The Asus Zenfone 9 was the compact Android flagship to buy in 2022. Powered by a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, the phone surprised us with its excellent performance, relatively great battery life, and capable cameras. The Taiwanese smartphone maker has also done an excellent job releasing timely updates for the Zenfone 9. Its Android 13 beta program launched in late August, and now over three months later, Asus is rolling out the phone's stable update.

This makes the Zenfone 9 the first device in the company's roster to receive the stable public build of Android 13. Asus has posted an extensive change log of the update detailing everything new. This includes a revamped Quick Settings panel and notification tray in line with the design changes in the latest Android build, tweaked system apps, and the ability to control the notification permission of each app individually.

Below are the official release notes of Zenfone 9's Android 13 update:

  1. Upgraded system to Android 13
  2. Revamped Mobile Manager, Contacts, Phone, Emergency Dialer, File Manager, Calculator, Clock, Gallery, Weather, Sound recorder, Settings, Data Transfer, Local backup, and other Asus apps
  3. Adjusted Quick Settings panel, notification tray, and volume panel to Android 13 design
  4. Added the notification permission feature. You can adjust the permission of each apps in the Apps & notifications Settings
  5. System clipboard added "Auto delete" and editor features
  6. Added the QR code scanner option for the lock screen shortcut feature, and the "Control from locked device" feature in the Security & lock screen setting
  7. If Bedtime option is setup in Digital Wellbeing, system color scheme can now be set to automatically switch with bedtime option
  8. Adjusted the Vibration & haptic strength setting, Display and font size setting, and the width/length of navigation white bar when choosing gesture navigation
  9. Changed to the Blocked numbers setting in Phone to stock behavior. You will not receive calls or texts from blocked numbers
  10. Removed the Call duration setting
  11. Added the Themed icons option in the Wallpaper & style setting Support more color combinations
  12. Added "link quick share" feature in ASUS Launcher
  13. Added Asus customization preferences setting. Allows applying the collection of commonly used customization settings with one click
  14. Removed the 'Calm' and 'Elegant' options in the Power button menu style setting. Add the display item management option to allow the user to control the number of buttons in the menu
  15. Adjusted the design of the dialpad and contacts details page in the Phone app to display information more clearly
  16. Some 3rd party apps are not compatible with Android 13 yet

You should back up your important data on the phone before installing Android 13. There's also an option to downgrade your Zenfone 9 back to Android 12 if the need arises, but doing so will erase all data on the device.

Asus says firmware 33.0804.2060.65 for the Zenfone 9 is rolling out in stages based on different serial numbers, so it might not show up on your phone immediately. The Taiwanese smartphone maker previously confirmed that the Zenfone 8 and ROG Phone 5/6 series will get their Android 13 update from Q1 2023.

Asus promises two major OS updates for the Zenfone 9. The phone launched with Android 12, and this is the first OS update it has received after launch.