Flagship smartphones with a sub 6-inch display are nearly an extinct species these days, with the only notable ones from last year being the Apple iPhone 13 Mini and the Asus Zenfone 9. Those of you using a compact Android then will likely be pleased to know that Asus looks set to continue with their small flagship philosophy, as a Zenfone 9 marketing video has leaked out showing the upcoming device in full.
Coming in black, white, blue and red colourways, the Asus Zenfone 9 features the tag line ‘Compact Size. Big Possibilities’, which considering it’s tiny footprint could be true here. You’ll be looking at a 5.9-inch AMOLED display similar to last year’s Zenfone 8, and that will be coming with a 120Hz refresh rate too. There’s also an IP68 water and dust resistance rating along with dual stereo speakers and—get this—a 3.5mm headphone jack! Under the cameras meanwhile is a ’09’ written in an almost ROG-like font.
The back of the device though shows off arguably the biggest upgrade the Zenfone 9 gets over its predecessor, with Asus themselves calling it a ‘massively upgraded dual-camera system’. There’s two huge cameras on the top left of the device, which perhaps looks even bigger than it actually is due to the tiny chassis it’s on. Supposedly packing a main 50MP camera using a Sony IMX766 sensor, it features a 6-axis hybrid gimbal stabiliser that could make it a solid choice for video. There’s also a light trail mode, which seems to let you take long exposure shots. Unfortunately the video doesn’t mention anything about the secondary camera, but it’s likely going to be an ultrawide shooter like the Zenfone 8.
Elsewhere, it runs the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 system-on-chip though there’s no mention of how much RAM and storage it’ll come with. There’s a 4,300mAh battery too, which would be a minor bump over the Zenfone 8’s 4,000mAh battery. On the side of the device meanwhile is a side-mounted fingerprint sensor which Asus are calling ‘ZenTouch’. You can apparently slide your finger over this to help you scroll your page. Asus also showed off some cases and mounts coming with the Zenfone 9.
Overall, if this leak turns out to be accurate, Asus could have a winner here among the compact Android smartphone fans. In fact, it could be good enough to sway iPhone 13 Mini users over too, as Apple looks set to kill the iPhone Mini lineup in favour of a non-Pro Max smartphone. Of course, it will depend on the price tag of the Zenfone 9, but the Zenfone 8 did launch with a very competitive price of RM2,699, and was often discounted to below RM2,000 too. The Asus Zenfone 9 is certainly one to watch when it eventually debuts later this year.
