The ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro may be a gamers’ nirvana, but some very significant design changes send serious shots over the bow of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra as a premium flagship phone.
Before we get into the review, I declare that I am not a gamer, so I cannot wax lyrical about the Armory Crate, Aeroactive Cooler X (Pro only), Air Triggers, or the AniMe 341 mini-LEDs on the back cover. Look, it’s all cool stuff, but if you want a gamer’s review, go to Games Radar+ for your fix.
This review is about using it for a month as a daily drive. Its direct competitor is the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra – the ultimate Android smartphone (we will refer to that as the S24U). To ASUS’s credit, it is no longer a stretch to use this phone ‘normally’ and then push it to its limits in X Mode, which is something Sammy can’t do.
A few things to note, as all three models are essentially the same.
- ASUS ROG Phone 8 has 12/256GB for $1799.
- ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro has 16/512GB for $1999 and comes with an Aeroactive Cooler X.
- ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition 24GB/1TB for $2499 comes with Aeroactive Cooler X and has a very interesting case with some extra goodies.
Warning – do not buy grey market
The gaming community covets this phone, and direct imports and the grey market are filling much demand. ASUS reminds you that only it and JB Hi-Fi sell the Australian-certified version for Telco networks, Wi-Fi 7 bands, and an Australian warranty.
Australian Review: ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition, 24GB/1TB, dual SIM (Model 6145926 as tested)
| Brand | ASUS |
| Model | ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro |
| Model Number | Phantom Black 16/512GB model AI2401-5B066WW |
| RAM/Storage Base | ROG Phone 8 12/256 |
| Price base | $1799 |
| Price 2 | ROG Phone Pro 16/512GB $1999 |
| Price 3 | ROG 8 Phone Pro Edition 24GB/1TB $2499 comes with accessory pack, AeroActive cooler |
| Warranty months | 12-month ACL (we expect that ACL will protect from manufacturer’s defects for at least five years). |
| Tier | Flagship and Gaming premium – all models |
| Website | Product page Model comparison |
| From | ASUS online and JB Hi-Fi (online) |
| Made in | Not disclosed – either China or Taiwan |
| Company | Asustek Computer is a Taiwanese company that produces motherboards, graphics cards, optical drives, PDAs, computer monitors, notebook computers, servers, networking products, mobile phones, computer cases, computer components, and computer cooling systems. |
| More | CyberShack ASUS news and reviews CyberShack smartphone news and reviews |
| Test date | 1-30 May 2024 |
| Ambient temp | 10-20° |
| Release | January 2024, but later in Australia |
| Other models not for Australia (Don’t buy) | Only phones purchased from ASUS Online or JB Hi-Fi carry Australian certification for the phone, Wi-Fi bands, and Australian Warranty. Read Don’t buy a grey market smartphone. |
We use Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. We occasionally give a Pass(able) rating that is not as good as it should be and a Pass ‘+’ rating to show it is good but does not quite make it to Exceed. You can click on most images for an enlargement.
We are also tightening up on grading. From now on, Pass, for example, means meeting expectations for the price bracket. We consider a Pass mark to be 70+/100 with extra points added for class-leading and excellence.
First Impression – WOW – Pass+
It may be basic black, but the Pro Edition comes comes in a pretty special box with a cooler, cover and more.
It is a substantial phone, a fraction smaller and lighter than the S24U, with a 3.5mm jack and a fingerprint-resistant back.
Screen – Exceed – probably the best on a premium smartphone yet!
It is the best OLED screen I have seen to date. Why? It is a full 10-bit/1.07 billion-colour screen that puts the 8-bit/16.7 million-colour S24U to shame. For starters, it has an accurate photo preview, no haloing, and superb 2512-nit screen brightness. Ironically, it uses a Samsung E6 Flexible AMOLED panel. You can read more 8-bit versus 10-bit screen colours. What is the big deal?
While it will refresh at 165Hz for games, the LPTO AMOLED can automatically vary from 1 to 120Hz and save battery.
Our only caveat is that it does not decode Dolby Vision (nor does Samsung), which means it is displayed as HDR10, which is OK on a small screen.
