Asus’ latest phone beats the competition in 4 key ways, but you can’t buy it in the US

With its recently released Zenfone 12 Ultra smartphone, Asus has attempted to pull all the stops. The device is a high-end flagship through and through, with tons of software features, a grab bag of AI tools, and a smattering of high-end internal components.

Unfortunately, as is seemingly the case with tons of competitive handsets designed and engineered in East Asia, the Zenfone 12 Ultra isn’t available for purchase on US store shelves. This particularly stings, as previous-generation Zenfone models were available within North America, and because the Zenfone 12 Ultra is a genuinely compelling candy bar-style phone.

The device is officially listed at €1,100 (roughly $1,150), and it comes in sage green, ebony black, and sakura white colorways. For the asking price, the product ships in a base configuration of 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, with a more expensive 16GB/512GB variant also on offer.

Here are 4 key metrics that make the device stand out in my eyes, and that have me hopeful for an eventual US release.

ZenFone 12 Ultra

The Zenfone 12 Ultra is Asus’ latest flagship smartphone, shipping with a 6.78-inch display, the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, and a 6-Axis Gimbal Stabilizer main camera setup.

Brand

Asus

SoC

Snapdragon 8 Elite

Display

6.78-inch FHD+ (2400×1080 pixels)

RAM

Up to 16 GB

Storage

Up to 512 GB

Battery

5,500mAh

Ports

USB-C

Operating System

Android 15

Front camera

32-megapixel RGBW sensor

Rear camera

50-megapixel (main), 13-megapixel (ultra-wide), 32-megapixel 3X (telephoto)

Dimensions

6.45 x 3.03 x 0.35-inches (163.8 x 77.0 x 8.9mm)

Colors

Ebony Black, Sakura White, Sage Green

Display type

AMOLED

Weight

7.76 oz (220g)

IP Rating

IP68

Release

February 6, 2025

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1 The Zenfone 12 Ultra is a full-blown flagship

Asus has decked out the 12 Ultra with top-of-the-line specs

When it comes to flagship smartphones, I’m generally wary of terms like ‘pro’ or ‘ultra’, since they’re rather nebulous and don’t paint a full picture. Thankfully, the Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra (for the most part) lives up to its descriptive moniker. The device is decked out with high-end hardware internals, all within an IP68-certified package that’s just 0.35-inches (8.9mm) thin, and 7.76oz (220g) light.

The Zenfone 12 Ultra is powered by Qualcomm’s latest-and-greatest silicon, the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. In my testing, the device landed an impressive Geekbench 6 score of 3,135 in single-core and 9,914 in multi-core. Supplemented by up to 16GB of speedy LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 internal storage, the device doesn’t disappoint in the raw specs department.

The external side of the hardware equation is equally premium. The soft-touch rear glass panel is silky smooth, the front-facing bezel is slim and uniform, and the device feels solid in the hand. I find the triple rear camera bump to be aesthetically inoffensive, though the unit’s offset USB-C port placement toys with my muscle memory.

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2 The Zenfone 12 Ultra is great for gaming

Asus has outfitted the phone with a zippy 144Hz refresh rate display

On the display front, the Zenfone 12 Ultra ships with a large 6.78-inch FHD+ 2400 x 1080 pixel resolution OLED panel. While other flagships best the 12 Ultra in terms of resolution, refresh rate is another story entirely. The LTPO-based display tech not only allows for an adaptive speed rate of between 1 and 120Hz, but also a special 144Hz mode for gaming purposes.

Of course, not all games available on Android are capable of tapping into this silky-smooth 144Hz mode, but supported titles are predictably smooth. Mixed together with the power of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, the generously-sized 5,500mAh battery pack, and a 3.5mm headphone jack, and it’s clear that Asus’ gaming heritage shines through on the Zenfone 12 Ultra.

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3 The Zenfone 12 Ultra employs a unique camera stabilization system

The device’s main wide-angle camera incorporates Gimbal tech

With the Zenfone 12 Ultra, Asus is doubling down on its unique ‘6-Axis Hybrid Gimbal Stabilizer 4.0’ system that it introduced in last year’s 11 Ultra model.

A mix of hardware optical image stabilization (OIS), a new electronic image stabilization (EIS) algorithm, and Gimbal technology all come together for a solid 50-megapixel wide-angle camera offering. The result is a main camera sensor that’s both sharp and smooth, and I had no trouble snapping high-quality shots with the device.

Aside from the main camera sensor, the Zenfone 12 Ultra also incorporates a 13-megapixel ultra-wide shooter with a 120-degree field of view, a 32-megapixel telephoto lens with 3X optical zoom, and a 32-megapixel front-facing shooter into the mix.

Collectively, the camera system can’t hold a candle to the very best of the competition — the Galaxy S25 Ultra, the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and the Xiaomi 14 Ultra included — but it’s a reasonably serviceable array of sensors with a killer stabilization system to boot.

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4 The Zenfone 12 Ultra’s take on Android is a solid one

Asus provides plenty of customization options, without bloatware or strange UI decisions

I’m pleased to report that the Asus 12 Ultra offers a pretty excellent operating system package in my testing. The OS doesn’t stray too far from the ‘stock’ Android Open Source Project (AOSP) experience, and I consider that to be a good thing.

Asus provides user choice, which I appreciate greatly — there are options to switch between ‘Asus Optimized’ and ‘Stock Android’ modes, which allows for a flexible UI when it comes to important system elements like the quick settings panel.

The lack of bloatware or major app and service duplication is another positive here, and I appreciate that artificial intelligence is on board, but not in my face. Asus provides a number of AI tools including Magic Fill for removing unwanted elements within photos, Portrait Video for blurring background on the fly, Google’s Circle to Search, and generative summary, transcription, and translation tools.

My biggest concern when it comes to the Zenfone 12 Ultra and its software package is longevity. The device ships with Android 15 out of the box, but Asus’ track record when it comes to providing timely updates is rather hit or miss. The company promises two years of major feature updates and five years of security patches, and I feel that this is inadequate for a modern-day flagship phone, particularly for one as expensive as the 12 Ultra.

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