ASUS Zenfone 12 Ultra evaluation: I actually like this telephone, however you should not purchase it

ASUS was onto a superb factor with the Zenfone 9 and Zenfone 10. The Taiwanese producer stood out by delivering small telephones with the very best {hardware}, and so they have been genuinely satisfying to make use of. While I normally favor bigger telephones, I’ll agree that each the Zenfone 9 and Zenfone 10 supplied one thing that was sorely missing.

That’s why it was puzzling to see ASUS swap tack with final 12 months’s Zenfone 11 Ultra, reverting to a slab of a telephone that was mainly a rebadged model of its gaming gadget. The technique did not make a lot sense to me; in selecting to return to a much bigger telephone, the model misplaced the distinctiveness that made earlier fashions notable, and the gadget as a complete wasn’t anyplace nearly as good because the Zenfone 10.

Annoyingly, the Zenfone 12 Ultra does not do something to rectify the scenario this 12 months — you get roughly the identical design because the Zenfone 11 Ultra, and barring iterative updates, there is not something new. I used to be holding out on ASUS going again to a smaller design this time round, however that is not the case.

While I nonetheless like the mixture of {hardware} and software program, the Zenfone 12 Ultra simply does not do sufficient to differentiate itself towards Chinese rivals which have significantly better digital camera methods, and ASUS’s lackluster software program replace coverage finally makes the gadget a non-starter.

ASUS Zenfone 12 Ultra: Pricing and availability

ASUS unveiled the Zenfone 12 Ultra on February 6, and the gadget is launching in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Europe initially. The telephone will likely be bought in a single 16GB/512GB variant outdoors Taiwan, and it’ll price €1,099 ($1,141). To incentivize the launch, ASUS is discounting the gadget by €100 till February 28, so consumers will be capable to decide it up at €999 ($1,037).

ASUS does not have particular plans to launch the Zenfone 12 Ultra within the U.S. or U.Okay. in the intervening time, and I’ll add an replace if that scenario adjustments. It is feasible we’d see the gadget debut in North America at a later level — that has been the case in earlier years — but it surely is not a given at this level.

ASUS Zenfone 12 Ultra: Design

I managed to interrupt the Zenfone 12 Ultra after simply three days of use, in order that’s nearly as good a spot to start out as any. The gadget slid out of my pocket and hit the ground, and regardless that the space was simply over two toes, the angle of influence — alongside an edge — meant that it picked up a spiderweb of cracks originating on the again.

Let’s speak in regards to the safety — or lack thereof. The Zenfone 12 Ultra has a glass again with Gorilla Glass 3, and whereas the protecting layer does a fantastic job towards scratches, it does not do a lot towards tumbles (as evidenced with my unit). Most telephones I take advantage of nowadays include Gorilla Glass Victus or Victus 2, and so they have significantly better resilience towards tumbles.

Brands like Vivo and Honor are utilizing their very own glass protecting layers on their newest telephones, and after prolonged use involving a half-dozen drops, I did not discover any harm on the X200 Pro or Magic 7 Pro. In reality, telephones are typically resilient sufficient that I do not use a case with any of the gadgets I check outdoors of the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Pixel 9 Pro XL.

I suppose the acute angle of influence in all probability contributed to the glass breaking, and it made utilizing the telephone all of the extra annoying as I needed to put it in a case. Another level of rivalry is that as a result of ASUS does not promote the Zenfone 12 Ultra in as many areas because it used to, there is no strategy to reliably get the rear glass modified — ASUS has no plans to launch the telephone in India.

Annoyingly, there aren’t many equipment both. I are inclined to favor ultra-thin instances as they do not add an excessive amount of heft to the telephone, however most case manufacturers aren’t releasing equipment for the gadget, so your selections are very restricted on this regard. ASUS bundled a cumbersome Rhinoshield case with the telephone, and that is the one I needed to go along with.

The design of the telephone itself is not significantly noteworthy. You mainly get a plain glass again with an oblong digital camera island, and the design is essentially forgettable. There is not any defining function to the telephone, and it simply does not seem like a flagship that prices over $1,000.