Screen tests
| Size | 6.78″ |
| Type | LPTO AMOLED (Samsung E6 Flexible AMOLED) |
| Flat, Curve, 2D, 3D | Flat centre o-hole |
| Resolution | 2400 x 1080 |
| PPI | 388 |
| Ratio | 20:9 |
| Screen to Body % | 88.2% |
| Colours bits | 10-bit/1.07b Optimal Natural Cinematic – DCI-P3 Standard – sRGB Customised |
| Refresh Hz, adaptive. | Adaptive 1-120Hz or 60/120 and 165Hz fixed/locked. The screen also supports 90Hz. |
| Response 120Hz | 720Hz touch rate |
| Nits typical, test | Auto brightness full screen (810) |
| Nits max, test | 1600 Full Screen (1652) 2500 peak brightness HDR 5% screen (2512) |
| Contrast | Infinite |
| sRGB | 100+% |
| DCI-P3 | 99.4% |
| Rec.2020 or other | Can be calibrated |
| Delta E ( | 1.8 |
| HDR Level | HDR10/HDR10+/HLG – no Dolby Vision |
| SDR Upscale | No |
| Blue Light Control | |
| PWM if known | PWM 485Hz and uses DC dimming for lower brightness. It is not a significant issue for PWM-sensitive people. |
| Daylight readable | Yes |
| Always on Display | Yes |
| Edge display | Yes |
| Accessibility | Usual Android 14 features. |
| DRM | L1 1080p HDR (Netflix-only SDR) |
| Gaming | Armory Crate control panel |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus 2 |
| Comment | It is quite an amazing 10-bit/1.07 billion colour screen, with a real 2500nits peak brightness. It puts the S24U 8-bit/16.7m colour screen to shame. It is nice to see a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh and up to 165Hz for gamers. |
Processor – Exceed – the fastest and great thermal management.
This is the world’s fastest Android System on a Chip (Soc) and is the same as used in the S24U (not the S24 or S24 + Exynos SoC).
When tested, it consistently returned 15+% higher benchmarks than the S24U. To be fair to Samsung, we will retest its benchmarks soon to see if firmware updates since its release in January have made a difference.
Its thermal management is better than the S24U, with or without the AeroActive cooler.
It also has the all-important USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps side port that fully implements audio/video/charge/data and Alt DP 1.4. You can connect an external portable SSD and get gigabit speeds from a mountable drive. This is perfect for vloggers and videographers. S24U only allows OTG cut and paste at a few MBps.
Processor tests
| Brand, Model | Qualcomm SD8 Gen 3 |
| nm | 4nm made by TSMC (not Samsung) |
| Cores | 1×3.3GHz & 3×3.2GHz & 2×3.0GHz & 2×2.3GHz |
| Modem | X75 4×4 MIMO Sub-6Ghz |
| AI TOPS OR Multi-thread Integer Operations Per Second (INOPS) GINOPS = billion |
The CPU TOPS is undisclosed, but the AI engine has 29+ TOPS, and NPU has 15 for over 60. 21.19 GFLOPS (S24U 18.93) 26.17 GINOPS (S24U 23.89) |
| Geekbench 6 Single-core | Standard 1390 X-Mode 2312 – substantially exceeds the S24U. |
| Geekbench 6 multi-core | Standard 6773 X-Mode 7314 – Substantially exceeds S24U. |
| Like | Benchmarks |
| GPU | Adreno 750 (1GHz) |
| GPU Test | |
| Open CL | Standard 13612 X-Mode 14498 substantially exceeds the S24U. |
| Like | These figures are 15% or more than the same processor in the S24U. |
| Vulcan | Standard 13612 X-Mode 16627 – substantially exceeds S24U 15588 |
| RAM, type | 12/16/24GB LPDDR5X |
| Storage, free, type | 256/512GB or 1TB UFS 4.0 |
| micro-SD | No |
| CPDT internal seq. Read MBps sustained | 2430 Jazz maximum 1802 |
| CPDT internal seq. write MBps sustained | 956 Jazz Maximum 856 |
| CPDT microSD read, write MBps | N/A |
| CPDT external (mountable?) MBps | USB 2.0 bottom port 25/20 USB 3.2 Gen 2 side port 985/395 |
| Comment | The disk tests reflect ultra-fast UFS 4.0, and an external SSD can be mounted for gigabit-speed live storage. |
| Throttle test | |
| Max GIPS | 398935 |
| Average GIPS | 351062 |
| Minimum GIPS | 316754 |
| % Throttle | 19% |
| CPU Temp | 93° |
| Comment | These figures have X Mode off and no external cooler, which is ideal for daily use. They are excellent for this SoC, considering that S24U throttles up to 44%. |
Comms – Exceed – Amazing W-Fi 7 speeds
ASUS has fully implemented the Wi-Fi 7 speeds, and on our reference TP-Link Deco BE85 Wi-Fi 7 BE22000 tri-band mesh router, it achieves an incredible 5800Mbps full-duplex speed. S24U had not implemented this and achieved 2400Mbps.
