“In search of good design” – the Red Dot Design Award is one of the world’s largest design competitions.

Zenfone 9 and its smart key ZenTouch won the iF Design Award 2023, a global symbol of excellent design.

From our point of view, the compact concept of the Zenfone 9 makes total sense and we have in our hands a device that can be easily handled with one hand. We appreciate its display quality and its performances are truly impressive while remaining temperate. We feel that we are holding a particularly durable phone that can make us enjoy our digital life with extreme velocity.

The Zenfone 9 is a great smartphone, there's no doubt about it. Whether it's great for you or not depends on your specific needs. If you like small smartphones that pack a punch, the Zenfone 9 could be the smartphone of your dreams. On the other hand, if big screens and multiple camera systems are your thing, you probably won't find the Zenfone 9 as exciting as other larger flagships.

After several weeks of testing the Zenfone 9, our opinion is clear: the compact smartphone from Asus is a technological gem. Powerful and durable, it has a beautiful screen and is very pleasant to use in everyday life. The Zenfone 9 succeeds where its competitors are doing best and outperforms them in areas where they are struggling, such as battery life.

The Asus ZenFone 9 is an excellent compact smartphone, probably the best under Android at the time of writing. We recommend it to anyone looking for a phone that's easy to use with one hand, but doesn't want to compromise on (excellent) performance or battery life.