One of the major boons in the smartphone space in recent years is gaming — and not the bloatware kind. Instead, it’s the slow adoption of higher-performance games and cloud gaming. I’ve wanted to be an avid supporter of mobile gaming for years at this point, but there have been hurdles preventing this from becoming a platform I use more often. When I had the chance to go hands-on with Asus’ ROG Phone 9, I felt as though this could be a new lease on life as a mobile gaming player.

Asus’ ROG Phone 9 is developed to be a cutting-edge gaming-first smartphone. With all the trappings of the ROG design philosophy, Asus packs in a suite of great features to supplement and power the gaming experience. The ROG Phone 9 series is complemented with a Pro lineup. However, even the base model has a noticeably solid battery and a display that begs for games to be played on it. Unfortunately, the ROG Phone 9 underwhelms when it comes to day-to-day use, especially regarding its camera.

Price, availability, and specs

The Asus ROG Phone 9 launches on Tuesday, November 19th. The base model of the series is available for $1,000. The device comes with a stunningly crisp 6.78-inch AMOLED E6 display. This screen features LTPO technology, with a dynamic refresh rate between 1 and 120Hz. However, ROG Phone 9 does offer up to 185Hz when using its Game Genie for an even smoother gameplay experience. The display also supports a peak brightness of 2,500 nits, helping colors and contrast stay vivid even when outdoors in the daytime.

Looking at the interior specs, the base ROG Phone 9 supports up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The camera array supports a 50-megapixel Sony Lytia f/1.9 main lens, a 13-megapixel ultra-wide Free-form lens, and a 5-megapixel macro shooter. The front-facing camera is a 32-megapixel ultra-wide lens. Powering the phone is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which leverages a 5,800mAh battery.

All of this is wrapped in a 6.4 x 3 x 0.35-inches (163.8 x 76.8 x 8.9mm) form factor. Available in storm white and phantom black, the ROG Phone 9’s body features a crystallized nano-texture. Finally, the device supports AirTrigger buttons on the right side of the unit. These act as subtle triggers that replicate the use of a controller.

Asus also offers a few AI-powered features across the ROG Phone 9 series. Many of these, unsurprisingly, are designed to be used while playing games. Those that are available for standard day-to-day use aren’t all that unique or exciting. It’s also odd that after spending the year testing various Android phones, the ROG Phone 9 doesn’t support Circle to Search at launch (though it is being added during Q4 2024).

What I like about the ROG Phone 9

Asus’ ROG Phone 9 bridges the gap between smartphones and the Steam Deck

Asus’ ROG suite is pretty well known. The ROG Phone, however, flies a little under the radar. However, it fits within the Republic of Gamer family nicely. So much of the company’s expertise in gaming hardware comes over into the mobile market. Whether or not the design philosophy is your style, the ROG Phone 9 was made to play games on. The first thing I did when testing the ROG Phone 9 was install a small collection of titles.

Of course, the mobile game on everyone’s mind right now is Pokémon TCG Pocket. It’s a game that I’ve noted a few frame rate dips when playing on iPhone 15 Pro, especially while scrolling the Wonder Picks screen. Certainly, Pokémon TCG Pocket is not setting benchmarks for the ROG Phone 9. However, it shows that the dynamic refresh rate on the AMOLED display does wonders, even for more passive games and in-app experiences.

Where the ROG Phone 9’s gaming capabilities begin to shine is when approaching more performance-intensive games. Installing titles like Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile and Genshin Impact, I got a chance to see the ROG Phone 9 shine under more demanding circumstances. Based on Geekbench 6 benchmarks, the ROG Phone 9 garnered a 3,207 CPU rating with a 10,186 GPU rating. Thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Elite‘s performance, Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile ran silky smooth with no noticeable screen tearing during online matches.

Using the AirTriggers on the side of the device, I was able to mimic the use of aiming down sight and shooting my weapon like I do when playing on Xbox or PlayStation. With Genshin Impact, Asus bakes in its X Sense AI features. Using image recognition technology, items were automatically picked up, and an auto-run ability was available. I can’t help but attest that this use of AI is incredibly innovative for the ROG Phone 9. Unfortunately, the available titles that use X Sense are few and far between.

Thankfully, given it invested so much into its gaming suite, Asus also included a very respectable battery this year. Based on regular use with intermittent video streaming and gaming, I squeezed around 21 hours of battery life out of the ROG Phone 9. To no surprise, the longevity of the battery life dwindles exceptionally while gaming. Even if I was using Xbox Cloud Gaming to stream some games while watching TV, I’d typically run the battery dry for around five hours. Asus is also optimizing the thermal cooling of the device. There’s the bulky ROG AeroActive Cooler sold separately to increase the cooling based on the CPU temperature. However, I can’t imagine using this while on the go.

What I don’t like about the ROG Phone 9

The ROG Phone 9 is a beast for gaming but plays it safe elsewhere

Asus doesn’t shy away from this being a very ‘gamer’ smartphone for better or worse. I’m not a big fan of how the ROG design philosophy translates as a smartphone. The rugged angular edges of the camera bump look gaudy to me. I understand the appeal of having a textured rear for a gaming phone. However, the ROG Phone 9 feels a little cheap in my hand.

Had I used this as my primary device over an extended period, I’d probably invest in a case to cover it. The company set a precedent of the ROG Phone 9 being a gaming device. This is very apparent in the stock UI after setting up the device. The app icons for the Phone, Camera, and Gallery apps are far from sleek compared to other Android devices.

I’m also frankly underwhelmed by the camera array of the ROG Phone 9. It’s undoubtedly not Asus’ strong suit. I’m far from a shutterbug but I could immediately see the disparity in photos taken from my iPhone 15 Pro and the ROG Phone 9. On the Asus-made phone, photos look crisp and vivid. However, as soon as I pulled them onto my PC, they looked far more lifeless and washed out. I had to edit and bump the contrast in each of them for this review just to make them a bit more appealing for me to look at.

Should you buy the ROG Phone 9?

A great mobile gaming rig if you ignore gaming handhelds

It’s undeniable that Asus packed in impressive hardware to help refine the ROG Phone 9. The smartphone features ample processing power and a stellar battery to service on-the-go gaming. Unfortunately, I think in doing so, the ROG Phone 9 doesn’t do much to stand out as a smartphone. Across all of its phone properties, Asus plays it pretty safe.

As a mobile gaming smartphone, the ROG Phone 9 will serve you well. If you’re grinding through Genshin Impact or want to play some games via the cloud, you’ll likely enjoy the user experience. My only wish is that the quality of its gaming performance was maintained across the board. If you’re interested in the ROG Phone 9 for its gaming capabilities exclusively, I’d almost be more compelled to suggest an ROG Ally or a Steam Deck instead.