Compact flagship with headphone jack and “gimbal stabilisation” on the camera

Zenfone 9, ASUS’ next flagship, has been listed on Elkjøp’s store in Norway, revealing all the important details about it. We have the first official images, from all angles, we have a full list of hardware specs, as well as the official prices at which the phone will be sold in Norway, which we can quickly adjust to euros. Basically, most of the ASUS surprises from tomorrow’s event, July 28, when the phone was supposed to be officially announced, have been revealed a few days before.

ASUS will keep the dimensions small on the Zenfone 9

The new Zenfone 9 will continue in the direction that last year’s model started: small size and high performance. So we’re looking at a new device with a small screen size, with a diagonal of only 5.92″ (FUllHD+, 120Hz). As a result, the phone weighs just 165 grams, but is 9.45mm thick compared to other devices. The small size, however, allows it to integrate other components inside that we don’t usually see on high-end phones.

For example, we have a 3.5mm headphone jack at the top, something we see on fewer and fewer smartphones. Then we have a pretty big battery for the small size of the device: 4,300 mAh, with fast charging at 30W. The charger is in the package this time too.

The phone is equipped with the most powerful chipset on the market

And the high-end specs don’t stop there. The phone’s construction is made of Gorilla Glass Victus, and the water resistance is tested to meet the IP68 standard. The chipset at the heart of this little device is Qualcomm’s latest chipset, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, which will feature 8+128GB, 8+256GB and 16+256GB configurations.

The camera system will also be advanced. The main camera will use a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 sensor with 6-axis “gimbal stabilization”, something we rarely see on smartphones. The secondary camera, however, is a 12-megapixel camera with an ultra-wide lens. On the front is a 12-megapixel Sony IMX663 sensor camera with autofocus, something only a few top smartphones integrate.

Of course, the phone comes with Android 12 pre-installed, and the listing on the Norwegian store even mentions that the Zenfone 9 might only get two major system updates, with the last guaranteed update scheduled for August 2024.

The Zenfone 9 will come in four colours (black, blue, red and white), and will start at a price of 8,000 kroner in Norway, equivalent to €800 in the EU. The top model with 256GB will cost €880, and the top model with 16GB RAM will cost €950.