There’s an aluminum mid-frame, and ASUS says it is utilizing 100% recycled aluminum this time, which is sweet to see. The Ebony Black variant does not stand out, however you will get the telephone in Sakura White and Sage Green, with the inexperienced mannequin the perfect of the lot.

Because the telephone makes use of the identical basis as ASUS’s gaming-oriented gadgets, the USB-C port is positioned to the aspect. This is inconvenient for those who’re making an attempt to fit the telephone right into a cell controller just like the GameSir G8 Galileo, or cost the gadget when it is on a telephone stand.

While the Zenfone 12 Ultra is lighter than final 12 months at 220g, it’s bulkier and taller than most different telephones I used just lately. Honestly, ASUS ought to have caught with the flamboyant styling and vivid hues that made the Zenfone 9 and 10 so distinctive — I used finances telephones which have higher character.

ASUS Zenfone 12 Ultra: Display

ASUS is not making any adjustments to the panel this 12 months, so the Zenfone 12 Ultra comes with the identical 6.78-inch Samsung AMOLED panel as its predecessor. It makes use of LTPO tech to dynamically modify refresh between 1Hz to 120Hz, and it goes as much as 144Hz in choose video games.

The 2400 x 1080 decision is unchanged as properly, as is the max brightness of 2500 nits when viewing HDR content material. While the Vivo X200 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Magic 7 Pro get brighter in common use, there aren’t any inherent points with the Zenfone 12 Ultra on this regard — the panel is readable beneath harsh daylight.

ASUS is aware of calibrate the panels on its telephones, and the Zenfone 12 Ultra has nice colours out of the field, and also you get a superb quantity of customizability in terms of adjusting the colour steadiness. The bezels are simply as skinny as final 12 months, and it makes utilizing the gadget simply that little bit extra thrilling. Also, the optical fingerprint sensor is positioned within the superb place, and I had no issues accessing it.

You even get a 3.5mm jack, with ASUS being the one model to nonetheless provide the function on a high-end telephone. It’s not simply the inclusion of the analog jack both; ASUS put in a variety of work to ship nice audio, and the collaboration with Dirac genuinely makes a distinction.

Thankfully, the display screen is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2, and the one factor I’ll say about it’s that ASUS ought to have used the identical coating on the again too. Gaming or consuming content material on the gadget is extremely satisfying, and apart from the restricted collection of always-on types, I haven’t got any issues with the panel on the telephone.

ASUS Zenfone 12 Ultra: Hardware and battery

ASUS clearly is aware of make telephones with top-notch {hardware}, and the Zenfone 12 Ultra is a real powerhouse. Similar to its predecessors, the gadget comes with the most recent Qualcomm silicon, and it’s in regards to the quickest cell chipset obtainable as we speak — it even outshines the A18 in single-core workloads.

I obtained the 16GB/512GB variant of the gadget, and that is the variant that ASUS is rolling out globally. ASUS did a incredible job organising the telephone, and it completely flies — that is the quickest telephone I utilized in 2025. There aren’t any slowdowns, no glitches or stutters, and the telephone does a terrific job in demanding video games. It has stricter thermal limitations than the ROG Phone 9 Pro, and actually, that is a superb factor; the telephone does not get absurdly scorching, but it surely nonetheless manages to ship steady framerates.

It should not be astonishing that the Zenfone 12 Ultra posted the very best scores within the likes of Geekbench 6. A better thermal restrict than most different gadgets on this class — it went as much as 46 levels in 3DMark’s Steel Nomad stress check — mixed with nice optimization provides the telephone a definite benefit, and regardless that it is not branded as such, that is mainly the most effective Android gaming telephones you will get as we speak.

There are loads of cool additions as properly; ASUS has a again faucet gesture that is inherently customizable, and apparently, the gesture works even with a cumbersome case. ASUS additionally leverages your entire Qualcomm suite of choices, so that you get the AptX HD and AptX Lossless codecs as customary.

