The Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra ($899) shares much of its DNA with the $1,499 Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro, which isn’t a surprise considering the company’s two phone divisions merged last year. It’s much larger than the Zenfone 10, and it’s packing more than enough power to compete with the other top Android phones on the market. It lacks mmWave 5G and won’t receive as many software updates as the Google Pixel 8 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S24+, but if you can look past these shortcomings, the Zenfone 11 Ultra is a powerful alternative for $100 less.No-Nonsense LooksComparing the Zenfone 11 Ultra with the ROG Phone 8 Pro (pictured below) is like comparing the standard version of a sedan with the sports package upgrade. Whereas the Zenfone 11 Ultra provides a premium experience in an attractive but simple design, the ROG Phone 8 is a high-end piece of kit retooled for gamers with air triggers, accent lighting, and a side USB-C port.
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Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro (Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
More importantly for Zenfone fans, however, is the 11’s departure from the compact flagship nature of the Zenfone 10 and older models. It is no longer a tiny powerhouse. Instead, the Zenfone 11 Ultra is a big, hefty phone at 6.45 by 3.02 by 0.35 inches (HWD) and approximately 7.90 ounces. The ROG Phone 8 shares these exact dimensions but weighs slightly more at 7.94 ounces. The Zenfone 11 is downright monstrous compared with the Zenfone 10, which measures in 5.77 by 2.68 by 0.37 inches and 6.07 ounces. It’s also larger than the Galaxy S24+ (6.24 by 3.0 by 0.30 inches, 6.95 ounces). Accordingly, the Zenfone 11’s display is much larger than the Zenfone 10’s at 6.78 inches compared with 5.9 inches. The Zenfone 11 features Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the front and back for protection. The back of the phone positions a squarish camera module in the upper left corner. Subtle branding with a large A icon and the words Asus Zenfone are also on the back but are only visible when they catch the light.
(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
The right side of the phone holds a volume rocker and power button. The bottom-mounted USB-C 2.0 port is located to the left (not centered), along with a dual SIM card tray, a speaker grille, and a rare (but welcome) 3.5mm headphone jack.The fit and finish feel top-notch. All the materials meet together to produce a singular slab that feels comfortable to hold thanks to rounded edges from the front and back glass to the frame. The phone balances easily in your hand despite the large camera module on one end. For durability, the Zenfone 11 is rated IP68, meaning it can withstand dust and water immersion. The phone is available in four colors: Desert Sand, Eternal Black, Misty Grey, or Skyline Blue. I received the Misty Grey model, pictured in this review.A Bright and Fast ScreenAsus has more than doubled the peak brightness from 1,100 nits on the Zenfone 10 to 2,500 nits here. In practical terms, the Zenfone 11 is easy to see outdoors, with the vibrant colors and the excellent contrast you expect from an OLED display.
(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
The display has a variable refresh rate that runs up to 120Hz, but you can unlock an even smoother 144Hz mode in the Game Genie interface. Animations, videos, and gaming look incredibly smooth throughout the phone’s interface.As for resolution, the phone packs 2,400 by 1,080 pixels, for a density of 388ppi. I would have liked a higher resolution considering the size, but the Zenfone 11 matches the ROG Phone 8’s screen in every way but refresh rate (the latter ramps up to 165Hz). Swift Performance and Long Battery LifeThe Zenfone 11 Ultra is powered by the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 system on a chip as the ROG Phone 8 Pro and many other flagship phones introduced this year. The US version comes with 12GB of LPDDR5x RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage. An additional version available outside the US has 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. I tested the 16GB/512GB international version.As a daily driver, the phone runs effortlessly. Nothing I did seemed to push it to its limits. Launching multiple apps and switching between open apps, gaming, and system responses worked effectively and efficiently.On Geekbench 6, a suite of tests that evaluates raw computing power, the Zenfone 11 Ultra obtained a single-core score of 2,284 and a multi-core score of 6,916. These numbers are similar to the ROG Phone 8 (2,236 and 7,000) and Galaxy S24+ (2,289 and 7,075), though the latter device uses a customized processor called the 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy. The Pixel 8 Pro, which relies on Google’s Tensor G3, didn’t fare as well on this benchmark, with scores of 1,751 and 4,384. (Google’s Tensor chips are not optimized for benchmark performance.)
