The Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra is the latest edition of the Zenfone series, combining cutting-edge technology and luxury features in a sleek package. With its powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, brilliant AMOLED display, and AI-driven advancements, this flagship gadget strives to provide a premium experience for those who want the best in terms of performance, style, and usefulness. Whether you’re a tech enthusiast, a gamer, or simply looking for a smartphone that excels in all areas, the Zenfone 12 Ultra is a gadget to consider. But does it live up to its hype? In this review, we’ll explore what distinguishes the Zenfone 12 Ultra and where it may fall short. Let’s dive in.
ASUS ZENFONE 12 ULTRA KEY FEATURES
The Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra includes various new and improved features that distinguish it from prior models and competition. This flagship is designed to appeal to both regular users and tech aficionados, with unique advancements to performance, display, and camera technologies.
One of the most notable new features is the AI-powered upgrades, which include intelligent capabilities like as background noise removal during video recording, semantic search in the gallery, and document summarizing, transforming the phone into a productivity tool. Another notable feature is the dynamic LTPO display, which allows the screen to alter its refresh rate between 1Hz and 120Hz, resulting in clearer graphics and improved battery life.
Furthermore, the Zenfone 12 Ultra features 65W fast charging, allowing users to swiftly charge the big 5,500mAh battery, while stereo speakers and a 3.5mm headphone connection provide exceptional music quality for entertainment enthusiasts. With a premium design, these new features work together to deliver a well-rounded, high-performance smartphone experience.
Pros
- Powerful processor
- Competent camera array
- 3.5mm headphone jack
Cons
- High price
- Overly large body
- Dubious AI features
Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra Review: A Premium Design and Stunning Display
The Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra continues to impress with its premium design and stunning display. Here’s a closer look:
Design
- Sleek and Durable: The Zenfone 12 Ultra features a glass front and back, framed by aluminum, giving it a luxurious and durable feel. It is also IP68 rated for dust and water resistance.
- Color Options: Available in elegant color variants like Ebony Black, Sakura White, and Sage Green.
- Sustainable Materials: The phone incorporates recycled materials, showcasing Asus’s commitment to sustainability.
Display
- LTPO AMOLED Display: The 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED display offers vibrant colors and deep blacks, providing an immersive viewing experience.
- High Refresh Rate: With a dynamic refresh rate of up to 144Hz, the display ensures smooth scrolling and fluid animations.
- Peak Brightness: The display can reach a peak brightness of 2500 nits, ensuring excellent visibility even in bright sunlight.
- HDR Support: HDR10+ support provides high-contrast visuals, making videos and games more lifelike.
The Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra combines elegant design with cutting-edge display technology, making it a standout choice for those seeking a premium smartphone experience.
Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra Review: Unmatched Speed and Gaming Performance
The Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which is one of the most sophisticated CPUs available in flagship phones today. This powerful hardware, combined with 16GB of RAM, means that the phone can handle any work you throw at it, from multitasking with many apps to running resource-intensive games and editing high-resolution films.
The Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra is a speed and gameplay powerhouse. Here’s a detailed look at what sets it apart:
Performance
- Snapdragon 8 Elite Chipset: The Zenfone 12 Ultra is equipped with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which provides considerable advancements in CPU, GPU, and AI performance.
- RAM and storage: The device has up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage, ensuring high read/write rates and seamless multitasking.
- Cooling System: A sophisticated cooling system keeps the device cool even during extended gaming sessions, reducing thermal throttling and maintaining stable performance.
Gaming Features
- Game Genie: The Zenfone 12 Ultra comes with the Game Genie app, which functions as a one-stop gaming hub. It enables you to improve device performance, record gaming clips, and live stream.
- High Refresh Rate Display: The 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED display has a dynamic refresh rate of up to 144Hz, ensuring smooth and fluid images for an engaging gaming experience.
- AI Enhancements: The gadget has a variety of AI capabilities, including AI Tracking and AI Voice Clarity, which improves the overall gaming experience.
In benchmark tests, the Zenfone 12 Ultra beats several of its competitors, including the iPhone 16 Pro, with remarkable results across a variety of performance parameters. Whether you’re using it for casual chores or more demanding workloads, the phone delivers a smooth and high-quality performance experience that will keep it relevant for years to come.
Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra Review: Impressive Camera Performance with AI Enhancements
The Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra has a powerful camera system that will appeal to both casual photographers and enthusiasts. Its excellent camera performance is boosted by powerful AI advancements. Here’s an in-depth look at its camera capabilities:
Camera Setup
- Main Camera: 50MP Sony IMX906 sensor with 6-Axis Hybrid Gimbal Stabilizer 4.0, which provides up to 66% more stability than its predecessor.
- Telephoto Camera: A 32MP OmniVision OV32C lens with 3x optical zoom and OIS captures clear and detailed zoomed-in images.
- Ultrawide Camera: The 13MP OmniVision OV13B sensor has a 120° field of view and provides consistent color reproduction.
- Front Camera: 32MP OmniVision OV8856 sensor with eye-tracking autofocus and 4K video capture.
Performance
- Daylight Photography: The main camera captures vibrant and detailed photos with good contrast and dynamic range. The telephoto camera delivers sharp and realistic zoomed-in shots, while the ultrawide camera provides consistent color reproduction.
- Low-Light Photography: The Night Mode 3.0 significantly improves low-light performance, capturing clear and detailed photos with minimal noise.
- Zoom Capabilities: The 3x optical zoom provides excellent detail and sharpness, while the digital zoom up to 140x offers good quality at fit-to-screen magnifications.
Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra Review: Smart AI and Customizable Software
The Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra runs Android 15, which has been enhanced with ZenUI, Asus’ user interface. While ZenUI provides a clean, near-stock Android experience, it also includes features that improve the phone’s usability, making it more intuitive and powerful for those who expect more from their smartphone. The Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra excels at both artificial intelligence and software customization, making it a flexible and user-friendly gadget. Here’s a close look:
Smart AI features
- AI Tracking: Keeps the subject, whether human or animal, perfectly centered in videos.
- AI Portrait Video 2.0: Produces cinematic-quality films with unique bokeh effects.
- AI Voice Clarity: Reduces environmental noise in real time to improve voice clarity during video recording.
- AI Voice Clarity: AI Magic Fill removes undesirable elements from photographs and fills each pixel to perfection.
- AI Panning Shot: Creates dynamic motion blur effects without the use of professional equipment.
- AI Daily Tools: Includes AI Call Translator 2.0, AI Article Summary, and AI Document Summary, which increase productivity and communication.
Customizable Software
- Clean Android Experience: The Zenfone 12 Ultra runs a reasonably clean version of Android 15, with a light Asus AI injection.
- Mobile Manager: Serves as a central control point for managing the phone’s performance, RAM, and storage.
- Twin Apps: This feature enables you to run multiple instances of the same software, making it easier to manage both personal and business accounts.
- Edge Tool: Creates apps in floating windows and adjusts to the phone’s usage with options such as Video Genie.
- OptiFlex: A system-level app accelerator that decreases startup times and UI reloads while saving standby power.
- Game Genie: An in-game overlay that provides quick toggles, shortcuts, and readouts for temperature, CPU, and GPU load, to enhance the gaming experience.
Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra Review: Long-Lasting Battery and Lightning-Fast Charging
The Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra has a 5,500mAh battery, which provides enough capacity for a full day of use, even for heavy users. Whether you’re streaming films, gaming, or multitasking for hours on end, the battery performs admirably. The Zenfone 12 Ultra has adaptive battery technology to dynamically modify power consumption according on your usage habits, ensuring that you get the most out of each charge.
- Capacity: The Zenfone 12 Ultra has a 5500mAh battery, which provides a longer usage duration and ensures you can get through the day without running out of juice.
- Battery life: The battery life is outstanding, with up to 22 hours of web surfing, 10 hours of movie playing, and 9 hours of gaming on a single charge.
- Fast Charging: The phone supports 65W cable charging, which can take the battery from 0% to 50% in 15 minutes. This ensures that you spend more time using your smartphone rather than plugged in.
- Wireless Charging: The Zenfone 12 Ultra also supports 15W wireless charging, which is a simple and cable-free charging method.
- Reverse Charging: The device enables reverse charging, which means you may use it as a power bank to charge other devices.
FULL SPECIFICATION
Network | Technology | GSM / HSPA / LTE / 5G |
Launch | Announced | 2025, February 06 |
Status | Available. Released 2025, February 28 | |
Body | Dimensions | 163.8 x 77 x 8.9 mm (6.45 x 3.03 x 0.35 in) |
Weight | 220 g (7.76 oz) | |
Build | Glass front (Gorilla Glass Victus 2), aluminum frame, glass back | |
SIM | Nano-SIM + Nano-SIM + eSIM (max 2 at a time) | |
IP68 dust tight and water resistant (immersible up to 1.5m for 30 min) | ||
Display | Type | LTPO AMOLED, 144Hz, HDR10, 1600 nits (HBM), 2500 nits (peak) |
Size | 6.78 inches, 111.0 cm2 (~88.0% screen-to-body ratio) | |
Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels, 20:9 ratio (~388 ppi density) | |
Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 | |
Always-on display | ||
Platform | OS | Android 15, up to 2 major Android upgrades |
Chipset | Qualcomm SM8750-AB Snapdragon 8 Elite (3 nm) | |
CPU | Octa-core (2×4.32 GHz Oryon V2 Phoenix L + 6×3.53 GHz Oryon V2 Phoenix M) | |
GPU | Adreno 830 | |
Memory | Card slot | No |
Internal | 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM | |
UFS 4.0 | ||
Main Camera | Triple | 50 MP, f/1.9, 24mm (wide), 1/1.56″, 1.0µm, PDAF, gimbal OIS 32 MP, f/2.4, 65mm (telephoto), 1/3.2″, 0.7µm, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom 13 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 120Ëš (ultrawide), 1/3.0″, 1.12µm |
Features | LED flash, HDR, panorama | |
Video | 8K@24fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps, 720p@480fps; gyro-EIS, HDR10+ | |
Selfie camera | Single | 32 MP, f/2.5, 22mm (wide), 1/3.2″, 0.7µm |
Features | Panorama, HDR | |
Video | 1080p@30fps | |
Sound | Loudspeaker | Yes, with stereo speakers |
3.5mm jack | Yes | |
32-bit/384kHz Hi-Res & Hi-Res wireless audio | ||
Comms | WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e/7, tri-band, Wi-Fi Direct |
Bluetooth | 5.4, A2DP, LE, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless | |
Positioning | GPS (L1+L5), BDS (B1I+B1c+B2a), GALILEO (E1+E5a), QZSS (L1+L5), NavIC, GLONASS | |
NFC | Yes | |
Radio | No | |
USB | USB Type-C | |
Features | Sensors | Fingerprint (under display, optical), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
Battery | Type | 5500 mAh |
Charging | 65W wired, PD3.0, PPS, QC5, 100% in 39 min 15W wireless (Qi) 10W reverse wired | |
Misc | Colors | Ebony Black, Sakura White, Sage Green |
