Asus ROG Phone 9/9 Pro review

Design, build quality, handling

As already mentioned, the ROG Phone 9 sticks pretty closely to the design language of its ROG Phone 8 predecessor. Last year saw a major redesign, with the year being more or less a time of refinement.

Left: ROG Phone 8 Pro • Right: ROG Phone 9 Pro

Asus has been toning down the "gamery" looks of the ROG Phone line for generations now. No aggressive lines and geometric shapes are anywhere on the phone's body anymore. No bold metal or other elements sticking out and exposed. Even the writing on the device has been reduced to a minimum, with just a couple of visible markings here and there.

First off, let's discuss the visual differences between the regular ROG Phone 9 and the ROG Phone 9 Pro and Pro Edition. The latter two have an identical design with a very specific sparkly, slightly textured Phantom Black back side. It kind of feels like very fine sandstone to the touch, and it glimmers and shines very attractively in the light.

Left: ROG Phone 9 • Right: ROG Phone 9 Pro

The regular ROG Phone 9 offers a choice of two colors and a slightly different back finish - one much smoother and with almost no texture to half of it and a dot pattern on the other half. While one of the color options is still called Phantom Black, like the Pro, the finish is, as mentioned, much different. Then there is also the Storm White colorway that looks quite distinct from its black siblings. There are no bright or gaudy colors anywhere on the ROG Phone 9 models. The design is really subdued.

Asus did include a diagonal segmented design on the back of the phones as a subtle design trait. It is a lot more pronounced on the Pro model than the vanilla. On the other hand, the vanilla has a much more prominent ROG logo in the middle of its back.

Left: ROG Phone 9 • Right: ROG Phone 8

Even so, it is hard to tell the vanilla and the Pro apart, which is a good thing since the two variants essentially share the same hardware, both internally and externally and only differ in terms of telephoto camera and the AniMe Vision display. Asus did carve out a bigger divide in the generation than last year's, but it is still not as drastic as some other brands - you are getting equally high-end hardware with either one.

The ROG Phone 8 was the first in the series with a much smaller total footprint and a slimmer profile while keeping the 6.78-inch screen. The ROG Phone 9 follows in the same footsteps. We once again see the punchhole selfie camera, which has helped shrink the bezels.

The ROG Phone 9 models retain the same dimensions as the ROG Phone 8 generation - 163.8 x 76.8 x 8.9 mm, with a weight of 227 grams. It also has a larger battery 5,800 vs 5,500 mAh on the ROG Phone 8.

We can't discuss the design of the ROG Phone 9 family without mentioning the light-up design on the back. This is another difference between the vanilla ROG Phone 9 and the ROG Phone 9 Pro. This year, both models will get an AniMe Vision display. The vanilla just gets a very cut-down smaller version with 85 Mini LEDs, while the Pro gets 648 Mini LEDs. The latter array is actually divided into two zones - a bigger one with white LEDs and a smaller one with red LEDs.

The AniMe Vision matrix on the Pro is the biggest one Asus has designed yet. It is absolutely invisible when off, which is neat.

There are over 20 pre-loaded animations, and some are already set to trigger with some device actions and events. You can also import your own animations, and if you encounter another ROG Phone 9 Pro user in the wild, tapping the two phones together will unlock some hidden animations, too. The system can also display things like battery level, time, and weather information.

AniMe Vision interface

One new exclusive feature for the bigger AniMe matrix on the Pro model is the ability to play retro mini-games. These are launched through the Asus Armoury Crate and then controlled with the AeroActive triggers.

Currently, Asus offers a selection of four mini-games: Brick Smasher, Snake Venture, Aero Invaders and Speedy Runner. We would love to see an API for this gaming "platform" open up to third-party developers as well. Still, the selection of games included is quite impressive.

AeroActive Cooler X Pro

Asus has designed a new cooler for the ROG Phone 9. It is called the AeroActive Cooler X Pro, and as the name suggests, it is not actually considered a different "generation" than the AeroActive Cooler X (8th generation). In fact, if you already have an AeroActive Cooler X or prefer to get that one instead, we can confirm it is compatible with the ROG Phone 9.

