Zenfone 9 Battery Life Review and Comparisons

Who doesn’t love great battery life? Yes, ASUS upped the battery in the Zenfone 9 compared to the Zenfone 8 but in real terms, does it make a difference? If you want a mobile phone with the best battery life in a phone that isn’t a giant, the Zenfone 9 appears to be king of the mountain.

We are going to delve a bit into a very reputable website that did a deep dive in the Zenfone 9 battery life. Tom’s Guide, aka Tom’s Hardware are a top-of-class reputable website that has a rich history of reviewing every product under the sun. They have the best testing guidelines that they apply to all the mobile phones so you can be assured that their findings are accurate across the board. In their word you can trust.

To make this a fair fight as it were, the Zenfone 9 should really be compared to devices of a similar ilk. So certainly the ASUS ROG Phone series is going to beat most every mobile phone out there when it comes to battery life. However, it’s also a much bigger device which of course can house a much larger battery. So battery life is quite relative. The Nubia RedMagic at spot #2 and #5 is also a gaming phone, so keep that in mind when you notice where the Zenfone 9 is sitting in the rankings.

Here is the list of Tom’s Guide for the best battery life for mobile phones:

  1. Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro: 15:30
  2. Nubia RedMagic 6: 13:20
  3. Moto G Power (2022): 13:15
  4. Asus Zenfone 9: 13:13 (tie)
  5. Nubia RedMagic 6S Pro: 13:13 (tie)
  6. Moto G Stylus (2022): 12:30
  7. Kyocera DuraForce Ultra 5G UW: 12:29
  8. Asus ROG Phone 5: 12:23
  9. Samsung Galaxy A52 5G: 12:19
  10. iPhone 13 Pro Max: 12:16 (tie)
  11. Cat S62 Pro: 12:16 (tie)
  12. OnePlus 10 Pro: 11:52 (tie)
  13. Moto G Pure: 11:52 (tie)
  14. TCL 30 V 5G: 11:46
  15. iPhone 13 Pro: 11:42

So from this updated list of 2022 phone releases, you can see the ROG Phone 6 Pro sitting at the top. There is a cluster of mobile phones in the #2-5 spots that are around the 13 hour mark. That is a very impressive battery life to be sure, and check out the Zenfone 9 vs. the ROG Phone 5. It beats it! Many would call Apple iPhones have the best battery life on the planet. Tom’s Guide comparisons say otherwise. If you consider that the iPhone 13 Pro Max with its 12:16 battery life is the best that Apple has going currently, you can see that the Zenfone 9 is extremely impressive. Note that the most comparable iPhone to the Zenfone 9 size wise is the iPhone 13 and it’s not even on the list!

People may quibble about lack of wireless charging on the Zenfone 9 but clearly you won’t need to charge you phone as much. Perhaps a small conciliation for some. ASUS does provide a 30W charger in the box so that will top up your battery quickly without too much fuss.

It’s interesting to think about whether the Zenfone 9 battery life is a result of ASUS engineering of if it’s the work of the new Snapdragon processor. Most likely the new Snapdragon processor has tremendous efficiency and lower heat which translates into the results see by Tom’s Guide best battery life chart.

It’s also worth noting the size of battery in these phones. The Zenfone 9 has a 4,300 mAh battery compared to the Zenfone 8 which has a 4,000 mAh battery. The ROG Phone 6 Pro has a 6,000 mAh battery compared to the ROG Phone 5 which has a 6,000 mAh battery as well. The results indicate that newer Snapdragon processors are making great strides in terms of power efficiency. Yes, ASUS has some clever designs for cooling which help as well, but we would suggest the largest factor comes down to the processor itself. Which is why you don’t see any Google Pixel phones or Samsung phones which are using their own chip technology. Snapdragon know mobile processors and if battery life matters, then it should be a primary factor when choosing which phone to buy.

We want to restate something. Tom’s Guide would be considered the #1 most reliable source when it comes to evaluating and testing technology. There is a real science to testing and in order to get true comparisons, no rock can be left unturned. You need consistency and you need the exact same testing conditions applied to all devices. We are extremely confident in the list that Tom’s Guide is providing.

We will update with other main publications and their Zenfone 9 battery life findings in the weeks and days to come.

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2 Comments

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  1. Stephen August 8, 2022 at 11:33 pm #

    I’ve never once wished I had wireless charging, and I never will wish I had wireless charging, yet weeks before a single review of the Zenfone 9 appeared I predicted that they’d list “No wireless charging” as a “Con”. They have, but they never even say WHY – which only further proves that it’s just a gimmick. If you could qualify precisely why it’s a “Con” then fine, but all “tech journalists” actually know about is design trends and some buzzy words. You need this thing called a “wire” to plug your so-called “wireless charger” in anyway. Hey I have a better idea, how about I just plug my normal charger in instead, and charge it faster! “Oh, but you can just leave it on wireless charge overnight Stephen”. Yes, and you can leave it on normal charging overnight, and when it reached a user set 90% charge limit, it will stop charging, and Zenfones in tests have been shown to stop charging past the user set charge limits. Utterly clueless people love wireless charging…

    • SsB August 13, 2022 at 10:38 am #

      My current phone USB C port is acting up, so I started charging it wirelessly to prevent further damage.

      Another reason – my spouse and I can share a bit of battery juice wireless, if one is really low, while out and about.

      So it does have it’s use cases, but it isn’t crucial. The lack of memory card though is a major con.

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