At a look
Skilled’s Score
Professionals
- Excellent efficiency
- Stable digital camera system
- Nice, understated design
- Cool hidden options
Cons
- Cluttered and annoying software program
- Disappointing passive battery drain
Our Verdict
The ROG Telephone 9 Professional can’t get significantly better. Its as soon as gaudy gaming options at the moment are subtly hidden, making it simpler to suggest to anybody in search of uncooked energy. It’s an absolute machine, with quirky design selections that anybody can love, a better-than-expected digital camera, and the smoothest show you’ll discover on any telephone.
Value When Reviewed
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Value When Reviewed
From $1,199.99 | Mannequin reviewed $1,499.99
The ROG Telephone 9 is able to ship off 2024 with a bang. Packing the 12 months’s flagship Qualcomm chipset as common, it’s a powerhouse of a gaming telephone with a worth to match.
Half a decade in the past, an ideal gaming telephone prioritised CPU, reminiscence, and show, providing a laser-focused rig in your pocket at a worth that wouldn’t burn a gap by way of it. However with cell video games rapidly turning into as bold as console titles, the paradigm has shifted.
The Asus ROG handsets have all the time been the luxurious on-the-go gaming system. May this generational change within the common gamer’s wants flip this as soon as pointless expense right into a close to necessity? Right here’s my evaluation of the ROG Telephone 9 Professional.
Design & Construct
- Understated branding
- Capacitive triggers and an LED matrix
- Fingerprint-resistant rear
On first inspection, the ROG Telephone 9 Professional could possibly be mistaken for a lot of different black-backed handsets. That may not attraction to everybody, nevertheless it’s an excellent factor for my part.
Asus’ ROG merchandise are usually recognized for edgy, gamer-inspired seems to be, which made them a tricky promote for some.
Joshua Brown
Right here, the calmly textured matt again solely provides solution to a clean diagonal stripe. There’s covert ROG branding with a brand, slogan, and a few different hints of its gaming prowess scattered about, however they’re tiny and stay invisible till scrutinised.
The rear particulars are etched onto a sheet of glass that someway seems to be, feels, and seems like coated plastic. And Asus isn’t flawed in saying it resists fingerprints. The triple digital camera array seems to be a bit of robotic, adopting an uncommon form, nevertheless it’s simple to get used to.
Rear particulars are etched onto a sheet of glass that someway seems to be, feels, and seems like coated plastic
Again to the branding, it’s a “there in order for you it, gone if you happen to don’t” strategy. You actually can have it. Debuting on ROG laptops years again and that includes on the ROG Telephone 8 Professional telephone, each ROG Telephone 9 mannequin now comes with the AniMe Imaginative and prescient LED matrix baked into the again.
The Professional mannequin makes use of a bewildering 648 LEDs to show detailed photos and complicated GIFs. It even performs video games utilizing the invisible touch-sensitive AirTriggers on the sting. Faucet it in opposition to one other ROG 9 telephone, say at a cell sport match, to unlock extra. It’s a cute contact. Nonetheless, non-Professional fashions get an 85 LED array for easy graphics solely.
Joshua Brown
The ROG Telephone 9 Professional retains the three.5mm headphone jack. This isn’t a shock given the considerations of Bluetooth-induced latency and the way that may have an effect on aggressive efficiency.
With a headphone jack on one nook and the USB-C charging port on the sting under, you’re proper to assume it may spell an ergonomic nightmare in panorama.
In actuality, it’s genius for a few causes: if you happen to’re utilizing wi-fi headphones (or none in any respect) you possibly can maintain it panorama and solely cowl the jack. Second, there’s a second USB-C port on the centre of the lengthy facet. You may have wired headphones, cost, and nonetheless get a strong, uninterrupted grip when you might want to lock in.
Apparently, it means the ROG Tessen cell controller (or usually any snap-on cell sport controller) has the entire setup trying extra like a PlayStation Portal than a Nintendo Swap.
Display & Audio system
- Brilliant, vibrant AMOLED panel
- Lightning-fast refresh charges and contact sampling
- Stereo audio system with room to develop by way of exterior cooling fan
The ROG Telephone 9 Professional, surprisingly, follows within the footsteps of most trendy handsets in relation to audio system. There’s a two-piece speaker grille nestled between the SIM tray and charging port on the underside and nothing however a microphone on the opposite facet.
