2 min readASUS's latest trio of gaming smartphones offer high performance at an equally high price.
Announced for Australia this week, the ROG Phone 8, ROG Phone 8 Pro and ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition all boast a redesigned exterior that veers closer to Porsche than PlayStation and specs that put them at the top-end of Android smartphones when it comes to performance.
Naturally, all that power and prestige comes with a proportionate price tag. The cheapest of the three devices starts at $1,799. That's not iPhone 15 expensive. That's iPhone 15 Pro expensive.
There's no way you could ever confuse the ROG Phone 8 for Apple's latest and greatest though. All three versions of the device come built around a 6.78-inch AMOLED screen with FHD+ resolution, a 165Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 2500 nits.
Under the hood, the ROG Phone 8, ROG Phone 8 Pro and ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition are all powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor and 5500mAh battery. However, the RAM and onboard storage varies with each model. The cheapest of the three comes kitted out with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, the middle-of-the-road option has 16GB of RAM paired with 512GB of storage and the top-of-the-line configuration boasts 24GB of RAM and 1 TB of on-board storage.
The back of the standard ROG Phone 8 comes with an RGB LED-lit logo that can be recoloured at your leisure. The Pro and Pro Edition models have a more customisable but monochromatic Mini-LED one instead. All three devices tout a 32MP selfie camera plus a triple-lens camera setup on the back that incorporates a 50MP main lens, a 13MP wide lens and a 32MP telephoto lens.
Beyond that, almost all the usual perks are present and accounted for here. There's 15W wireless charging, 65W fast charging, Gorilla Glass Victus durability and an in-display fingerprint sensor. There's even a headphone jack.
On top of those creature comforts, there's the laundry list of gaming-specific bells and whistles that ROG is known for. These are features that you won't find in more mainstream devices like the iPhone 15 and Galaxy S24, such as a dedicated cooling system and ASUS' "Air Trigger" sensors.
