The Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro has plenty of features to appeal to gamers, though it’s not quite the best premium phone money can buy.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Lots of game-specific customisations | Expensive |
| Very nice 185Hz display | Relatively few Android games need 185Hz |
| Decent battery life | Only two Android OS upgrades is disappointing |
Score: 3.5/5
 |
Buy The Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro! | Buy On Amazon |
In this review
Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro Specifications
Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro Design
Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro Camera
Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro Performance
Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro Battery
Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro Conclusion
Ethical disclaimer: The Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro used in this review was loaned to me by Asus Australia, and that’s the full extent of the input that Asus has had into this review. It’s a loan phone, it’s going back and that’s neither here nor there as to whether I’ll review or how I’ll review any device. For more on ART’s ethics policy, see here.
Design
The Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro is the successor to the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro, a phone I reviewed last year for the sadly-departed Gizmodo Australia – which means that officially speaking, I can’t link to that review directly… oh look, here it is.
The thing with the ROG Phone 8 Pro was that it was Asus’ shift from a “pure” gaming phone towards a device that you might want to use everyday, because it didn’t look quite so gamer-centric. The ROG Phone 9 Pro continues that journey, though there’s only minor changes in design terms to take into account here.
The Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro is built around a 6.78 inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080×2400 pixels and support for up to 185Hz refresh rates no matter which version of the ROG Phone 9 you opt for.
The big new step up here is for 185Hz refresh rates, though it’s worth noting that relatively few Android games support 185Hz in a way that makes much gameplay sense – and some older titles that use the refresh rate as part of their timing may be unplayable at anything above 60Hz anyway. It’s configurable, and because it’s an LTPO display, that means you can run it at a variety of rates as best suits your gaming needs.
The confusing detail here is that the ROG Phone 9 isn’t one phone. It’s three. You start with the baseline Asus ROG Phone 9 and then two phones sold as the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro.
For $1999 you can score the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro, while $2,499 will get you the slightly confusingly named Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro Edition handset.
That phone comes with a few additional extras in the box, most notably the AeroActive Cooler X Pro clip-on device that acts both as a phone cooling fan and grip with additional gaming buttons on the back.
The ROG Phone 9 Pro/Pro Edition phones only sell in the one colour, Phantom Black.
It’s… well, it’s Black, with the only really standout design feature being the oddly shaped camera bump on the back, complete with a diagonal red stripe for… reasons, I guess?
As with the ROG Phone 8 Pro, I find that it’s too well suited for catching at an angle on my pants pocket when taking the phone out to use it, so I’m really not sure what those reasons might be.
At 163.8 x 77 x 8.9mm and 227g this is quite a bulky phone, even more so if you slip the included protective case onto it, and especially so with the AeroActive Cooler X Pro installed.
Black is, however, rather good for showing off the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro’s party piece. That’s the inclusion of a colour dot matrix display, dubbed “AniMe Vision” on the rear of the phone that can show a variety of information panels, simple patterns, or even play games.
The ROG Phone 8 Pro had the AniMe Vision display, but Asus has charged it up with more pixels and new games features, though they’re very much more a gimmick than something that should sell the phone itself.
You know that browser game in Chrome that you can play if there’s no network connection where you’re the dinosaur jumping over endless cactuses?
There’s a variant of that available, along with simple Snake, Breakout and Space Invaders clones that use the rear display and the “Air Trigger” touch sensitive sides of the phone for play purposes.
Just as it is on Asus’ other ROG devices that feature it, AniMeVision isn’t a massively useful bit of tech; it’s 100% there to be a “look at my shiny gadget” distraction play, really.
Like prior ROG premium phones you also get the unusual feature of dual USB-C ports. There’s one on the side, predominantly for connecting up the AeroActive Cooler X Pro, but also one at the base, offset to the left of the phone as distinct from the centre where you’ll find most phone’s charging ports.
That could have some effect if you’ve got other peripherals or stands that expect the charging port in the middle; for the most part during my review period the largest issue I had was remembering that the port wasn’t where my muscle memory, tuned by hundreds of phone reviews over the decades expected it to be.
One unusual design feature that you really don’t find in other premium phones that is present here is a 3.5mm headphone jack if you’re the wired headphone type.
In terms of durability, it is rated at IP68 for water and dust ingress. As usual I’ve not tested that to the point of destruction, because the review phone I’ve tested with isn’t mine, and in any case outside of lab conditions that kind of testing is typically more for show than to provide any quantifiable level of tested durability.
Camera
Does anyone buy a gaming phone looking for top-end photography features?
I’m going to hazard the guess that the answer there is no, but the flipside here is that the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro is a premium-priced device, and for that kind of money you can get some pretty darned fine phones. It’s sitting in the price space occupied by phones like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra or Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max, but you do need to temper your expectations here.
One cute feature – disabled by default – is the ability to use the right Air Trigger area as a camera shutter. It’s no Camera Control button, a la the iPhone 16, but it could have some suitability for those who prefer a more traditional camera feel.
In straight camera hardware terms, you get a triple lens array at the rear of the phone in its awkwardly shaped camera bump, comprising a primary 50MP wide sensor, 13MP ultrawide 120° and 32MP 3x Optical Zoom Telephoto camera with gimbal stabilisation for theoretically smoother shots.
Outside an improvement in the gimbal, this isn’t much of a jump up at a technical level from the ROG Phone 8 Pro’s camera array.
That plays out best for video, but otherwise – and this shouldn’t really be that surprising – I’d best describe the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro’s output as solid, but not best in class. It still sometimes had issues with exposure and focus relative to what I’d expect out of a phone that can run you as much as $2,499.