| Wi-Fi Type, model | Wi-Fi 7 2.4/5/6Ghz 4K QAM, 320MHz |
| Test 2m -dBm, Rx/Tx Mbps | -38/5800/5800 |
| Test 5m | -46/5800/5800 |
| Test 10m | -58/3747/3459 |
| BT Type | 5.3 |
| GPS single, dual | GPS (L1+L5), BDS (B1I+B1c+B2a), GALILEO (E1+E5a), QZSS (L1+L5), NavIC (L5), GLONASS, accuracy 2 metres. |
| USB type | Bottom USB-C 2.0 480Mbps Side USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 10Mbps |
| ALT DP, DeX, Ready For | The side port supports Alt DP 1.4 audio/video/data/charge and a 10Gbps data transfer rate. |
| NFC | Yes |
| Ultra-wideband | No, although SoC supports it |
| Sensors | |
| Accelerometer | Yes combo |
| Gyro | Yes combo |
| e-Compass | Yes |
| Barometer | |
| Gravity | SoC |
| Pedometer | Virtual |
| Ambient light | Yes |
| Hall sensor | |
| Proximity | Yes |
| Other | Optical under-glass fingerprint sensor |
| Comment | Sensors not disclosed. Testing software reveals some, but not all. Wi-Fi speeds on 6GHz are spectacular – over twice as fast as the S24U. |
4/5G – Exceed – the best phone reception ever
This is a dual SIM phone—no eSIM. It has recorded the strongest signal strengths yet for the primary tower and picowatt speeds for all four nearby towers. It also has a 5G signal at usable strength, whereas the S24U does not. This is more about antenna design and implementing full 5G sub-6GHz standards.
This is a city, suburbs, regional and rural use phone without peer.
| SIM | Dual Sim DSDS (dual sim, dual standby). We think this is DSDA (dual sim, dual active), as the modem supports it. |
| Active | No eSIM nor DSDA is supported by Qualcomm SD8 Gen 3 SoC. |
| Ring tone single, dual | Single |
| VoLTE | Carrier dependent |
| Wi-Fi calling | Carrier dependent |
| 4G Bands | Not disclosed. We think it is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 32, 34, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 48, 66 |
| Comment | All Australian and most world bands |
| 5G sub-6Ghz | Not disclosed. We think it is 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 12, 18, 20, 25, 26, 28, 38, 40, 41, 48, 66, 77, 78, 79 SA/NSA/Sub6 |
| Comment | All sub-6Ghz and 5G low bands |
| mmWave | No |
| Test Boost Mobile, Telstra | |
| DL/UL, ms | 38.6/26.7/37ms – above average |
| Tower 1 -dBm, fW or pW | -77 to -89 and 1.3 to 20pW – best result to date with fantastic signal strength finding five towers (we only test to four). |
| Tower 2 | -70 to -84 and 4 to 12.3pW |
| Tower 3 | -83 to -86 2.5 to 5pW |
| Tower 4 | -84 to -92 and 1 to 2.5pW |
| Comment | This has a superb 4G LTE reception and is among the most powerful we have seen. It also gets 5G reception at -79 to -84 at 4 to 12.6pW on the two closest towers. This is excellent for city, suburbs, regional, and rural use. Reception strength considerably exceeds that of the S24U. |
Battery – Exceed and 65W charger inbox
This has a couple of unique features. First, it comes with a 65W charger inbox. More importantly, it uses a 5500mAh (2 x 2750mAh) dual battery for dual charging to cut charge times and reduce heat loads. It also uses MMT charging, which cares for the battery.
