ROG Cellphone 9 Professional vs ROG Cellphone 8 Professional: wait, which is which?

Intro

However then once more, the ROG Cellphone 8 was already so highly effective that it certainly has the headroom to maintain going now, in late 2024, proper? Yeah, truly.

However hey, the ROG Cellphone 9 and ROG Cellphone 9 Professional now include the brand-new, 3 nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite. That’s, certainly, an enormous deal, because it ushers in a subsequent wave of highly effective and energy-efficient chips for Android.

Design and Dimension

Tech powerhouses, all dressed up

You’ll in a short time discover that these telephones look fairly the identical, all the way down to the matte glass again and LED matrix beneath it. Effectively, after a few moments, you will notice that mentioned matrix has grown a bit, so it may well now show bigger photographs (and even mini video games). The accents and tiny textual content throughout the telephones are additionally barely completely different, however on condition that these had been presupposed to be stealthy within the first place — you possibly can solely discover them on shut inspection.

So, an all-screen entrance, with a uniform bezel throughout. Sure, there is a digital camera cutout within the show, and sure — we now have the shoulder buttons on the body of the system for some severe gaming.

Looking for a distinction in how these deal with or really feel is futile — they’re the identical wonderful glass sandwiches.

Each of those telephones have facet USB C ports along with the underside one. It is there for 2 causes — you should use it for pass-through energy when gaming horizontally for a very long time, or you possibly can connect an AeroActive Cooler X fan accent to maintain the telephone cool whereas gaming (or each, because the cooler itself has a pass-through port).

With the ROG Cellphone 9 collection, we get a brand new AeroActive Cooler X Professional accent, which now comes with an built-in subwoofer. The excellent news is that it is backwards suitable with the ROG Cellphone 8, and the outdated Cooler X can be suitable with the brand new ROG Telephones. So, whether or not you need to improve or use your outdated fan — you’ve choices.

Show Variations

On the entrance, we now have AMOLED panels ordered from Samsung. And, as all the time, Asus features a few coloration calibration choices to choose from, whether or not you need punchy OLED colours, or tame and reasonable ones.

The ROG Cellphone 9 Professional has a slight improve right here — it goes as much as a 185 Hz refresh price, whereas the ROG Cellphone 8 “solely” has 165 Hz. There’s a caveat — you possibly can solely toggle 185 Hz on by means of the Recreation Genie, which means it’s important to be in-game. That apart… wasn’t 165 Hz overkill sufficient? We suppose bragging rights are all the time good, however wow that is lots of refresh cycles per second, and we’re fairly positive we do not spot the distinction.

Unlocking the telephones is completed by way of an under-screen fingerprint scanner. It is an optical mannequin and would not really feel it has modified between these two telephones. It is typically quick and correct, however could be a bit choosy typically.

Efficiency and Software program

The improve we’re right here for

Effectively, here is the Snapdragon 8 Elite — Qualcomm’s first 3 nm SoC, and we get to check it on a ROG Cellphone once more! So, the identical thermals and optimizations going face to face, listed below are the outcomes:

Effectively, yeah… that is a particular improve. Each by way of GPU and CPU, the brand new Elite simply goes above and past.

What does that imply in actual life? Effectively, we would not write the ROG Cellphone 8 Professional off simply but. We did mud it off and boot it up for this evaluate comparability, and it is nonetheless a surprisingly quick telephone. It will get in, out, and thru apps in a handy guide a rough and responsive method, and it runs all of the heavy Play Retailer video games with out lacking a beat.

However, since these are fanatic gadgets, we all know you need that Snapdragon 8 Elite. And sure, it delivers the products!

As for software program, the brand new ROG Cellphone 9 comes with a number of extra AI tips, which can trickle all the way down to the ROG 8, we aren’t positive. We’ve got stay in-call translation between a number of languages, which is cool if a bit clunky. Voice recorder transcription and abstract is right here, too. And semantic search has now expended to the pictures Album (it was solely in Settings earlier than) — you possibly can seek for particular settings or photos by description, not actual phrases.

Different AI tips embrace in-game helpers for monitoring spawn charges, auto operating, auto merchandise pickup, or quest walktrhough lookup. These telephones are mild on AI tips.

