We got a sneak peak at the Asus ROG Phone 9, one of the first Snapdragon 8 Elite phones, and it's going to be fast

Monday astatine nan Snapdragon Summit successful Maui, Qualcomm unveiled its caller flagship mobile SoC – nan Snapdragon 8 Elite – which is powered by nan company’s 2nd-gen Oryon CPU cores. Qualcomm flew TechRadar to Maui to cheque retired nan latest chips, and I managed to way down immoderate surprises that will soon delight mobile gamers.

During nan keynote, Xiaomi announced that its 15 bid flagship would beryllium nan first telephone to vessel pinch nan Snapdragon 8 Elite later this month. Honor past revealed that its Magic7 bid handsets would besides characteristic Qualcomm’s caller mobile spot and motorboat Oct 30.

ASUS followed suit pinch nan ROG Phone 9, a gaming flagship coming Nov 19 that besides packs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite. But dissimilar nan competition, ASUS reps were connected manus pinch its caller handset and I sewage to cheque it retired astatine nan event. While nan institution wasn’t consenting to stock immoderate specs aliases pricing, I was capable to grip nan caller ROG Phone 9 for a fewer minutes. So present are my little first impressions.

The ROG Phone 9 looks a batch for illustration nan ROG Phone 8

The ROG Phone 9 shares nan aforesaid business creation arsenic nan ROG Phone 8 Pro ($1,199) that our ain Jon Mundy reviewed backmost successful January – down to nan camera pod style and port/button placement. Dimensions are similar, too, but this caller telephone feels lighter than its predecessor. You’ll find a mates of reddish accents successful nan back, alongside a redesigned dot-matrix LED show – which is now positioned horizontally erstwhile holding nan handset successful image orientation.

(Image credit: Myriam Joire / Future)

(Image credit: Myriam Joire / Future)

(Image credit: Myriam Joire / Future)

(Image credit: Myriam Joire / Future)

(Image credit: Myriam Joire / Future)

(Image credit: Myriam Joire / Future)

(Image credit: Myriam Joire / Future)

Obviously, nether nan hood, nan large news is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite. ASUS told maine that nan remainder of nan ROG Phone 9’s specs should beryllium somewhat improved complete its predecessor, truthful I don’t expect excessively galore surprises here. To jog your memory, nan ROG Phone 8 bid boasts a 6.78-inch 1080p 165Hz AMOLED surface pinch 2,500 nits highest brightness and an under-display fingerprint sensor. It’s rated IP68 for h2o and particulate resistance.

The ROG Phone 9 should besides inherit nan ROG Phone 8 series’ shooters, which see a 50MP f/1.9 main sensor pinch PDAF and gimbal OIS, and 32MP f/2.4 3x telephoto pinch PDAF and OIS, and a 13MP f/2.2 120-degree ultrawide. A 32MP f/2.5 selfie camera rounds things up successful front. In position of artillery power, nan ROG Phone 8 bid comes pinch a 5,500mAh dual-cell artillery and 65W wired charging positive 15W wireless charging.

You besides get stereo speakers, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and dual USB Type-C ports (one on nan bottommost separator and different connected nan near side). This allows you to complaint nan telephone while holding it successful scenery predisposition without nan cablegram getting successful nan way. On nan representation front, nan ROG Phone 8 bid offers 12GB, 16GB, aliases 24GB of LPDDR5x RAM, and 256GB, 512GB, aliases 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage. There’s nary expandable storage.

My ROG Phone 9 specs prediction: a small spot more

I fig that nan ROG Phone 8 Pro specs supra will transportation complete to nan ROG Phone 9 mostly unchanged – particularly nan cameras, which look identical. A amended ultrawide shooter (with AF) would beryllium nice, but that’s a agelong changeable considering this is simply a gaming handset. If anything, nan AMOLED show mightiness get upgraded to a brighter panel, and nan dual-cell artillery mightiness get a bump up to 6000mAh, but that’s fundamentally it.

Overall, I really liked what I saw during my little clip pinch nan ASUS ROG Phone 9. This gaming telephone feels awesome successful hand, is evenly balanced, and is good made – conscionable for illustration its predecessor. But it besides seems much refined than nan ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro. And while I didn’t get a chance to play immoderate games, navigating nan UI was soft arsenic butter, and nan AMOLED surface was ace clear, moreover nether nan aggravated Hawaiian sunlight.

Qualcomm claims that nan Snapdragon 8 Elite improves gaming capacity by up to 40% while delivering amended thermals and artillery life. So, pinch a speedy caller spot nether nan hood, adjacent aliases amended specs than its predecessor, and a akin design, nan ROG Phone 9 is shaping up to beryllium rather nan gaming powerhouse erstwhile it arrives connected Nov 19. Stay tuned for last specs and pricing, and expect a afloat reappraisal arsenic soon arsenic we've had a chance to trial this telephone and tally it done Future Labs.

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• Asus ROG Phone 9 has arrived pinch a caller Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset
• Asus ROG Phone 8 review: drops nan shot connected cardinal gaming features
• Xiaomi 15, Honor Magic 7, and much Android phones confirmed to characteristic nan Snapdragon 8 Elite