Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro Review: Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Gaming Unleashed

Asus managed to cram a little more battery into this year's ROG Phone. Despite unchanged dimensions, the ROG Phone 9 Pro has a 5800mAh battery, which is 300mAh more than last year. Asus also offers speedy 65W charging, which can completely fill the battery in less than an hour—Asus claims 46 minutes.

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro Battery And Charging

The ROG Phone 9 Pro comes with a charger (yay) that can hit the handset's maximum speed, but we've been able to do that with several third-party USB-PD chargers as well. You can even charge the phone via either of the USB ports. The side-mounted port is convenient to charge while gaming as the cable won't interfere with your grip. You can even use passthrough charging if the cooling fan is attached to that port.


Asus says the ROG Phone 9 Pro will run for more than a day of heavy (non-gaming) use, and that matches our observations as well. This phone can easily last two days or more if you aren't constantly gaming, but if all you do is play Fortnite, you'll see somewhere between four and five hours of usage per charge. In our battery rundown test, which is mixed productivity usage with an always-on display, the ROG Phone 9 Pro hit 1,204 minutes (over 20 hours), which is among the best results in our database. This puts it just behind the OnePlus 12 and ahead of last year's ROG Phone 8 Pro.

Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro Review Conclusion: Game On, Snapdragon Fans

Asus knows its audience for the ROG Phone 9 Pro—this device doesn't make any major advances versus last year's phone, but it's faster, runs a little longer, it's got more LEDs for bling and has more features. You could say the same about almost any piece of gaming hardware these days, but if gaming is a big part of your mobile experience, it's hard to think of a better companion than the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro.

The phone is chunky and hefty, but it doesn't have the strong gamer vibe of older ROG models. We don't love its rattly buttons, but the rest of the hardware here is solid. There are dual USB-C ports, a headphone jack, and shoulder buttons—you won't get any of those on regular smartphones. The 6.78-inch OLED display is also bright and sharp enough. It's also nice to see a high-wattage charger bundled with this phone.


This is the first retail Snapdragon 8 Elite phone, and it does run faster than previous chips. However, you'll only get the full effect in X-mode, which you can activate manually, or it activates automatically in games (and benchmarks). It can outperform any other Android phone in the market right now. The cooling fan bundled with the most powerful phone (and available as a $99 add-on) adds a few more buttons, and keeps the phone slightly cooler. However, it doesn't appear to make the phone perform any better, at least at this juncture. Future updates from ASUS could theoretically goose-up Snapdragon 8 Elite clock speeds, however, at which point the fan might be a handy tool to maintain performance.

Anyone who's going to spend $1,500 on a gaming phone probably already has interest in devices like new the ROG Phone 9 Pro—it's one of the most premium gaming smartphones out there right now. For those people, this new ASUS phone will meet or exceed expectations. For those who don't value gaming performance above all else, you're better off spending $1,000 on a Pixel 9 or Samsung Galaxy S24 that will take better photos and be supported for years longer. Regardless, hardcore mobile gamers should definitely give the ASUS ROG Phone 9 Pro a look and we can recommend it with confidence.