This week Asus refreshed its Zenfone line with a new Ultra model – some of you may lament the death of the small Zenfone, but something tells us that those weren’t selling too well. But what about the Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra, are there any takers?
This generation upgrades to the Snapdragon 8 Elite, of course, which offers a solid boost in performance over the 8 Gen 3 of the previous model. An important change that is easy to overlook if you just glance at the spec sheet is the support for eSIM – this is really handy when traveling.
Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra
Other than that, Asus upgraded the gimbal stabilization for the 50MP main camera (it can now correct ±5° of movement, 66% better than the previous generation) and swapped out the sensor for a Lytia-700. The phone still comes with a 32MP 3x telephoto camera, a 13MP 120° ultra-wide and a 32MP selfie camera.
The rest of the phone is as before, starting with a 6.78” LTPO OLED display (normally with 1-120Hz refresh rate, but a 144Hz mode is available for gaming) with HDR10 and Gorilla Glass Victus 2. Asus used 100% recycled aluminum for the frame and 22% recycled glass for this model. Inside is a dual-cell 5,500mAh battery with 65W wired charging (100% in 39 minutes) and 15W wireless. There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack (but no microSD slot) and an IP68 rating.
Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra at a glance
Asus is launching the Zenfone 12 Ultra in Europe, Taiwan and Hong Kong with a price of €1,100. However, if you get one before February 28, it will cost you €1,000 instead.
That’s still a lot of money. The Asus ROG Phone 9 starts at €1,100 and has the same Snapdragon 8 Elite. The camera is missing the 32MP tele module, but the display now goes up to 185Hz and has 10-bit colors. The battery is a tad larger at 5,800mAh with the same 65W/15W charging and there are two USB-C ports that can be used for charging (one on the bottom and one on the side). And, of course, you get shoulder triggers for gaming and a mini-LED matrix on the back – this is a gaming phone.
The Samsung Galaxy S25+ goes for €1,150 and brings the same chipset but combined with a sharper 6.7” QHD+ display (also an LTPO panel, 1-120Hz). The battery is small at 4,900mAh (45W/15W) and the telephoto camera is only a 10MP 3x unit. On the plus side, Samsung will support the phone for 7 years – both OS updates and security patches. That’s a lot longer than Asus supports its phones (2 OS updates, 5 years of patches for the Zenfone 12 Ultra).
Asus ROG Phone 9 • Samsung Galaxy S25+
A Google Pixel 9 Pro XL starts off at a rather pricey €1,200 for just 128GB storage and its Tensor G4 is a couple of generations behind the Snapdragon in terms of performance. It does get 7 years of software support, though. And the cameras feature a 50MP main (with a large 1/1.31” sensor), a 48MP 5x (113mm) periscope and a 48MP ultra-wide, plus a 32MP ultra-wide selfie camera. The battery isn’t great at 5,060mAh with 37W/23W charging, but it is better than the Samsung.
Google Pixel 9 Pro XL • OnePlus 13
The OnePlus 13 starts at €1,000 and has the same Snapdragon 8 Elite as most other phones mentioned here, plus a 6.82” QHD+ LTPO display. The camera is pretty solid with a 50MP main, 50MP 3x (73mm) telephoto, 50MP ultra-wide and 32MP selfie. The battery is huge at 6,000mAh and supports fast 100W wired and 50W wireless charging. OnePlus is a bit stingy with OS updates, but you will still get 4 major OS versions (double what Asus is offering).
These are just some of the flagships that are widely available in Europe, Taiwan and Hong Kong – and they are available in the US too, if Asus chooses to bring the Zenfone 12 Ultra to that market (no word on that yet).
If the Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra becomes available near you, would you buy one?
