ASUS ROG Phone 8 rumors and what we hope to see

Update, September 26, 2023 (3:06 PM ET): We have up to date our ROG Phone 8 rumor hub with new data on the processor.

As Windows- and Linux-based gaming handhelds choose up steam, Android-based gaming telephones seem to be going the opposite approach, fading into obscurity and with more and more fewer choices to take into account. However, of all the businesses nonetheless making gaming telephones, none can evaluate to the mighty ASUS. The ROG Phone collection represents not solely the perfect gaming telephones you will get however among the greatest telephones you will get, basically. With the 2023 ROG Phone 7 collection behind us, what can we anticipate from the ASUS ROG Phone 8 collection in 2024?

Below, you’ll discover all of the credible rumors we’ve seen to date concerning the 2024 ROG Phones. At the tip, we’ve additionally included a wishlist of options — issues we hope to see however don’t have proof for but.

Will there be an ASUS ROG Phone 8?

ASUS has launched a brand new ROG Phone yearly because the first mannequin landed in 2018. As such, there’s each purpose to consider ASUS will proceed with the custom with a ROG Phone 8 collection.

Of course, the gaming telephone panorama has modified considerably since 2018, with most trendy flagships outfitted with recreation modes and highly effective chipsets. That’s with out even mentioning the glut of devoted handhelds just like the Steam Deck and ASUS’ personal ROG Ally which have joined the Nintendo Switch to fulfill players’ wants on the go.

Regardless, we see no purpose why ASUS would abandon the market but. The firm is the gaming telephone chief from the place we stand, so it has each purpose to preserve at it. In different phrases, till we hear in any other case, we absolutely anticipate the ASUS ROG Phone 8 collection to land in 2024.

• ASUS ROG Phone 3: July 22, 2020
• ASUS ROG Phone 5: March 10, 2021
• ASUS ROG Phone 6: July 5, 2022
• ASUS ROG Phone 7: April 13, 2023

The record above offers you an thought of how inconsistent ASUS is when it comes to launching a brand new ROG Phone. The common timeframe is fairly predictable — the tip of Q1 or someplace in Q2 — however there’s no approach to pin down a selected month as being “ROG Phone month.” As such, it’s presently anybody’s guess when ASUS may launch the ROG Phone 8 in 2024.

Also, notice that there’s no typo on that record: there was by no means an ASUS ROG Phone 4. Being a Chinese firm, ASUS left out the quantity 4 due to the widespread East Asian superstition of tetraphobia.

Regardless of when ASUS launches the ROG Phone 8, there might be a big delay earlier than US residents can purchase one. ASUS habitually declares merchandise one month and then makes them accessible in North America months after that. Case in level: the ROG Phone 7 launched on April 13 however didn’t hit the US till June 15, or roughly two months later.

It’s fairly early within the launch cycle to have too many dependable rumors for the ASUS ROG Phone 8 collection. However, we could make loads of assumptions primarily based on earlier launches.

Design

Barring some minor particulars, the design and general look of ROG Phones has stayed constant. The telephones are all the time large with uninterrupted shows (i.e., no notch or digital camera cutout). The ROG (Republic of Gamers) branding is everywhere in the again of the system, and a secondary adapter is out there for connecting peripherals, such because the AeroActive Cooler. We are sure the ROG Phone 8 may have all or at the very least most of those design components in 2024 for the usual, Pro, and Ultimate fashions.

Over the previous few years, on some fashions, ASUS has additionally included a tiny rear show that primarily exists for aesthetics, and a mechanized cooling port (pictured above) for superior temperature administration with the AeroActive fan hooked up. This pattern will possible proceed subsequent 12 months, too.

Specs and cameras

As far as specs go, it’s just about assured the telephone will include the 2024 top-of-the-line Qualcomm cellular processor, as of now speculated to be the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Every ROG Phone in the primary collection has had a recent Qualcomm chip, so there’s no purpose to suppose the ROG Phone 8 will stray from that path. We may additionally see a second mannequin with a MediaTek processor, although these sometimes don’t launch within the US.

The ROG Phone 8 Ultimate appeared on a Geekbench itemizing in September, revealing it has an octa-core processor that has a 1+5+2 CPU structure. This would appear to verify a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip. The itemizing additionally revealed that the mannequin quantity is ASUS_AI2401_A, it would at the very least include a 16GB RAM variant, and have Android 14 out of the field.

Elsewhere, ROG Phones all the time have a ridiculous quantity of RAM, with the entry-level 2023 telephone beginning with 12GB and going up to 16GB. Being that the telephones are primarily geared in direction of cellular players who recognize that a lot RAM, the ROG Phone 8 will in all probability have the identical selections. Granted, the OnePlus Ace 2 Pro is rumored to include 24GB of RAM — an trade first — so ASUS may want to up the ante in response. We’ll see how that pans out.

The cameras ASUS contains with ROG Phones are all the time good — however not nice. You can anticipate a higher-end main shooter, a mid-range ultrawide, and a low-end tertiary lens of some kind, reminiscent of a macro sensor. In our ASUS ROG Phone 7 Ultimate evaluation, we stated the included digital camera system can produce normal pictures that look “reasonably OK in good lighting.” In different phrases, you may anticipate a good-enough digital camera system on the ROG Phone 8, nevertheless it possible received’t be among the finest digital camera telephones you will get.

