The ASUS ROG Phone 6 starts at $1,799 in Australia (and is exclusive to JB HI-FI)

ASUS has finally confirmed when you'll be able to pick up the ROG Phone 6 and ROG Phone 6 Pro in Australia (and how much both handsets will cost). 

This year, ASUS will be selling the ROG Phone 6 series exclusively through JB HI-FI. The ROG Phone 6 Pro will also be an online exclusive for JB HI-FI, meaning you won't be able to pick it up in store. 

Available from the Thursday the 1st of September, the ROG Phone 6 512GB model will cost $1,799 and is available in Storm White or Phantom Black. The ROG Phone 6 Pro will release a little later on the 15th of September and will cost $1,999 through JB HI-FI's website. The ROG Phone 6 Pro will only be available in Storm White. Pre-orders for both phones are available now through the JB HI-FI website. 

In addition to the phones themselves, JB HI-FI will also stock the nifty AeroActive Cooler 6, a rear-mounted thermoelectric cooling device with additional physical buttons for gaming. The AeroActive Cooler 6 itself will cost $179 when it launches through JB HI-FI on the 1st of September. 

If you managed to look past the aggressively ‘gamer’ aesthetic of the ROG Phone 5, you would find nothing short of a powerhouse Android smartphone that stood toe-to-toe with the big brands like Google and Samsung. It had incredible battery life, insanely fast charging and plenty of power to boot. The ROG Phone 6 and ROG Phone 6 Pro are upping the ante this year with a new Snapdragon 8+ chipset (which ASUS markets as 50% faster than the Snapdragon 888 of the ROG Phone 5) and up to 165Hz refresh rate on the 6.8-inch AMOLED display. The new camera doesn’t shake things up too much but the upgrade to the triple-lens array– which features a Sony-manufactured Image Sensor in the 50MP wide-angle shooter– is nonetheless appreciated.

Thankfully, ASUS has also improved the durability a bit too. The ROG Phone 5’s biggest downfall was that it didn’t promise any level of water or dust resistance but the ROG Phone 6 series is officially rated IPX4, which means it’s at least protected against splashing water. It’s still a far cry from what most premium smartphones offer but it’s an improvement.

There are only two major differences between the ROG Phone 6 and ROG Phone 6 Pro. The first is mostly cosmetic in that the ROG Phone 6 Pro offers a small 2-inch OLED display on the rear for displaying flashy RGB effects and notifications (the ROG Phone 6 has a simple RGB logo). Secondly, the ROG Phone 6 Pro offers a baseline of 512GB of internal storage and 18GB of RAM. The ROG Phone 6 starts at 128GB with 8GB RAM and goes as high as 512GB with 16GB RAM. 

ASUS has never partnered with an Australian telco to offer its smartphones on a plan and it doens't seem like the ROG Phone 6 will be any different.  

So if you're planning on picking up the ROG Phone 6, you'll need a SIM-only plan to get yourself up and running. Here's a short list of some of the most popular SIM plans available in Australia this week. 

The ROG Phone series has long been accompanied by a modular cooling solution for some truly heated gaming moments and this release is no different. The AeroActive Cooler 6 has received a pretty radical RGB design, adds four extra buttons for gaming and connects via USB-C. Otherwise, its primary function remains more or less the same, to keep the ROG Phone cool while it's working overtime.

The more interesting modular accessory this year is certainly the new ROG Kunai 3 Gamepad, which has taken some obvious queues from Nintendo Switch Joy-Con Controllers. The Kunai 3 Gamepad is built to be used in handheld or tabletop setups and even has two separate configurations for tabletop; one with ergonomic grips, and another more portable option.

The next most interesting product in the new ROG lineup is surely the Cetra True Wireless Pro earbuds. Equipped with low-latency 24-bit 96 Khz wireless audio, AI noise-cancelling microphones, Qi Wireless Charging and up to 28 hours of battery, the Cetra True Wireless Pro earbuds off the unique option of going back to wired. They come packaged with a USB-C adapter that attaches to the bottom of one of the buds, providing a semi-wired solution for an even sturdier connection.

There’s also a non-Pro version of the Cetra True Wireless buds but there isn’t a lot of information on those at the moment. They still have Active Noise-Cancellation (ANC), 27 hours of battery life and IPX4 water resistance but seem to ditch the USB-C wired option.

Lastly, ROG announced two new pairs of bonafide over-ear gaming headsets. The first is a wireless solution, the Delta S Wireless, which offers a 2.4 GHz connection, 50mmm drivers, plus AI beamforming and noise-cancelling microphones. ASUS claims the Delta S Wireless will last 25 hours and offer three hours of use off a 15-minute charge.

The Delta S Core is a lighter, probably cheaper, wired solution that offers most of the same features except the Wireless version’s noise-cancelling features.

Both headsets are compatible with PC, Mac, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Xbox and mobile devices.

We'll report back as soon as we here more about local pricing and availability on all of the products above.