Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra arrives with a design refresh and powerful internals but disappointing software support

Asus has two smartphone lines — the ROG gaming line and the Zenfone series. It already announced new models for the former last November when it unveiled the ROG Phone 9 and ROG Phone 9 Pro. Now it's the turn of the Zenfone series. The Zenfone 12 Ultra is the latest model in the Zenfone line, and like last year's Zenfone 11 Ultra, there isn't a non-ultra model.

With respect to design, the Zenfone 12 Ultra has received some changes, specifically on the back. The new phone has a smaller camera island and has ditched the geometric pattern on its predecessor. The back is made of glass and it has a silky matte finish. Asus says the frame, which is still flat, is made from 100% recycled aluminum while the screen is made from 22% recycled glass. It still has an IP68 dust and water resistance rating.

The Zenfone 12 Ultra will be available to buy in Sage Green, Ebony Black, and Sakura White.

The Zenfone 12 Ultra has a 6.78'' FHD+ display — a Samsung AMOLED LTPO panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. Asus says it can go up to 144Hz when gaming and that it has a peak brightness of 2,500 nits. Like several new Android flagship phones released in the past few months, the Zenfone 12 Ultra is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. It also has 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage.

On the camera front, the Zenfone 12 Ultra has a 50MP Sony Lytia 700 camera with version 4.0 of Asus's 6-axis hybrid gimbal system. It also has a 13MP ultrawide angle camera with a 120° field of view and a 32MP telephoto camera with OIS and 3x optical zoom. There's a 32MP RGBW camera in front for selfies and video calls.

Asus ships the phone with Android 15 which brings several AI features. According to Asus, the Zenfone 12 Ultra is the first smartphone in the world to integrate the Meta Llama 3 8B language model. It also claims that all of its AI tools can be operated locally on the device for data protection. Unfortunately, Asus is continuing its disappointing trend of providing just two OS upgrades for the Zenfone 12 Ultra. However, it says the phone will receive security updates up until 2030.

The Zenfone 12 Ultra has a 5,500mAh battery with support for 65W fast wired charging and Qi 1.3 wireless charging. Asus doesn't say if there's a charger in the box, but considering the Zenfone 11 Ultra didn't ship with one, that's probably the case with the new model. The Zenfone 12 Ultra has an audio jack, stereo speakers, dual nano-SIM slots, and Wi-Fi 7.

It will be available to buy starting today for €1,099 in Europe. Asus will also offer buyers a €100 launch offer discount until February 28th.