We got a sneak peak at the Asus ROG Phone 9, one of the first Snapdragon 8 Elite phones, and it’s going to be fast

Monday at the Snapdragon Summit in Maui, Qualcomm unveiled its new flagship mobile SoC – the Snapdragon 8 Elite – which is powered by the company’s 2nd-gen Oryon CPU cores. Qualcomm flew TechRadar to Maui to check out the latest chips, and I managed to track down some surprises that will soon delight mobile gamers.

During the keynote, Xiaomi announced that its 15 series flagship would be the first phone to ship with the Snapdragon 8 Elite later this month. Honor then revealed that its Magic7 series handsets would also feature Qualcomm’s new mobile chip and launch Oct 30.

ASUS followed suit with the ROG Phone 9, a gaming flagship coming Nov 19 that also packs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite. But unlike the competition, ASUS reps were on hand with its new handset and I got to check it out at the event. While the company wasn’t willing to share any specs or pricing, I was able to handle the new ROG Phone 9 for a few minutes. So here are my brief first impressions.

The ROG Phone 9 looks a lot like the ROG Phone 8

The ROG Phone 9 shares the same industrial design as the ROG Phone 8 Pro ($1,199) that our own Jon Mundy reviewed back in January – down to the camera pod shape and port/button placement. Dimensions are similar, too, but this new phone feels lighter than its predecessor. You’ll find a couple of red accents in the back,…