The ROG Phone 9 Pro Edition is here, and it's packed with features for serious gamers. This phone brings a lot of upgrades, like a new Qualcomm chip, a super-fast display, a bigger battery, and some cool AI features. It's designed to give you the best mobile gaming experience possible.
Design And Build Quality
The ROG Phone 9 Pro has a glass back that feels fuzzy and matte. It curves into an aluminum frame. You can tell it's a gaming phone because of the decals and the cool camera bump design. The back also has a mini LED Matrix display called AniME Vision. You can program it to show black and white GIF animations. The Pro model even lets you play retro mini-games on the back, which is pretty neat.
Like older ROG Phones, this one has a second USB-C port on the side. This is for charging, connecting accessories, and video output. The ROG Phone 9 family also has IP68 water protection.
Gaming Accessories
One big use for the side port is connecting the AeroActive Cooler X Pro. This cooler helps keep the phone from getting too hot during long gaming sessions. It also has extra buttons, a kickstand, a USB-C port, a headphone jack, and even a small subwoofer. The Cooler X Pro comes with the ROG Phone 9 Pro Edition bundle.
Another accessory you can buy is the Asus Tessen controller. It's a universal controller with lots of features. If you don't need a controller, the phone still has Air Triggers. These are pressure-sensitive areas on the side that you can use as game inputs, which is handy for games like shooters.
Display And Audio
The display is a 6.78-inch LTPO OLED with 1080p resolution and Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection. It has a super high 185 Hz refresh rate, but this only works for certain games. Otherwise, you can set it to 165 Hz or an adaptive 120 Hz mode. High refresh rates make everything on screen look smooth, especially during gaming.
For brightness, it can go over 900 nits manually and boost to over 1,900 nits in auto mode, so it's easy to see outdoors. The display is sharp and has good contrast, and it supports HDR10+ video. There's a hole punch for the selfie camera.
The ROG Phone 9 Pro has a headphone jack and stereo speakers. They are loud and sound great. Even though the speakers aren't front-facing, Asus's official cases can redirect the sound forward.
Performance And Software
This phone has an under-display fingerprint reader that's fast and accurate. The ROG Phone 9 Pro comes with 512 GB of storage, and the Pro Edition has 1 TB. You can't expand the storage with a microSD card.
Gaming phones need top performance, so the ROG Phone 9 Pro has Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. There's a big improvement over the last generation. The phone has different performance modes:
- Dynamic mode: This is the default.
- X mode: This unlocks more power.
- X mode plus: This is the most powerful mode and needs the AeroActive cooling fan attached.
In benchmarks, the 9 Pro in dynamic mode performs like the previous model's max X mode plus. With the new X mode enabled, it gets much higher scores than last year's flagship phones.
The phone runs a custom ROG skin on top of Android 15. There's a Game Genie overlay you can use in games, which shows performance info and options. The Armory Crate is where you find more detailed gaming settings. You can customize profiles for each game and even change system-level values. There's also a console tab for system-wide changes and real-time performance data.
AI Features
ROG has added a lot of AI features. Many of these are for games like Genshin Impact. For example, the AI can pick up items for you or keep your character moving. In all games, you can get real-time translation and search for things on Google by circling them.
There are also AI features for everyday use, like real-time call translation, transcribing audio, and summarizing text. AI also helps with semantic search, so you can search your gallery and settings using natural language.
Battery And Charging
The ROG Phone 9 Pro has a bigger 5,800 mAh battery. The battery life is really good, with an active use score of 16 hours and 41 minutes in tests. It supports 65W charging, and with the included adapter, it can charge from 0 to 76% in 30 minutes. A full charge takes 47 minutes. It also supports wireless charging.
Cameras
The ROG Phone 9 Pro has three cameras on the back:
- 50 MP main camera: This has gimbal stabilization.
- 32 MP 3x telephoto camera: This is only on the Pro model.
- 13 MP ultrawide camera:
The main camera takes 12.5 MP photos. In daylight, they have good detail and nice colors, but the dynamic range is just okay. In low light, photos are decent with low noise, but dynamic range could be better. If you use night mode, details improve a lot, even in dark areas.
Daylight shots from the 3x telephoto camera look good but can be a bit soft. In low light, the telephoto does a good job with clean photos and good dynamic range. The ultrawide camera takes photos with good detail but some softness. At night, the ultrawide is okay, with surprisingly good dynamic range and colors.
Selfies from the 32 MP front camera come out at 8 MP. They have decent detail and good skin tones. The dynamic range is all right.
For video, the main camera can record in 4K and 8K. The telephoto camera only records in 1080p, but the ultrawide can do 4K. Video stabilization works well, with electronic and gimbal stabilization on the main camera.
Features
- Powerful Performance: The Snapdragon 8 Elite chip and X modes give top-tier gaming performance.
- Excellent Display: High refresh rate OLED screen for smooth visuals.
- Long Battery Life: Large 5,800 mAh battery with fast charging.
- Gaming-Focused Features: AniME Vision, AeroActive Cooler X Pro, Air Triggers, and Game Genie enhance the gaming experience.
- AI Integration: New AI features for both gaming and general use.
Conclusion
The ROG Phone 9 Pro, like its predecessors, offers a top-notch mobile gaming experience. It has a huge list of features designed to improve gaming. Beyond that, it has great sustained performance, an excellent screen, impressive battery life, and fast charging. If you're looking for the best gaming phone out there, the ROG Phone 9 Pro is a strong recommendation.
