, with identical proportions of 163.8 x 76.8 x 8.9mm and a similar weight of 227g. That’s big by normal standards, but not especially so for a gaming phone.

Like the ROG Phone 8 pro, this heft is partly softened by a soft-touch precision-etched glass material on the rear that curves off at the edges. The Pro model only comes in a sober Phantom Black finish, which has just the slightest of glimmers about it. It’s totally non-reflective, however, and also mercifully resistant to fingerprints.

There are still a few gamery decals dotted around the back of the phone, but at least Asus has ditched the cheesy ‘Dare to Win’ message this time around.

One thing Asus has leaned into is the AniMe Vision secondary display that debuted on the ROG Phone 8 Pro. Completely invisible by default, this LED system (up from 341 to 648 LEDs) only lights up when you dive into the menus and activate it. You can have it play little animations when music is playing, for incoming calls and notifications, and more. I particularly liked the little countdown timer and smiley face that appears when you take timed photo.

The big new addition is the ability to play simplistic games on this stylized secondary display, but that’s arguably the least consequential use for it. Using the Air Trigger controls, you can play crude knock-off versions of Space Invader, Snake, and the like. None of them are especially good, and I’m not sure why you’d ever opt for one of these given the range of games available for the main screen.

Asus added IP68 certification with the ROG Phone 8 Pro, and it makes a return here. It’s something you don’t get on the likes of the Red Magic 9 Pro with its big fan vents, and it’s most welcome as the bad weather starts to roll in.

For gamers, this more accessible design is something of a mixed bag. On the plus side, you get a secondary USB-C port on the left-hand edge, which makes it easy to charge while you’re gaming. You also get a 3.5mm headphone jack for latency-free audio.

Conversely, Asus’ more streamlined design reduces the bezels to the point where there’s no room for dual front-facing speakers. The earpiece fires frontwards, but the other speaker is on the bottom edge of the phone. This will never match true front-firing speakers for stereo clarity, and Asus knows it.

In a somewhat half-baked attempt to address this, the manufacturer has made it so that both of its official cases (including the bundled ChillCase) redirect the downwards-firing audio frontwards. It works to avoid you blocking the speaker with your finger while gaming, but it’s still a half measure, especially if you don’t care for the case.

As for the sound output itself, it gets nice and loud and clear, but it’s no match for the nuanced output of similarly priced regular phones like the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Those compact bezels also mean that the front camera is marooned in a sea of screen, which isn’t optimal for gaming, even if it’s a standard measure for the vast majority of non-gaming phones. Still, it does mean that the selfie camera is usable, unlike with the Red Magic 9S Pro’s awful in-display solution. Again, it all comes down to your priorities.

I’ve already drawn a contrast with the way Asus handles cooling compared to Nubia. Instead of integrating a physical fan into the body of the phone, Asus includes the aforementioned ChillCase, which draws heat away from the body of the phone. It also bundles in the AeroActive Cooler X Pro, which is a clip-on fan that serves to draw heat away from the body, as well as provide additional physical shoulder buttons and a built-in stand.

This AeroActive Cooler X Pro runs off the phone’s power by hooking into its extra USB-C port, and also uses this to run some ROG lighting, which you can adjust or toggle off in the Armoury Crate app.

Compared to last year’s AeroActive Cooler X, the AeroActive Cooler X Pro features a 12.5% larger fan and extra thermal material, boosting cooling efficiency by a claimed 29%. Its design is fundamentally similar though, and it’s good to see that Asus is continuing to sell the older fan as a cheaper alternative.

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro review: Display

• 6.78-inch LTPO OLED
• FHD+ resolution
• Refresh rate now goes up to 185Hz

Asus has gone with a 6.78-inch E6 AMOLED display for the whole ROG Phone 9 range, which is the same as the ROG Phone 8. You might expect a sharper resolution than 1080 x 2400 (FHD+) given the price, especially of this top model, but image clarity is fine and fewer pixels make for better performance.

The brightness hasn’t been cranked up at all, with the same claimed peak of 2,500 nits in HDR tasks and 1,600 nits in high brightness mode, which automatically activates in sunny outdoor conditions. It’s far from the brightest screen on the market, but it proves to be more than enough in practical terms.

