Asus knows a little something about making gaming smartphones, and so it shows in the new ROG Phone 6 Pro which packs in the new Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, an incredible 18GB of RAM, a 165W 6.78-inch AMOLED primary display, and a 2-inch OLED secondary panel on the rear. There’s a few more noteworthy features that we haven’t touched on, as well as the ever-so-slightly-lesser ROG Phone 6 which deserves it’s own place in the limelight.
Both models sport are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, with the ROG Phone 6 packing in up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and the 6 Pro squeezing in up to 18GB. A gaming smartphone wouldn’t make the grade without a custom cooling experience, and the ROG Phone 6 series sports both a large vapor chamber and the option of the AeroActive Cooler 6 fan accessory which provides the CPU with 360° cooling to keep things running smoothly and offers alternate gaming controls.
There are storage options of 256/512GB, and both units sport the same 6.78-inch AMOLED display that boasts FHD+ resolution, a 165hz adaptive refresh rate, HDR10+ support, and 720Hz touch sampling. The display is also where the fingerprint sensor is located, this is supplemented with facial unlock.
The camera setup is the same for both units, with a 50MP (IMX766) main sensor, a 13MP ultra-wide lens, and a 5MP macro lens, along with a 12MP front-facing camera. A huge 6,000mAh battery provides the juice, and there is support for 65W wired charging using the Quick Charge 5.0 and PD 3.0 standards. NFC, Bluetooth 5.2, WiFi 6E, and dual 5G SIMs are also supported.
On the gaming front, you’ll find the ultrasonic AirTrigger 6 sensors which now support gestures such as Dual Action, Press, Lift, and Gyroscopic Aiming to enhance the gaming experience. There’s RGB lighting on the rear panels to let people know that these are gaming smartphones, and the increasingly rare 3.5mm audio jack is also present. Speaking of the rear panel, this is another area where the two phones are different, with the 6 Pro sporting a 2-inch OLED secondary display which will show notifications, charging status, calls, and you can create custom animations for it.
The ROG Phone 6 and 6 Pro are the first in the series to sport ingress protection with an IPX4 rating which will protect from ‘water splashing from all angles’.
The phones run Android 12 out of the box, weigh in at 239g, and are both available in white although the ROG Phone 6 can also be had in black. The series will launch first in Europe and the UK with pricing as follows:
- ROG Phone 6: From €999/£899
- ROG Phone 6 Pro: €1,299/£1,099
Asus says that the ROG Phone 6 series will come to the US at a later date although no specifics were announced.
