ASUS ROG Phone 5 series unveiled, 18GB RAM, 144Hz AMOLED, and Snapdragon 888

The ASUS ROG Phone 5 series have been officially unveiled and they are the most powerful smartphones in the brand’s lineup thus far. Announced in three variants: the ROG Phone 5, ROG Phone 5 Pro, and the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate, all will come with the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip, fast displays, tons of RAM and UFS 3.1 storage.

ROG Phone 5 Series

The ROG Phone 5 series come with the same display: a 6.78-inch 2448 x 1080 screen using a Samsung AMOLED panel running at 144Hz. If a fast screen is not enough, color accuracy has also been taken in consideration thanks to the display’s 111.23% DCI-P3 coverage, 1,200nits peak brightness, and support for HDR10+. The expensive panel is protected from external elements by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.

As mentioned, they come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 with the vanilla and Pro variants getting 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM while the Ultimate variant gets a larger 18GB pool. The heat put out by its CPU and GPU are tempered by the upgraded GameCool 5 cooling system and can further be fine-tuned via the Armoury Crate app.

The 6,000mAh battery found on the ROG Phone 3 is retained in the ROG Phone 5 but its charging system has been overhauled to support the faster 65W HyperCharge. Meanwhile, their camera systems are composed of a 64MP f/1.8 main, a 13MP f/2.4 ultrawide, and a 5MP f/2.4 macro at the back while at the front is a single 24MP f/1.8 selfie shooter.

Both the Pro and the Ultimate version gets a little bit more TLC on their rear designs. Instead of just having the ROG logo, both now come with ROG Vision, which is a matrix display initially found on their AniMe compatible notebooks. The Pro model will come with a colored version while the Ultimate version comes with a monochrome lighting system.

Of course, the ROG Phone 5 series come the new AirTrigger 5 system which gives access to gamers two extra physical buttons for better control. The Pro and Ultimate Edition, however, come with additional rear touch sensors at the back cover that mimics the function of L2/R2 in console controls.

Accessories and Compatibility

Alongside the launch of the ROG Phone 5 are a couple of new accessories. This includes the ROG Strix Go BT Gaming headset that promises low latency yet higher audio resolution. These batch of peripherals also includes the ROG Cetra II RGB, a USB Type-C headphones with RGB lighting and ANC, as well as the ROG Cetra II Core.

Thankfully, the ROG Phone 5 lineup will be supporting some of the previous generation accessories. This includes the Kunai GamePad series, Professional Dock, and ROG Clip. As for cooling, the ROG Phone 5 devices will only support the new AeroActive Cooler 5 and will not be compatible with the AeroActive Cooler 3.

Pricing and Availability

Pricing for the ROG Phone 5 series have yet to be announced. ASUS, however, has unveiled that they will be releasing their three new gaming smartphones in a staggered manner this quarter:

• ROG Phone 5 – March
• ROG Phone 5 Pro – April
• ROG Phone 5 Ultimate – May

We expect that the brand will be announcing their respective prices in each region as we close on their market release.