Joshua Brown
That earpiece speaker provides further oomph that pairs properly with the primary speaker to supply very loud audio. It’s additionally pretty bass-focused and largely high quality for directional audio of in-game gunshots, for instance. It’s not the very best for immersing your self in a film or journey video, nevertheless it’s no slouch.
The ROG Telephone 9 Professional has the identical show as its predecessor – a 6.78-inch 2400×1080 AMOLED that enjoys the inky blacks of OLED whereas retaining brilliant highlights. Can the Gorilla Glass Victis 2 resist game-induced scratches and repeated journeys to the pocket? It’s doing an admiral job to this point.
Joshua Brown
Whereas not the sharpest panel round, it’s excellent for a gaming-focused handset. Increased resolutions demand extra energy – there’s a motive you’ll see execs dial issues again. Each body issues, and driving extra pixels invitations hassle and low battery notifications.
The AMOLED tech makes colors pop, and with as much as 1,600 nits when wanted, HDR content material shines brilliant.
The ROG Telephone 9 and 9 Professional’s shows additionally set a brand new customary for display refresh charges. The screens can hit 185Hz, greater than some other telephone on the time of launch.
The show on the 9 Professional is fantastically clean throughout all eventualities
Nonetheless, there are caveats to this. It’s solely out there as an possibility throughout the ‘Sport Genie’ app, that means common content material is restricted to the (nonetheless unbelievable) 165Hz. Additionally, so few apps can truly benefit from the 185Hz that it’s not a significant improve.
Nonetheless, the show on the 9 Professional is fantastically clean throughout all eventualities. Go away it on Auto and it’ll modify to match on-screen content material, remaining clean at the same time as framerates fluctuate.
There’s additionally a 960Hz contact sampling fee (what number of occasions the display can register a contact enter every second), serving to make the telephone extremely fluid and responsive, which is particularly necessary when gaming with out an connected pad.
Specs & Efficiency
- Excellent basic efficiency
- Good in-game body charges
- Robust cooling
Like all of the ROG Telephone 9 fashions, the Professional makes use of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. These are a few of the first telephones to make use of Qualcomm’s new silicon, which is paired with an improved cooling resolution to assist hold issues working easily.
The place issues deviate closely is with reminiscence. The bottom ROG Telephone 9 makes use of “as much as 16GB” of LPDDR5X reminiscence. Transfer as much as the Professional mannequin and also you’ll get little greater than the total AniMe Imaginative and prescient configuration.
Joshua Brown
Climb to the Professional Version (sure, that’s completely different to simply the Professional) reviewed right here and also you’ll bump issues as much as 24GB and an enormous 1TB of storage. Each mannequin makes use of UFS 4.0 storage that opens apps, hundreds sport maps and applies updates like lightning. There’s no concern there.
If you would like your trendy, large-scale open-world cell titles to run as easily as potential, the Professional Version has its place.
I hardly ever noticed greater than 6GB used whereas gaming; it’s extra for leaving a number of video games going without delay supplied you don’t let it clear up the reminiscence periodically. Go large and also you shouldn’t have to improve for some time.
Joshua Brown
In testing, the Snapdragon 8 Elite achieved 9957 within the Geekbench 6 multi-core take a look at and 3144 within the Single Core take a look at.
On the multi-core facet, the chip underneath the hood exhibits round a 38% enchancment over the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 present in final 12 months’s ROG Telephone 8 Professional and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely. In Wildlife Excessive, it manages a playable 35fps. A marvel.
In apply, on Fortnite, the ROG Telephone 9 Version managed a close to rock-solid 90fps on the very best settings potential. Higher visuals are unlocked at a 60fps cap, which it nonetheless managed to keep up.
Asus ROG Telephone 9 Professional benchmarks
It may well’t rival the console or PC variations by way of visible parity, however cell gaming at this worth level is essentially aggressive. Once more, each body counts. The very fact you possibly can have your cake (body fee) and eat it too (graphics) is extraordinary.
Equally, Genshin Impression maintained its 60fps cap on the prime settings each on the town and whereas smashing parts and enemies collectively within the Spiral Abyss. There’s the odd stutter as new assaults are cached, however as soon as every part is wedged into the reminiscence, you’re good to go for hours.
That very same goes for a frantic boss battle in Honkai Star Rail. Extra into MOBA video games? Wild Rift, one of many solely extra graphically intense, aggressive titles with excessive framerate assist, sings at 120Hz.
The very fact you possibly can have your cake (body fee) and eat it too (graphics) is extraordinary
In the event you do handle to push it to the sting, Asus nonetheless presents its personal exterior fan cooling system. This snaps onto the again of the system, with it (and a case to match) included with the Professional Version.
