HUAWEI FreeArc Review – Great sounding Open-Ear wireless earphones
The ASUS ROG Phone series has long been a staple in mobile gaming since 2018, and the latest iteration, the ROG Phone 9 Pro, aims to elevate the new direction they went with last year.
To recap, a much more understated gamer-esque design language, packed with the latest hardware, refined cooling solutions, and an improved camera system.
But is it still the undisputed king of gaming smartphones with this year’s version?
Find out in this review.
Table of Contents
ASUS continues the new direction pioneered by last year’s ROG Phone 8 series, but this year around, the ROG Phone 9 Pro has a few more tricks under its panels.
The device still features Mini-LED dots at the rear, but this time users will be getting 648 programmable dots, essentially giving the secondary display more pixels (if you want to think of them that way.)
The top portion lights up white, while the smaller area below is red, more dots gives us more detailed animations and information when lit. And users get animations for Music playback, incoming calls, notifications, when the screen is on or off, or even when playing games.
We also get some use out of it when using the stock camera app for countdown timers, video recording indication, and reminding people to smile while taking a photo.
And to add a quirky layer of functionality to the display, it even features some minigames, which we can get access to through the Armoury Crate, labeled under AniMe Play. It utilizes the air triggers for control and we get four games out of the box.
ASUS’ own renditions of Snake, Space Invaders, and Pong. They even have speed runner, which is essentially that dino mini-game when a Chrome browser doesn’t work which, come to think of it, was probably inspired by Super Mario.
Like usual ROG Phone fashion, the 9 Pro features a USB Type-C Port on the left side for a more ergonomic experience when holding the phone in a horizontal orientation. This port also gets DisplayPort 1.4 certification for connecting it to external displays and monitors.
At the bottom is the primary microphone, main USB Type-C port for wired charging and data transfers, a dual nanoSIM card tray, one of the stereo speakers, and lo and behold, the last flagship standing in 2025 to sport a 3.5mm audio jack! (nice one Asus)
Found on the right is the volume rocker, power button, secondary mic for landscape orientation, and the aforementioned capacitive and gesture-mappable AirTriggers.
Lastly, up top is a secondary mic for loudspeaker calls and video capture. And the second half to the bottom-firing stereo speakers can be found in the subtly long earpiece cutout at the top bezel of the display.
In terms of durability, the front panel gets Gorilla Glass Victus 2, the etched glass panel at the back gets standard Gorilla Glass carrying over the same design motifs from last year, and the phone’s frame is made out of aluminum.
The ROG 9 Pro is also IP68-rated, making it dust-tight and immersible under fresh water for up to 1.5m and as long as 30 minutes. At 227 grams, it’s one of the heavier flagship phones in 2025, but ergonomics for a larger phone feel on-point.
All-in-all for design, the ROG Phone 9 Pro can definitely handle day-to-day operations just as well as last year with slightly more to offer.
Those worried about that glass back can always opt for one of the two included cases in the box, one features an open-hole design and the other is translucent so they don’t obstruct the mini-LED display, but only the open-hole one is the case we can use with the AeroActive Cooler X Pro.
We also received a third case that totally disrupts the use of the rear display, but we’ll be saving the accessories for later (but feel free to skip to it if you want.)
For display, the ROG 9 Pro sports a 6.78-inch FHD+ LTPO AMOLED display boasting a wild 185Hz refresh rate, a wide color gamut, and HDR10+ support.
ASUS has also fine-tuned the touch latency with a 720Hz touch-sampling rate, making it even more responsive for competitive mobile gaming.
With a peak brightness of 2500 nits, outdoor visibility is excellent. We set our display picture profile to Cinematic throughout our testing and we liked it.
But what really adds to the experience when it comes to consuming video content has to be the loud and full stereo speakers. It provides a very whole sound with subtly clear highs, full mids, and bass present.
But if that’s not enough, for even more immersion users could plug in their favorite pair of headphones or earphones or connect wirelessly to take advantage of the 32-bit Hi-Res & Hi-Res wireless audio certifications.