I did not run into any points with connectivity — both in the home or outdoors — and apart from the vibration motor missing granularity, there aren’t any issues in anyway with the {hardware}. ASUS continues to excel on this space, and if you’d like a strong telephone designed for gaming, you will love what the Zenfone 12 Ultra has to supply.

Coming to the battery aspect of issues, the telephone will get the identical 5500mAh battery as final 12 months. It’s cut up into twin 2750mAh items, and makes use of the usual USB PD 65W protocol to cost, so you should use any PD charger with ease. This is related, as a result of ASUS not bundles a charger within the field. I’m aggravated that different Android manufacturers are beginning to observe Samsung and Google, and I do not see why ASUS could not simply bundle the charger with the package deal.

Anyway, the telephone lasts a day with none issues, and there is no anxiousness in anyway with reference to the battery working out earlier than the tip of the day — even with heavy use. It takes 44 minutes to cost the battery utilizing a 65W PD charger, and whereas it is not the longest-lasting gadget I examined in 2025 — that is the Vivo X200 Pro — it simply lasts a day, and that is ok.

ASUS Zenfone 12 Ultra: Cameras

ASUS went with a 50MP primary digital camera that options Sony’s Lytia-700 imaging module, and also you get a 32MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom, and a 13MP wide-angle lens. Alongside the brand new primary digital camera, ASUS tweaked the gimbal stabilization system to permit the gadget to take even higher movies. Outside of that, there aren’t any variations to the Zenfone 11 Ultra — ASUS is utilizing the identical lenses on the auxiliary cameras as final 12 months.

The digital camera interface hasn’t modified from final 12 months, however there is a doc scanning possibility now, and a better strategy to set off a timer. You get the standard AI-assisted capturing modes, and so they do a good sufficient job making certain the topic is all the time in focus. The new gimbal stabilization tech is healthier than final 12 months, and also you see a noticeable distinction if you transfer round while taking movies.

However, video high quality itself is not the perfect, and the Zenfone 12 Ultra does not come anyplace near its rivals on this space. Annoyingly, 4K60 video is restricted to the principle digital camera, so you may’t use the mode with the auxiliary sensors. This severely inhibits the flexibility of the cameras, and actually, for those who plan on taking a variety of movies, I’d counsel getting the Vivo X200 Pro as an alternative.

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Coming to photographs, the Zenfone 12 Ultra has good dynamic vary and colour accuracy in daylight pictures, and foliage is rendered precisely with none aggressive artifacting. It has points focusing at instances, and it does not do anyplace in addition to the Pixel 9 Pro XL or Honor Magic 7 Pro at taking photographs of fast-moving topics.

The auxiliary lenses are respectable sufficient, however but once more, they do not have the identical degree of element or colour constancy as different high-end telephones, and that is noticeable in low-light imagery. The primary digital camera, nonetheless, does a significantly better job in difficult conditions than earlier years, and I’ve no qualms about that sensor.

I appear to say this yearly, however the Zenfone 12 Ultra has the perfect digital camera package deal ASUS delivered to this point. However, it is not anyplace nearly as good as what different Chinese manufacturers are providing in the intervening time. If you do not intend to make use of the cameras an excessive amount of and as an alternative desire a highly effective telephone that additionally takes satisfactory photographs, the Zenfone 12 Ultra continues to be a good selection. But if you’d like best-in-class imaging modules and digital camera tuning, you will have to get the X200 Pro or the Find X8 Pro.

ASUS Zenfone 12 Ultra: Software

ASUS has the most effective software program interfaces of any Android telephone as we speak. There is not a vanilla UI as such with Android nowadays, however the Taiwanese model did a fantastic job balancing minimal styling with in depth customizability, and utilizing the interface evokes fond reminiscences of OxygenOS 9.5.

The interface is optimized extremely properly, and it has higher fluidity than simply about every other telephone as we speak — together with the OnePlus 13, Vivo X200 Pro, Honor Magic 7 Pro, and the Pixel 9 Pro XL. It’s only a delight to make use of the UI, and I’m a fan of the customizability on provide; you may endlessly tweak gestures, styling of the amount slider and notification pane, energy menu, name display screen, and a lot extra.

