The compact ASUS Zenfone 9 has been announced
These days, seeing phones launch with displays larger than 6-inches has become the norm. In fact, we’d go as far as saying that 6-inches has become more or less the minimum in terms of display size, but it looks like ASUS is defying market expectations with its latest smartphone, the Zenfone 9.
Featuring a 5.9-inch display, the Zenfone 9 is one of the more “compact” smartphones we’ve seen to date, and that’s not a bad thing. This is because phones these days are getting a bit too big where one-handed use is kind of tricky, so having a smaller display is something we’re sure some users can appreciate.
The display offers a FHD+ resolution of 2400×1080 and a 120Hz refresh rate with a max brightness of 1,100 nits. Under the hood, the phone is powered by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, as expected, and features a vapor chamber cooling system. It is accompanied by 8-16GB of RAM, and 128-256GB of UFS 3.1 storage.
In the camera department, it seems that ASUS is also going the minimal route, where instead of a triple camera setup, they have opted for a dual camera setup with a 50MP Sony IMX766 main shooter with an f/1.9 aperture and a 6-axis stabilization system, and a 12MP Sony IMX363 ultrawide angle lens with an f/2.2 aperture.
The phone also comes with a side-mounted fingerprint sensor that actually pulls quadruple duty. This sensor also acts as the phone’s wake/sleep/power button, it can be programmed for custom actions, and it is also what ASUS is calling its ZenTouch Scrolling key, allowing users to swipe on it to perform certain actions.
The Zenfone 9 also sports IP68 certification for water and dust resistance, and comes with a 4,300mAh battery with 30W charging to top it off. The phone will be priced starting at 799 Euros for the base model, which all things considered is a pretty decent price for what you’re getting.