ASUS Just Launched the Most Overkill Gaming Phone

Let’s be honest, mid-range gaming phones are more than powerful enough for most mobile titles. But gamers love to have it all, and that’s why ASUS is launching the $1,100 ROG Phone 5s and $1,300 ROG Phone 5s Pro. These puppies are totally overkill, and that’s the whole point.

Both the ASUS ROG Phone 5s and 5s Pro feature a 6.78-inch AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, and 300Hz touch sampling rate for super responsive input. They use ASUS’ fantastic AirTrigger 5 control system for shoulder and back buttons, and feature a full-color back panel display that you can customize to show animations or logos.

The two phones use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888+ processor, which is one of the fastest (and most power hungry) Android chips. Still, early reviewers find that the handsets have a solid battery life, and the 65-watt charging support should make up for some of your more intense gaming sessions.

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Funny enough, the only difference between the ROG Phone 5s and 5s Pro (aside from their design) is their RAM. The cheaper ROG Phone 5s packs 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM while the Pro model gets 18GB of RAM. (In my experience, you won’t notice the difference between 16GB and 18GB of RAM on a phone. But at least ASUS is offering a crazy upgrade option.)

If you’re feeling a sense of déjà vu, that’s because these phones are nearly identical to the original ASUS ROG Phone 5, which launched back in May. ASUS only upgraded the processor (and the OLED back panel). While the original ROG Phone 5 used a Snapdragon 888, the new ROG Phone 5s and 5s Pro use a Snapdragon 888+ chip.

The newer Snapdragon 888+ offers better single-core performance than its predecessor, but all in all, the chips are extremely similar. Still, the ASUS ROG Phone 5s might be the overkill gaming phone some people are searching for. You can order it now at Amazon for $1,100.

Source: ASUS