Left: AeroActive Cooler X Pro • Right: AeroActive Cooler X

The new AeroActive Cooler X Pro follows the same general design language as the AeroActive Cooler X. However, it is notably bigger than the AeroActive Cooler X in practically every way. That's primarily because the AeroActive Cooler X Pro brings back the built-in active subwoofer.

Left: AeroActive Cooler X Pro • Right: AeroActive Cooler X

That said, not all aspects of older AeroActive Cooler designs are back. For one, the AeroActive Cooler X Pro still only has two programmable buttons rather than four. Still, they are omnidirectional and offer great tactile feedback no matter where you press them.

Other than that, the core components of the AeroActive Cooler are unchanged. You still get a combination of a spinning fan plus an active cooling element, commonly referred to as a peltier cooler. Also in the mix are RGB lights, a kickstand and passthrough USB Type-C and 3.5mm ports.

The new AeroActive Cooler X Pro has a 12.5% larger fan diameter. Bigger fans are generally more efficient and quieter. The cooler also has extended thermal material, improving airflow and cooling efficiency by up to 29%.

Build quality

One of the major durability additions that came with last year's major ROG redesign was the proper IP68 ingress protection. Earlier models like the ROG Phone 7 and 6 only had IP54. This is a great addition to the mix and naturally carried forward to the ROG Phone 9 generation as well.

You also get Gorilla Glass on both sides of the ROG Phone 9 - Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the front and some undisclosed Gorilla Glass grade on the back. The middle frame of the phone is made of aluminum.

There is practically no flex to the phone's body. It feels perfectly solid. There is no hollowness to the back, either. Overall, the ROG Phone 9 and 9 Pro are incredibly well-built.

Controls

The ROG Phone 9 and 9 Pro have a pretty standard control loadout and layout, all things considered. Some specific aspects are still worth pointing out, like the signature Asus Side port. At its core, it is still a convenient way of hooking up extra accessories to the ROG Phone 9 and is placed in such a way as to be as least intrusive as possible.

Seeing how the ROG Phone 9/9 Pro is expected to be heavily used in a horizontal orientation, it only makes sense to have a cable or other attachment hanging out of the bottom side where it won't interfere with your hands.

The Side port has undergone several design iterations. We witnessed the general simplification of the port through the years, culminating with the ROG Phone 6 generation, where the side port was just a second standard Type-C port. Asus toyed around with adding some pogo pins in the ROG Phone 7 but then dropped them for the ROG Phone 8, and ever since then, we have been back to simplicity with just a second standard USB Type-C port.

When we say 'standard' Type-C port, we don't do it justice as it's, in fact, higher specced than the one on the bottom. While both handle charging just fine and support the same Asus HyperCharge/Direct Charge and PD + QC 5.0/3.0 protocols at up to 65W, the side port is USB 3.1 gen 2 in terms of transfer speed. That means theoretical speeds of up to 10Gbit/s. All the while, the bottom Type-C comes with a simple USB 2.0 data link.

The side Type-C is also how you get video out of the phone - DisplayPort 1.4, in particular. That means 4K@30Hz, 144p@75Hz or 1080p@144Hz without any chroma subsampling.

These are generally the same I/O capabilities as the ROG Phone 8, 7, 6 and ROG Phone 5 generations of phones. Which, by the way, is not us complaining since even as they stand, these are miles ahead of the connectivity of your average smartphone.

Circling back to the bottom USB Type-C port, you will notice that it has also been deliberately tucked away as far to one side as possible. The same goes for the 3.5mm audio jack, which made a return with the ROG Phone 5 and is still present. Both of these are placed so as to be as out of the way as possible. However, we get that this off-center placement might trigger someone's OCD.

Just like the ROG Phone 8, the ROG Phone 9 has severely shrunken bezels. So much so, in fact, that there is no longer enough space for the selfie camera to reside outside the area of the display. This conscious decision made the overall design look more modern, but it has its downsides, especially for gamers. With the ROG Phone 9 and 9 Pro, you have to rely on accidental touch protection and palm cancelation like on most modern phones. It works decently enough, but again, it is not the same as having your palms resting on something else but the screen.

The ROG Phone 8 did away with the notification LED. This is also the case with the ROG Phone 9, but interestingly enough, the virtual notification LED feature from the ROG Phone 8 seems to be missing too. Instead, you get Always On Display (AOD) now.

