By Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra Review
The Good Stuff
- Standard Build & design with IP68 rating
- OLED display with 144Hz refresh rate
- Impressive battery life
- Impressive overall performance
- Great overall camera system
- Impressive audio performance
The Bad Stuff
- Average Night mode performance
- No charger in the box
Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra Review
Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra
“The Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra itself is fantastic – no major flaws here.”
In the ever-growing landscape of flagship smartphones, the Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra demands attention. This feature-packed phone boasts a powerful processor, a stunning display, and a versatile camera system, all wrapped in a sleek and stylish design.
But how does it stack up against the competition? In this Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra review, we’ll dive deep into the phone’s strengths and weaknesses, helping you decide if it’s the ultimate upgrade for your pocket.
Table of Contents
Overview
The Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra throws us a curveball – it’s much larger than expected! Known for compact flagships, Asus has released a 6.78-inch smartphone, a significant jump from the Zenfone 10.
This unexpected size change leaves us wondering – is this the end of the compact Zenfone line? Asus remains silent, offering no clues about a smaller sibling or the future of the “Ultra” branding.
While the size is new, some aspects feel familiar. The Zenfone 11 Ultra shares similarities with the ROG Phone 8, including the larger display and battery. This newfound space allows for an impressive camera system and hopefully better cooling for the powerful processor. One thing’s for sure – the Zenfone 11 Ultra is a big departure from the compact Zenfone tradition.
One major flaw to note is that there’s no charger in the box, but includes a Type-C cable.
Specs
| Display | 6.78-inch 2,400 x 1,080-pixel OLED with 144Hz |
| Processor | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (4nm) |
| Memory | 12GB/16GB |
| Storage | 256GB/512GB |
| Camera (Rear) | 50MP (wide), 32MP (telephoto – 3x optical zoom), 13MP (ultrawide), up to 8K video at 24fps |
| Camera (Selfie) | 32MP (wide), up to 1080p video at 30fps |
| Battery | 5,500mAh, 65W fast charging |
| Operating System | Android 14 |
Standard Design
The Zenfone 11 Ultra has a professional look with a geometric pattern on the back and a large rectangular camera bump. It comes in four muted colors (Skyline Blue, Eternal Black, Misty Grey, Desert Sand). The matte glass back offers a good grip but attracts smudges.
We recommended you get a phone case or protective cover. The display has minimal bezels and a small cutout for the selfie camera. It’s protected overall by Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and is compatible with standard screen protectors. The fingerprint reader below the screen is accurate and responsive.
The phone is built using a recycled aluminum frame and feels pretty solid. However, the back panel has a slight hollowness. The phone is IP68 rated meaning it’s protected against dust and water ingress. The phone is bigger and heavier than its predecessor, making it big for pocket storage, and harder to operate with one hand.
Overall, the Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra prioritizes functionality and durability over a flashy design. The phone feels well-built and offers a large, high-quality display. However, its size might be a concern for users who prefer smaller phones.
Stunning Display
The Zenfone 11 Ultra boasts a bigger screen (6.78 inches) compared to its predecessor, matching the size of the ROG Phone 8. While both share the same FHD+ resolution (1080 x 2400 pixels), the Zenfone falls slightly short in refresh rate, reaching a maximum of 144Hz compared to the ROG Phone’s 165Hz.
On the bright side (literally!), the Zenfone 11 Ultra uses a high-quality Samsung AMOLED panel that delivers exceptional brightness, peaking at an impressive 1773 nits in Auto mode under strong light. It also caters to low-light environments with a minimum brightness of 3 nits in “Extra Dim” mode.
For refresh rates, you have three options: 60Hz, 120Hz, and Auto. Auto mode intelligently adjusts between 5Hz for static content and 120Hz for most tasks. However, the phone reserves the 144Hz refresh rate specifically for games and certain apps launched through the Game Genie app. Everyday use operates at a maximum of 120Hz.
The display is well-equipped for multimedia for Full HD streaming and hardware decoding for HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG formats. However, Dolby Vision support is missing.
Overall, the Zenfone 11 Ultra’s large display comes with good adaptive refresh rates, and good brightness, making the display look gorgeous.
Impressive Performance
As expected for a flagship phone, the Zenfone 11 Ultra boasts the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. It comes with either 12GB or 16GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB of storage.
Benchmark tests confirm the phone’s excellent performance, placing it among the fastest Android phones currently available. It goes head-to-head with competitors like the MediaTek Dimensity 9300, although Apple’s A17 Pro chip remains the leader in CPU performance.
The phone offers a dedicated performance mode that pushes the hardware for maximum power. In this mode, benchmark scores are impressive, matching the best of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The built-in Adreno 750 GPU is also currently the best on the market, excelling in graphics tasks.
In everyday use, the Zenfone 11 Ultra lives up to its performance potential. It runs smoothly with no lag, handling any task you throw at it.
However, there’s a trade-off for this raw power. The phone lacks active cooling, leading to thermal throttling under sustained loads. In the default Dynamic mode, performance can drop by up to 50% due to heat management.
The phone’s dedicated performance mode is even more extreme. While it initially delivers top performance, it generates significant heat, making the phone uncomfortably hot to hold. This mode is likely not suitable for extended use.
Overall, the Zenfone 11 Ultra offers excellent performance, but keep in mind the potential for overheating during demanding tasks.