(Credit: GeekBench/PCMark/GFXBench)
On the PCMark Work 3.0 test, which simulates general mobile tasks, the Zenfone 11 Ultra scored 20,273, handily beating the S24+ (18,476) and the Pixel 8 Pro (11,706). On the Benchmark Web 3.0 test, the phone scored 870, while the S24+ did better (988) and the Pixel 8 Pro did worse (761).To test GPU performance, I ran the GFXBench Aztec Ruins benchmark at a resolution of 2,400 by 1,027 pixels. The phone ran the test at 109 frames per second (fps), a nearly identical result to the ROG Phone 8 (108fps). The S24+ ran at 83fps and the Pixel 8 Pro hit just 39fps. While running this benchmark, the Zenfone 11 Ultra became quite hot to the touch and bordered on uncomfortable.
(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
The Zenfone 11 Ultra may not be marketed as a gaming machine, but it clearly has tons of power. Playing the resource-intensive game Genshin Impact posed no issue. The phone did get a little warm after playing the game for about 20 minutes on the highest settings, but slowdown and lag were nonexistent. Lightweight games like Mario Kart Tour and Alto’s Odyssey ran without any problems. Asus put a 5,500mAh battery inside the Zenfone 11 Ultra; the smaller Zenfone 10 had a 4,300 mAh. In our battery rundown test, which involves streaming a full HD video with the screen at full brightness, the Zenfone 11 survived an impressive 12 hours and 50 minutes, just 5 minutes less than the ROG Phone 8. The Galaxy S24+ lasted 14 hours and 10 minutes in the same test, while the Pixel 8 Pro managed just 9 hours and 5 minutes. The phone supports wired charging at up to 65W and wireless charging at 15W; there is no reverse wireless charging for accessories. In testing, it took approximately 1 hour and 18 minutes to recharge the Zenfone 11 Ultra from 0 to 100% using a charger capable of 65W delivery. The phone doesn’t include a charger in the box.Middling Connectivity and Call QualityFor connectivity, the Zenfone 11 supports 5G (sub-6GHz, but not mmWave), Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, and NFC. It can support two physical SIM cards but does not support eSIM.On T-Mobile’s 5G UC network in New York City, the Zenfone 11 reached a peak download speed of 276Mbps and a peak upload speed of 88.3Mbps. For comparison, the Galaxy S24+ (which supports mmWave) did far better, with peaks of 606Mbps down and 120Mbps up.
(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
When connected to a Wi-Fi 6 access point, the phone reached a maximum download speed of 443Mbps and an upload speed of 4.70Mbps. That slow upload speed is more a function of the internet service provider than the phone. The Galaxy S24+ reached 252Mbps down and 4.4Mbps up in the same spot. Moving the devices as far away from the access point in my apartment as possible, the Zenfone 11 dipped to 42.0Mbps down and 3.95Mbps up, while the S24+ managed 102Mbps down and 9.49Mbps up, suggesting it is better tuned for weak coverage.In a test call with the phone in normal mode, my voice sounded clear even though music in the background was easily audible. The phone includes an AI-assisted noise-cancellation feature, but with this mode switched on, the background music was still audible. Not only does the AI-based noise cancellation not eliminate noise very well, but it occasionally works too aggressively and muffles out my voice. The earpiece speaker tops out at 73.0dB, while the speakerphone reaches 67.0dB. Typically, anything above 70dB is easy to hear even with moderate background noise. Asus has developed an AI-assisted in-call translation tool, but it is in beta and I am unable to test it as of this writing.When playing Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” to test music playback, the stereo speakers reached 93.0dB, which is quite loud. By default, the speakers sound like they are tuned to offer more bass. However, deep low bass notes like those in The Knife’s “Silent Shout” are difficult to hear. As with just about any phone, you’ll want to break out your Bluetooth headphones or go old school with a pair of wired ones for the best listening experience. A Fine Phone for PhotographyGenerally, stills captured by the Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra are pleasant to look at, with colors that are true to life and have good contrast. The 50MP main camera takes 12.5MP photos by default using pixel-binning. It has an aperture of f/1.9 and uses what Asus calls the six-axis Hybrid Gimbal Stabilizer to reduce shake. The colors matched what I saw with my eyes and the photos showed good detail.
