Asus has been selling smartphones for gamers under the ROG Phone brand since 2018. But the new ROG Phone 9 isn't just the most powerful to date, it also plays with the idea of gaming phones in a new way.

The new ROG Phone 9 and ROG Phone 9 Pro are both phones with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processors and 6.78 inch AMOLED displays with support for refresh rates up to 185 Hz during gaming. Like earlier gaming phones from Asus, there's an "Anime Vision" system on the back with a series of holes that can display different patterns of LED lights. But Asus has given the Anime Vision lighting a major update with this year's phones.

One change? Anime Vision isn't exclusive to the ROG Phone 9 Pro – there's a stripped down version that lets you display patterns using 85 mini LED red and white lights on the basic ROG Phone 9.

But if you do have the ROG Phone 9 Pro, there are two major upgrades: the first is that there are now 648 lights, which is twice as many as the ROG Phone 8 Pro has. The second is that there's a new "Anime Play" system that allows you to flip the phone around so you're looking at the back and play a series of simple retro-style games using these 648 lights as a simple display.

At launch those games include Breakout, Snake, and Space Invaders clones, as well as "Speedy Runner," which is a run and jump game that looks similar to the one included in Google's Chrome browser.

Of course, while this is a nifty gimmick, you're probably more interested in buying a gaming phone if you want to play more demanding titles and the ROG Phone 9 has plenty of tricks up its sleeve to help with that.

In addition to Qualcomm's fastest smartphone processor to date and a responsive display, the smartphone has a 5800 mAh battery with support for 65W fast charging (or 15W wireless charging), stereo speakers and a 3.5mm audio jack, and AirTrigger buttons that can be mapped to in-game functions.

Asus also offers an optional AeroActive Cooler X Pro that clips to the back of the phone and connects to a USB-C port, giving you extra cooling performance while also adding a subwoofer for louder bass. The cooler also has two physical gaming buttons.

Asus also includes software that the company says can help with gaming, including AI-based image recognition that can detect certain conditions in supported games and offer notifications about things like in-game events or even perform automatic skill upgrades for you. Only a handful of games support this feature right now, but those games include popular titles like Genshin Impact and League of Legends Wild Rift.

There's also an AI Grabber function that recognizes in-game text, allowing you to select text to copy and paste into a search box if you're looking for walkthroughs or other help with tricky parts of a game. Or you can use this feature to translate text to a different language.

And Asus also offers AI-enhanced noise cancellation for clearer audio during in-game multiplayer chats.

The entry-level ROG Phone 9 starts at $1000 for a model with 12GB of LPDDR5x-9600 memory and 256GB of storage, while he ROG Phone 9 Pro costs $200 more and ships with at least 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The Pro model also has a 32MP telephoto camera, which is probably more useful than the 5MP Macro camera on the non-Pro version.

And Asus is also offering a ROG Phone 9 Pro Edition for $1500 with 24GB of RAM, 1TB of storage. This model comes bundled with the AeroActive Cooler X Pro.

ROG Phone 9 ROG Phone 9 Pro Display 6.78 inches2400 x 1080 pixelsAMOLEDLTPO2500 nits peak brightness1 – 185 Hz refresh rate720 Hz touch sampling rateCorning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite RAM / Storage Up to 16GB LPDDR5x-9600 / 512GB UFS 4.0 16GB / 512GB (Pro)24GB / 1TB (Pro Edition) Battery 5800 mAh Charging 65W (wired)15W (wireless) Audio Stereo speakers3.5mm audioSpatial Sound with Dirac Virtuo for headphone techAI noise cancellation Controllers AirTrigger buttons Rear cameras 50MP Sony Lytia 700 primary with 6-axis hybrid gimbal stabilizer13MP ultrawide5MP macro 50MP Sony Lytia 700 primary with 6-axis hybrid gimbal stabilizer13MP ultrawide32MP 3X telephoto with OIS Front camera 32MP 90 degree wide-angle Anime Vision 85 mini LEDs (white and red) 648 mini LEDs (white and red)Anime Play (4 playable games) IP rating IP68 Dimensions 163.8 x 77 x 8.9mm Weight 227 grams Accessories (optional) AeroActive Cooler X ProChill Case Starting price 12GB / 256GB for $1000 16GB / 512GB for $120024TB / 1TB + Cooler X Pro for $1500

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