Notably, the ROG Phone 8 will in all probability have an included 3.5mm headphone jack. ASUS eliminated this function on the ROG Phone 3 collection however instantly introduced it again with the ROG Phone 5 and all subsequent fashions after extreme backlash from followers. It’s unlikely ASUS will make that mistake once more.

Other anticipated specs embody a 6,000mAh battery, at the very least 256GB of inside storage, a big show with a refresh charge of 144Hz or extra, and quick wired charging with a charger within the field. These are issues each latest ROG Phone has had, so we’re snug in pondering they’ll carry over to the 2024 launch.

Finally, it’s unlikely the ROG Phone 8 may have wi-fi charging or a microSD card slot. Neither function has ever landed with a ROG Phone earlier than.

• ASUS ROG Phone 3: $999 (beginning worth)
• ASUS ROG Phone 5: $999 (beginning worth)
• ASUS ROG Phone 6: $999 (beginning worth)
• ASUS ROG Phone 7: $999 (beginning worth)

The record above offers you a wonderful thought of what you’ll in all probability spend on an entry-tier ASUS ROG Phone 8. As lengthy as you solely want the fundamentals, you’ll in all probability spend $999 to get it.

Of course, ASUS all the time has higher-tier variations of its telephones. The most up-to-date ROG Phone 7 with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage began at $999, however the identical telephone with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage ran for $1,099. Meanwhile, the all-out ROG Phone 7 Ultimate with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage prices $1,399. In different phrases, it’s protected for you to anticipate to purchase a ROG Phone 8 for $999, however there’ll in all probability be some important upgrades accessible for those who spend a bit extra.

The processor is the largest differentiator between a ROG Phone of 1 12 months and the ROG Phone of the earlier 12 months. This spec is a very powerful when it comes to gaming. As common, we anticipate the flagship Qualcomm processor of 2024 to be superior to 2023’s. The query then turns into whether or not or not we anticipate a sufficiently big bounce in efficiency to necessitate ready for the ROG Phone 8.

By our estimates, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3’s rumored options is not going to considerably have an effect on gaming efficiency. We anticipate 64-bit-only help, a number of AI tweaks, and higher/quicker networking capabilities. Those are all good upgrades, however somebody primarily centered on gaming efficiency won’t see large shifts from 2023’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

As such, if you need a fantastic gaming telephone with no need to wait till 2024, you’ll possible do OK shopping for an ASUS ROG Phone 7 ($999 at Amazon) or ROG Phone 7 Ultimate ($1440 at Amazon). This can be particularly advisable if you will discover both one on sale.

Of course, that doesn’t imply you shouldn’t watch for the ROG Phone 8. It’s doable it may have new options, a brand new design, higher cameras, and so forth. But for those who would relatively not wait, the 2023 fashions are nonetheless terrific.

If, for no matter purpose, you need a gaming telephone not made by ASUS, your next-best guess can be the Nubia RedMagic 8S Pro ($649 at Red Magic). It will function loads of the identical specs because the ROG Phone 7 however at a barely cheaper worth. You received’t get practically the identical software program expertise, although, and availability will not be as sturdy.

Finally, don’t write off telephones not explicitly designed for gaming. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra ($1199.99 at Samsung), for instance, is a incredible telephone with many comparable specs to the ROG Phone 7. It can even have significantly better cameras, higher/extra prolonged software program help, and might be an all-around good telephone, not only a good gaming telephone.

We haven’t any qualms about calling the ASUS ROG Phone 7 the perfect gaming telephone you may presently get. However, it’s not at all excellent. Here are some options the ROG Phone 7 didn’t have that we hope we see on the ROG Phone 8 collection.

Wireless charging

Year after 12 months, ASUS releases a brand new ROG Phone; 12 months after 12 months, that telephone lacks wi-fi charging. We perceive that the assorted design components of a ROG Phone would make wi-fi charging help troublesome, such because the peripheral connector and the rear show panel. However, we posit that there are extra folks on the market who would like wi-fi charging over these options. Wireless charging is an ordinary function of any flagship telephone, and the truth that ROG Phones don’t have it has all the time been a head-scratcher.

Better cameras

One factor the ROG Phone collection has by no means been in a position to measure up on in comparison to different units in its worth vary is the digital camera. Granted, ASUS deserves a number of credit score for making the digital camera system fairly good for a gaming telephone. But if it needs extra folks to purchase the telephones 12 months after 12 months, it wants to cease solely interesting to hardcore players and as an alternative enchantment to each hardcore and informal players. Casual players need a wonderful general telephone that may additionally recreation. If ASUS needs to ship that, the telephone will want a greater digital camera than what the ROG Phone collection has historically provided.

More incentive to go Ultimate

The normal ROG Phone 7 prices $999. The Ultimate mannequin has barely extra RAM and doubles the storage, beginning at $1,399. What is that additional $400 going in direction of? As far as we can inform, not sufficient. There aren’t many compelling variations between the usual mannequin and the Ultimate, so we hope ASUS provides extra with the Ultimate in 2024. Some cool concepts could possibly be an extended software program replace dedication, higher cameras, a 1440p show, or perhaps a microSD card slot. Whatever it chooses, it’s bizarre that there’s an “Ultimate” model of a telephone that doesn’t in any respect really feel “Ultimate.”