The ASUS ROG Phone 9 series was announced last month, with the company also revealing not too long after that it will be launching in Malaysia on 10 December. But now, there are reports of a possible third variant on the way, some colloquially calling it the FE suffix in its name.
Late last month, GizmoChina spotted a device with the model number of ASUS_AI2401_N in the GSMA database. Despite the model number indicating that it’s an ROG Phone 8 variant, the listing does mention ROG Phone 9 FE specifically. The ROG Phone 9 proper on the other hand, according to its official product page for the international market, has a model number of AI2501.
More recently, 91Mobiles spotted the same model number ASUS_AI2401_N in the WiFi Alliance listing, though the common name is not listed here. Both reports note that with the model number being similar to that of the ROG Phone 8, it is speculated to have similar specs to the flagship launched earlier in the year.
Among other things, this suggest a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip rather than the 8 Elite, though to be fair, on paper the two generation of phones are virtually identical besides their chipset and battery capacity, as well as Android version on launch. The argument can be made for the cooling system that each employs, but considering this supposed model is getting the FE tag, it wouldn’t be surprising if the older tech is used.
At any rate, with the recent listings, it would be a matter of time before the ASUS ROG Phone 9 FE gets its own official unveiling. There’s no word on when that would be yet, so you probably shouldn’t hold your breath for it.
(Source: GizmoChina, 91Mobiles)
