Asus ZenFone 9 With Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, 16GB RAM Goes Official; Coming To India?

Asus ZenFone 9 flagship smartphone has been launched globally. The phone has joined the club of the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor. While most of the flagships these days offer a screen bigger than 6-inch, Asus has opted for a compact 5.9-inch display for the ZenFone 9. So, let's have a look at the features and pricing details of the flagship.

Asus ZenFone 9 Design, Display Features

Talking about the design first, the Asus ZenFone 9 flagship sports a punch-hole display. The compact smartphone has two massive cameras at the rear, which are placed vertically alongside the LED flash unit. On the right side, there's a volume rocker and the power button that doubles as a fingerprint sensor. The device has a vapor chamber cooling system with a 230 percent larger attached area as compared to the ZenFone 8Z.

Interestingly, the Asus ZenFone 9 power button of the smartphone offers various gestures. The users can use it for voice-to-text, refreshing a webpage, opening the notifications, controlling the media, and scrolling from top to bottom of a web page. The handset also comes with IP68 certification, which makes it impervious to water and dust. The rear of the device is made from a newly-designed textured surface, which is tough and comfortable.

The Asus ZenFone 9 offers a 5.9-inch display, which utilizes an AMOLED panel and offers full HD+ resolution. The screen also supports HDR10+, a high screen refresh rate of 120Hz, up to 800 nits of peak brightness, DCI-P3 color gamut, and 115 percent sRGB. The display is also protected by the layer of the Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.

Asus ZenFone 9 Sports Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, 16GB RAM

The Asus ZenFone 9 is the company's first smartphone to utilize the 4nm process-based octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, which is paired with the Adreno 730 GPU. Notably, the ZenFone 9 is one of the first smartphones to flaunt a massive 16GB of RAM.

There's also a variant of the device with 8GB of RAM. Storage-wise, the phone will be available in two models - 128GB and 256GB. Software-wise, it boots Android 12 with the ZenUI 9 out-of-the-box.

ZenFone 9 Offers Dual Cameras, Six-Axis Gimbal Stabilization

Asus has fitted the ZenFone 9 with a 50MP primary camera that uses the Sony IMX766 sensor and offers 2x2 OCL PDAF & f/1.9 aperture. Notably, the smartphone is equipped with a six-axis hybrid gimbal stabilization, which is touted to be three times more effective than regular optical image stabilization. This will help the users to shoot sharper & clear photos, apart from steady videos.

There's also a 12MP secondary shooter onboard, which utilizes the Sony IMX363 sensor. The camera can take macro shots and has autofocus & advanced EIS for hyperSteady stabilization. The rear cameras are capable of recording 8K videos at 24fps and 4K videos at 60fps.

For selfies and video calling purposes, the device offers a 12MP Sony IMX663 shooter, which has autofocus as well as dual PDAF.

Asus ZenFone 9 Connectivity, Battery Specs

The connectivity features of the Asus ZenFone 9 include 5G SA / NSA, dual 4G VoLTE, support for Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, A-GPS with GLONASS, NFC, and a USB Type-C port for charging. In the battery department, the phone is equipped with a 4,300 mAh battery, which supports 30W fast charging.

The handset also comes with dual stereo speakers with Dirac HD sound, Qualcomm's WSA8835 smart amplifiers, and two microphones with OZO Audio noise reduction technology.

Asus ZenFone 9 Pricing, Availability

The Asus ZenFone 9 will be available at a starting price of 799 Euros, which roughly translates into Rs. 64,500 in the Indian currency. The handset will be up for grabs in Midnight Black, Starry Blue, Sunset Red, and Moonlight White colors.

The company will be first rolling the phone out in markets like Europe, Hong Kong, Taiwan, North America, Japan, Indonesia, and parts of South America in the coming weeks.

Asus ZenFone 9 Coming To India Soon?

Asus hasn't yet announced if it will be launching the ZenFone 9 in the Indian market. However, the company released the predecessor of the smartphone, the ZenFone 8Z, in the country. So, we can expect the ZenFone 9 to also reach the Indian shores in the near future. In addition, a report by the publication Mint has suggested that Asus will be releasing its latest flagship in India at around Rs. 60,500.