Telephoto can be stretched from its native 3x optical all the way up to 30x, but anything above about 10x zoom typically leads to sub-par results.
Regular park photo: Perfectly fine.
30x zoom park photo: Definite issues, despite attempts at image smoothing.
Still, ultimately if you’re keen on photography at this price you can do better than the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro – and I suspect most folks buying such a specifically “gamer” phone won’t
Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro Sample Photos
Performance
Asus has three phones that it sells as the “Asus ROG Phone 9”; there’s the baseline version, and then two Pro variants to pick from.
The difference between the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro and Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro Edition in hardware terms is pretty simple; the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro Edition version ships with 1TB of included storage and 24GB of RAM, while the cheaper Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro has 512GB of fixed storage and 16GB of RAM.
For either model, you’ll find the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor under the hood, running Asus’ reskinned version of Android 15.
For what it’s worth Asus sent me the 1TB variant, which makes it the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro Edition, though if you look in the phone’s own about page in its settings app, it’ll tell you that it’s the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro instead. Like I said, it’s got some confusing naming conventions in play.
It is ultimately pitched as a gaming phone, and the inclusion of the Snapdragon 8 Elite does give it plenty of power to play with. However, it’s not alone in that space, and I was curious to see how it compares against other flagship phones you could buy. Here’s how it compares using Geekbench 6’s CPU test:
A solid result there, though Samsung’s optimisation around its slightly tweaked “Snapdragon 8 Elite For Galaxy” processors does give it a very slight performance edge.
It’s a story that repeats itself looking at GPU performance:
All of this does add up to a nicely powerful phone that’s well and truly capable of running even the most demanding Android gaming titles very nicely indeed.
Asus’ commitment to software updates is rather behind the pace for such a premium priced phone, with only 2 OS upgrades promised along with 5 years of security updates. Compared to the 7 years of both that you get with the competing Samsung phones, that’s not particularly good if you’re after a phone for anything more than medium-term use.
Also read:
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Review
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Review
Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max Review
Of course, gaming is the play here (literally!), and Asus provides two key software applications for handling your gaming duties. Existing ROG fans will be familiar with Armory Crate as gaming management software, but alongside that sits Asus’ gaming overlay software, Game Genie.
A brief aside, but am I the only one who thinks of this whenever somebody says “Game Genie”? Answer below…
Unlike its ancient predecessor, Game Genie isn’t cheating software but instead configuration software for screen refresh rates, Air Trigger configuration and game recording and optimisation.
Most phone makes have some form of this in play, to be honest; you don’t need a gaming phone to get this kind of functionality. My biggest issue with Game Genie is that the motion used to invoke it, swiping diagonally down from the screen corners often doesn’t hit right, which can lead to some unusual Android behaviour.
Longer-term gaming on any phone can make for quite a lot of heat generation, and here the ROG Phone 9 Pro boasts improved internal cooling chambers, plus the AeroCooler if you opt for the Pro Edition version of the phone or buy it separately.
This can make quite a difference to the phone’s internal temperature during longer gaming sessions, as well as adding a pair of configurable rear trigger buttons for gaming purposes, though it nearly always tries to invoke
The one downside here is that it’s bulky; whenever the phone actually rang — a retro step in itself, but it does still happen, kids — I got distinct sidetalkin’ vibes if the Aerocooler was still installed.
Some of that less-than-optimal update planning may revolve around Asus’ gaming pitch for the phone however, with Asus’ own Armory Crate software giving you some of the kinds of tweaking you’d more expect to see on a top-tier gaming laptop.
Keeping that kind of optimisation in line with Android OS updates can’t entirely be easy, and for Android gaming phone fans that might be a tradeoff that’s worth working with.
Battery
The larger size of the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro allows Asus to stuff just a few more battery cells into its frame. Unlike the near-standard 5,000mAh that you’ll find in most Android phones right now, you get a 5,800mAh battery across both the regular and Pro Edition versions of the phone.
Having a bigger battery doesn’t automatically mean that you get better battery life, however, especially when you’re talking the combination of a higher power processor and larger screen.
Battery usage is always relative, so my first port of call is my standard YouTube battery test. You can read more about how I test mobile phone batteries here. Here’s how the ROG Phone 9 Pro stacked up:
Those aren’t bad figures – any phone that can manage above 90% battery life in that first hour is usually a good pick to last out at least a single moderate day’s usage – but that test is by definition quite lightweight on battery usage, and this is a gaming phone.
While ASUS’ Armory Crate and Game Genie apps do give you a lot of flexibility in terms of features enabled to maximise battery life, the reality here is that if you are quite a keen gamer, it’s entirely feasible to run the ROG Phone 9 Pro’s battery down in much less time than that.
One interesting note for the ROG Phone 9 Pro is that it’s just about the only premium flagship phone in the market today that still comes with an included charger in the box.
It’s a decent 65W USB-C charger, found in both the Pro and Pro Edition boxes, capable of recharging it quickly when needed. If you’re more the wireless charging type, the ROG Phone 9 Pro has support for Qi charging, albeit not for the superior Qi2 standard.
Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro: Alex’s Verdict
While its style does lean more closely towards mainstream phone buyers, the biggest factors that make the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro impressive are those that are factored towards heavy duty Android gaming fans.
At its asking price, especially for the Pro Edition version of the phone, it’s not inexpensive, so you’d need to be quite dedicated towards Android gaming for it to make a whole lot of sense.
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Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro: Pricing and availability
The Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro retails in Australia for $1,999 AUD with 512GB of storage and 16GB of RAM or as the ROG Phone 9 Pro Edition with 1TB of storage and 24GB of RAM for $2,499 AUD.
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