For biometrics, the ROG Phone 9 Pro gets an optical in-display fingerprint scanner as well as face unlock. Both unlocking options work well with good accuracy, but we only opted for fingerprint recognition for most of our testing.
All-in-all, as far as smartphone displays in combination with stereo speakers go, the ones in the ROG Phone 9 Pro are pretty sweet!
While gaming remains the focus, it’s worth noting that ASUS has stepped up its camera game this year with a 50MP main sensor (f/1.9, gimbal OIS, PDAF), a 32MP telephoto (f/2.4, 3x optical zoom, OIS, PDAF), and a 13MP ultra-wide sensor (f/2.2, 120˚ FOV).
Night mode gets improvements, allowing for clearer low-light shots. Additionally, the 32MP selfie camera (f/2.5) is pretty good and can even be used for game streaming.
While it won’t compete with dedicated camera phones, the ROG Phone 9 Pro holds its own in everyday photography situations.
The ROG Phone 9 Pro can record video at up to 8K at 30fps, with support for 4K at 30, 60, and even 120fps slow mo and even 1080p at up to 480fps.
It’s worth noting that when recording in 8K we can only use the main camera, and in 4K we lose access to the ultrawide sensor. And with the selfie camera we can only record videos at up to FHD 30fps.
Video stabilization modes also get some improvements, with only Adaptive stabilization available in 4K and 8K recording formats, and HyperSteady capped at FHD capture.
Obviously, these are electronic stabilization features which result in some sort of a crop, we can expect the biggest crop with HyperSteady mode.
But another quirky thing here is we can even use the AirTriggers as shutter buttons for recording video or capturing photos, toggleable in the Camera app’s settings.
By the way, the selfie camera can record some good quality video too in our opinion.
For software, the ROG Phone 9 Pro runs on the latest Android 15 out of the box, tuned with some ROG Phone-centric features.
What’s cool here is, end-users can decide if they want to go for a more fully stock Android experience or an ASUS optimized one by digging into System Preferences found in settings.
In this menu users can choose between native and ASUS versions of stuff like volume control, incoming calls, clock appearance, and the quick setting panel, to name most.
In the spirit of 2025, the ROG Phone 9 series also gets some new AI features like AI Wallpaper, so we don’t need to worry about copyright when getting them off a google search (as if.) There’s AI transcription, where we can get subtitles on our screen for virtually any app.
And AI Call translator, for easier cross-language conversations over the phone, which is still in Beta, so no Filipino language setting just yet.
Armoury Crate and Game Genie obviously makes a comeback here. The Armoury Crate is the central app for both ROG computers and smartphones, where users get all access to gaming-oriented features.
On this phone we get access to our game or app optimization settings within the Game Library tab. In the Console tab we get a visual representation of how our hardware is performing and access to the three main performance modes: X Mode, Dynamic, and Ultra Durable.
We also get access to AniMe Vision, AirTriggers settings, and all our Game Genie settings.
Game Genie is the ROG Phone’s game overlay which provides users with real-time hardware info and useful quick access tools intended to improve the mobile gaming experience.
In terms of software support, ASUS has promised two major Android upgrades, which does seem like a letdown for software longevity. But in our opinion, it shouldn’t really be the biggest issue considering how many useful and customizable features the phone already offers out of the box along with 5 years of security patches.
At the heart of the ROG Phone 9 Pro is the Snapdragon 8 Elite, it’s the third phone with a 3nm chipset from Qualcomm we’ve reviewed in 2025. Configured with up to 24GB of LPDDR5X memory and 1TB of UFS 4.0 internal storage, our review unit is actually the ROG Phone 9 Pro Edition.
Based off ASUS’ official product listing online, the difference between the ROG Phone 9 Pro and ROG Phone 9 Pro Edition are their configurations. That’s 16GB+512GB for the regular ROG Phone 9 Pro; not to be confused with the standard ROG 9 non-pro and FE variants.
