I reviewed a gaming phone that’s more powerful than my laptop

The Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro is a gaming smartphone from top to bottom, and as you’ll find out, from front to back as well. But is it still a proper everyday flagship device in addition to being able to provide all the fun gaming stuff when I want it?

This was the direction Asus took with the ROG Phone 8 Pro, which ended up being surprisingly sensible, at least compared to the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate. I’m very happy to say the ROG Phone 9 Pro continues the trend and has even brought back a little bit of the madness that defined the series in the past in a very unexpected way.

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro: specs

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro: design

Asus toned the look of the ROG Phone series down with the last generation, and it has mostly repeated the same design for the latest model. If you thought Samsung was bad for slightly refining but never really changing the look of its phones, then the ROG Phone 9 Pro will likely make you pretty mad. Thankfully, the company hasn’t entirely abandoned what made previous ROG Phones fun, as there’s a dual-color Mini-LED display on the back, which Asus calls the AniMe Vision display. It shows phone status information like the battery charge, notifications, and the time. We’ll come back to what makes the AniMe display really special in a moment.

The ROG Phone 9 Pro has the same dimensions as the ROG Phone 8 Pro, but is a touch heavier at 227 grams, making it a heavyweight in your pocket, and up there with the iPhone 16 Pro Max and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. Unlike those two phones, the ROG Phone 9 Pro’s glass back panel has a silky matte texture, which, along with the quite flat metal chassis, provides very little natural grip. There’s something about the ROG Phone 9 Pro that makes me use more pressure when holding it than I do with other devices, and fatigue gradually creeps in when browsing the web or using apps like Reddit.

Leaving this aside, the ROG Phone 9 Pro continues the tradition of being designed for gaming and including neat features that enhance gameplay. There are two USB-C charging ports — an offset one on the end and a central one on the side — a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a pair of shoulder-mounted touch controls called AirTriggers. This is one of the ROG Phone 9 Pro’s best features, as the AirTriggers are tactile and precise, making them highly usable. A welcome IP68 dust and water resistance rating makes it suitably durable, too.

It’s hard to call the ROG Phone 9 Pro attractive with its Brutalist-inspired shapes, hard lines, slash cuts, and blacked-out color scheme. It’s most definitely functional, but it’s not quite as comfortable as it should be, and you should also expect to grip the phone hard if you use it without a case.

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro: performance

The ROG Phone 9 Pro is one of the first smartphones to launch with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor inside, and it’s a serious powerhouse with an immense 4.32Ghz clock speed. It’s accompanied here by 16GB of RAM. If you buy the top ROG Phone 9 Pro Edition, it comes with a whopping 24GB of RAM. It’s ridiculously powerful. Asus has updated its cooling system to cope with the chip. There’s an even larger graphite cooling sheet, and the promise it will keep heat away from your hands and keep frame rates in games higher for longer.

While highly anticipated, there’s also some trepidation around the Snapdragon 8 Elite due to it running very hot inside the Realme 7 Pro we tested recently. How does it perform in the ROG Phone 9 Pro? I haven’t noticed any heat buildup during normal use, ranging from app use to watching videos. Notably, during my time with the phone, a software update did arrive specifically addressing benchmark app performance. Running the 3DMark’s intensive 20-minute Solar Bay Stress Test showed that even with this update and all the phone’s internal cooling, the chip still generates plenty of heat.

It does not overheat, but by the end of the test, I considered the phone’s frame almost too hot to hold comfortably. The back of the phone is also hotter than I expected, certainly far beyond what we saw with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The ROG Phone 9 Pro’s temperature reached 51 degrees Centigrade (nearly 124 degrees Fahrenheit) during the test and took up to 16% of the battery to run, making it clear that the phone was working hard.

What’s the takeaway here? The Snapdragon 8 Elite runs hot, but it doesn’t cause the phone any operational problems. Benchmark tests don’t reflect general use, but can replicate the stresses of playing high-performance games for long periods. I’ve been using the top ROG Phone 9 Pro Edition, which has a crazy 24GB of RAM. The chip’s mega clock speed and the massive amount of RAM make the phone more powerful than my laptop, which is an insane statement.

