If anybody had told you a few years ago that ASUS would release a top smartphone, you would have probably thought that the person had a screw loose. ASUS is well-known for laptops, not smartphones, but the tech world works in mysterious ways. Last month, the famous Taiwanese company released the Zenfone 9 gadget, a smartphone that can easily be compatible with the best ones that are currently on the market.
Tesla is another top company preparing to dive into the smartphone business. As you would have expected, the company known for electric cars is preparing a top smartphone as well: the Tesla Phone Pi model, which will land at some point during the first half of 2023. It’s great to see that both ASUS and Tesla have been giving the cold shoulder to those who were falsely claiming that these companies could never release powerful phones.
Let’s find out which one of the Tesla Phone Pi or the ASUS Zenfone 9 is better, based on the rumored specs of the former and the confirmed specs of the latter:
Display
The display of the Tesla Phone Pi is so impressive that it almost gives you the creeps. It reaches a refresh rate of 144Hz, and it’s indeed huge, as it reaches 6.9 inches. The type is Super AMOLED. The resolution is also pretty impressive, as it reaches 1344×2772 pixels.
ASUS Zenfone 9 also has a pretty powerful Super AMOLED display, although it’s much smaller. It measures only 5.9 inches, it has a refresh rate of 120Hz, and it reaches a peak in the brightness of 1100 nits. The display is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.
Processor
Tesla Phone Pi is expected to have a Snapdragon 8 Gen1 (4nm) chipset, as well as a CPU that reaches 3.2 GHz. On the other hand, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor of the ASUS Zenfone 9 features an octa-core CPU: 1×3.19 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3×2.75 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4×1.80 GHz Cortex-A510.
Cameras
ASUS Zenfone 9 has a pretty powerful camera despite its small size: a dual camera setup on the rear that consists of a 50MP wide snapper and a 12MP ultrawide lens. It can also record video up to 8K quality. As for the front camera of ASUS’s phone, it reaches 12MP and it’s even able to record footage at a maximum quality of 4K.
Tesla will be carrying a triple camera setup that consists of a Main Wide sensor of 108MP, an Ultrawide lens of 50MP, as well as a 50MP P. Telephoto sensor and a 5MP Macro sensor. The rear camera of Tesla’s upcoming smartphone is also capable of recording video up to 8K quality.
The front camera of the Tesla Phone Pi is also impressive due to its 48MP resolution and video recording capabilities of up to 4K@60fps.
Perhaps ASUS and Tesla should let sleeping dogs lie and not add too many megapixels on their main cameras. Both phones have powerful cameras, even judging by what the situation is like in the present.
RAM & storage
ASUS Zenfone 9 has enough RAM memory and storage to assure some smooth functionality almost regardless of what you want to do with the phone. ASUS seems to put all of its eggs into one basket by choosing not to implement a card slot on its smartphone. However, it might be the best approach, considering that the Zenfone 9 is equipped with two versions of storage: 128GB and 256GB. The phone of ASUS also features 8 to 16GB of RAM.
Tesla might do something similar when it comes to its Phone Pi flagship. The upcoming phone of the company where Elon Musk is CEO is expected to be sporting 12 to 16GB of RAM,
Price
ASUS Zenfone 9 is priced at about $672, while you’ll need to pay around $800 for the upcoming Tesla Phone Pi. Clearly, both phones are pretty cheap for their capabilities.
Conclusions
If you want a compact and powerful phone that you can maneuver with only one hand, you should definitely buy the ASUS Zenfone 9.
Tesla Phone Pi will have some top features that don’t exist on the ASUS Zenfone 9. With Tesla’s phone, the age-old “no signal” problem won’t exist anymore, for instance. The battery will be rechargeable due to solar power, meaning that you won’t have to look for that charger and a socket each time your battery runs out of power. So if you’re impressed by such features, buying the Tesla Phone Pi is the better choice.
If $800 is all you have and you desperately want the Tesla Phone Pi, we recommend not putting all of your eggs in one basket. Just wait a few months more to see for sure what Tesla’s upcoming phone will be capable of.
Tesla Phone Pi is dominating ASUS Zenfone 9 in pretty much all areas, which means that the upcoming phone will be the better one. However, once again, we must emphasize that you must take the mentioned specs of the Tesla Phone Pi with a grain of salt.
Buying either the ASUS Zenfone 9 or the Tesla Phone Pi surely cannot be a bad idea. Both phones also have important features such as IP68-rated resistance to dust and water. Using a smartphone nowadays that’s not resistant to water is surely a dangerous game to play, as we carry these devices with us practically everywhere.
There’s even a chance that Tesla will launch its Phone Pi earlier than expected – this year in December. However, most hints point towards an April 2023 release, and only time will tell for sure.