ASUS released the ROG Phone last year at COMPUTEX 2018 with a Snapdragon 845, Vapor Chamber Cooling, 90Hz HDR OLED Display and tons of gaming accessories that made it stand out quite well from other gaming phones. The successor is about to come out, so here’s everything we know so far about the ROG Phone 2!
Price & Release Date
The ROG Phone 2 is rumoured to be released on July 23, 2019 at an event in China. The report comes from Digitimes, and reportedly the new ROG Phone 2 will be showcased to thousands of esports players at ChinaJoy 2019. When ASUS released the ROG Phone last year, it took some months before its availability in India but we should definitely be seeing it by Q4 2019.
The price is expected to be starting at CNY 4399 (₹44,000 INR, $640 USD, €570 EUR). Some reports also say that the ROG Phone 2 could have two different variants, but we don’t have any information about the specifications & price differences between the two models.
ASUS is reportedly partnering with Tencent Games, for bringing exclusive content & features to gamers. Tencent Games is the same company who published PUBG Mobile. The ROG Phone 2 will be competing against other gaming phones like the Razer Phone 2, Xiaomi Blackshark 2, and Nubia Red Magic 3.
The first phone to feature Snapdragon 855 Plus?
Many reports say that the ROG Phone 2 will be the first phone to come out with the Snapdragon 855 Plus Mobile Platform. This SoC is essentially an enhanced variant of the Snapdragon 855 with an performance improvement of around 15%. The Snapdragon 855+ has a 2.96GHz Clock Speed, compared to the Snapdragon 855 which has a Clock Speed of 2.84GHz. The Adreno 640 GPU is also clocked 15% faster. Here are the pre-release benchmarks by GSMArena.
If you’re surprised by other phones scoring higher, do note that this is firstly a pre-release benchmark which could be inaccurate. Also, gaming phones tend to have way better cooling solutions compared to other phones – so they maintain their higher performance levels more consistently during intense gaming.
6.59″ Display with a 120Hz Refresh Rate – IPS or OLED?
The ROG Phone 2 is expected to have a 6.59″ Display with a 120Hz Refresh Rate, but we’re not sure if the panel will be based on OLED or IPS. The first ROG Phone had an OLED Display with 90Hz Refresh Rate, and many journalists including myself agreed that it looked far better than Razer Phone’s 120Hz IGZO Display.
While the Razer Phone had a higher refresh rate, the ROG Phone featured much better colours, brightness levels, and great contrast levels because it was an OLED Panel. The trade-off seemed worth it.
The OnePlus 7 Pro also has a 90Hz OLED Panel, so if the ROG Phone 2 has a 120Hz Display it would beat it and match the Razer Phone 2’s 120Hz IGZO Display (which was highly improved from the first variant).
We’ll have to wait and see if ASUS still uses an OLED Panel in the next ROG Phone, but even if they don’t, IPS Tech has improved quite a lot and a 120Hz IPS Panel at this point could look really great as well.
5800 mAh Battery with 30W Quick Charging!
The ROG Phone 2 could come out with a huge 5800 mAh battery which is not something that we’ve ever seen before in any gaming phone, or even a flagship phone. There was a gaming accessory (seperately sold) for the ROG Phone that gave a boost to battery life, but this monstrous battery power on the phone itself would be quite amazing.
The source for this leak comes from a TENAA listing. If this leak is true, then ROG Phone 2 is shaping up to be a solid upgrade over its predecessor!
Gaming Accessories
The ROG Phone 2 could be coming with a ton of useful gaming accessories, which have so many features that would leave you speechless. These used the multiple Type-C ports that the ROG Phone had and significantly overhauled the gaming experience. Some of them were an Aero Active Cooler for better thermals, Twinview Dock for dual screens, Gamevice Joystick, and a ROG Desktop Dock. These could have the possibility of being usable with the next ROG Phone since they were sold separately at varying price points.
What do you think about the ASUS ROG Phone 2? Let us know in the comments down below.
