The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro and ROG Phone 8 were introduced at CES 2024 as the latest gaming smartphones from the Taiwanese company. These new additions to the ROG series are powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and come with an IP68 rating, providing resistance to both splashes and dust.
The All New Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro and ROG Phone 8
In terms of pricing and availability, the Asus ROG Phone 8 is priced at $1,099 (approximately ₹91,000) for the 16GB + 256GB variant. The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro comes in two configurations: the 16GB + 512GB model at $1,199 (roughly ₹99,000) and the 24GB + 1TB model at $1,499 (roughly ₹1,24,000). The color options for the Asus ROG Phone 8 include Phantom Black and Rebel Grey, while the ROG Phone 8 Pro is available in Phantom Black.
In terms of specifications, both devices in the dual-SIM (Nano) Asus ROG Phone 8 series operate on the Android 14-based ROG UI. They feature a 6.78-inch full-HD+ Samsung AMOLED LTPO display with a refresh rate of up to 165Hz, HDR10 support, a 720Hz touch sampling rate, and a peak brightness of 2,500 nits. The screens are protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and cover 107 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut, with always-on display support. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC powers the ROG Phone 8 family.
The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro is equipped with up to 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB of UFS4.0 storage, while the standard Asus ROG Phone 8 features 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB UFS4.0 storage.
For photography, both the ROG Phone 8 Pro and ROG Phone 8 come with a triple rear camera setup led by a 50-megapixel Sony IMX890 1/1.56-inch primary sensor with an f/1.9 lens and a six-axis gimbal stabilizer. The camera setup also includes a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with a 120-degree field of view and a 32-megapixel sensor with OIS and 3x optical zoom. For selfies, the Asus ROG Phone 8 series features a 12-megapixel RGBW front camera that is binned down to 8 megapixels with 1.4µm binning.
Connectivity options on the Asus ROG Phone 8 family include 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 be/ax/ac/a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS/A-GPS/NavIC, NFC, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a USB Type-C port. The phones come with various sensors, including an accelerometer, ambient light sensor, e-compass, gyroscope, air trigger, proximity sensor, in-display fingerprint sensor for authentication, and support for face recognition.
The Asus ROG Phone 8 series boasts an IP68-certified build, making it resistant to dust and water. The phones are equipped with a 5,500mAh battery supporting Qi 1.3 wireless charging and 65W charging. The fast-charging technology claims to charge the battery from 0 to 100 percent in just 39 minutes. The battery is reported to last up to 17 hours of Instagram scrolling or 3.42 hours of gaming, such as Genshin Impact.
Asus has incorporated three microphones on the handsets with support for the company’s in-house Audio Noise Reduction Technology. The handsets feature 5-magnet receivers and 5-magnet speakers powered by Dirac Virtuo technology. The Asus ROG Phone 8 and Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro measure 163.8×76.8×8.9mm and weigh 225 grams.
Similar to its predecessors, the Asus ROG Phone 8 series includes a snap-on cooling fan called AeroActive Cooler X. This accessory utilizes an inbuilt thermoelectric cooling chip and a dedicated fan to reduce temperatures on the back cover by up to 28° C and includes additional buttons for game control.
