Asus has announced its latest phone, the Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra, but if you are expecting just an incremental upgrade from the previous model, think again. The Asus Zenfone 10 was considered by many to be one of the best compact phones of last year, but the Zenfone 11 Ultra is no compact phone. Not only is it a larger phone, it has added a lens and made some big changes on the inside.
As the name may suggest, the Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra is a bigger phone. It has a bigger screen than the Zenfone 10, a 6.78” E6 LTPO OLED Display compared to a 5.9” E4 Display and has a better screen-to-body ratio (94% compared to the Zenfone 10’s 90%). The Zenfone 11 Ultra sports a Gorilla Glass Victus 2 screen, and its display has a peak brightness of 2500 nits, nearly matching the 2600 peak nits of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, which is a beyond impressive screen brightness. The Zenfone 11 Ultra supports up to a 144Hz refresh rate for games that require it. For everything else, it supports 120Hz.
The phone’s design has the standard features of most phones but is slightly different than anyone else. First off, the volume and power buttons on the side of the camera are a little further down than most phones, which isn’t a big deal for most people, but for people who put a phone in a clamp-style mount for vlogging, they will need to mount it off-centre so the clamp doesn’t press down on the power button.
On the bottom, you’ll find a headphone jack (something I forgot I missed until I saw one again after years of Bluetooth-only phones), the speakers and the USB-C port. The port is on the left, rather than being centred, which has left me trying to jam the USB-C cable into nothing every night before bed.
“The Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 gives you up to 30% improvement in CPU performance, and the Adreno 750 GPU is 25% faster than its predecessor, the Adreno 740.”
Looking at the back of the phone, the surface of the phone contains a beautiful design with reflective material along the etched pattern, and the fingerprint resistance on this surface is divine. I’ve been manhandling this phone for a couple of weeks, and there is not so much as a smudge to be found on the back of this phone. The layout of the cameras has also changed from the Zenfone 10, and I love what they’ve done with that as well.
The Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 gives you up to 30% improvement in CPU performance, and the Adreno 750 GPU is 25% faster than its predecessor, the Adreno 740. It comes in 2 versions: a 256GB phone with 12GB of RAM and a 512GB phone with 16GB of RAM. The version I am testing here is the 512GB version.
Looking at the camera, the Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra added a new lens. In addition to the 50MP Wide angle f/1.9 22mm camera and the 13MP ultrawide 13mm f/2.2 lens, they have added a 32MP f/2.4 telephoto lens to the mix, giving you more flexibility with your photography and videography. Video can be shot at 8K/24fps, 4K/up to 60fps, 1080p/up to 240fps and 720p/up to 480fps, allowing for some amazing slow-motion capture.
The selfie camera is an impressive 32MP f/2.2 22mm lens capable of a 0.7x wide angle but, sadly, only 1080p/30fps video, which is less than ideal for today’s vlogger if such a thing interests you. The camera also has a 6-axis Hybrid Gimbal Stabilizer, upgraded to version 3.0, complete with Adaptive EIS (Electronic Image Stabilization), handheld light trail, quick shot and new Super Hyper Steady Video Recording, which leads to some incredibly steady video when in motion, like running alongside your kids.
The camera on the Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra is capable of beautiful 4K portrait video, using AI face detection (works on humans, dogs and cats… Sorry, chinchillas) to create the virtual depth of field required to create a cinematic bokeh. It creates the same background blur as it does when taking a photo, a much tougher task given the fact that it has to do that with a subject in motion.
In terms of the camera’s quality, it is excellent. I would say that I prefer the overall quality of the everyday photos taken on an iPhone 15 Pro Max or Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, but they set an incredibly high bar, and if the Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra comes in at a significantly more affordable price, then it is not a drop-off in quality that you will sorely miss.
