Gaming phones are a peculiar breed. While regular smartphones flex their muscles just fine with demanding games like Genshin Impact, the niche market for purpose-built gaming handsets has thinned over the years. Black Shark has gone eerily silent, and Razer tapped out in 2018 after the Razer Phone 2. These days, it’s mostly ASUS ROG squaring off against RedMagic, a rare face-off in a battlefield full of standard phones moonlighting as gaming devices.
Enter the ASUS ROG Phone 9 and 9 Pro. Following the well-received ROG Phone 8, ASUS is keeping its foot on the gas. Both phones pack Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, a 3nm powerhouse running at a blistering 4.3GHz, paired with up to 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. They’ve also beefed up the thermal game with GameCool 9, a 360-degree cooling system that ensures your hands stay comfortable even when your phone’s tackling Call of Duty Mobile at max settings.
The 6.78-inch AMOLED display is a stunner, boasting a 185 Hz (!?) refresh rate for ultra-smooth visuals and a peak brightness of 2500 nits. Throw in Gorilla Glass Victus 2, and it’s as tough as it is sharp. The audio setup has also been fine-tuned with an Audio Redirect feature that bounces sound toward you using the official cases, while the AeroActive Cooler X Pro adds a subwoofer for extra punch.
The cameras on both models are more than a token gesture, with a 50MP main sensor stabilized on a 6-axis gimbal, a 13MP ultra-wide lens, and either a 5 MP macro or 32 MP telephoto camera, depending on the model. Selfies get a boost with a 32MP front-facing camera, ensuring you’re just as sharp in Discord chats as in photos.
For gamers craving flair, the AniMe Vision display returns, with 85 mini-LEDs on the standard model and 648 on the Pro. These aren’t just for show—animations react to your actions, and on the Pro, you can even play mini-games on the back of your phone.
On the software side, ROG’s AI tools step up the game. X Sense auto-collects items and handles tedious tasks in games. X Capture records epic moments automatically, while AI Grabber hunts for tips and translates game text on the fly. For daily use, AI Noise Cancellation keeps communication clear, and the AI Call Translator breaks language barriers in real-time.
The 5800mAh battery is a slight bump from last year’s model, delivering 4.5 hours of hardcore gaming or 26 hours of regular use. And yes, it supports 65 W wired charging, so downtime is minimal.
The ASUS ROG Phone 9 starts at US$999.99 for 12 GB RAM and 256 GB of storage, while the 16 GB/512 GB version will set you back US$1,149.99. The ROG Phone 9 Pro comes in at US$1,199.99 for 16 GB/512 GB and hits US$1,499.99 for the maxed-out 24 GB/1 TB configuration. Game on.
Images: ASUS ROG.
