Distinctive, compact design; Fantastic battery life; Strong specs; Excellent low light photography;

Overheating issues; Only two Android updates promised; No mmWave support;

ASUS is making a case for small phones to make a comeback with the Zenfone 9.

Compact Size (even smaller than its predecessor), Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 inside, Impressive battery life, Charger still included in the box, Headphone jack, Upgraded cameras

Display refresh rate can feel a bit jumpy at times, Not available in the US yet, with no indication of when

Zenfone 9 puts all the brand-name phones behind it with high-end performance at a premium price. And the camera is awesome.

The second-fastest phone we've tested (second only to Asus' own ROG Phone). Super stable video with gimbal! A find for the price.

No teleoptics. Storage space cannot be expanded with microSD card. No wireless charging.

Compact, premium design; Gaming phone-grade power; Impressive battery life;

Misses out on wireless charging; Aggressive camera processing; No telephoto camera;

Since flagship smartphones must squeeze in more cameras, bigger screens, and even styli to appeal these days, the overall size of the devices has increased too. Thus, there have been calls for brands to also do the opposite — make small phones with flagship processors. Asus has listened to your calls and made the Zenfone 9, and it has a whole lot going for it. The Zenfone 9’s size follows Asus’s own directive of making a smartphone that’s less than 70mm wide and under 150mm tall to make it perfect for one-handed use, which began with the anonymous and rather overlooked Zenfone 8. This time, the company has used a squared-off shape and right-angle corners to ensure it can pack as much inside the phone as possible, and turned to aluminum for the frame and a polymer material rather than glass on the rear panel to reduce weight. The result is the Zenfone 9 weighs 169 grams, it’s 68mm wide, and 146mm tall. This makes it a few millimeters less wide than the iPhone 13 and the Galaxy S22, and ...

Compact and easy to handle; Powerful processor; Neat, lightweight design; Strong audio features; Main cameras take good photos;

Gimbal disappoints; Screen doesn’t get bright enough; No wireless charging;

The ASUS Zenfone 9 is a brilliant small smartphone, with an obvious focus on performance at the cost of camera quality.

Smaller phone than the rest of the Android phone market, top-end processing power, not much bloatware.

The camera is quite bad, no wireless charging, size may be unattractive to some.

Unboxing the Asus Zenfone 9 was like meeting someone new and learning that you like the same obscure movies or went to the same high school. I could tell immediately we’d get along. “You’re IP68 and you have a headphone jack? No way! I love headphone jacks!”

Compact and easy to use with one hand, Impressive gimbal-like camera stabilization, Great screen and smooth overall performance, Better-than-average built-in speakers, Good all-day battery life for a small phone

Doesn’t work on Verizon, Only two years of updates, No wireless charging, No telephoto camera