Flashy ROG Phone 9 even plays your games for you

Never one for subtlety, the ROG Phone 9 is Asus’ gaming brand’s latest foray into the mobile market, with a strong leaning towards gamers.

Sleek and angular, the latest model’s design isn’t quite as outlandish as previous iterations but the 9 series is still clearly a gaming-themed device. After all, the Pro model has a cluster of programmable Mini LEDs on the back to fully max out your gamer cred. On the front, the part you’ll be looking at the most, the phones sport a 6.78-inch AMOLED 2400 x 1080 display that reaches a peak refresh rate of 185Hz.

Powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, the ROG Phone 9 also ships with 16GB of memory, surpassing even the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s memory count. In addition to the beefy hardware, ROG has added a few AI-powered software features, like automatically recording milestone gaming moments, and auto-collecting in-game items, likely suited to mobile MMOs and MOBAs.

Oddly, neither ROG Phone 9 model seems to have eSIM compatibility. That’s a strange omission from a phone nearing $2,000. Several other high-end features are present; Wi-Fi 7, 8K video recording, and a sizable 5,800mAh battery capacity.

ROG Phone 9 release date and price

Available to pre-order now in Australia, the latest ROG phones arrive on 4 March 2025. The starting price for the standard ROG Phone 9 model is $1,799, with the rest of the range as follows:

• Standard (256GB): $1,799
• Pro (512GB): $1,999
• Pro (1TB): $2,499
• Chill Case: $54
• AeroActive Cooler X: $149
• AeroActive Cooler X Pro: $169

As you can see, it’s a pricey high-end handset for an up-market audience. To entice potential buyers, JB Hi-Fi also offers a $100 gift card to anyone who purchases one of the new phones before 18 March 2025.

As GamesHub’s Leah J. Williams noted, “games like Resident Evil Village and Assassin’s Creed Mirage” coming to mobile means more powerful phones are needed. Whether it’s enough to sway Apple and Samsung rusted-ons remains to be seen.

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