Color output is certainly on the punchy side, even in the supposedly Natural display setting. You can rein this in by switching to Standard mode, which offers a pleasingly balanced look, while you can also fine-tune the color temperature and saturation level according to your taste.

This is an LTPO panel, which means that it can operate at any one of 14 refresh rates depending on the task at hand, thus maximizing energy efficiency. This is actually one more gradient than the ROG Phone 8 Pro was capable of, and that’s because the ROG Phone 9 Pro can extend beyond the previous 165Hz limit to 185Hz.

You can only access this elevated refresh rate when the screen is set to Auto, and it’ll only activate within games. It’s also a simple fact that vanishingly few games will actually take advantage of such a refresh rate. Indeed, most won’t even hit 120Hz. Even the super-fluid Dead Cells topped out at 167fps for me.

Still, this is a phone built around high-end mobile gaming, which means it needs to offer the maximum possible gaming performance. In terms of display technology, it’s mission accomplished.

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro review: Cameras

• Familiar 1/1.56-inch main camera sensor with improved gimbal
• 13-inch ultra-wide with freeform lens
• Dedicated 32MP 3x telephoto on Pro models only

It might appear as if Asus has switched to a new main camera sensor on paper, but the Sony Lytia 700 is merely a rebrand of the 1/1.56-inch IMX 890 found in the ROG Phone 8.

All that’s new this time around, at least from a hardware perspective, is an improved gimbal system. The six-axis Hybrid Gimbal Stabilizer 4.0 can manage five degrees of motion compensation rather than the previous three.

As we’ve seen with previous Asus flagship phones, this system results in freakishly stable images and video footage, which has positive ramifications for low-light shots. By keeping even steadier, the ROG Phone 9 Pro can keep its shutter open for longer without it negatively affecting clarity – so long as the subject is relatively static.

Sure enough, food shots taken in dim restaurant lighting looked appropriately sharp and delectable, while Night mode shots were reasonably crisp and clear. I didn’t spot too much of that artificial brightening effect that often blights less-than-top camera systems either.

You get the same 13MP ultra-wide camera as before, which can’t manage the same detail or contrast as the main sensor. The overall tone is broadly of a piece, however, and edge distortion isn’t excessive thanks to the provision of a freeform lens.

We also get the return of the ROG Phone 8’s 32MP 3x telephoto camera – or at least, the ROG Phone 9 Pro does. In a noteworthy downgrade, Asus has dropped the telephoto from the regular ROG Phone 9, replacing it with a 5MP macro.

Speaking of the Pro model, the dedicated telephoto camera takes sharp and balanced shots at its native 3x zoom, and usable snaps using the hybrid 2x mode. Things start to get soft at 10x, however, while the 30x hybrid zoom turns out awful impressionistic snaps. Some of the facial features I captured on distant subjects in these extended hybrid zoom shots will haunt my dreams for some time to come.

The 32MP selfie camera makes a return, and it continues to go about its business adequately. Skin still looks a little waxy, but detail is fine; it makes the subject pop against the background nicely, and I appreciated the option of a wider perspective for group and landscape selfies.

That above-and-beyond gimbal further earns its place when capturing video at up to 4K/60fps or 8K/30fps. You can add electronic image stabilization (EIS) to the equation in HyperSteady mode, but this is only available at up to 1080p/60fps. Auto HDR can also be applied to videos, but only up to 1080p/30fps.

More than any hardware improvements, Asus seems to have gone the extra mile on its camera software this year. The big addition is Photo Vibes, which let you fundamentally alter the tone of your shots between five major settings.

Standard is Asus’ idea of a balanced look, and it was also my preference throughout my test period. Rich & Warm cranks up the contrast and drops the temperature. Soft & Warm drops both, Vivid gives you high color temperature and high contrast for that cool blue tint, while Gentle Cold gives you high temperature but low contrast.

The other new feature that feels potentially meaningful is the ability to map the right Air Trigger button to the shutter. It’s turned off by default, but when activated it gives you something of a point-and-shoot camera feel.