ROG Phone 9 Pro

Continuing our control tour with more traditional entries, there is a standard volume rocker and a power button right underneath on the right-hand side of the device. Both are strategically placed to avoid accidental touches, which surprisingly left them in a convenient location for reaching with a thumb.

The in-display fingerprint reader is speedy and accurate. It is nothing special in hardware; it is just a regular optical unit. Still, this tech has matured nicely over the years. It also uses machine learning to improve over time. Plus, Asus still brings that extra bit of flair to it with a set of unlocking animations.

The ROG Phone 9 has two nano-SIM slots. Asus says that there is eSIM support, but only in Japan and Taiwan for now. The list of supported countries could expand in the future.

After undergoing some downgrades last year, the AirTrigger hardware is now back to its former glory with "ultrasonic" branding and a full set of gestures reinstated.

There are two pressure-sensitive areas on the side of the ROG Phone 9/9 Pro. They are still positioned on either end of the phone's right side - pretty close to the top and bottom of the bezel, which has been the case since the ROG Phone 5/5s. We find the position uncomfortable and requiring too much thumb-stretching, but Asus seems to be sticking with it. Asus justifies the position by claiming it is more convenient for users with smaller hands and shorter fingers, which makes sense on paper. We're sure they've done their research.

The recognized types of inputs include full zone touch, partial zone touch, short and long presses, swipes and slides. Each action can be individually mapped to an in-game on-screen control of your choice.

Beyond in-game use, the AirTrigger sensors also provide squeeze detection during the general use of the ROG Phone 9.

You can also get pre-made mappings for many popular games and even skip some setup steps while still retaining access to an impressive array of tweaks to things like sensitivity. It is an industry-leading system on a level of its own that no other manufacturer has even come close to matching.

Gone are the rear ultrasonic buttons from the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate. Still, if you strap on the AeroActive cooler and its two omnidirectional buttons, you can get two additional mappable button inputs.

Gyroscope Aiming is also available. It can be beneficial for some finer aim adjustments. As always, mapping can be used in any game out there.

AirTrigger settings

Then there are Motion controls, which seem to be carried forward in their entirety from the ROG Phone 8 generation, the 7 before that, the 6 and the 5/5s before that and are a few more in number than what the ROG Phone 3 could recognize.

Connectivity

In keeping with its pedigree, the ROG Phone 8/8 Pro is loaded for bear in the connectivity department. It is a dual-SIM phone with dual standby SA/NSA Sub-6 5G on both slots.

Beyond that there is support for Triple-Band (2.4GHz, 5GHz, 6GHz) Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be, Wi-Fi 7 with three antennas. You get a total of three Wi-Fi antennas with 2x2 MIMO support and intelligent seamless switching for the best possible signal. HyperFusion technology allows for simultaneous connection to Wi-Fi and cellular data and seamless automatic switching to the more stable of the two.

Local connectivity also includes Bluetooth 5.3 with Bluetooth LE support.

The ROG Phone 8 Pro also supports Qualcomm Snapdragon sound and is certified for HI-RES AUDIO and HI-RES AUDIO WIRELESS. It also supports multiple major Bluetooth audio protocols, including aptX adaptive and aptX Lossless Audio.

NFC is on board with card mode support. The GPS receiver on the Snapdragon 8 Elite has dual-band support (L1 + L5) and covers GPS, GNSS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, QZSS and NavIC.

In terms of other connectors, you still get a 3.5mm audio jack and a total of two Type-C ports. To reiterate, the Asus Side port is the more capable of the two, wired for USB 3.1 gen 2 data transfer up to 10Mbps and also carrying an alt-mode Display Port 1.4 connection.

In contrast, the bottom Type-C port is just wired for USB 2.0 speeds. Other than that, both ports support the same fast charging standards - Asus' own HyperCharge, sometimes called Direct Charge, which is entirely standard Power Delivery 3.0 with Programmable Power Supply (PPS) with additional support for Quick Charge 3.0 and 5.0.

You get a nearly full set of sensors. There is a TDK-Invensense ICM456XX accelerometer and gyroscope combo, a memsic MMC56X3X magnetometer and compass combo, an Asus-branded light sensor and an Asus-branded hardware proximity sensor. There is no barometer.