Asus ROG Phone 9 FE is coming and it might be familiar

Samsung uses the FE (aka "Fan Edition") line to bring out devices with decent high-end specs at lower prices than its proper flagships, and it now looks like Asus is a fan of this strategy.

According to new certification documents from Malaysia and Thailand, Asus is working on the ROG Phone 9 FE, to complement the already available (even in the US now) ROG Phone 9 and ROG Phone 9 Pro.

There's no doubt about the name, this appears in the certification documents very clearly. Unfortunately, specs for the FE model haven't been outed by these certifications, nor have there been any leaks so far.

And yet, we can speculate based on the ROG Phone 9's model number: AI2401N. "AI2401" was the model number of the ROG Phone 8, which was powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset (the newer ROG Phone 9 and 9 Pro obviously both pack the Snapdragon 8 Elite). So given how similar the FE's model number is to the ROG Phone 8, we can assume it might just be a renamed ROG Phone 8, relaunched in 2025 with a name that makes it seem less old.

Of course, this is nothing but speculation on our part, so don't take it too seriously. That said, if Asus' use of the FE suffix was indeed inspired by Samsung as it seems to have been, we do expect some spec downgrades compared to the ROG Phone 9 and 9 Pro, and a lower price of course. We'll let you know when we find out more.

Asus ROG Phone 9

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro

Asus ROG Phone 8

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