The Asus ROG lineup’s bright and eye-catching design language seems to be taking a back seat to a more modern and modest design. With the addition of a Pro version this time, Asus might be catering the popular series to a broader audience with the Asus ROG Phone 8 and 8 Pro.
The ROG Phone series has carried a following of mobile gamers throughout the last few years, as Asus has designed the device to be faster, better, and have brighter RGB LEDs. This year, however, the ROG Phone 8 looks to be taming down a bit while maintaining the same performance standard expected out of Asus.
According to exclusive leaks through WindowsReport, Asus plans on releasing a Pro variant of the ROG Phone 8. This corroborates with previous leaks that indicate Asus is going all in on the camera array, even going so far as to host a blind camera test to prove the ROG Phone 8 lineup is capable of taking good photos.
Asus ROG Phone 8 and 8 Pro specs
Looking at the leaked spec sheet, each phone will carry the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor and Adreno 750 GPU. The Pro variant, however, looks to come with 16/24GB of RAM instead of the ROG Phone 8’s 12GB. The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro will also carry either 512GB or 1TB of storage, while the lower tier will house 256 GB. Each version will carry a 5,500mAh battery with Quick Charge 5.0.
The display varies somewhat too. The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro is expected to have a 6.78-inch AMOLED screen with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 – the same as the standard model. According to the leaks, the ROG Phone 8 Pro will come with HDR10 support and a max 165Hz refresh rate, but the base version won’t.
The leaks don’t indicate what camera hardware will appear on the base model, but the ROG Phone 8 Pro looks to be carrying a Sony IMX890 50MP sensor as the main shooter. There will likely be a 13MP ultrawide and 32MP telephoto lens housed as well.
A new design with subtle flair
Rather than deck the ROG Phone 8 and 8 Pro out with more lights and stranger silhouettes, Asus has taken a different turn. The ROG Phone 8 is squared off in most aspects. The front display is akin to most other smartphones on the market, and the frame is mostly flat all around the edges.
The back carries what looks to be a glass panel, complete with just one LED Asus logo that still catches the eye – in a good way. There are several markings along the back that are a little hard to make out, but they give the phone a new look that isn’t visually overwhelming.
Both phones look identical, save for one detail. The Pro model looks to be carrying a set of three lenses where the two smaller ones are the same size. The ROG Phone 8 base variant seems to have a big, medium, and small lens on the back.
The new design is exciting, at least in our opinion. It might bring the ROG Phone 8 into contention with other Android smartphones on the market. It’ll run Android 14 out of the box, skinned with ROG UI. If the previous leaks prove true, the ROG Phone 8 and 8 Pro should launch sometime in January 2024.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments