Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro Review: specs and features, camera quality test, gaming benchmark, user opinions and photos

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro - good, but not great

The most expensive phone in the gaming line of smartphones from the Taiwanese company Asus is the hero of today's review. Its starting price tag significantly exceeds a thousand euros, so to meet the needs of a demanding audience, the gadget needs to be flawless in literally every detail. Does the device cope with this task? Let's figure it out.

The appearance of the new product is not too different from that of its predecessors, which is rather a minus. In an expensive device, I would like to see narrower screen frames, less weight of the monoblock. However, the rest of the design is decent. The metal frame with touch trigger keys installed on it pleasantly cools the hand, the rear glass panel not only surprises with a stylish texture, but also an additional display of 648 LEDs. It even has some functionality like mini-games and displaying notifications. The block of photo modules is also pleasing to the eye, the case itself is ready to boast moisture protection according to IP68 standards. The main 6.78-inch AMOLED screen is not impressive. The peak brightness of 2500 nits is far from record-breaking, the resolution of 2400x1080 pixels does not allow achieving flagship image clarity. But such shortcomings are largely compensated by the smoothness of the content at a refresh rate of 165 Hz, an extremely responsive touch panel, natural color rendition, an effective oleophobic layer, and a high-quality under-screen fingerprint scanner.

The technical characteristics are fantastically productive. Unlike the "regular" version, its Pro counterpart is equipped with 16/24 GB of RAM, which helps to reveal the full potential of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite (Gen 4) chipset. The result in the AnTuTu test exceeds three million points even more, and the frame rate in resource-intensive applications is as stable as possible. Genshin Impact, Fortnite, Honkai: Star Rail demonstrates 60 or more frames per second with any graphic presets. The battery capacity of 5800 mAh will make you forget about sockets for a day and a half. Wired charging received a power of 65 W, but the wireless alternative is not so fast (15 W). The permanent memory is 512/1024 GB, which is more than enough for every user.

Photo enthusiasts will definitely like the appearance of a 32-megapixel telephoto lens with hybrid stabilization, like the main 50-megapixel module Sony LYT700C. Distant events and objects will now be captured with more detail. Evening shots are still far from those in detail in real camera phones, the 13-megapixel wide-angle lens is mediocre. But the stereo sound is rich, voluminous, and there is also a separate headphone jack. The list of advantages is supplemented by contactless payment NFC, 5G support, optimized Android 15. Thus, we have a technological, but still not the most ideal representative of the price category. It is difficult to definitely recommend it for purchase.