Asus is the latest company to give the mobile phone industry a gaming-focused smartphone in Asus ROG phone. It is the first from the company to adopt the ROG branding and basically the answer to the Razer Phone that has been around for a while now.
In addition to being the third major gaming phone on the market after the Razer Phone and Xiaomi Black Shark, Asus ROG phone also happens to be the second in line to rock a 90Hz display screen, which basically means the screen refreshes 90 times per second to enable smoother animations.
Related:
- The best free games with no in-app purchases
- 10 popular PC games you can play on your Android device
- 8 best offline multiplayer games for Android
Asus ROG phone specs
- 6-inch 18:9 FHD+ AMOLED display
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset
- 8GB RAM
- 128GB or 512GB storage
- Dual 12MP + 8MP main camera
- 8MP front camera
- 4000mAh battery
- Android 8.1 Oreo
Being a gaming-focused smartphone, the Asus ROG phone isn’t your typical phone. Besides the norm, you also get extras that are tailored to make gaming on this device the best experience. Things like USB-C, Quick Charge 4+, rear-mounted scanner, NFC, Bluetooth 5.0, 3.5mm audio jack, stereo speakers, and water resistance are typical of any flagship phone. However, you won’t find things like the aforementioned 90Hz, ROG Gaming X mode UI, ROG Gaming UI, overclocked processor, vapor cooling, or even a special attachable fan accessory on any other Asus smartphone. These are what make the ROG phone such a unique piece of hardware.
Asus takes the hardware game to the next level by going for a massive 512GB storage on board the ROG phone. With such huge amounts, even on the entry-level 128GB variant, you don’t really need a microSD card slot, which is why the ROG phone doesn’t have one. Although not a device targeting photogenic people, the dual-lens camera on the back is still good enough to take cool photos and videos as well.
Related: The best Asus phones to buy right now
Since it’s a gaming phone, going for a massive 4000mAh battery wasn’t an option for Asus. Even better is that you have support for Quick Charge 4+, the best and latest fast charging technology you can have in any smartphone at the moment. With this, combined with the highly effective USB-C, you should be back playing your favorite game after just minutes of charging the device.
Asus ROG phone price and availability
For the uninitiated, the Asus ROG Phone made its debut on June 4, 2018, at Computex and while Asus said availability would begin in Q3 2018, the wait had to go up to Q4 2018 for unavoidable reasons. Pre-orders in the U.S. opened on October 18th, with shipping planned for December 2018.
The ROG Phone is also available in India, Canada and the UK. Check out the official prices in these markets.
| Storage amount | USA (North America) | UK | India |
| 128GB | $899.99 – ASUS, Amazon, Microsoft, Best Buy Canada [$1,199.99] | £799.99 – ASUS, Laptop outlet | INR 69,999 |
| 512GB | $1099.99 – ASUS, Microsoft | NA | NA |
Availability in other markets remains unclear, but we should keep getting more details in the coming days.