In testing by way of the 20-minute 3DMark Wildlife Excessive stress take a look at, efficiency rapidly dropped by round 44% because the chip settled at 40c, presumably to keep up the battery. Allow it to go to full energy by way of Armoury Crate and the efficiency drop-off is diminished to round 9% because it hits round 54c.
Artful cooling on this setting made the quick edges comfortably heat by redirecting warmth to make the lengthy facet too scorching to deal with. With the exterior fan included within the Professional Version connected, efficiency stability hit 98%, sustaining its full potential because the temperature was saved to that common 40c candy spot.
Cameras
- Nice 50Mp primary shooter
- Selfie digital camera does an admiral job
- Pictures can need slight adjustment
There’s lots to speak about in relation to cameras on the ROG Telephone 9 Professional.
The entrance digital camera is a 32Mp ultrawide sensor that’s able to taking spectacular portrait pictures in cloudy situations. There are many beautifying filters right here, which can possible divide opinion.
As an alternative of the common ROG Telephone 9’s macro lens, the Professional fashions get a 32Mp telephoto with assist for 3x optical zoom and 30x digital zoom. It’s joined by a 13Mp ultrawide, plus the primary occasion – a 50Mp Sony Lytia 700 rear shooter, which has a barely upgraded picture stabiliser in comparison with the Sony IMX890 on the ROG Telephone 8 Professional.
Joshua Brown
The outcomes are spectacular. In primary point-and-shoot testing, the rear cameras precisely captured a jaunt round a northern England city having fun with its first autumn frost. Gray bricks, murky waters, autumn leaves and vibrant slim boats had been the day’s targets.
Whereas pictures got here out a bit of chilly or darker than they appeared, one-tap fixes had been sufficient so as to add any lacking character. There’s little doubt higher pure lighting would resolve the problem, however that’s onerous to seek out this time of 12 months.
The 50Mp lens can be quick sufficient by default to obviously seize fast-moving objects outdoor. I didn’t get to check the AI Panning function designed to maintain one in focus throughout a panoramic shot, however after the bridge snap, I imagine it may possibly.
The rear cameras precisely captured a jaunt round a northern England city having fun with its first autumn frost
That very same snapper settles on a barely aggressive bokeh (background blur) at quick vary. This will not be to everybody’s tastes or go well with the scenario you’re making an attempt to seize, nevertheless it achieves an ideal look. Publicity is tweaked a tad greater in portrait mode, with barely stronger background blurring.
On the entrance, portrait blurring is particularly sturdy however suitably correct, with minimal hair wisps misplaced to the depth algorithms.
Brighter colors, like vibrant pink flowers blooming by way of the frost, appeared crushed. I’d hoped this was only a side-effect of the show, however viewing them again on my PC monitor displayed the identical difficulty.
May it have been attributable to the sharp distinction within the scene’s distinction? It’s potential. It’s one thing I struggled to copy, nevertheless it’s value maintaining in thoughts. Equally, low-light pictures, whereas definitely usable, are nothing particular by as we speak’s requirements.
Battery Life & Charging
- 5800mAh battery with 65W quick charging
- Nice battery life on most settings
- Standby time can take an actual hit
Improved over final 12 months’s mannequin is the battery. Whereas maintaining the chassis the identical measurement (and solely two grams heavier at 227g), the battery has gained an additional 300mAh to balloon to a whopping 5800mAh. It nonetheless helps 15W wi-fi and 65W wired charging, with a succesful wired plug included within the field.
Even nonetheless, the lack of battery whereas on standby is noticeable if you happen to don’t recurrently shut your apps. In use, it powers some extremely prolonged gameplay classes, with a 60fps Fortnite match draining round 1% of the cell per 5-minute wrestle.
Joshua Brown
A 15-minute enhance nets round 41% from empty, with a 30-minute cost managing as much as round 70%. It’s a good way to gasoline hours of Wild Rift rounds as you cool off and mirror on a brutal defeat.
Throughout a gaming stress take a look at, the 20-minute run misplaced us 8% on the balanced mode. At full spec, that grew to become a merciless 18%.
In simulating real-world eventualities by way of the PCMark Work 3.0 take a look at, 8 hours of screen-on time solely depleted 52% of the cell, with it lastly tapping out simply after 14 hours and 40 minutes. As long as you’re not leaping right into a match, you possibly can go all day with a 15-minute recharge.