With a 1080p video loop lasting 24+ hours and a PC Mark Moden Office battery test lasting 24 hours and 20 minutes, it will easily last a full day of reasonably heavy use.
Battery tests
| mAh | 5500mAh split over 2 x 2750 batteries. MMT Middle, Middle, Tab charging. |
| Charger, type, supplied | 65W (2 x 32.5W channels) When using another charger, it tends to charge at 17V/2A/34W maximum. |
| PD, QC level | Standard PD 3.0 PPS Qualcomm QC 5.0 |
| Qi, wattage | Qi 1.3 15W |
| Reverse Qi or cable | up to 10W |
| Test (60Hz or adaptive screen) | Adaptive |
| Charge % 30mins | Claim 80% |
| Charge 0-100% | Claim 39 minutes – our test was closer to 60 minutes |
| Charge Qi, W Using Belkin Boost Charge 15W fast wireless charge |
Yes, not tested. Expect 4+ hours at 15W. |
| Charge 5V, 2A | over 8 hours |
| Video loop 50%, aeroplane | 24 hours and 20 minutes |
| PC Mark 3 battery | 20 hours and 25 minutes Accubattery 17 hours 38 minutes. |
| GFX Bench Manhattan battery | 225.5 minutes (3.75 hours) |
| GFX Bench T-Rex | 379.1 minutes (6.32 hours) 9261 frames |
| Drain 100-0% full load screen on. | Approximate time in standard mode: 4-5 hours. We could not test properly due to battery saver issues (even when off). Accubattery 4 hours 51 minutes. |
| mA full load | 800-1100 |
| mA Watt idle Screen on | 150-200 |
| Estimate loss at max refresh | It was tested in Adaptive and standard mode. We expect to lose up to 50% battery life in X Mode and 165Hz, but you would likely use this on power. |
| Estimate typical use | Typical users will get a full 24 hours. Gamers between 4-5 hours. |
| Comment | Some ASUS battery options affected our tests. Charging Mode, which uses Regular (system on and charge), Bypass (system on only) and Smart Bypass. It also has System Modes -X Moade for gaming, Dynamic for everyday performance and Ultra-durable for as long battery life as possible. It is hard to determine definitive battery life short of running each test three times and some with multiple settings. |
Sound hardware – Exceed, including a separate 6.8W amp for the phone.
As it does not decode Dolby Vision (downmix to HDR10), it is unnecessary to support Dolby Atmos. But it does support Dirac’s spatial sound, and the effects are good. From a hardware perspective, we applaud using a separate amplifier for the phone, which gives it one of the highest decibel ratings we have encountered. This means excellent hands-free.
Because it uses the SB8 Gen 3 SoC, it has 24-bit/48000Hz sound and most aptX codecs.
| Speakers | Stereo – top earpiece and bottom down-firing. |
| Tuning | Dirac Virtuo |
| AMP | Cirrus Logic CS35L45 (6.8W mono for phone) and Qualcomm Aqsitic (stereo for speakers and headphones). |
| Dolby Atmos decode | No, but Dirac Virtuo spatial for headphones |
| Hi-Res | 32-bit, 384kHz for headphones only |
| 3.5mm | Yes |
| BT Codecs | SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX Adaptive, aptX HD, LDAC 24-bit/48000Hz |
| Multipoint | Yes |
| Dolby Atmos (DA) | Dirac |
| EQ | Dirac Dynamic, Music, Cinema, Game and Custom. |
| Mics | Three mics with ASUS Noise Reduction |
| Test dB – all on EQ flat DA off | Outdoor mode disabled – it amps treble |
| Volume max | 95 |
| Media (music) | 95 |
| Ring | 95 |
| Alarm | 95 |
| Notifications | 92 |
| Earpiece | 65 |
| Hands-free | Good hands-free with noise cancellation. |
| BT headphones | Excellent left-right separation and DA makes quite a difference with DA content. |
Sound quality – Pass
Sound quality is the stereo speaker’s ability to play ‘listenable’ music and produce clear voice during hands-free calls. Unfortunately, music lacks depth and vitality—as do 99% of smartphones and their tiny, tinny speakers.