Either way, the Snapdragon 8 Elite in combination with our unit’s Pro Edition configuration results in some serious smartphone heat!
So, whether we’re running Genshin Impact in its default “Highest” graphics settings cranked up to 60 fps, or have 69 Chrome tabs open while watching something on Netflix and/or Spotify, or even just utilizing Android Auto like a madman with the phone’s screen left on, the ASUS ROG 9 Pro can handle it and provide us with a mostly hassle-free experience.
It’s also worth noting that we also get specific AI features when it comes to gaming, like somewhat having an assistant to help us do in-game tasks like auto selecting the skill upgrades for our hero in Mobile Legends, and even being able to copy-paste text from inside the games we play.
Those of you interested in our benchmark scores should keep in mind, that we ran all of them in X Mode, here they are:
| Benchmark | Score |
|---|---|
| Antutu v10 | 2,865,975 |
| Antutu Storage | 218,796 |
| S. Read | 4094.0 MB/s |
| S. Write | 3824.0 MB/s |
| Geekbench 6 CPU Single | 3059 |
| Geekbench 6 CPU Multi | 9586 |
| Geekbench 6 GPU OpenCL | 19465 |
| Geekbench 6 GPU Vulkan | 25513 |
| 3D Mark: Wild Life | Maxed Out! |
| PC Mark Work 3.0 Performance | 25409 |
Powering the ROG Phone 9 Pro is a 5800mAh dual-cell battery that can last a whole day, especially when utilizing the Ultra Durable performance mode. For charging rates we get a 65W wired fast charging brick in the box, which can juice of the flagship phone to full in under 50 minutes.
There’s also 15W wireless charging, and 10W reverse wired charging add to the phone’s charging versatility.
–I mean we are getting wireless chargers in most new cars nowadays.
But what’s cool here is Bypass Charging 2.0, allowing the device to draw power directly from the charger without heating the battery, utilizing the side port, this features proves very useful when clocking-in those extended mobile gaming sessions while plugged into a wall outlet.
When it came to our PCMark Work 3.0 battery tests, we initially ran it in X Mode which gave us a surprising score of 10 hours and 12 minutes, which we thought was a weird result considering the Snapdragon 8 Elite is known to be a lot more power efficient providing better battery efficiency, and the fact that it was a way lower result compared to last year’s model.
So we ran the test again in Dynamic mode and got 20 hours out of the ROG Phone 9 Pro, finally meeting our expectations. And for those curious about our results in Ultra Durable mode, that test resulted in 25 hours and 5 minutes.
Which is why, when it comes to battery life, there’s nothing here but praises from us.
Connectivity options we haven’t mentioned include Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, and NFC.
The ROG Phone 9 Pro also gets eSIM support which also supports dual SIM while utilizing one of the physical nanoSIM slots. GPS capabilities include NavIC, GLONASS, QZSS, BDS, and GALILEO for precise positioning.
—
And finally, jumping into accessories.
An obvious standout with any ROG Phone generation is the AeroActive Cooler, this iteration is dubbed as the AeroActive Cooler X Pro.
Just like last year’s, it gives us two extra mappable trigger buttons, but this time the built-in subwoofer from two generations ago makes a return! Providing a 2.1 channel audio system for better audio immersion apart from cooler thermals.
Attaching the cooler also gives us a fourth performance mode dubbed as X Mode Plus for an even higher overclock providing extra sauce for heavy gaming. And yes, the cooler also still works as a stand for the phone itself, and can also be used with the open-back case in the box.
Like I mentioned earlier, our review kit also came with a third ROG Chill Case, which is a predominantly hard-plastic case that obstructs the rear mini-LEDs in sacrifice for a liquid cooling system integrated into the case.
–It does so by also utilizing a Composite Vapor Chamber, effectively reducing temps by 17%.
At the same time, this very case also redirects the bottom-firing stereo speaker to face front, essentially giving dual front-facing stereo speakers, which is nice.
