Asus Zenfone 9 review

Android 12 with ZenUI 9 on top, 2 Android OS updates

The Zenfone 9 comes with a proprietary layer of ZenUI in a version to match the phone's model name. Underneath, there's Android 12 and Asus promises 2 major OS updates, plus two more years of security patches - not the longest support, but not too bad either.

ZenUI 9 itself, as found on the Zenfone 9, looks a lot like stock Android for the most part, though there is a lot of custom functionality added on top, once you delve into settings. There's no bloatware in terms of apps, just a handful of basic ones like the Gallery, File manager, and Weather apps - nothing too extravagant.

Gallery • File manager • File Manager • Weather

Smart key is a long-standing ZenUI feature that allows you to assign actions to the power button and it's been enhanced on the Zenfone 9 thanks to the embedded fingerprint reader. In addition to the double press and long press actions, you can now swipe on the sensor to pull down the notification shade, refresh web pages or control media playback. The old two actions can be set to simply launch an app, but you can also choose from an extensive list of commands like changing system settings or setting an alarm, and you can alternatively set either of the two to voice input.

Smart Key is pretty powerful

Another new addition in the gesture department is the Back double tap feature. That can be assigned to taking a screenshot or launching the camera, or maybe toggling the flashlight on and off.

Small as it may be, the Zenfone 9 also has a Reachability-like one-handed mode too, with plenty of customization. In its essence, you swipe downward close to the bottom edge of the screen, though it may need some getting used to so you don't do the other gesture where you pull down the notification shade. You can adjust the maximum height of the One-hand mode area so if you have bigger hands, you don't really need to limit your space to just half of the screen, for example. Switching back to normal mode is just as easy - a single tap on the blank area restores re-expands the UI.

There's also the edge tool pane that lets you have app shortcuts available with a swipe in from the side. These apps will open in a pop-up window above the rest of the interface which is handy. Twin apps are supported, as well.

Back double tap • One-handed mode • Edge tool

The Game Genie might not offer so many gaming-related features as the current ROG Phone, but it's still one of the more feature packed implementations. You can track the real-time status of the device and call the Game toolbar offering quick access to certain settings. These settings can be re-arranged, added or removed.

Game Genie

The UI fundamentals are largely stock, though there are minor exceptions, like the 'clear all' button in the task switcher. Android 12 features like the Privacy dashboard, precise-vs-approximate location, and the wallpaper-based selection of UI and accent colors are implemented as well.

Lockscreen • Homescreen • Notifications • Task switcher • Privacy dashboard • Wallpaper colors

Performance and benchmarks

The Zenfone 9 features the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, the refreshed version of Qualcomm's flagship 2022 chip, now produced by TSMC instead of Samsung. Among the key improvements is the better efficiency, which we already had the opportunity to appreciate in the battery section. But there's also a bump in performance - we got to experience that on a bunch of devices, including an Asus-built engineering sample for the chip, as well as the ROG Phone 6 Pro, and the Xiaomi 12S Ultra.

There are multiple RAM and storage versions of the Zenfone 9, starting at 8GB/128GB and culminating in our review unit's 16GB/256GB (possibly a bit excessive when it comes to RAM).

On the Zenfone 9 Asus has put in a lot of effort into heat dissipation. The new model uses a vapor chamber solution and a heat spreader with copper graphite sheets and thermal paste and the new design has 230% larger area than what the Zenfone 8 had.

There are also several 'system modes', accessed from the battery settings. Most interesting from a performance perspective are the default Dynamic mode (because it's the default one) and the High performance mode (for obvious reasons). We tested both and got very different results indeed, with the Dynamic mode usually returning scores lower than the average SD 8 Gen 1 (non-plus), while in High performance the numbers were among the highest on record.

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  1324
• Asus Zenfone 9 (High Performance)
  1313
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1080p)
  1214
• Xiaomi 12
  1187
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  1171
• Asus Zenfone 8
  1118
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  1110
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  1092
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  979
• Xiaomi 12X
  943
• Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
  927

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 9 (High Performance)
  4338
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  4300
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  3682
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1080p)
  3675
• Xiaomi 12
  3652
• Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
  3606
• Asus Zenfone 8
  3604
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  3441
• Xiaomi 12X
  3168
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  3077
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  2659

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 9 (High Performance)
  1083092
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  1039412
• Xiaomi 12
  985115
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1080p)
  971828
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  881428
• Asus Zenfone 8
  799738
• Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
  783425
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  768513
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  762090
• Xiaomi 12X
  690298
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  682223

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 9 (High Performance)
  67
• Xiaomi 12
  59
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  58
• Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
  57
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1080p)
  55
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  53
• Asus Zenfone 8
  41
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  38
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  33
• Xiaomi 12X
  32
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  29

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  46
• Asus Zenfone 9 (High Performance)
  46
• Xiaomi 12
  41
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1080p)
  38
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  33
• Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
  33
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  31
• Asus Zenfone 8
  27
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  23
• Xiaomi 12X
  22
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  20

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 9 (High Performance)
  69
• Xiaomi 12
  59
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1080p)
  56
• Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
  47
• Asus Zenfone 8
  45
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  45
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  44
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  39
• Xiaomi 12X
  35
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  29
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  29

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 9 (High Performance)
  52
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  51
• Xiaomi 12
  45
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1080p)
  42
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  36
• Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
  36
• Asus Zenfone 8
  30
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  29
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  26
• Xiaomi 12X
  24
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  22

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 9 (High Performance)
  89
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  79
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1080p)
  76
• Xiaomi 12
  75
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  69
• Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
  66
• Asus Zenfone 8
  61
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  51
• Xiaomi 12X
  47
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  40
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  40

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  104
• Asus Zenfone 9 (High Performance)
  104
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  103
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1080p)
  90
• Xiaomi 12
  84
• Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
  75
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  74
• Asus Zenfone 8
  69
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  58
• Xiaomi 12X
  55
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  50

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  10533
• Asus Zenfone 9 (High Performance)
  10469
• Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
  10178
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1080p)
  9793
• Xiaomi 12
  9535
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  7526
• Asus Zenfone 8
  5666
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  5656
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  5261
• Xiaomi 12X
  4320

There was a marked difference in sustained performance between the two modes too, particularly when it came to CPU results. In the CPU Throttling test, when in High performance mode, the Zenfone throttled to just under 80% around the 15-minute mark of constant load and looked poised to be able to maintain that level. However, 50 minutes into the test it dipped further, to about 60% of peak performance, only to return to the 80-ish mark a few minutes later. That is, in fact, quite a respectable result for a high-end chipset, particularly in a small body like the Zenfone 9's. The behavior in Dynamic mode was very different, with the phone essentially dropping to 60% of peak performance some 5 minutes into the test, where it settled for the remainder of the 1-hour run.

There was a difference in the performance graphs in the 3DMark Wild life stress as well. While the stability scores reported by the benchmark are somewhat similar at 53% and 47% for High performance and Dynamic mode respectively, those numbers reflect the lowest loop result as a percentage of the highest. So they don't tell you that in High performance mode the phone had more loops of the test score above that minimum than in Dynamic. The point is, High performance mode offers higher performance for longer.

CPU throttling test • 3DMark Wild life stress test