Asus took the wraps off its highly anticipated ROG Phone 5 yesterday evening at a special launch event dubbed 'For those who dare'. You can head on over to that YouTube link for the full presentation, but below is a nice and snappy 3 minute 45s official highlights video to get you up to speed much more quickly.
From the headline you will already know that Asus launched a trio of ROG Phone 5 variants. However, they aren't very different from one another with the only specs varying being the RAM/storage quotas, the type of rear display, and the colour finishes in which they are going to be available. So, without further ado, let's get to a bullet point list of key specifications:
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 with Adreno 660
- RAM/Storage:
ROG Phone 5: 8GB LPDDR5 + 128GB UFS 3.1 / 12GB + 256GB / 16GB + 256GB
ROG Phone 5 Pro: 16GB + 512GB
ROG Phone 5 Ultimate (Limited Edition): 18GB + 512GB - 6.78-inch, Samsung AMOLED, HDR10+, 800nits, 2,448 x 1,080 pixels, 144Hz refresh, 1ms, with 300Hz Touch Sampling
- Rear display:
ROG Phone 5: RGB dot-matrix ROG logo
ROG Phone 5 Pro: ROG Vision colour PMOLED display plus two extra touch sensors on the phone rear
ROG Phone 5 Ultimate: ROG Vision mono PMOLED display plus two extra touch sensors on the phone rear - 64MP f/1.8 Main Sony IMX686 sensor with EIS, 13MP f/2.4 ultrawide with EIS, 5MP f/2.0 macro with EIS, plus a 24MP f/2.45 selfie cam
- USB 3.1 Type-C on the side, USB 2.0 Type-C at the bottom, 3.5mm headphone jack
- Dual front facing speakers, dual Cirrus Logic CS35L45 amps, quad mics
- 5G, Wi-Fi 6W, BT 5.2, NFC, Dual-frequency (L1+L5) GNSS, Glonass, Galileo, BeiDou, QZSS, NavIC
- Dual 3,000mAh batteries, 65Watt charging
- ZenUI + ROG UI based on Android 11
- 11mm thick, 238g
- Colours:
ROG Phone 5: Phantom Black, Storm White
ROG Phone 5 Pro: Glossy Black
ROG Phone 5 Ultimate: Matte White
Those that have been following the development of Asus ROG Phone models will immediately see that the new ROG Phone 5 adopts a similar design language to its predecessors. One thing that is quickly noticeable is the more elongated appearance, but there are bigger changes around the back. The standard ROG Phone 5 comes with a dot matrix display that can show a gradient of two colours behind the ROG logo while the Pro model adds a small colour PMOLED 'ROG Vision' display, and the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate uses a mono version of this accompanying PMOLED display.
In addition to the fast processing, great visuals, and enhanced stereo sound, a particularly appealing aspect of the ROG Phone 5 series is the enhanced controls. The design retains the Air Trigger sensors as previous models, nine of them. While the Pro/Ultimate models add two more sensors to the rear of the phone. With the AeroActive Cooler, you get two additional physical buttons.
On the topic of the AeroActive Cooler, this accessory is bundled with the Pro/Ultimate phones and now includes its own headphone jack, an RGB strip and a kickstand. Meanwhile, the internal layout of the ROG Phone 5 means that the cooling fan is now directly above the SoC area. Asus also launched some accessories like the Professional Dock which adds two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, a USB Type-C port, an Ethernet port, and an HDMI port.
Depending upon your region the Asus ROG Phone 5 models will start to become available this month. In Europe, recommended pricing is as follows:
- Asus ROG Phone 5: 8GB + 128GB: €799, 12GB + 256GB: €899, 16GB + 256GB: €999
- Asus ROG Phone 5 Pro:16GB + 512GB: €1,199
- Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate: 18GB + 512GB: €1,299