The colour accuracy, even in lower light situations, has been really impressive, and their more stylistic features, like portrait mode, have been breathtaking. The video quality is along the same lines, not premium, but better than most. The hypersteady stabilization is fantastic, but it requires to be on 1080p to use it, so no 4K for you, although it works for some other stabilization options, so you aren’t left out if you need those higher resolutions.
Being an Asus phone, gaming performance is an expectation that need not be said. I put the phone through its paces, playing Genshin Impact, Real Racing 3, Call of Duty Mobile and Shadowgun Legends. Each game performed at their peak levels with no lag and the clean animation that they are all well-known for without the phone ever getting hot. I would say it was warmer than room temperature at its hottest. Adding a bright, beautiful display to its high-level performance, the Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra is a certifiable gaming beast.
But don’t take my word for it, you can see the performance for yourself via Game Genie from Asus. A simple swipe from either of the top corners will bring up a hub that lets you change performance settings, add macros, record your screen, add a crosshair and even shut off alerts and calls while you are gaming.
“The Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra is a certifiable gaming beast.”
You can also put up a display that stays up while you play, giving you real-time information about the CPU and GPU, the phone’s internal temperature, battery life, and frames per second. It is the most robust hub of its kind on any phone that I have personally used. It was very reminiscent of the Asus GPU tweak software on my PC, only designed for the functions of a mobile phone.
The battery is a huge leap, not only from the Zenfone 10, but from most flagships on the market. The previous Zenfone had a 4300mAh battery, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has a 5000mAh battery, but the Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra sports a 5500mAh battery. Not a single day has passed, whether doing a lot of gaming, streaming video, or using the camera. I have even come close to using up this battery. When putting the phone through its most rigorous tests, I only got it down to just under 35% of battery life at the end of the day. Given the power needs of your camera and a lot of games, this was a much-needed and much-appreciated upgrade.
Currently in beta (available in a future update to be determined), The Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra is testing its own AI features. First up is the AI Call translator, which lets you have a real-time conversation with someone who does not speak the same language as you by translating each speaker’s speech into the appropriate language you set. This is similar to Samsung’s Galaxy AI feature, allowing for the same communication, giving us a pretty good indication that features like this can be expected in more phones in the near future, making multilingual translation a standard feature in phones and bringing the world closer together.
“I’ve used a lot of phone-to-PC software solutions, and this is one of the best ones I have ever seen.”
Asus’ AI Transcript allows you to transcribe and summarize any voice memos you take, which is next level for people conducting interviews or recording lectures. The notes quite literally take themselves here. AI Wallpaper allows you to pick elements that the AI will combine to create a unique wallpaper to match your own style. Semantic Search allows you to use plain language to search for photos, applications or settings in an easy and accurate manner. Lastly, AI Noise cancellation helps remove all of the background noise from phone and video conversations so you can be heard loudly and clearly.
Using Phone Link, you can connect the Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra directly to Windows, allowing you to stream apps, mirror your screen or even drag and drop files or copy and paste text from your phone to your PC. If you want to go the next step, you can use Asus’ own program, GlideX. By downloading the app onto your PC (It came installed on the phone, you can connect the two devices in the most seamless way I have seen from two products that are not from the same company.
You can mirror your phone on your PC and even control the phone from your PC with your mouse and keyboard. You can turn your phone into an extra PC monitor with the Extend function. You can do seamless file transfers (Think Samsung Quickshare) from your PC to your phone and vice versa, you can receive your texts and calls directly to your PC, remotely access your computer from the phone or even use your phone’s camera as the PC’s webcam. I’ve used a lot of phone-to-PC software solutions and this is one of the best ones I have ever seen.
The Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra is available to order now, but its price remains a mystery as of this writing. However, the announcement that just occurred will reveal the price point for you. This phone has all of the feeling and performance of any of the latest flagships with its own special flair, making it a distinct Asus phone and not just some Android in the “other” column. It’s a perfect phone for a well-rounded user who wants to game, wants decent photos and videos and doesn’t want to charge their phone midday to get it done.
