ASUS Zenfone 11 Ultra: The compact flagship form factor is long gone now

ASUS’s compact form factor for the Zenfone is over. The successor to last year’s ASUS Zenfone 10, the ASUS Zenfone 11 Ultra is official. The Zenfone series is popular for its compact form factor with flagship-level performance. The Zenfone 9 and the Zenfone 10 carried a small and compact form factor which was praised a lot by many reviewers.

The Zenfone 11 now has a new and larger form factor ditching the compact form factor design. There are other major differences like display features, built quality, chipset, new telephoto camera and larger battery capacity. The smartphone offers all the flagship features for a better performance and experience. However, many compact Zenfone fans are not happy with the new larger form factor.

Let us see what the smartphone offers.

Specifications of ASUS Zenfone 11 Ultra

Design and Display

The ASUS Zenfone 11 Ultra is a big flagship smartphone with an upgraded large display and a new design language. The smartphone features a unique “A” kind of pattern on the glass back. The glass back has a matte finish with a gradient effect in all four colour options. The pattern is shiny and shares the same colour as the back. On the top left, there is the camera module which is now a triple rear camera setup instead of dual. The camera module has a similar design to the ASUS ROG Phone 8 series.

The Zenfone 11 Ultra has an aluminium frame with a shiny finish. The back and the frame are flat with slightly rounded edges. On the front, the display has a centred-hole punch cutout for the selfie camera. The front looks unique to the Zenfone series with the large screen and minimal bezels on all sides. The display features a 6.78-inch Flexible AMOLED display with an FHD+ resolution of 2400×1080 pixels.

Its LTPO technology ensures smoothness with a refresh rate ranging from 1Hz to an impressive 120Hz, peaking at 144Hz for gaming. It has a peak brightness of 2,500 nits and support for HDR10, Amazon HDR, and YouTube HDR making images and videos pop.

It is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and ensures durability against scratches and drops. The display covers an extensive colour gamut, including 107.37% DCI-P3, 145.65% sRGB, and 103.16% NTSC, ensuring accurate colour reproduction. It supports Always-On display functionality and glove touch for different scenarios. The Zenfone 11 Ultra also has IP68 dust and water resistance for further protection.

Performance and Storage

The ASUS Zenfone 11 Ultra is powered by the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset with a 4-nm architecture, ensuring powerful performance and efficiency. Its octa-core CPU configuration includes a Cortex-X4 core clocked at 3.3 GHz, three Cortex-A720 cores running at 3.2 GHz, two Cortex-A720 cores operating at 3.0 GHz, and two Cortex-A520 cores running at 2.3 GHz. It is equipped with an Adreno 750 GPU handling the graphics performance for gaming and multimedia experiences. It runs on the latest Android 14 operating system out of the box.

As for memory options, the ASUS Zenfone 11 Ultra has two RAM options 12GB and 16GB. The 12GB is paired with the base 256GB storage option while the 16GB RAM is paired with 512GB of RAM.

The ASUS Zenfone 11 Ultra also has AI features with the new chipset. It has intelligent features like semantic search and AI noise cancellation for crystal-clear audio. It also offers AI call translator and transcript capabilities, making conversations smoother, and an AI wallpaper feature for personalized AI wallpapers.

Camera

The ASUS Zenfone 11 Ultra’s camera setup is an upgrade with the new telephoto camera. It has a triple rear camera setup. Its main camera is a Sony IMX890 sensor with a 50 MP resolution and a large 1/1.56” sensor size, enhanced by gimbal Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) for steady shots. Utilizing Quad Bayer technology, it delivers 12.5 MP images with a 2 µm effective pixel size for detail and clarity. It has an F1.9 aperture and on-chip-lens phase detection autofocus.

Supporting the main camera is a 13 MP ultrawide-angle lens with a 120° field of view. The Zenfone 11 Ultra features 32 MP telephoto lenses with built-in OIS and 3X optical zoom providing versatility for close-up shots and portrait photography.

The rear camera setup supports 8K UHD videos at 24 fps, 4K UHD video recording at both 30 and 60 fps, 1080p FHD video recording at 30 and 60 fps, as well as 720p HD video recording at the same fps. Furthermore, it supports HDR10+ video recording for both the main rear camera and the ultrawide rear camera. It also allows users to capture 4K UHD time-lapse videos. It has support for 4K slow-motion video at 120 fps, 1080p slow-motion video at 120 and 240 fps, and 720p slow-motion video at 120, 240, and 480 fps.

For selfies, the ASUS Zenfone 11 Ultra features a 32MP RGBW sensor for its front-facing camera, which employs pixel-binning technology to produce 8MP photos with a pixel size of 1.4μm. It has a 22mm equivalent focal length in a 35mm film camera, it captures a wide field of view for group selfies or scenic backgrounds. The front camera supports video recording in 1080p Full HD resolution at 30 fps and 720p HD video recording at both 30 and 60 fps.

Battery and Others

The ASUS Zenfone 11 Ultra has an upgraded 5,500 mAh battery which is a huge jump from the Zenfone 10. The larger size increased area for larger battery capcity resulting in a longer battery life. For charging, it supports fast 65W wired fast charging, wireless charging at 15W and also feature reverse wireless charging at 10W. In terms of connectivity, it features Wi-Fi support for 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e/7 standards across tri-band frequencies for internet access and Bluetooth 5.4 for wireless connectivity with other devices.

For network connectivity, the Zenfone 11 Ultra supports both LTE and 5G networks and has dual-SIM support for added convenience. Audio quality is impressive with dual stereo speakers and Hi-Res Audio support up to 384 kHz/32-bit, delivering immersive sound experiences. ASUS however doesnt compromise being on a flagship level with the presence of a 3.5mm headphone jack. It is equipped with dual microphones featuring ASUS Noise reduction technology for clear voice calls. A range of sensors including an in-display fingerprint sensor, face recognition, accelerometer, E-compass, gyroscope, proximity sensor, ambient-light sensor, and hall sensor enhance usability and security.

The ASUS Zenfone 11 Ultra is available in four colour options; Skyline Blue, Eternal Black, Misty Grey and Desert Sand.

As for pricing, the ASUS Zenfone 11 Ultra can be expected to cost around Rs 145,000 in Nepal.