Asus ZenFone 8 vs OnePlus 9: Impossible To Choose The Best Smartphone!

If you are looking for a flagship smartphone in 2021, then probably you will choose from Asus ZenFone 8 and OnePlus 9.

Of course, there are many other flagship smartphones on the market, but mobile devices from Asus and OnePlus have some unique features.

For example, Asus ZenFone 8 has the smallest display among flagships in 2021 – only 5.9 inches. OnePlus 9 is one of the cheapest flagship smartphones of this year. You can buy it for only $590.

I also want to know which smartphone is better to buy, so let’s compare the specifications and features of the Asus Zenfone 8 and the OnePlus 9 together.

Design

You know, the new smartphones from Asus and OnePlus look very similar, the especially front panel. Both of them have a hole-punch display, and the front camera is located in the left top corner.

On the back, we can see a camera module, but Asus Zenfone 8 comes with a dual camera, while the OnePlus 9 has a triple camera.

The new phones have an optical fingerprint reader under the display. Also, they dual SIM slot, but no microSD memory card support.

The mobile devices are protected from water by an IP68 standard.

Yes, the new Asus and OnePlus phones look similar, but the main difference between them is in size. As I already said, Asus Zenfone 8 is the smallest flagship in 2021. It has only 5.9 inch display, and its dimensions are 148 x 68.5 x 8.9 mm.

The size of the OnePlus 9 is 160 x 74.2 x 8.7 mm.

You know, I cannot choose which smartphone I like more. They have a very similar design, expect the size, and I like them both.

Display

As I already said, Asus Zenfone 8 has a 5.9-inch display. The screen size of the OnePlus 9 is 6.55 inches. The compact display is the main feature of the new Asus smartphone.

You will be surprised, but other specifications of the new Asus and OnePlus phones are also similar, such as Full HD+ resolution, 1080 by 2400 pixels, Super AMOLED panel, 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support, and 1100 nits of peak brightness.

Once again, I will give the smartphones by one point each, because they have almost the same display, expect the size.

Hardware

Asus Zenfone 8 and OnePlus 9 are flagship smartphones because they are powered by the most powerful chipset in 2021 – Snapdragon 888. Both of them support 5G networks.

As for the memory, the OnePlus 9 is available in only two versions with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, or 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal memory.

Asus Zenfone 8 has more models to choose from 6GB of RAM to 12GB of RAM, and 128 or 256GB of storage.

As I already said, smartphones don’t support microSD memory cards.

So, you shouldn’t doubt the high performance of the new Asus and OnePlus phones, because they are flagships. You can play any game and run any application.

Again, we don’t have a winner because the smartphones have the same hardware.

Camera

Finally, we can talk about the differences between Asus Zenfone 8 and the OnePlus 9, because they have different cameras. Let’s start with Asus smartphones. It has a 64MP main camera and a 12MP ultra-wide-angle camera on the back.

On the front, there is a 12MP camera.

OnePlus 9 has a triple rear camera with a 48MP main sensor, a 50MP ultra-wide-angle camera, and 2MP monochrome sensor. The front camera is 16MP.

It seems that the third monochrome sensor on the OnePlus 9 is used only for shooting black and white photos. Many people find it useless.

Thus, the OnePlus 9 also has only a dual camera, like Asus ZenFone 8.

Now, you can see sample photos from these smartphones. I think the quality is very similar, isn’t it?

So, Asus Zenfone 8 and OnePlus 9 have different cameras on paper, but they are similar in practice.

So far, I can’t say which smartphone is better! Let’s continue a comparison.

Battery

Talking about the battery, the OnePlus 9 looks better because of the 4500mAh battery capacity, while Asus Zenfone 8 has only a 4000mAh battery. From other side, the Asus phone has a much smaller display, so probably the battery life of these devices will be about the same.

However, I still think that the OnePlus 9 has a better battery because it supports 65W fast charging and 15W wireless charging. Asus Zenfone 8 has 30W fast charging support, and there is no information about wireless charging.

Price

I just looked on Aliexpress and found that you can buy OnePlus 9 for only $590.

The price of the Asus Zenfone 8 starts from $600 using a $50 OFF coupon code.

The difference is $10 is not significant, so I can say that the smartphones have the same price.

 Conclusion

So, today we have a comparison of very similar smartphones. Only because of 65W fast charging and 15W wireless charging support, the OnePlus 9 looks better. The other specifications, features and even the price are almost the same.

However, the biggest difference between Asus Zenfone 8 and the OnePlus 9 is the size. If you want a compact smartphone, then it is better to buy an Asus phone with a 5.9-inch display. OnePlus 9 has a standard screen size for 2021 – 6.55 inches.