The Asus Zenfone 10 is a powerful, capable, and flagship phone

With a few minor improvements (and one or two downgrades), the Asus Zenfone 10 is the epitome of an iterative upgrade. Nevertheless, Asus hasn’t addressed many of the problems and questionable decisions of the Zenfone 9—the price is too high for what you get, the chipset is overly powerful, and the cameras and charging speed are just “fine.” With its Zenfone line of smartphones, Asus appears to have found a market niche by appealing to consumers who prefer smaller screens to the 6.5- to 5.8-inch ones found on most flagship models. Aside from its size, the Asus Zenfone 10 is a tough flagship with all the features you’d expect, like a 144Hz AMOLED display, all-day battery life, and flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 power. However, it is also rather comparable to its predecessor, the Zenfone 9, and costs a little bit more.

There is one significant addition to this year’s specs sheet amidst the little tweaks, omissions, and downgrades: wireless charging. This appears to be the main cause of the 3g weight gain and the 0.3mm thickness increase, but the advancement is very welcome as the Zenfone hasn’t turned into a choker for it.

Price when reviewed: €836.22 | Check price at Amazon

Asus Zenfone 10 KEY FEATURES

Following in the footsteps of the 8 and 9, the Asus Zenfone 10 packs a ton of performance into a tiny, readily portable device. Excellent battery life is not compromised by its small size, the Snapdragon chip is not overly concerned by the small shell, and both the standard headphone connection and wireless charging are accommodated.

Asus’ proprietary six-axis gimbal stabilization solution provides three times more movement stabilization for the 50MP rear camera than regular OIS by moving the entire camera package rather than just the sensor. The Asus Zenfone 10 Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset performs exceptionally well, matching flagship phones that cost hundreds more in benchmarks. Although it’s not very attractive, lovers of compact phones will value its size. If you squint, you’ll see an industry-standard display with respectable specs. The Zen UI is quite similar to Android. There is a decent selfie camera here, even though the rear cameras are nothing special. Although the phone seems strong on paper, it is not very effective in real life. The phone has a moderately long battery life, although charging takes a while. With its compact display and power-efficient CPU, the Asus Zenfone 10 has no issue lasting all day and far into the next with light to moderate use, even though its 4300mAh battery may not be as massive as some flagships.

ASUS ZENFONE 10 UNBOXING

The Asus Zenfone 10 is essentially the same full-size box as the model from last year, except for a new gray color and this year’s distinctive triangle-style logos.

The standard Asus 30W adapter that Zenfones have included since the 7 is included in the box, along with a USB-C connection. There’s also a snap-on protective case that comes with the phone, which does make it noticeably larger in the pocket but seems to provide a good amount of protection.

CAMERA

• almost similar camera sensors
• A new six-axis stabilization mechanism for gimbals
• Excellent performance, though not industry-leading

I’m hesitant to refer to the enhancements made to the Asus Zenfone 10 over its predecessor as “upgrades.” Side-grades?

The primary camera on the Zenfone 9 is a 50MP f/1.9 lens that makes use of the enduringly well-liked Sony IMX766 sensor. Many low-cost and mid-range mobile phones come with this good mid-range sensor, which captures light effectively and produces vibrant images.

The images captured with the camera were fairly rich, with respectable contrast and saturation, as you can see from the sample images below. It also appears that Asus has made improvements to its AI image processing from its earlier smartphones.

A 13MP ultra-wide camera with a 120-degree field of view is attached to the rear of the device. Its field of view is broader and has a little greater resolution than the one from the previous year, but it oddly lacks autofocus. Whoops? Although autofocus isn’t as crucial on smaller camera as it is on the primary one, some may perceive its absence to be crucial because many people choose to utilize UW cameras to capture macro images.

The fact that the images from this camera were notably more flat and desaturated than those from the primary camera is a more startling problem. Farewell to color.

The fact that Asus is obviously copying the iPhone playbook and only has two back cameras means that if you enjoy diverse photography, you will be disappointed by the absence of a macro or telephoto lens.

The phone’s front-facing camera hardware has changed more significantly, replacing the previous model’s 12MP selfie camera with a 32MP one. This results in a noticeable improvement in selfie quality. Not only are they higher resolution, enabling you to work and play with them more, but there are also numerous AI processing advancements and Portrait modes available. At least when it comes to this area, Asus has figured out how to improve their phones.

Maximum video recording resolutions are 8K/24 fps or 4K/60 fps; if you prefer slow motion, you may also choose 4K/120 fps, FHD/240 fps, or HD/480 fps. The other modes available on the Camera app, which include night mode, time-lapse, portrait, light trails, and Pro, all check all the requirements.

Please take note that for the two selfie camera samples to upload properly, they have to be cropped to 1:1. Normally, the phone records in 4:3.

DESIGN AND SCREEN

• One of the few notable little phones on the market
• IP68 approved
• uncommon 3.5mm headphone socket
• Five-nine-inch Full HD+ screen
• 144Hz refresh rate (instead of Zenfone 9’s 120Hz)

With its dual-material design and generally small size, the Asus Zenfone 10 bears many visual similarities to its predecessor, the Zenfone 9. That’s fantastic if you were a fan of the Zenfone 9, but it’s a little disappointing if, like me, you’re not into the overall design.