But the last thing to mention before moving on is this ROG Tessen game controller accessory, which is sold separately just like the Chill Case.
It’s an accessory that pretty much turns the ROG Phone 9 Pro into a dedicated handheld mobile gaming console, providing users with 2 joysticks, a D-pad, and mappable controller buttons, as well as two macro triggers at the rear.
What’s nice here is, the ROG Tessen accessory can be used with other Android phones for those who dig it but don’t want to have to purchase an ROG Phone.
It’s also worth noting that Hoyoverse titles like Genshin Impact do not get native controller support, but this issue is quickly remedied by manually mapping through Game Genie.
And this leaves us with the price. In the Philippines, the ASUS ROG Phone 9 Pro Edition (24GB+1TB) goes for PHP 76,995 and comes with AeroActive Cooler X Pro and the 2 cases mentioned in this review.
The actual ROG Phone 9 Pro starts at PHP 62,995 (16GB+512GB), while the ROG Phone 9 FE (which we have yet to review) is available for PHP 44,995 (12GB+256GB)
In conclusion, the ASUS ROG Phone 9 Pro can get quite expensive but it’s undoubtedly one of, if not, the best flagship gaming smartphone of 2025, excelling in performance, multimedia consumption, battery life, thermal cooling and gaming-centric features.
While the camera performance and the phone’s weight might not appeal to everyone, its gaming prowess is unmatched.
So, if you’re a serious mobile gamer, this is the device to beat in 2025. However, if you want a more balanced smartphone for everyday use, other flagships might offer better versatility.
Either way, one thing’s for sure, the ROG Phone 9 Pro can definitely compete with those very flagships and cements itself as one of the top 5 options to choose from.
What we LIKED:
What we Liked LESS:
ASUS ROG Phone 9 Pro (Edition) specs:
6.78-inch FHD+ LTPO AMOLED (1080 x 2400)
185Hz refresh rate HDR10+, 2500 nits (peak brightness)
Gorilla Glass Victus 2 (front), Gorilla Glass (back)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite (3 nm)
8-cores up to 4.32
Adreno 830 GPU
16GB / (24GB) LPDDR5X RAM
512GB / (1TB) UFS 4.0 storage
Triple Rear Cameras:
-50MP main (f/1.9, 24mm, 1/1.56″, 1.0µm, PDAF, gimbal OIS)
-32MP telephoto (f/2.4, 3x optical zoom, OIS)
-13MP ultrawide (f/2.2, 120°)
32MP (f/2.5, 22mm) selfie shooter
5,800mAh Li-Po battery
-65W wired charging
-15W wireless charging
-10W reverse-wired charging
Android 15, up to 2 major Android updates
5G, LTE, HSPA, GSM
Wi-Fi 802.11 7, tri-band, Wi-Fi Direct
Bluetooth 5.4
GPS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS, NavIC, GLONASS
NFC
USB Type-C (side: DisplayPort 1.4; bottom: OTG)
Dual stereo speakers
3.5mm audio jack
-32-bit/384kHz Hi-Res & Hi-Res wireless audio
nanoSIM + eSIM / Dual nanoSIM
IP68 dust and water resistance (up to 1.5m for 30 min)
Mini-LED (648 dots) programmable rear display
Pressure-sensitive side buttons (AirTriggers)
In-display fingerprint sensor (optical)
163.8 x 76.8 x 8.9 mm (dimensions)
227g (weight)
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Art Garcia says:
since the series first came out, i always call the ROG the ‘lazy gaming flagship”. why? because it always get subpar OS upgrade support. even their zenfone series get the same lazy treatment.
i learned my lesson with my zenfone 5 which only got 1 OS upgrade.
it is astonishing that asus is still in the mobile business when their sales number is a joke, software support is a joke, aftersales support is a joke, and management is a joke. asus seems like they never learn their lesson.
Saleh Al-Mazidi says:
Which is better for heavy gaming: ROG 9 Pro or Redmagic 10 Pro (both 24GB, 1TB), assuming budget isn’t a concern?