This is still only a capacitive button, so you don’t get the same tactile feedback as the iPhone 16’s Camera Control button, but it’s a welcome addition nonetheless. I particularly appreciated that the shot was taken on release, not the initial press, which helps with stability and shot composition.

Make no mistake, this still isn’t a top-notch camera system, despite the premium price you’re paying for the phone. Neither night nor daytime shots are up to the level of the iPhone 16 Pro Max, Google Pixel 9 Pro XL, or Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

That’s part of the deal with even the best gaming phones, and this is still comfortably the best gaming phone camera in town. It’s a low bar admittedly, but it’s one that last year’s ROG Phone 8 cleared with ease. The ROG Phone 9 Pro nudges things forward.

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro camera samples

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro review: Performance

• Features the brand new Snapdragon 8 Elite chip
• 18GB or 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM
• 512GB or 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage

Let’s face it, for all the ROG Phone 9 Pro’s mainstream refinements, we’re all here for the performance. You can take your gaming phone design in any direction you like, but if it can’t run games better than regular phones, you’re onto a loser.

Suffice it to say, the ROG Phone 9 Pro is very much a winner in the performance department. Much of that success can be laid at Qualcomm’s door, with the third-party chip maker providing its latest and greatest 3nm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor with its brand new Oryon CPU architecture.

Now add in an absolute stack of fast LPDDR5X RAM – 18GB in the Pro, 24GB in the Pro Edition – and you have as good a foundation as any phone on the market. My benchmark tests indicate a healthy advance on the previous Android flagship generation, which tended to run on the older Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

In the CPU-focused Geekbench 6, the ROG Phone 9 Pro scored an average of 10,106. That’s a 40% increase on the ROG Phone 8 Pro, and a 15% increase on the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

There’s a slightly less remarkable improvement in GPU terms, but Qualcomm’s new Adreno 830 GPU still represents a solid bump. The improvement across a selection of GFXBench GPU benchmark tests stood at around 24% on average compared to the ROG Phone 8 Pro.

Benchmark tests are especially necessary in figuring out how fast this phone is, as no games available on the Google Play Store can really stretch it. Genshin Impact and Wreckfest both run on the highest graphical settings at a more or less consistent 60fps.

More noteworthy for gamers is the ROG Phone 9 Pro’s improved sustained performance – that is, its ability to run consistently fast over extended periods, which is important for prolonged gaming sessions. In the 3DMark Solar Bar Stress Test, which runs 20 consecutive minute-long high-intensity graphical workouts, the ROG Phone 9 Pro scored 99.6% consistency.

That’s better than the ROG Phone 8 Pro’s 92.2%, and is right up there with the Red Magic 9 Pro and its integrated cooling fan on 99.7%. You might want to bring the AeroActive Cooler X Pro into play for hour-long sessions and beyond, but this is a meaningful improvement.

How much of this is down to efficiency gains on Qualcomm’s part and how much is Asus’ improved GameCool cooling system remains unclear. At the heart of this is Asus’s custom X Mode which, as well as ramping up the clock speeds of the CPU and GPU, monitors thermal limits and adjusts output accordingly.

Besides a meaty multi-layer cooling system, Asus has positioned the heat-generating SoC at the center of the phone, away from your hands. It’ll still warm up after a prolonged gaming session, but not uncomfortably so.

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro review: Software

• Android 15 with ROG UI
• Armour Crate app to fine-tune gaming settings
• Only two OS updates, five years of security updates

One of the big things that, for me, sets the ROG Phone 9 Pro apart from its Red Magic rivals and makes it a more pleasant phone to use day-to-day is Asus’ approach to software. Right at the start of the set-up procedure, you’re given a choice between a custom Asus UI or a more stock take on Android.

As a fan of Google’s Pixel phones, I went with the latter, with its familiar icons, volume control system, and integrated quick settings panel. But tinkerers, power users, and those coming from non-Google-branded phones may appreciate Asus’ alternative. The choice is most welcome, and I wish more manufacturers would offer it.

Asus adds a few of its own apps out of the box, including its own Gallery app and the usual everyday tools – think Clock, File Manager, Calculator, Themes, and the like. There’s nothing too egregious here, though that depends on your opinion of Facebook.

