ROG Phone 9 Review – Gaming powerhouse that’s built to game, made to conquer

After its Malaysia launch, Asus graciously issued the base ROG Phone 9 model for review and after taking it for a whirl and a few rounds of extensive gaming, here’s our ROG Phone 9 review where we share if this purpose-built gaming phone is worth your money.

ROG Phone 9 Review – Build and Design

The ROG Phone 9 is built from the ground up as a gaming device first and a phone second. This emphasis shows in its design which has a host of gaming-centric features, much of which have been retained from its predecessors the ROG Phone 8, and which are rarely seen in other competing phones.

This time around, the ROG Phone 9 series comes in three different variants that consist of the base model ROG Phone 9, the Pro and the Pro Edition model.

The Pro and Pro Edition models add increasingly greater amounts of RAM and storage, topping out at a ludicrous 24GB RAM and 1TB storage for the Pro Edition model but all of the ROG Phone 9 series are built around the same powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, have the same battery and the same display along with some subtle cosmetic differences and cameras.

The base ROG Phone 9 that we have in for review differs from the higher end Pro and Pro Edition configurations in that it has a more basic rear AniMe Vision Mini LED display with only 85 dots whereas the Pro and Pro Edition get a far more detailed 648 dot display that is even capable of playing simple games. 

In terms of build and design, our ROG Phone 9 comes in a shade of Storm White with the back plate featuring a hexagonal triple camera housing with a subtle satin off white finish and the ROG logo emblazoned in the centre with the 85-dot AniME matrix in a bar at the bottom of the phone.

On the right side of our ROG Phone 9 review sample is a power button and volume rocker along with a pair of haptic touch sensitive Aero Active triggers that act like shoulder buttons in a handheld console.

The left of the phone sports the most obvious hint to its gaming heritage – a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port that allows for 65W wired charging and much faster data transfer speeds when held landscape-style for extended gaming sessions. 

The base of the phone itself is densely packed with a 3.5mm audio jack, a speaker grille with a corresponding one of the top of the phone, a SIM card tray and another USB-C port for charging albeit a USB 2.0 port with slower data transfer speeds but the same 65W charging speeds.The top of our ROG Phone 9 is otherwise unremarkable.

Up front, the ROG Phone 9 has a 6.78-inch Flexible AMOLED display, has a tiny punch hole for a 32MP selfie camera at the top, a fingerprint reader at the bottom base of the display and a tiny slit for the earpiece near the top edge that also doubles as a speaker in tandem with the speaker at the base of the phone.

The phone also supports Hi-Res Audio and Hi-Res Audio Wireless along with aptX Lossless Audio codec .The display is also protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2 with the whole phone enjoying an IP68 dust and water resistance rating.

In terms of overall build quality, our ROG Phone 9 review unit does not disappoint and the phone is solidly built with a reassuring heft and feel whether its held in landscape or portrait mode. Perhaps the only quibble here is that the display itself is a fingerprint magnet  though this isn’t a deal breaker.

Unlike other flagship phones, the ROG Phone 9 still remains surprisingly generous with a 65W charger, a free plastic casing that adds an added measure of grip to the phone for heavy duty gaming and a USB-C cable too. 

ROG Phone 9 Review – Specifications and Performance

When it comes to performance, our ROG Phone 9 review sample comes kitted out with the works. To handle the most demanding games, it comes with the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite processor paired with 12GB LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB of onboard storage which is plenty for any Android game on the Google Play store.

To keep the hardware cool even under heavy loads, the ROG Phone 9 has what it refers to as a GameCool 9 Cooling system that features an enlarged graphite sheet, a copper heatsink on top of the processor and a layer of Boron Nitride for better overall heat dispersion.

Another key aspect of its design is that the chipset is located in the centre of the chassis for better heat distribution and also ensures that heat is kept away from the edges where your hands would be. Here’s how it stacks up on paper:

 

Price	RM3,999
Display	6.78-inch FHD+ Flexible AMOLED, 1080 x 2,400 pixels , 1-185Hz, HDR10+, 2,600 nits peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite
OS	Android 15
Memory	12GB LPDDR5X RAM, 256GB UFS 4.0 storage
Camera	50MP F/1.9 with gimbal OIS + 13MP F/2.2 ultra wide + 5MP f/2.4 HDR [rear] / 32MP F/2.4 [front]
Battery	5,800mAh w/ 65W wired, PD3.0, PPS w/ 1 USB-C 2.0 + USB-C 3.2 gen 2 (side) w/ 65W charging + 15W wireless and reverse wireless charging
Size/Weight	163.8 x 76.8 x 8.9mm / 227g

Those who own the top of the line Pro Edition variant can take advantage of an external AeroActive Cooling accessory for additional cooling performance and extra buttons.

This AeroActive Cooler X accessory isn’t limited to the Pro Edition and if you happen to get your hands on one, it can be used for the other ROG Phone 9 series as well though not for older versions like the ROG Phone 8. 

Running under the hood of our ROG Phone 9 review unit is Android 15 with their Armoury Crate app that enables users to switch from the standard mode to activate an overclocked high performance X mode for intensive gaming.

There is also a high-powered X Mode+ that is only unlocked when you attach the optional AeroActive Cooler X attachment to the phone. With X Mode activated – here’s how our ROG Phone 9 review sample scored…

3D Mark Steel Nomad Light	2,057
3D Mark Steel Nomad Light Unlimited	2,036
3D Mark Solar Bay	9,437
3D Mark Solar Bay Unlimited	9,453
3D Mark WildLife Extreme	5,648
3D Mark WildLife Extreme Unlimited	5,584
Geekbench 6 Single Core	2,973
Geekbench 6 Multi Core	9,571
Geekbench 6 OpenCL	19,293
Geekbench 6 Vulkan	25,187
Geekbench AI (CPU quanticised)	5,390
Geekbench AI (GPU quanticised)	2,462
PCMark Work 3.0 Performance	26,702
PCMark Battery Life	23 hours 45 mins

On its own merits, our ROG Phone 9 review sample in its high performance X mode acquitted itself exceptionally well on all fronts in single, multicore and graphics performance equivalent to other Snapdragon 8 Elite equipped phones save for customised examples like the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipsets for the Galaxy S25 series that scored consistently higher in benchmarks.

