Mats Hellqvist
Asus announced the Android 13 beta program for the Zenfone 9 back in August. Now the stable release is almost ready – the company just unveiled its official Android 13 rollout plan. The plan is relatively short, especially on the Zenfone side. However, Asus only promises two major os-updates. All models missing from the list have already received both updates. Here’s the official schedule – left for the Zenfones and right for the ROG phones:
The Asus Zenfone 9 will get the update this December, the Asus Zenfone 8 and Zenfone 8 Flip will get it in January. Asus introduced the 8 series with Android 11 last year and updated it to Android 12 in December. The new firmware therefore brings the second and last major operating system version. The Zenfone 7 and 7 Pro started with Android 10 in mid-2020 and went up to version 12.
When it comes to gaming phones, the ROG Phone 6D/6D Ultimate with the Dimensity 9000+ chipset and the ROG Phone 6 and ROG Phone 6 Pro with Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 CPUs are at the forefront. Android 13 will come to these models in the first three months of 2023. In the second quarter of 2023, it will be the turn of the ROG Phone 5/5s series.
The ROG Phone 5/5s launched with Android 11 and has already been updated to version 12, so this should be the end of the road. The ROG Phone 3 devices introduced with Android 10 have already received Android 11 and 12.
The rollout will be gradual, so the Zenfone 9 update shouldn’t arrive before December 1st.
