ASUS ZenFone 10 vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro

The ZenFone 10 is the latest flagship from ASUS, and it’s a very interesting one. This is a compact powerhouse, and that’s not something we see often these days. Apple has a somewhat compact powerhouse of its own, and those are the two phones we’ll be comparing here. We’ll compare the ASUS ZenFone 10 vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro. The ZenFone 10 is a bit more compact, while it’s also more affordable than Apple’s offering.

We’ll first list their specifications, and will then move to compare their designs, displays, performance, battery life, cameras, and audio performance. These two phones are considerably different, and this comparison could turn out to be quite interesting, actually. The ZenFone 10 is a great phone, it turns out, so let’s see how it compares to the iPhone 14 Pro.

Specs

ASUS ZenFone 10 vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro: Design

Both devices come with rounded corners and flat sides. ASUS did a better job of adapting the phone for in-hand comfort, though, due to the fact it has a soft-touch back, which is not flat with the frame, it curves out. The iPhone 14 Pro has a glass backplate, on the other hand. The ZenFone 10 has a frame made out of aluminum, while the iPhone 14 Pro comes with a stainless steel frame.

Both smartphones have flat displays, with different front-facing camera setups. The ZenFone 10 includes a display camera hole in the top-left corner. The iPhone 14 Pro has a pill-shaped cutout at the top, which is centered. Apple’s implementation is more of an eyesore, due to its size. Apple does try to minimize that by including that cutout into iOS itself via animations and whatnot.

The bezels around the display on both smartphones are quite thin, though the ones on the iPhone 14 Pro are also uniform. The ZenFone 10 has two cameras on the back, each of which has its own camera island. The iPhone 14 Pro features three cameras on the back, all of which are a part of the same camera island. The ZenFone 10 is slightly shorter, noticeably narrower, and a bit thicker. It’s also a lot lighter at 172 grams, compared to the 206 grams of the iPhone 14 Pro.

Both smartphones offer IP68 certification for water and dust resistance. The ZenFone 10 is easier to use with one hand, and also more pleasant to hold in general. Both devices feel like premium pieces of tech in the hand, though.

ASUS ZenFone 10 vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro: Display

You will find a 5.9-inch fullHD+ (2400 x 1080) Super AMOLED display on the ZenFone 10. That display is flat, and it has 144Hz refresh rate support. It also supports HDR10+ content, and its brightness gets up to 1,100 nits. The panel has a 20:9 aspect ratio, while the Gorilla Glass Victus is placed over the panel. Do note that the 144Hz refresh rate is available only during gaming, though.

The iPhone 14 Pro, on the other hand, has a 6.1-inch 2556 x 1179 LTPO Super Retina XDR OLED display. That panel is also flat, and it supports a 120Hz refresh rate. HDR10 content is also supported, as is Dolby Vision. This panel goes up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness and has a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The Ceramic Shield glass is placed on top of the display, for protection purposes.

Both of these panels are great. They’re more than sharp enough and offer good viewing angles, and touch response. The colors are vivid, and the blacks are deep. The iPhone 14 Pro’s panel does have one major advantage, its brightness. If you use your phone under direct sunlight often, the iPhone 14 Pro is definitely the better choice. The ZenFone 10’s display is not exactly dim, but when you’re in direct sunlight, you’ll notice the brightness difference. In all other aspects, however, both displays are bright enough.

ASUS ZenFone 10 vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro: Performance

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC fuels the ZenFone 10. ASUS also included up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM inside of this phone, and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 flash storage. The iPhone 14 Pro is fueled by the Apple A16 Bionic processor, while it includes 6GB of RAM, and up to 1TB of NVMe storage. Neither phone offers a storage expansion, by the way.

The performance is outstanding on both smartphones. Needless to say, they have entirely different software pre-installed, but both perform great. They’re both very smooth, and that goes for overall performance and scrolling. They multitask like nobody’s business and can handle pretty much every game in their respective app stores. We did not notice any outstanding bugs or anything of the sort. Both phones are also expected to perform great for years to come, but it remains to be seen.

It is worth noting that the ZenFone 10 does get hotter during gaming, but nothing out of the ordinary. This phone is a bit smaller, so… it’s normal. We did not really have issues during gaming, even though we did not play that many games. During our testing, however, they performed really well, as did the iPhone 14 Pro.

ASUS ZenFone 10 vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro: Battery

ASUS included a 4,300mAh battery inside the ZenFone 10. The iPhone 14 Pro, on the flip side, has a 3,200mAh battery. Now, both smartphones do offer good battery life, but the ZenFone 10 simply dwarfs the iPhone 14 Pro. The iPhone 14 Pro can cross the 7-hour screen-on-time mark without a problem, even push over the 8-hour mark in some instances. Well, with the ZenFone 10, we’ve managed to reach the 10-hour screen-on-time mark a number of times, and even reach the 11-hour level on one occasion.

Needless to say, this is outstanding battery life from the ZenFone 10, especially considering its size. The phone just keeps on going. Your mileage may vary, though, of course. You will be using different apps, and will be using the phone in a different way altogether. On top of that, your signal strengths will be different. If you’re a gamer, the battery life will be considerably lower on both phones, so keep that in mind.

As far as charging is concerned, that’s another comparison that goes in the ZenFone 10’s favor. The phone supports 30W wired, 15W wireless, and 5W reverse wired charging. The iPhone 14 Pro supports 20W wired, 15W wireless (MagSafe) and 7.5W wireless (Qi) charging. Do note that the ZenFone 10 ships with a charger, unlike the iPhone 14 Pro.

ASUS ZenFone 10 vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro: Cameras

ASUS included a 50-megapixel main camera on the ZenFone 10, and a 13-megapixel ultrawide unit (120-degree FoV). The iPhone 14 Pro, on the other hand, has a 48-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera (120-degree FoV), and a 12-megapixel telephoto camera (3x optical zoom). Both phones do a great job with these cameras, but there are quite a few differences.

First of all, let’s just say that the ZenFone 10 doesn’t include a telephoto camera. So if you plan on zooming in, all you get is digital zoom. The main cameras on both phones do perform well, but offer different results. The images from the ZenFone 10 do end up looking more saturated, and have a more processed look to them. The iPhone 14 Pro provides images that are closer to real life.

The HDR performance is good on both, but the iPhone 14 Pro does mess up the highlights here and there. The ZenFone 10 is more reliable in that regard. On the flip side, we did notice some autofocus issues on the ZenFone 10, but we do hope they’ll be fixed soon. In low light, both phones do a great job, though the iPhone 14 Pro likes to keep things a bit darker and closer to what you actually see.

The ZenFone 10 has superb stabilization, and it can rival the iPhone 14 Pro in that regard, without a problem. The overall footage does still look a bit better on the iPhone 14 Pro, but the ZenFone 10 is not far behind, not at all. We’d even say its stabilization is better overall.

Audio

There is a set of stereo speakers on each of these phones. Both are loud enough, but nowhere near the loudest ones we’ve seen. In direct comparison, the iPhone 14 Pro speakers are a tad bit louder, but not by much. Both sets of speakers are well-tuned and sound good overall. They even offer a bit of bass.

If you need an audio jack, one is located on the ZenFone 10. You will not get one on the iPhone 14 Pro, however. You’ll need to use the phone’s Lightning port. As far as wireless audio is concerned, both phones support Bluetooth 5.3.