Asus ROG Phone 9 hands-on: the first gaming phone with Snapdragon 8 Elite
The Shortcut got a chance to check out the new Asus ROG Phone 9 at Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit ahead of the November 19 launch date
📱 We went hands-on with the Asus ROG Phone 9 at Snapdragon Summit
⚙️ It’s powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset
🎮 This Android gaming phone utilizes the chip’s powerful Oryon CPU
📆 Launch event date and time: November 19 at 6am ET
It turns out that I didn’t need to wait very long to test out my first Snapdragon 8 Elite phone. I went hands-on with the Asus ROG Phone 9 when Qualcomm hosted The Shortcut and a few other media outlets at its annual Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii. The official launch date is November 19, but I have some early impressions now.
The newly announced chipset is the real highlight of this gaming-focused Android phone. Qualcomm’s 8-core Oryon CPU and Adreno 830 GPU actually outclass some of today’s best laptops, making it a perfect fit for Asus’ latest gaming phone.
In fact, I was able to benchmark the new Snapdragon 8 Elite chip in a reference phone provided by Qualcomm (not directly inside the Asus ROG Phone 9 – yet), and it beats my iPhone 16 Pro Max, especially in the multi-core score (more benchmark numbers coming early next week).
For gamers, that’s going to translate into a 40% gaming performance improvement and a 35% ray-tracing uptick over current Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 phones, according to Qualcomm. And while the same 8 Elite chip is likely to power the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and OnePlus 13, Asus has the distinction of having its launch event in 2024.
On the outside, the Asus ROG Phone 9 feels a bit lighter in the hand than the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro, which was announced earlier this year at CES 2024. The size, weight, and overall design haven’t changed very much.
I was able to see the inside of the new ROG Phone 9, including the battery and motherboard, but the all-important battery mAh was blacked out. We’ll have to wait for the launch event to know more about the Asus ROG Phone 9 specs.
One thing that Asus takes pride in is its small motherboard and split battery design, which offer both faster charging and heat dispensation benefits. The motherboard for the ROG Phone 9 fits into the middle, flanked by the dual battery configuration.
This means that when gaming for an extended period of time, the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset will warm up the middle of the device (where you touch the least) and have an equal amount of room to push out heat. This contrasts with most phones, where one side gets extra hot when gaming or charging.
The ROG Phone 9 shows how much Asus has refined its smartphone nine times over. It’s the best experience gamers can get on a phone. Gamers will also dig the dual USB-C ports, 3.5mm headphone jack, and dot-matrix LED on the back that can display information like the time and battery life. It’s shaping up to be similar to the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro we tested at CES almost a year ago, leaving room for the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro (which we haven’t seen yet) to go above and beyond if it’s announced simultaneously.
The Shortcut is aiming to review every smartphone with the Snapdragon 8 Elite as they launch, especially those phones that come to the US. With the Asus launch event coming in hot on November 19, it may be the first with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite to launch in North America. Stay tuned for more news in the coming days.
What keeps me from ROG phones is the OS and security updates life cycle. Compare that to the iPhone at this price point….