(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
Main camera (Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
The 13MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera produces images consistent with the main shooter in that the colors, detail, and contrast are all pleasing.
Ultra-wide camera (Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
The 32MP f/2.4 telephoto camera takes 8MP images by default and has 3x optical zoom with optical image stabilization. Telephoto images preserved details even in busy areas like bare branches crossing one another.
Telephoto camera (Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
Selfies and portraits looked good thanks to the 32MP front-facing camera. Usually, my glasses pose an issue for portrait images and the Zenfone 11 Ultra was no different—it sometimes blurred out a portion of my lenses as if they were part of the background.
Left to right: Selfie, Portrait samples (Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
Video capture tops out at a resolution of 8K at 24fps. Thanks to Asus’ image stabilization tech, video footage looks incredibly smooth even while you’re moving. The colors look vibrant and the details are clear. Asus has a bokeh video feature that yielded mixed results. This mode simulates a portrait effect when capturing video with the subject in focus and the background blurred. (iPhones and Galaxy phones have offered a similar feature for years.) Asus says it is using AI to track and focus on subjects. The effect seemed best when using the 3x telephoto camera rather than the main camera, since the level of blur was more pronounced and effective. You can switch to different subjects in the frame—including dogs and birds—by tapping on the screen, but switching from one zoom level to another requires you to start a new video. In an intersection busy with pedestrians, the Zenfone 11 Ultra kept nearly everyone in focus even though was I trying to select one subject. When I moved to a park with fewer people, the phone locked onto individual subjects more precisely.
Android 14 Peppered With Dashes of AIThe Zenfone 11 Ultra ships with Android 14 and some customizations from Asus. For example, there’s a mode that splits the notification panel so you can either view notifications or the quick settings menu depending on where you start your finger drag. Asus says the Zenfone 11 Ultra will get two major OS upgrades and four years of security updates. Samsung and Google have set a new bar, offering seven years of support for the Galaxy S24 and Pixel 8 series, respectively. Asus would be wise to improve its support story.If you want to port over your accounts, apps, and settings when setting up the Zenfone, you must use the free Asus Phone Clone app on both it and your old device. I had no trouble transferring everything from a Galaxy S24 over to the Zenfone 11 Ultra using a USB-C cable.
(Credit: Hoyoverse/Asus)
The Game Genie software from the Asus ROG Phone 8 makes a showing here. The menu is accessible by swiping diagonally from either of the top corners toward the center while playing a game. With it, you can switch performance modes between High Performance, Dynamic, Durable, and Ultra Durable. You can see real-time stats on how fast the processor is running, the temperature, the frame rate, and more. AI features are sprinkled (somewhat inconsistently) throughout the Zenfone 11 Ultra. Semantic Search, for example, makes it easier to find things systemwide even if you make a typo. The Recorder app uses AI to produce transcripts of your audio. Reading part of this review into the Recorder yielded excellent results. A 57-word sample produced just one typo, while punctuation was automatically added correctly. This feature was active on my test unit, but will not be available at launch—Asus will deliver it in a future software update.
Left to right: AI wallpaper menu, resulting image, regenerated image (Credit: Asus)
You can even use AI to generate unique wallpapers, though this tool requires a 3.06GB download first. Asus limits how you can design wallpapers through three menus (Background, Tone, and Inspiration). Choosing one brings up a submenu for more granularity. In other words, wallpapers rely on a template of sorts and aren’t entirely freeform. I attempted to create a cityscape at night and the results look more AI-generated than real. The AI wallpaper tool is also in beta and won’t be available at launch. A ROG Phone 8 by Any Other NameThe $899 Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra goes toe-to-toe with top phones from Google and Samsung for $100 less. It provides strong performance in an attractive design with long battery life, useful AI features, and gaming chops to spare. It’s certainly a good value compared with the ROG phone, considering the Zenfone gives you pretty much the same experience in a different design for less money. That said, the Galaxy S24+ and the Pixel 8 Pro support mmWave 5G, have even better cameras, and offer longer-term support, so they’re definitely worth considering. For the absolute top Android phone experience, meanwhile, the Galaxy S24 Ultra includes a stylus and has the best camera of the bunch, but it’s also the most expensive at $1,299.99.
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