A side of the phone’s performance that deserves special praise is the audio. The stereo speakers have been tuned by Dirac to produce a fantastic, full, well-rounded sound that’s perfect for gaming and video. Wear headphones, and there’s support for Hi-Res Audio and Hi-Res Wireless, Snapdragon Sound, and every AptX solution you can name. There’s even a volume splitter control for games with a picture-in-picture screen active. The audio capability and performance of the ROG Phone 9 Pro is unmatched by another current phone.

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro: playing games

Remember I said there was something very special about the AniMe Vision display on the back of the phone? Well, you can play games on it. Yes, really. There are four different retro minigames, and you control the “action” using the AirTriggers while holding the phone “backward.” These are not advanced games in the slightest, but I admit I’ve had more fun playing them than I did playing many other big-name titles I use to test phones. It’s the silliest feature I’ve seen on a phone in ages, but I absolutely love it and adore that Asus has found a fun and innovative way to bring some of the gaming madness back to the ROG Phone.

Asus has several special software features that make its gaming phones unique. The primary ones are X Mode, which maxes out performance, and Game Genie, which lets you customize how the phone works when playing games. New AI-based features include X Sense, which uses image recognition to auto-fast-forward dialogue, help pick routes, and auto-upgrade skills in certain games, including Genshin Impact, Arena of Valor, and Honkai: Star Rail. X Capture auto records key moments in your game.

I’ve played several 30-minute sessions of Asphalt Legends: Unite and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and it’s a great gameplay experience. There’s no heat buildup in Asphalt, and moderate heat generated playing Mobile Legends, but nothing close to the levels in the benchmark tests. The AirTriggers are easily customized and can enhance games with complex control systems. The shoulder controls, along with the many special gaming modes, set the ROG Phone 9 Pro apart from other flagship phones when playing games.

The 6.78-inch AMOLED screen gets a refresh rate boost to 185Hz, but it’s applied in the Game Genie settings and isn’t for regular use. I’ve played games at 165Hz — the maximum available in general use — and at 185Hz and can’t notice any difference, as it’s smooth and blur-free in both. Otherwise, the 2,400 x 1,080 pixel resolution, 720Hz touch sampling rate, and 2,500 nits peak brightness is all the same as the ROG Phone 8 Pro.

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro: software

Android 15 is installed, and as with other ROG Phone models, there’s a choice of a flashy user interface or a standard Android one, with masses of customization to make the system look and sound how you want. As usual, you can change the look of the icons, the color schemes, ROG themes, and all the different sounds. All are really well made, and although they won’t be to everyone’s taste, I love the amount of choice you get.

As you’d expect, Asus has added a selection of AI features to the software. These include Google’s Circle to Search, a semantic search, AI Transcripts, and an AI Call Translation that works regardless of whether both parties are using an ROG Phone 9 Pro. All AI features work on the phone rather than in the cloud and were first seen on the Asus Zenfone 11.

I’ve found the ROG Phone 9 Pro’s software to be reliable and enjoyable to use, and I have come up with my own tailored style that I like. Unfortunately, the ongoing update support falls behind the competition, with Asus promising just two major Android version updates and five years of security updates. When Google, Samsung, and OnePlus all offer five years or more of major version updates, this is a disappointment, regardless of how you feel about whether you’d realistically still own the phone in three years’ time or not.

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro: camera

The ROG Phone 9 Pro isn’t the phone to buy if you take mobile photography seriously. The main camera is a 50-megapixel Sony Lytia with Asus’ improved 6-axis gimbal, which now compensates for five degrees of movement. It’s joined by a 32MP telephoto lens for 3x optical zoom and a 13MP wide-angle camera. The hardware is essentially the same as on the ROG Phone 8 Pro, aside from using a different 50MP main sensor, which is disappointing, but somewhat understandable considering the phone’s focus.

Photos taken with the main camera are decent, but they can suffer from noise, and there’s obvious smoothing when you look carefully. The images can also lack some of the colorful punch delivered by the wide-angle camera. It does not seem to be a big step forward over the one used for the ROG Phone 8 Pro. While I prefer the colors and contrast of the wide-angle camera, the noise and sharpening are even worse. This theme continues when you use the 3x optical zoom.

On the software side, Asus has introduced Photo Vibes, which are filters that are similar to Apple’s Photographic Styles. Unlike the iPhone, they can only be applied when you take the photo, not after editing. No one should buy the ROG Phone 9 Pro for the camera, and it’s unfortunate that the software has not been sufficiently improved or better optimized for the new sensor. I know from the ROG Phone 8 that the rest of the hardware is competent.