Great Battery Life
Despite its reasonable weight and thickness, the Zenfone 11 Ultra packs a surprisingly large 5,500mAh battery. This is impressive considering the power-hungry Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. From tests done, the Zenfone 11 Ultra achieved a strong result, lasting a little over 16 hours on a single charge with active use.
The phone supports fast charging as well, starting at 65W using Asus’s HyperCharge standard (compatible with PD and PPS standards). However, the phone doesn’t come with a charger, so you’ll need a good PD or PPS charger to experience the fastest speeds. It also supports wireless charging at 15W.
Overall, the Zenfone 11 Ultra offers competitive charging speeds at 65W, comparable to most flagship phones. While it doesn’t quite reach the top speeds of phones like the Oppo or OnePlus with their 100W solutions, the difference in charging time from zero to full is relatively small.
Decent Camera
The Zenfone 11 Ultra’s camera comes with a triple camera lens system.
- 50 MP main camera takes good photos but with sharpening artifacts.
- 32MP telephoto delivers decent 3x optical zoom images.
- 13MP ultrawide is decent, with low exposure and slight saturated colors.
Both ultrawide and selfie camera (32MP with fixed focus) lack autofocus. Portrait mode offers average subject separation and background blur.
Some camera app modes to play around with: The ROG camera app is feature-rich with automatic scene detection and night mode. The Pro mode that provides manual controls for photos and videos. And the Night mode which offers longer exposure options for low-light photography, but results might not be worth the extra time.
With video recording, the main camera shoots excellent videos in 4K and even 8K. The ultrawide camera captures decent 4K videos, and there’s two stabilization options: Adaptive (works on all cameras) and Super HyperSteady (capped at 1080p for aggressive motion compensation).
Overall, the Zenfone 11 Ultra camera system is good but not outstanding. The main camera delivers solid results, the telephoto is helpful for zooming, and the ultrawide is just average. The lack of autofocus on the ultrawide and selfie camera is a drawback. Video recording is a strong point, especially with the main camera and its excellent stabilization options.
Other features
Stereo Quality
The Zenfone 11 Ultra boasts a stereo speaker setup, but with a twist. The top speaker doubles as the earpiece, which can affect balance depending on how you hold the phone. Despite this, Asus manages to create a surprisingly wide and rich stereo experience.
Connectivity options
The Zenfone 11 Ultra is a 5G powerhouse, offering dual-SIM support. Get ready for the future of Wi-Fi with Wi-Fi 7/be support, including the new 6GHz band for even faster speeds. Connect your wireless headphones and enjoy high-resolution audio thanks to Bluetooth 5.4.
The Zenfone 11 Ultra keeps the essentials covered with NFC for contactless payments and a 3.5mm headphone jack for wired listening, complete with Hi-Res audio support. The phone utilizes a 5Gbps USB port for speedy data transfer and can function as a USB host for compatible devices.
One minor drawback is the lack of video output capabilities via the USB-C port, so you’ll need to rely on wireless display casting.
OS and Other Software
The Zenfone 11 Ultra runs Android 14, with Asus promising at least two major updates and four years of security patches – keeping your phone secure and up-to-date.
Unlike some manufacturers, Asus keeps its software layer light. You’ll get a clean and near-stock Android experience with a few tweaks. These customizations are mostly optional, allowing you to revert to the standard Android way of doing things if you prefer.
Here’s a quick rundown of Asus’s custom features:
- Mobile Manager: A central hub for optimizing phone performance, managing RAM, and storage.
- Twin Apps: Run two instances of the same app, perfect for managing separate social media accounts or gaming profiles.
- Edge Tool: A customizable sidebar that launches apps in floating windows, with features like video background playback.
- OptiFlex: Speeds up app launch times and reduces standby power consumption for your most-used apps.
- Game Genie: An in-game overlay for gamers, offering performance readouts, shortcuts, and even the ability to create macros and use a keyboard and mouse for enhanced control (use responsibly!).
Asus includes its own Gallery, Clock, and File Manager apps, but there’s no bloatware or intrusive ads in sight. The Zenfone 11 Ultra offers a clean, user-friendly software experience with powerful features for both everyday use and gaming.
Verdict
We gotta admit. We liked using the Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra. Asus keeps things user-friendly, especially compared to their gaming-focused ROG Phone line. However, the Zenfone 11 Ultra leaves us scratching our heads in a few ways.
First, is this the only phone in the Zenfone 11 generation, or is there a smaller sibling coming? Asus stays silent on this, only mentioning the Zenfone 10 as a compact alternative that’s sticking around.
Look, we appreciate a good compact phone, and losing one is a shame. But let’s face it – the market craves bigger screens. A 6.78-inch display might seem strange considering Asus’ ROG Phone 8 Pro exists, but realistically, it’s the safer bet for sales. While there’s some overlap between the two phones, a larger Zenfone just makes more sense in today’s market.
The Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra itself is fantastic – no major flaws here. The only minor annoyances are the lack of a charger in the box and a below average cooling system for the powerful processor.
Overall, it’s a superb mobile device that competes with the best premium phones on the market. Here’s hoping it brings Asus the success they deserve.
So what are your views on the Zenfone 11 Ultra? How did you find our Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra review? If you have any comments, please don’t keep them to your self, add it down here below and share your views.
Thinking about upgrading your phone? The Zenfone 11 Ultra offers a powerful processor, a gorgeous display, and a camera that rivals the best. Click HERE to get more info. That’s it for us, until next time 😀
