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The Zenfone is one of the smallest Android phones made right now and one of the cheapest phones to pack the most powerful Snapdragon processor.

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While small Android phones will still be rare going forward, we expect the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chip to be in even more Android phones in the second half of 2022. Unveiled on Thursday, the Asus Zenfone 9 can give fans of smaller phones all the specs and power of bigger, more expensive flagships. The Zenfone 9 features the latest Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chip, a 120Hz high refresh rate display, dual rear cameras, Android 12, dual speakers and a headphone jack. I tested the $800 version of the Zenfone 9 for a few days, which includes 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The $700 base model has 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Internationally the phone costs €799, which converts to around £670 or AU$1,170. The release date has not been announced yet. The comparisons to Apple’s $729 iPhone 13 Mini are undeniable. While the Zenfone 9 is slightly taller and wider than Apple’s smaller phone, both pack the latest and most powerful processor on offer — the A15 Bionic in the iPhone’s case.

Zenfone 9 vs iPhone 13 Mini dimensions

                                                                        Phone Screen Size Height Width Asus Zenfone 9 5.9 inches 5.76 inches (146.5 mm) 2.68 inches (68.1 mm) Apple iPhone 13 Mini 5.4 inches 5.18 inches (131.5 mm) 2.53 inches (64.2 mm)

The Zenfone’s smaller size, along with its impressive specs, have made it a treat so far. The phone is like a small remote control that can handle anything I throw at it: games, night mode photos and video calls. When I unlock the phone, there’s even a lively animated wallpaper that further emphasizes its speed. The Zenfone 9’s sub-6-inch display means it’s a rarity among Android phones. It’s impressively small and powerful, running on the Snapdragon chip found mostly in gaming phones like the $729 RedMagic 7S Pro. Although the upcoming OnePlus 10T will also include the chip. However, the new Asus phone lacks quite a few features that most other $700 phones have. Chief among them is the lack of wireless charging and a software update schedule of more than two years. An Asus representative said software updates may stretch past two years. But compared to the three and four years of Android OS updates offered by Google and Samsung, respectively, that’s shorter. The Asus Zenfone 9 includes a headphone jack at the top and dual speakers. Mike Sorrentino/CNET

Fast screen, fast charging

The Zenfone’s 5.9-inch display has a 1080p resolution and is easy to use with one hand. Asus has tweaked the settings in its ZenUI interface to make one-handed use even easier: Similar to Apple’s Reachability feature, you can move the top of the screen to the bottom to make things easier to reach. The 120 Hz refresh rate makes it easy to browse apps and websites. This high refresh rate combined with the 240Hz touch sample rate makes it feel like I’m flying through tasks. I played a few games on the phone — which was a bit more difficult on the smaller screen, as many of them are designed with larger phones in mind. But the phone’s responsiveness is useful, allowing for faster reaction times during gameplay. In terms of durability, the screen is covered by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus. THE…