Asus Zenfone 12 official, multiple Xiaomi 15 Ultra leaks, Week 6 in review

2025-02-09

Asus launched two phones this week - the Zenfone 12 Ultra and the ROG Phone 9 FE. It brings the new Snapdragon 8 Elite with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage. The new main camera uses a Sony Lytia-700 sensor instead of the IMX890. The important upgrade is the 6-axis hybrid gimbal stabilizer, now in version 4. It can correct ±5° of movement, a 66% improvement over the Zenfone 11 Ultra gimbal stabilizer (that was version 3). The phone is equipped with a 5,500mAh dual-cell battery. It supports up to 65W wired and 15W wireless charging (Qi 1.3). The Zenfone 12 Ultra launched in Europe, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, priced at €1,100.

The ROG Phone 9 FE is the first FE model in the series and it brings yesterday"s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. The phone was quietly launched by the brand in Thailand, where it"s available to purchase for THB 29,990.

Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra launches with Snapdragon 8 Elite, improved gimbal stabilization

And a lot of AI features - some of which run on-device for better privacy.

Asus ROG Phone 9 FE is here with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset

As the name implies, it"s a cheaper and slightly lower-end option in the ROG Phone 9 family.

On to the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. Rumor has it, that the phone will be unveiled on February 26. We saw the phone in a hands-on video and a photo in the wild. Camera-wise, the 15 Ultra will feature a 1-inch type main camera using the Lytia LYT-900 sensor, a 200MP periscope telephoto (ISOCELL HP9), a 50 MP short-range telephoto (IMX858), and a 50 MP ultrawide (ISOCELL JN5). Its battery is slated as a 6,000mAh unit with 90W charging.

Apple unveiled a new app, called Invites. It"s an app about creating and managing event invites - pretty simple - but it did make the headlines.