I’m not sure how I feel about the design; it has the same rounded corners and angular edges as the iPhone 14, and it appears to have a cheap case permanently attached to the back. The peculiar appearance is further enhanced by the back casing’s partial reach over the bezel’s corners.

The material has changed from the Zenfone 9, yet over the past few weeks. While some people thought the phone’s bio-based polycarbonate paper-like texture was amazing, others felt it gave the phone a much cheaper feel than its £749/$699 price tag. For those who truly don’t like it, I guess there’s a clear case within the box.

At least it comes in a variety of vibrant finishes, such as Comet White, Eclipse Red, Starry Blue, Midnight Black, and Aurora Green. The Aurora Green finish that was supplied for review is my favorite, but the Eclipse Red finish is very attractive. I believe that the Zenfone 10’s “compact” marketing is the primary source of my problems. According to Asus, a small smartphone should be less than 70 mm wide and 150 mm tall, yet these specifications are incredibly fanciful.

As you can see, even though the Asus Zenfone 10 measures 68.1 x 146.5 x 9.4 mm, it isn’t much smaller than the 6.1-inch iPhone 14 Pro. Here is where you may compare the two side by side: Although the Zenfone is still marginally narrower than the 6.1-inch iPhone 14 Pro, it has less internal storage than Asus may have led you to assume. When you learn that the 5.9-inch screen is smaller due to a tiny trade-off in proportions, it becomes even more annoying.

It’s not all marketing speak, though; the Zenfone 10 is quite simple to use one-handed, just like the majority of small-screen Android smartphones. I was even able to reach the top of the screen to swipe down and get the notification shade, something I can’t claim about many 2023 flagships. The 5.9-inch AMOLED panel’s high quality also helps; even while its FHD+ resolution isn’t nearly as pixel-packed as the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra’s WQHD panel, its compact size still yields a respectable 444 PPI.

With a maximum brightness of 1100 nits, it is not only very simple to use outside but also a dream for HDR material from Amazon Prime and Netflix. The blacks are as deep as you would expect from an AMOLED panel. The 144Hz refresh rate is available to improve responsiveness and smoothness, but there’s a catch: unlike previous flagships, it lacks an LTPO display, so it can’t switch to the battery-saving 1Hz when necessary. Rather, in everyday use, the phone automatically alternates between 60, 90, and 120Hz refresh rates; the full 144Hz refresh rate is only accessible when playing games.

In regular use, there isn’t much of a difference from LTPO panels, but it would have been good to see, especially considering the higher battery efficiency over ordinary panels. The new ZenTouch 2.0 fingerprint reader and smart key, as well as complete IP68 dust and water resistance, are other noteworthy hardware features. With the Zenfone 10, you can now swipe to access the notification shade, browse websites, and even fast-forward and rewind YouTube movies. The button is positioned on the side of the device.

It’s a useful function, but be careful, right-handers—I discovered that if my palm touched the power button, it would activate quite frequently.

HOW’S THE PERFORMANCE?

• For a phone this big, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is excessive.
• Playing is fluid but constrained.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU, which powers many of the most expensive Android phones, has already been discussed about the Asus Zenfone 10. The Zenfone 10 is another example of how Asus typically uses the greatest chips that are available to them.

Unfortunately, this level of processing power is completely superfluous because the Zenfone’s small screen makes it difficult to use power-hungry apps like picture editing and games. Remember that the phone is available with 16GB of RAM!

I tested the phone by playing PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile a lot, but I had a lot of issues. Resizing on-screen icons only goes so far in correcting their default size, which makes them far too small to reliably press at any time. It was quite difficult to game on this device; my hands ended up covering a large portion of the screen, my thumbs would constantly collide when I was trying to run one way and look the other, and even brief gaming sessions left me with severe hand cramps from gripping this tiny mobile (which is ironic considering Asus also manufactures the best gaming phone available).

Take away people, and games run well. You can switch between a 144 Hz screen and the best graphics settings, but the Asus still lags when playing games—that is, if you ignore the Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset’s chronic overheating problem. If you can hardly see the screen, though, you’re unlikely to notice.

It’s getting old to whine about the strange chipset that Asus chose for the Zenfone; a Snapdragon 7-series processor would allow Asus to sell their phone for cheaper, solve the overheating problem, and have no discernible impact on users’ experience.

The Zenfone’s built-in speakers are excellent for audio, but you can also use your headphones because it features a 3.5mm headphone socket and Bluetooth capability.

Buy it if...

• Unique design, IP68 certification.
• Good battery life, a large range of battery-care functions, and wireless charging are now available.
• Good speakers and a headphone jack.
• The fastest Android chipset available, with good long-term performance.
• Excellent stabilization for videos.

Don't buy it if…

• The maximum display brightness is not up to daily standards.
• It’s not much, two OS updates.
• Now, the ultrawide and selfie cameras lack autofocus.
• Not a telephoto lens.

FULL SPECIFICATION