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro: battery and charging

A 5,800mAh battery resides inside the ROG Phone 9 Pro and has serious staying power. Expect six hours of screen-on general use on a single charge, while a 40-minute YouTube video at 1440p uses up just 3%, displaying excellent efficiency from the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Asus says the battery will power through four-and-a-half hours of a continuous, heavy gaming session.

Recharging can be performed wirelessly at 15 watts, but more quickly using the 65W wired charger in the box. It supports the USB PD 3 PPS standard so you can use any compatible fast charger. The specifications are the same as those of the ROG Phone 8 Pro, and it takes around 45 minutes to charge the battery fully. The side-mounted USB-C port is made for powering the phone while still playing games, and in the Game Genie menu, it can be switched to a bypass mode, so it only powers rather than charges, reducing heat and maintaining performance.

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro: Which model should you choose?

I’ve been reviewing the ROG Phone 9 Pro Edition, which is the top model available from Asus this year, but there are two other versions of the phone to consider. The range starts with the ROG Phone 9, and it does not have the AniMe Vision’s games, but a simpler version of the display with 85 LED dots compared to the 648 dots on the ROG Phone 9 Pro. It gets a 5MP macro camera instead of the telephoto camera, and a maximum of 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage space.

The ROG Phone 9 Pro and 9 Pro Edition are the same aside from the RAM and storage space boost, and the inclusion of the AeroCooler X Pro in the box of the 9 Pro Edition. Whether this is worth it depends on how long you’re going to play games for, and which games you regularly play. If you’re playing top, graphically intensive games for more than a couple of hours a day, then it may be worth it.

Why? The AeroCooler X Pro connects using the side USB-C port on the phone, and has a built-in fan powered by it. Additionally it adds a subwoofer for the audio, a pair of physical shoulder buttons, a kickstand, and another 3.5mm headphone jack. There’s also an RGB panel because it’s a gaming phone.

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro: price and availability

Like previous models, the Asus ROG Phone 9 series has a staggered release schedule. At the time of writing, preorders for the Asus ROG Phone 9 series in Europe and the U.K. start on November 19, with shipments beginning in December. Asus plans to release the ROG Phone 9 series in the U.S. in January 2025, with more information coming soon.

The standard ROG Phone 9 with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage space will cost $999, and the 16GB/512GB ROG Phone 9 Pro will be $1,199. The top ROG Phone 9 Pro Edition, which comes with the AeroCooler X Pro, with its insane 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage space, will be $1,499. For reference, the ROG Phone 8 Pro was also $1,199 at launch.

The ROG Phone 8 Pro competes with the iPhone 16 Pro, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, and the Google Pixel 9 Pro. All are worthy alternatives, representing the best phones you can buy at the moment. However, none have the same gaming-specific features and software, but they can still play all the top games. As to whether the ROG Phone 9 Pro is the best option for you, it’ll be down to how important mobile gaming is to you.

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro: Should you buy it?

I’ve felt a twinge of disappointment using the ROG Phone 9 Pro. Not because it’s bad (far from it), but because it’s extremely similar to the ROG Phone 8 Pro. From the overall design, dimensions, and screen to the camera and charging, it’s the same phone. The ROG Phone 8 Pro was a new beginning for Asus and the ROG Phone line, and it’s a shame its replacement hasn’t moved things forward again.

There’s no question it’s a brilliant phone for gaming. The AirTriggers are still the best of their kind that I’ve tried. The audio performance beats the competition every time. The immensely powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite — which may be all some need to consider in terms of buying the phone — doesn’t seem to get too hot outside of some benchmark tests and is shaping up to be very efficient. Add the AeroCooler X Pro accessory, and you’ve got a unique gaming phone that will be someone’s dream device. If that’s you, and you don’t own the ROG Phone 8 Pro, you’re going to love it.

For everyone else, it’s a tough call. The ROG Phone 9 Pro is a mildly updated ROG Phone 8 Pro, and if you didn’t jump on that one, then this one won’t be for you either. The one final thing I’ll say is the silly minigames on the ROG Phone 9 Pro’s AniMe Vision display are probably my favorite thing about the whole phone, and possibly make it worth buying if you miss the days when mobile games were simple affairs.