Where the ROG Phone 9 excels over the competition though is in how it handles heavy workloads. In the 3D Mark Steel Nomad Light stress test, it got a best loop score of 2,073, a lowest loop score of 1,846 which is better than many other similarly equipped phones but beats the competition with exceptional stability even when running under heavy loads at 89%, with performance kept consistently stable across almost every loop.

However, even with all of its built-in cooling enhancements, our ROG Phone 9 review unit was blazing hot to the touch. In fact, it ran the hottest in the stress test than any other Snapdragon 8 Elite equipped phone at a toasty range of 28°C to 48°C. In essence, the ROG Phone 9 offers stable, high performance under high workloads though it runs hotter than almost any other phone in the market.

In practical scenarios, our ROG Phone 9 review unit did a sterling job and was able to tackle everything from 4K video editing to gaming without issue.

It managed to run Genshin Impact smoothly on high settings and can run Call of Duty Mobile on maximum settings like a champ and was able to tackle video editing on CapCut in a wonderfully smooth fashion. 

While it takes a bit of extra legwork to get them customised to your personal settings in the ROG Armoury Crate app, the addition of the two AeroActive shoulder trigger buttons makes gaming on the ROG Phone 9 feel more like a handheld and offers extra tactical options especially in FPS shooters.

The Armoury Crate is also able to customise controls and settings on a per game basis which makes it highly useful for serious gamers with custom setups for every game.

Where our ROG Phone 9 review unit impresses is its AMOLED FHD+ display that maxes out at a 185Hz refresh rate and 2,600 nits peak brightness.

Not all games or apps are able to support the full 185Hz refresh rate and most games max out at 60Hz save for a few rare exceptions but its sheer smoothness does make it a treat to navigate the menus.

The high screen brightness makes it viable to view under direct sunlight but what makes it particularly appealing is its 100% DCI-P3 , making it ideal for content creators who require a sufficiently rich colour gamut to edit videos. The provided stereo speakers prove to be surprisingly loud and offer quite a fair bit of detail for gaming and Netflix binging alike.

Battery life is excellent as well with our ROG Phone 9 review sample netting a whopping 23 hours and 45 minutes in benchmarks off its 5,800mAh battery, making it one of the best flagship phones in terms of battery life.

Even under heavy gaming, it’s easily able to last several hours on a full charge and if you’re looking at general usage, it’s comfortably able to last close to two days of use. Where it leads the pack is its inclusion of a side-mounted USB-C port, allowing users to continue charging it white gaming in landscape mode which is a brilliant element of its design.

From a performance perspective as a flagship phone, the ROG Phone 9 is excellent with a host of gaming optimised features baked in and superior cooling design.

However, the base ROG Phone 9 cannot reach its full potential without the optional Aeroactive Cooler attachment that has to be purchased separately but which comes bundled with the Pro Edition model.

Unfortunately, it also has poorer updates than the leading flagship phones at only two years of OS and 4 years of security updates so it’s a mixed bag of sorts.

ROG Phone 9 review – Cameras

While performance is given significant emphasis, the ROG Phone 9 does have a fairly capable camera array. The rear comes with a 50MP f/1.9 main camera that uses a Sony Lytia LYT-700 sensor with a six-axis Hybrid Gimbal Stabiliser paired with a 13MP f/2.2 ultra wide angle camera and a 5MP macro camera.

The higher end ROG Pro and Pro Edition swap out the macro camera for a superior 32MP f.2.4 telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom and OIS. Up front, you get a single 32MP f/2.5 selfie camera.

Snaps can be captured at up to 8x digital zoom and you can capture up 8K@30fps video or a more practical 4K@60fps video on the rear camera array.

Up front, the 32MP selfie camera offers up to 1080@30fps video on top of mugshots. This makes for a basic but adequate setup for most casual shooting scenarios.

In the daytime, the rear camera array does a fair job at out to 2X with a good level of detail and image quality but detail starts dropping beyond that and at full 8x zoom details start getting soft and text can even smudge on occasion.

It fares more poorly after sundown and while it delivers serviceable shots, there’s a significant delay to capture each one. The front does the job for video calls or the odd mugshot or two in brightly lit scenarios but isn’t much to write home about. Videos are serviceable but pale compared to other flagship phones. In general, stills and videos generally aren’t its forte. 

Should you buy the ROG Phone 9?

The ROG Phone 9 is a thoroughbred gaming phone that hosts a flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, a gorgeous AMOLED display and enough RAM and storage, even in its base configuration to tackle any Android game currently in the market.

It also has a wealth of innovative game-centric features like a second USB-C port, shoulder-mounted Aero Active triggers and the Armoury Crate app though it does have its quibbles, none of which are game related. The phone unfortunately doesn’t have the longest OS and security update policy in the market nor does it have the best cameras. 

While it is an adequate general purpose flagship phone, it truly shines as a gaming phone. If you prize gaming performance, the ROG Phone 9 ought to be at the top of your shopping list. However, if you top up a bit more, you get the more versatile and capable ROG Ally X which may be a better bet if you are an ardent gamer.

ROG Phone 9 review sample courtesy of Asus Malaysia. For more details and to purchase please visit https://rog.asus.com/my/phones/rog-phone-9/spec/