Armoury Crate is the company’s custom game interface, granting access to different power modes and display configurations. For popular games like Genshin Impact, you’ll find downloadable Air Trigger button mappings.

Artificial Intelligence figured highly in Asus’s press materials for the ROG Phone 9 Pro, but most of it is typical stuff for a high-end phone launched in 2024. There’s an AI Wallpaper feature for bespoke backgrounds; natural language image search in the Gallery app; localized AI transcriptions and summaries within the Recorder app; AI call translations; and various image and video editing enhancements. Google’s Circle to Search tool is also here.

Asus has also applied some AI smarts to its gaming UI with X Sense. It’s only in Beta at present, but it can use AI to identify when the ‘Pick up’ button appears on a game like Genshin Impact, and automatically activate it. It’ll also offer you the option to auto-run, and can speed up conversations in lengthy cut scenes. X Sense can even automatically hammer the escape button when it detects that your avatar is frozen or trapped.

All this positivity is tarnished somewhat by Asus’ inexplicably bad update promise, which only commits to two additional major Android versions. Still, at least Android 15 comes with it out of the box, and you’re also guaranteed a pretty decent five years of security patches.

There’s also the simple fact that anyone splashing out $1,000 / £1,000 or more on a cutting-edge gaming phone is likely to be the type of person who upgrades fairly regularly. Even so, this is an area Asus needs to improve on if it really wants to break into the mainstream with its ROG line.

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro review: Battery

• Larger 5,800mAh battery
• Comfortable all day heavy usage
• 65W wired and 15W wireless charging

One of the unwelcome compromises Asus reached in streamlining the ROG Phone 8 Pro was dropping the size of the battery to 5,500mAh, which isn’t the sort of thing a committed gamer wants to hear. There’s little point in being able to blast through Honkai: Star Rail at maxed-out settings for two hours straight if it means you’re running out of juice on the journey home from work.

While it hasn’t quite restored us to the heights of the ROG Phone 7’s 6,000mAh battery, Asus has given us an improved 5,800mAh cell this time around. Together with the improvements to energy efficiency, I’m pleased to announce that the Asus ROG Phone 9 is once again a stamina monster.

On a 15-hour day of moderate usage, with around 4 hours 30 minutes of screen on time, I was left with 60% in the tank. That’s notably better than the ROG Phone 8 Pro, which left me with less than 50% in similar scenarios, and is right up there around the Red Magic 9 Pro and Red Magic 9S Pro with their 6,500mAh cells.

Of course, at the time of writing, Nubia has just announced the Red Magic 10 Pro with its ridiculously large 7,050mAh battery, so Asus may still be a little behind on the gaming stamina bragging rights. Watch this space.

Asus hasn’t changed its charging provision, and it arguably didn’t need to. Once again it bundles in a 65W charging brick, which gets the phone from empty to full in a little over 45 minutes. That’s a tad worse than the ROG Phone 8 Pro, but about the same as the Red Magic 9S Pro.

One thing that stands out from other gaming phones is the provision of 15W wireless charging. It’s another small quality-of-life improvement that makes the phone a little nicer to use day to day.

Should you buy the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro review: Also consider

The Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro stands apart for its combination of gaming chops and everyday usability, but it’s not your only option. These phones will play games brilliantly without embarrassing you, but also have their own unique advantages.

How I tested the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro

• Review test period = 1 month
• Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
• Tools used = Geekbench 6, GFXBench, 3DMark, native Android stats, bundled Asus 65W power adapter

I was sent the top Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro Edition model by a PR representative, at which point I commenced using the phone on a daily basis over a two-week period, followed by a further two weeks of intermittent usage.

For around a week of that time, the 9 Pro was my everyday phone. For the rest of the time, I swapped in another active SIM and continued to use the phone for benchmark tests, gaming, photos, and general browsing.

I’m a freelance journalist who got his start writing about mobile games in the pre-smartphone era. I was around to cover the arrival of the iPhone and the App Store, as well as Android, and their seismic effect on the games industry. I now write about consumer tech, games, and culture for a number of top websites.

First reviewed November 2024