As long as you’re not leaping right into a match, you possibly can go all day with a 15-minute recharge
Even charging at half its most pace by way of an after-market charger, the ROG Telephone 9 Professional gained nearly 20% in round 10 minutes whereas enjoying Genshin Impression on the very best settings.
It additionally stayed comfortably heat. The Sport Genie software program reported a system temperature of round 40c throughout this little train. Battery drain whereas related and gaming is a non-issue. The side-mounted charging port proves very helpful in these eventualities.
Software program & Apps
- A lot of interruptive ideas and tutorials
- Sport Genie is useful with out being unintrusive
- Hit-and-miss Armoury Crate app
The ROG Telephone 9 Professional runs Android 14 out of the field, however with Asus’ customized ROG OS excessive.
That is the place issues can get a bit of cloudy. Setup feels prefer it takes an age with near-endless tutorials and tooltips getting in the way in which. The Armoury Crate overlay used to spice up (or restrict) gaming efficiency additionally feels poorly designed for panorama use, typically getting in the way in which.
Joshua Brown
The Sport Genie overlay, nevertheless, is a pleasant and concise built-in supervisor with nifty options like useful resource screens, display shrinking, recording (together with AI-assisted auto second recording in supported video games), background play assist and extra. You may go for a extra streamlined expertise too, if you happen to’d desire.
Other than these gamer-specific tweaks and some different Asus apps and instruments, it’s comparatively near so-called ‘inventory Android’. It means the overall software program expertise feels slick and intuitive, supplied you’re already aware of Android telephones.
The overall software program expertise feels slick and intuitive, supplied you’re already aware of Android telephones
Asus hasn’t how lengthy the ROG Telephone 9 Professional might be supported with software program updates. Hopefully, it’s an enchancment on the 8 Professional, which is restricted to 2 main OS updates and 4 years of safety patches.
Value & Availability
The ROG Telephone 9 Professional begins at £1,099.99 within the UK. That’ll get you the 16GB/512GB mannequin, however stepping as much as the 24GB/1TB Professional Version reviewed right here prices £1,299.
It’s out there pre-order straight from Asus, but additionally by way of Amazon, Currys and Scan, forward of launch on 1 January. No UK operators are promoting it on contract, so that you’ll have to purchase outright and pair it with a SIM-only deal.
Within the US, the usual 9 Professional will price $1,199.99 (earlier than tax), whereas the Professional Version will set you again $1,499.99 (earlier than tax). Nonetheless, a launch date within the States is but to be confirmed.
The ROG Telephone 9 Professional seems to be set to go up in opposition to the easiest gaming telephones you should purchase, together with the upcoming Nubia Redmagic 10 Professional. Don’t rule out a few of the finest telephones outright both, together with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely.
Must you purchase the Asus ROG Telephone 9 Professional?
The ROG Telephone 9 Professional is just too costly to be a sensible possibility for many individuals. However if you happen to can afford it and wish the best possible gaming efficiency on the market, that is the telephone to get, particularly the Professional Version mannequin.
If uncooked efficiency is what you’re after, it’s the go-to, with sufficient further options to set it aside from others working the identical chip.
Will you get related efficiency in a less expensive gaming handset like a successor to the Nubia Z60S Extremely, Redmagic 9 Professional, or Poco X6 Professional in 2025? It’s possible. However with a facet port for simple charging and people fan-favourite AirTriggers, it’s a tough telephone to move up.
Better of all, it’s nonetheless an ideal general-use telephone. Battery life is robust when wanted and every part it manages is simple on the eyes. The digital camera system pulls off correct pictures with minimal tweaking, and scrolling the net is quick, clean, and hitch-free.
In the event you want one thing for work and severe play, it’s a genuinely thrilling telephone that’s onerous to beat.
Specs
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset
- As much as 24GB of LPDDR5 RAM
- As much as 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage
- 6.78”, 2400×1080, 185Hz AMOLED show (2500 nits peak brightness)
- 5,800mAh battery
- 65W wired charging (15W wi-fi)
- AniME Imaginative and prescient addressable LED matrix
- Corning Gorilla Glass Victis 2
- 3.5mm headphone jack
- 2x USB-C charging ports
- Contact-sensitive “AirTriggers”
- 3x rear cameras (50MP, 32MP telephoto, 13MP ultra-wide)
- 1x entrance digital camera (32MP)
- 163.8 x 76.8 x 8.9mm
- 227g