Say hello to a new generation of ROG gaming phones powered by the latest and greatest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile chipset from Qualcomm.

(Update, March 11: Our ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro review is up!)

(Update, March 7: The ASUS ROG Phone 8 series is official in the Philippines!)

ASUS has announced the new ROG Phone 8 and ROG Phone 8 Pro at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, where the Taiwanese company introduced the biggest facelift and camera update to its gaming-focused smartphone series in years. The ROG Phone 8 starts at $1,099 (around P61,836) for the base 16GB RAM and 256GB storage model, while the ROG Phone 8 Pro with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of built-in storage is priced from $1,199 (P67,463). Pricing goes as high as $1,499 (P83,343) for the top-of-the-line Pro version with 24GB RAM and 1TB storage.

You can probably tell just by looking at them that the ASUS ROG Phone 8 and ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro strive to close the gap between mainstream flagships and gaming phones, with their significantly toned-down designs, flat edges, punch-hole selfie cameras, and square-ish camera island. Seriously, if not for the two-tone back and RGB lighting on the vanilla version or the dot-matrix display that supports over 20 preloaded animations on the Pro variant, we probably couldn’t tell them apart from the tens of Android phones we come across every year. Oh, and the latest models also receive an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, a notable improvement over the IP54 rating of the ROG Phone 7.

In overhauling the ROG Phone’s aesthetic this year, ASUS seems to have reached a conclusion about the high-end mobile-gaming category: More so than at any time before, it needs to appeal to mainstream customers as well to stay relevant amid the rise of handheld gaming PCs like the ROG Ally, Steam Deck, Lenovo Legion Go, and the recently launched MSI Claw. All of those aforementioned Windows-based alternatives cost a lot less than the ROG Phone 8 and its rivals.

The ROG Phone 8 is here, and it's faster than ever.
Here's everything you need to know about our latest gaming phone.

Read more👉 https://t.co/dq5Xwv1oId#ROGPhone8 #CES2024 #CES2024ROG pic.twitter.com/idNQYt6ewD

— ROG Global (@ASUS_ROG) January 9, 2024

Video showing the ASUS ROG Phone 8 series’ highlights

In short, the ROG Phone lineup needed a glow-up — or “glow-down,” in this case — to get the attention of new customers. Maybe females who don’t find traditional gaming phones visually appealing? Nubia’s RedMagic has been subtly trending in the same direction for years. Will this newest development affect the Zenfone line? Time will tell.

But back to ASUS’ latest gaming phones. With the brand-new design comes a couple of small trade-offs, like the absence of loud front-facing stereo speakers and the ROG Phone 8’s battery capacity of 5,500mAh, down from 6,000mAh in the previous generation. Also, in case it isn’t bundled with your unit, you need to buy the new AeroActive Cooler X if you plan on gaming for long periods, as older models of the snap-on cooler aren’t compatible with the ROG Phone 8 series.

As for the main camera, the ASUS ROG Phone 8 and ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro use a Sony IMX890 image sensor, which is the same sensor featured on the OnePlus 11 and OPPO Reno10 Pro and Reno10 Pro Plus. ASUS has also brought over the Zenfone 10’s 6-axis hybrid gimbal stabilizer to improve the camera’s low-light performance and image stabilization, especially in video mode. More importantly, the Pro variant has been upgraded with a dedicated telephoto camera that carries a 32-megapixel sensor.

ASUS ROG Phone 8

• 6.78-inch FHD+ LTPO E6 AMOLED display, 165Hz refresh rate, 2,500 nits peak brightness, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2
• 4nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 5G chipset
• Adreno 750 GPU
• 12GB/16GB LPDDR5X RAM
• 256GB UFS 4.0 storage
• Triple 50-megapixel main, 32-megapixel telephoto, and 13-megapixel ultrawide cameras
• 32-megapixel RGBW front camera
• Under-display fingerprint reader
• 5,500mAh battery
• 65-watt wired charging, 15-watt wireless charging
• 3.5mm audio port
• Backlit RGB logo
• Built-in gaming triggers
• Stereo speakers
• IP68 dust and water resistance
• Android 14 with ROG Armoury Crate
• Colors: Phantom Black, Rebel Grey

ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro (Southeast Asia/India model)

• 6.78-inch FHD+ LTPO E6 AMOLED display, 165Hz refresh rate, 2,500 nits peak brightness, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2
• 4nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 5G chipset
• Adreno 750 GPU
• 16GB/24GB LPDDR5X RAM
• 512GB/1TB UFS 4.0 storage
• Triple 50-megapixel main, 32-megapixel telephoto, and 13-megapixel ultrawide cameras
• 32-megapixel RGBW front camera
• Under-display fingerprint reader
• 5,500mAh battery
• 65-watt wired charging, 15-watt wireless charging
• 3.5mm audio port
• Dot matrix display
• Built-in gaming triggers
• Stereo speakers
• IP68 dust and water resistance
• Android 14 with ROG Armoury Crate
• Color: Phantom Black

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