Basically, ASUS put within the work in rolling out utilities you will truly find yourself utilizing, and that alone makes ZenUI stand out. The telephone runs Android 15 out of the field, and like each different producer, ASUS is doubling down on AI. Thankfully, ASUS clearly delineates between cloud and on-device AI, so if you don’t need your information going to a server, you may simply select to make use of the built-in language fashions.

There’s excellent news on that entrance, with ASUS noting that the Zenfone 12 Ultra makes use of Meta’s Llama 3 8B language mannequin to energy on-device AI summarization. You additionally get real-time translation and semantic search — the place it searches metadata to drag up helpful data — and each of those are run completely on-device. AI-assisted transcribing, doc summaries, and article summaries use a mix of cloud and on-device AI, and all of those options do a ok job in common use.

Look, I’m not the largest fan of AI options, and my utilization of most of those utilities extends to testing them out for the evaluation. But I accomplish that with all telephones that cross my desk, and I’ll admit that ASUS does a greater job on this regard than most producers. I nonetheless suppose Google has the particular edge in terms of phone-based AI utilities, however ASUS is doing all the precise issues.

Talking about doing the precise factor, the one space the place ASUS must be higher is software program updates. The Zenfone 12 Ultra will get simply two Android platform updates and 5 years of safety updates, and that simply is not sufficient. Even finances telephones now routinely provide three updates — like Nothing’s Phone 2a — so there is no excuse for a tool that prices over $1,000 to get two platform updates in 2025.

This has all the time been a sore level with ASUS’s gadgets previously, and I assumed the model would change its stance in 2025 — that simply is not the case.

ASUS Zenfone 12 Ultra: The alternate options

If you want a high-end telephone in 2025, it is best to contemplate getting the OnePlus 13. OnePlus nailed the fundamentals this time, with the gadget that includes a design that is higher to carry and use. The blue leather-based mannequin particularly seems to be placing, and after practically a month of use, I did not see any points with sturdiness or construct high quality.

The cameras are excellent, and the {hardware} is among the many greatest you will get as we speak. While it does not match the Zenfone 12 Ultra at gaming, that is about the one unfavourable I can consider. The battery lasts a day and a half, it does not take as lengthy to cost, and the software program is optimized extremely properly. In brief, the OnePlus 13 is the brand new yardstick, and coming in at $899, it does not price as a lot as ASUS’s providing.

If you do not want the perfect cameras, Nubia’s Z70 Ultra is a good various. It additionally has terrific {hardware}, and whereas the software program is not anyplace nearly as good because the Zenfone 12 Ultra, it has a comparatively clear UI and is optimized very properly. And at $729, it’s a significantly better worth.

ASUS Zenfone 12 Ultra: Should you purchase it?

You can buy this if:

• You need the perfect {hardware} package deal
• You want clear software program with none bloat
• You need terrific battery life

You should not purchase this if:

• You want long-term Android updates
• You need the perfect cameras
• You want a telephone with a classy design

I have a tendency to love ASUS’s telephones for one easy purpose: the software program is tuned to my tastes. The clear interface together with in depth customizability and nice optimization results in an expertise that is satisfying, and it’s a real differentiator. Of course, the {hardware} performs a giant half on this as properly, and ASUS has as soon as once more delivered one of many strongest {hardware} packages round.

But that is the factor — whereas I like utilizing the telephone fairly a bit, I would not advocate it. Given that the Zenfone 12 Ultra is a high-end gadget, I’ll have to evaluate it towards different flagships, and it simply does not measure up in a variety of areas; the cameras do not come near the X200 Pro, Honor Magic 7 Pro, or the Pixel 9 Pro XL, the design is not distinctive sufficient, and ASUS’s middling software program replace coverage is infuriating.

It’s not that the Zenfone 12 Ultra is a foul telephone — removed from it — however it’s going up towards sturdy rivals, and I can not assist however really feel that it simply is not ok for what it prices. These shortcomings would have been excusable on a $500 telephone, however the Zenfone 12 Ultra prices greater than double that, and on this class, even minor flaws grow to be deal-breakers — which is precisely the case right here.