Digital camera

The G in ROG stands for Gimbal

The ROG Cellphone 9 Professional comes with an upgraded predominant digital camera sensor — nonetheless 50 MP,  however now a Sony Lytia 700, up from the Sony IMX890 final yr. Each telephones have an built-in gimbal for stabilization, the ROG 9 goes as much as 5-degree wobble compensation, the ROG telephone 8, which launched the gimbal, does 3 levels. Aside from that, there is a 32 MP 3x telephoto digital camera, 13 MP ultra-wide, and a 32 MP selfie digital camera on each.

So, not a lot has modified, it appears? Effectively, some slight variations on how the chip and software program deal with the pictures will be detected:

Eventhough the 3x cameras look the identical on the specs sheet, their output is kind of completely different. Even at native 3x, we are able to see that the ROG Cellphone 9 Professional is doing a greater job at conserving finer particulars intact, and has a barely wider dynamic vary. Going as much as 10x reveals that the brand new ROG Cellphone 9 undoubtedly places that zoom digital camera to work higher than its predecessor did. The ROG Cellphone 8 Professional 10x image right here is already blurry, fuzzy, and not likely share-worthy. The 9 retains it collectively!

One other case the place the specs are the identical, however the processing is vastly completely different. The ROG Cellphone 8 Professional‘s ultrawide digital camera undoubtedly struggles with broad dynamics, whereas the ROG 9 appears like an improve right here — a really robust, seen improve.

The ROG Cellphone 9 professional has an improved gimbal stabilizer, and that is seen when recording strolling movies. Additionally, the dynamic vary, distinction, colours, and particulars that the brand new predominant digital camera improves upon are additionally seen within the ROG Cellphone 9 footage, which seems clearer and customarily higher than final years’ mannequin.

Audio High quality and Haptics

Because the ROG Cellphone 8 modified in design, we misplaced the front-firing audio system that had been connected to the earlier fashions’ chins and foreheads. Now, we now have a backside driver and an earpiece driver. And the sound from the ROG Cellphone 8 Professional was a disappointment final yr — sure, it is nonetheless loud and meaty. However too boomy and in addition with a nasally high quality to it within the mids.

The ROG Cellphone 9 Professional does enhance a bit in that space — the nasally sound is gone and there is some extra air within the highs. But it surely’s nonetheless on the boomy facet. We did tweak the sound with the system EQ, however you possibly can’t actually repair it absolutely. 

Nonetheless, these are among the many better-sounding telephone audio system on the market. We’re simply nitpicking as a result of we nonetheless keep in mind how good the ROG Cellphone 7 was.

For haptics, these have a really pleasing, robust, on the spot clicky really feel, which works nice when tapping the shoulder triggers.

Battery Life and Charging

These simply outlasted the Duracell bunny

The ROG Cellphone 9 Professional comes with an upgraded 5,800 mAh battery. That is an improve, however the ROG Cellphone 8 Professional was no slouch, with a 5,500 mAh cell in its tank. Because of Asus’ optimizations, these telephones can squeeze the utmost quantity of juice out of those batteries. However, the brand new 3 nm tech of the Snapdragon 8 Elite can be presupposed to be extra power environment friendly. Effectively, is it?

And certainly, for normal duties like net looking, each carry out equally — about 18 and a half hours from every. However after we get into extra demanding stuff, like 3D gaming, the ROG Cellphone 9 Professional pulls forward within the endurance contest. Price saying, although, 11 hours of gaming from the ROG Cellphone 8 Professional is actually not a disappointment!

Each of those ship with their very own 65 W chargers for quick top-ups. Within the first 15 to half-hour of charging, you’re going to get the identical percentages on each of those telephones. However, as you attempt to push a 100% cost, the ROG Cellphone 9 Professional will take a bit longer as a consequence of its battery being a bit greater.

Specs Comparability

And there you’ve it — the numbers look spectacular. However actually, the efficiency meets the expectations!

Abstract

So, is the ROG Cellphone 9 Professional an improve? Most actually. Nevertheless, we do discover the ROG Cellphone 8 Professional to nonetheless be wonderful by way of show, efficiency, and battery life. Sure, the brand new ROG Cellphone 9 provides you with the Snapdragon 8 Elite and a 185 Hz refresh price to brag about. However its most significant updates, we really feel, are the slight however a lot appreciated digital camera enhancements and its try to wash up the sound from the audio system.

Is it value upgrading from a ROG 8 to a 9 collection proper now? We do not really feel like there’s any hurry but. However in case you are leaping in proper now, attracted by that Snapdragon 8 Elite — the ROG Cellphone 9 is an effective level to begin.