Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro Reveals New Design, Rear LEDs and AI Features

Asus has given its ROG gaming phone line a redesign that keeps its focus on games while also improving general phone function. Announced Monday at CES 2024, the Asus ROG Phone 8 and Phone 8 Pro are powered by the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip. They pack a 6.78-inch display with a refresh rate as high as 165Hz and — in the Pro edition — specs as high as 24GB of memory and 1TB of storage. And in a first for Asus’ gaming phone line, the Phone 8 series includes wireless charging and IP68 resistance for water and dust.

The phones now adopt a punch-hole front-facing camera style, which eliminates the large top bezel that hid the front-facing camera in prior ROG phones. While this does mean games played at full screen will now have a small interruption of space around the punch-hole, Asus also gives you the option to slightly shrink the display area to avoid the front-facing camera. This differs from rival RedMagic’s strategy of including its selfie camera underneath the display for an uninterrupted full screen, but that approach often comes at the cost of image quality for photos.

Asus has also revamped its cameras, primarily a 50-megapixel main camera that’s supported by a stabilizer — Asus calls it the 6-Axis Hybrid Gimbal Stabilizer 3.0 — for smoothing out videos along with photos. That main camera is joined by a 13-megapixel ultrawide camera and a 32-megapixel telephoto lens with a 3x optical zoom. Around front, a 32-megapixel selfie camera is what’s now included within the display of the device.

The Phone 8 series retains its predecessor’s 65-watt wired charging and now includes a slightly smaller capacity 5,500mAh battery compared with the Phone 7’s 6,000mAh battery. New is the 15-watt wireless charging, but it doesn’t include the new Qi2 standard. Wi-Fi 7 support is included, the phone still includes two USB-C ports, and the headphone jack still lives on Asus’ gaming phone line.

The Asus ROG Phone 8 starts at $1,100 for a model that includes 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage, while the Pro model starts at $1,200 for 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage. The highest-end Pro model that includes 24GB of memory and 1TB of storage goes for $1,500, and throws in the AeroActive Cooler X. Otherwise the cooler attachment costs $100. The phones will release in the first quarter of 2024, and during an early bird period will be sold at a $100 discount.