ASUS’s Republic of Gamers brand has launched its latest family of gaming smartphones. With the ROG Phone 8, Phone 8 Pro, and Phone 8 Pro Edition, ASUS wants to go beyond the gaming community and reach the broader consumer market.
The ASUS ROG Phone 8 design reminds me of a classic line from Star Wars… this is an elegant smartphone for a more civilised age. Where the ROG Phone 7 family leaned into a cyberpunk aesthetic of bold diagonal sweeps, garish animations on a rear LCD screen, and an extravagant camera island, the ROG Phone 8 is more subtle.
You still have a noticeable camera island, a single diagonal sweep, and a rear display, but everything is not as “loud” as previous editions. That’s by design. ASUS is looking to reposition the phone from being a pure gaming smartphone into something that can be sold to the broader consumer market. From the Asus press release:
“…the ROG Phone 8 series has evolved from a thoroughbred gaming phone into a futuristic and game-changing premium device, with a slimmer, lighter body and thinner bezels that make it the perfect lifestyle phone for gamers.”
I’m intrigued to see how this change of strategy has played out during 2024. As a gaming smartphone, the mission for the ASUS ROG Phones was clear, and the compromises that any smartphone has to make were all focused on one area. By looking for wider audiences, some of those compromises will impact the handset’s gaming prowess.
Yet the ROG Phone 8 is a gaming handset at its heart. You still have the AirTrigger shoulder buttons, you have the fast display, the high sample rate for touch events, and an intense focus on cooling—which includes a new version of the AeroColler attachable fan that is specifically designed for the ROG Phone 8 series of phones.
UK pricing for the Asus ROG Phone 8 family has been published; the ROG Phone 8 with 12 GB RAM / 256 GB storage is £949.99, the ROG Phone 8 Pro with 16 GB / 512 GB is £109..99. Additionally, the ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition with 24 GB / 1 TB (including the AeroActive Cooler X) is available direct from ASUS Online Store for £1299.99.
More details on the ASUS ROG Phone 8 family can be found here…
