So, let’s see how they compare. The Zenfone 9 starts at $699 and the Galaxy S22 starts at $799. Which one is the right choice for you?

Dimensions and Build Quality

Asus Zenfone 9: 146. 5 x 68. 1 x 9. 1 mm; 169 grams; IP68 water and dust resistant Samsung Galaxy S22: 146 x 70. 6 x 7. 6 mm; 168 grams; IP68 water and dust resistant

The Zenfone 9 and the Galaxy S22 are almost identical in dimensions and weight, except the former is a bit wider, thicker, and has flat edges and dual stereo speakers. Both phones have an official IP68 rating for water and dust resistance.

The S22 uses Gorilla Glass Victus+ on the front and the back while the Zenfone 9 uses Gorilla Glass Victus on the front and textured plastic on the back that’s more grippy, shatter-resistant, and doesn’t show fingerprints. Both devices have aluminum frames.

The Zenfone 9 has a 3.5mm headphone jack just like its predecessor to connect your wired headphones; Samsung got rid of them from its flagships a while ago which is a shame because wired headphones are better than wireless headphones in almost every way.

Camera

Asus Zenfone 9: 50MP f/1. 9 primary with gimbal OIS, PDAF, and 8K video at 24fps; 12MP f/2. 2 ultra-wide with 113-degree FoV; Front: 12MP f/2. 5 with 4K video at 30fps Samsung Galaxy S22: 50MP f/1. 8 primary with OIS, PDAF, and 8K video at 24fps; 12MP f/2. 2 ultra-wide with 120-degree FoV; 10MP f/2. 4 telephoto with OIS and PDAF; Front: 10MP f/2. 2 with 4K video at 60fps

The Zenfone 9 has three cameras in total: a 50MP main, a 12MP ultrawide, and a 12MP front camera. The Galaxy S22 has four cameras: a 50MP main, a 12MP ultrawide, a 10MP telephoto, and a 10MP front camera.

Both phones are capable of shooting up to 8K video on the back and 4K video on the front, although the S22 supports smoother 60fps selfie video. The S22 also has a telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom to capture faraway objects and a wider field-of-view on its ultrawide lens.

The Zenfone 9 has a built-in gimbal stabilizer on its main camera, allowing it to shoot much more stable videos, but the S22 can shoot HDR10+ videos, so they are more vibrant. Image processing is also more aggressive on the S22 giving you more ready-to-share images than the more natural but sometimes flat-looking shots we’ve seen on the Zenfone 9.

Display

Asus Zenfone 9: 5. 9 inches, AMOLED; 120Hz refresh rate; HDR10+ support; 1080 x 2400 resolution; 445 PPI; 1100 nits peak brightness; Gorilla Glass Victus; 84. 6% screen-to-body ratio Samsung Galaxy S22: 6. 1 inches, AMOLED; 120Hz refresh rate; HDR10+ support; 1080 x 2340 resolution; 425 PPI; 1300 nits peak brightness; Gorilla Glass Victus+; 87. 4% screen-to-body ratio

Both devices have an almost identical FHD+ display, but the biggest difference between the two is that the S22 has thin uniform bezels while the Zenfone 9 has noticeable bezels at the top and bottom making it look less premium and almost like a mid-range phone.

The S22 is also brighter with a peak brightness of 1300 nits over the Zenfone 9’s 1100 nits. Typical brightness (which is a more accurate figure to judge brightness) is about 982 nits on the former and 800 nits on the latter according to real-world tests. Neither of the two phones has LTPO display technology.

Processor

Asus Zenfone 9: Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1; 4nm fabrication; Adreno 730 GPU Samsung Galaxy S22: Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or Exynos 2200; 4nm fabrication; Adreno 730 or Xclipse 920 GPU

Since the Galaxy S22 launched earlier, it has the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip while its rival uses the newer Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip. With the newer chip and cooling system, Asus is promising 15% faster CPU performance, 50% faster GPU performance, and 30% better power efficiency over its predecessor. In real life though, the difference will be negligible.

Based on your region, the S22 model you get might have Samsung’s in-house Exynos 2200 chip instead of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. We don’t recommend Exynos chips as they have historically been weaker than the Snapdragon equivalents, and there are several reports about Exynos 2200 developing heating issues. You can check if your region has the Snapdragon variant of the S22.

We know the S22 Ultra has a bunch of cooling solutions, but Samsung hasn’t advertised the same for the vanilla S22. Thankfully, the Zenfone 9 does have a vapor chamber cooling system so that your device shouldn’t overheat while gaming.

RAM and Storage

Asus Zenfone 9: 8/16GB LPDDR5 RAM; 128/256GB UFS 3. 1 storage Samsung Galaxy S22: 8GB LPDDR5 RAM; 128/256GB UFS 3. 1 storage

Both phones have 8GB of fast LPDDR5 RAM and 128GB of fast UFS 3.1 storage on the base variant and can be scaled up to 256GB. The Zenfone 9 also comes in a 16GB RAM variant, but that’s frankly not necessary. Even if you’re a gamer or power user, 12GB RAM is usually the maximum you should go for; 16GB RAM is just overkill.

Neither of the two phones has an SD card slot.

Battery

Asus Zenfone 9: 4300mAh battery; 30W fast wired charging Samsung Galaxy S22: 3700mAh battery; 25W fast wired charging; 15W wireless and 4. 5W reverse wireless charging

The biggest problem with compact phones is that since there’s less room in the device’s body, the battery has to be shrunk down as well. But the 4300mAh cell on the Zenfone 9 will easily give you more battery life than the small 3700mAh cell on the Galaxy S22. When it comes to charging, the former pulls ahead again with support for 30W while the latter supports 25W.

That said, the S22 supports 15W wireless and 4.5W reverse wireless charging too, which the Zenfone 9 doesn’t. This is disappointing to see in a 2022 flagship phone.

However, Asus does provide a 30W charger inside the box which is very rare these days. If you buy the S22, you’ll have to use your existing charger or buy a new 25W one.

S22 Looks Better, Zenfone 9 Offers More Value

There’s a lot of love about the Asus Zenfone 9. The headphone jack, bigger battery, dual stereo speakers, vapor chamber cooling system, gimbal stabilizer, and of course, the included charger and back cover in the box.

However, if you’re going to spend $800 on a phone, you expect it to actually look like a flagship. And the S22 is the clear winner in that case due to its thin uniform bezels. To conclude, the Galaxy S22 is the safer option (if you pick the Snapdragon variant), but the Zenfone 9 offers more bang for your buck.