I guess most will use headphones or headsets, and it has both a 3.5mm cable and a Bluetooth 5.3 low-latency games mode.
| Deep Bass 20-40Hz | No |
| Middle Bass 40-100Hz | No – hint at 95Hz |
| High Bass 100-200Hz | Slow linear build to 500Hz |
| Low Mid 200-400Hz | Slow linear build to 500Hz |
| Mid 400-1000Hz | Flat |
| High-Mid 1-2kHz | Slight build |
| Low Treble 2-4kHz | Slight decline |
| Mid Treble 4-6kHz | Beginning steep decline to 20kHz |
| High Treble 6-10kHz | Steep decline to 20kHz |
| Dog Whistle 10-20kHz | Steep decline to 20kHz |
| Sound Signature type | This is an unusual signature because there is a hint of upper bass and a prolonged build to 1-4KHz for clear voice. The treble drops off a cliff, making music dull and uninteresting. Mid: (bass recessed, mid boosted, treble recessed) – for clear voice. The Dirac EQ is for headphones only. |
| Soundstage | 2D is about as wide as the phone with no apparent bias to one speaker. There is no DA decode, but spatial content gives a slightly wider soundstage but no 3D height. |
| Comment | CyberShack Music tests The sound quality is disappointing for a premium handset. Bass is hard to get on micro speakers, but you expect it to have at least some 50-100Hz, where all the musically important bass comes from. It is easy to get a decent mid-high treble that gives a feeling of air and directionality, but instead, we get over the cliff treble that gives music a harshness. Still using a cabled or BT headphone fixes that. |
Build – Exceed
This is one well-built phone. It is solid, 225g (lighter than the S24U) and will last the distance. The key difference here is the 65W charger inbox.
However, Samsung will likely have more service options, so you must consider that.
| Size (H X W x D) | 163.8×76.8×8.9 mm |
| Weight grams | 225 |
| Front glass | Gorilla Glass Victus |
| Rear material | Not specified – likely Gorilla Glass |
| Frame | Not specified – likely Aluminium |
| IP rating | IP68 1.5m for 30 minutes |
| Colours | Black |
| Pen, Stylus support | AniMe Vision can display animated information via its 341 mini-LEDs (such as incoming calls, battery status, time, new notifications, etc. Use Armory Crate. |
| In the box | |
| Charger | 65W Charger |
| USB cable | 3W USB-C to USB-C cable |
| Buds | No |
| Bumper cover | No |
| Comment | AeroCooler Cooler soft pouch |
OS – Pass
The only area in which it does not score top marks is Android 14. Why? It only gets two years of OS upgrades and four security patches. S24U smashes that with 7+7 and a two-year warranty as well.
The impact is that S24U will hold its resale value better for longer.
You can select a ROG or Android skin – the latter is what we use for testing.
| Android | 14 |
| Security patch date | 1 April 2024 |
| UI | ROG UI, but users can select standard Android. |
| OS upgrade policy | 2 years |
| Security patch policy | 4 years |
| Bloatware | Armory Crate ASUS Tools Google Apps |
| Other | Largely pure Android |
| Comment | The poor OS upgrade and security patch policy is not commensurate with other premium phones like the S24U (7+7) and Google Pixel 8 Pro (7+7). ASUS’s habit of not disclosing critical information on its website is annoying, if not unintentionally deceptive. |
| Security | |
| Fingerprint sensor location, type | Ultrasonic Under glass (9/10) |
| Face ID | 2D |
| Other | Android 14 security |
| Comment | Samsung Knox makes the S24U more secure. |
ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro – rear camera – Pass+
The key hardware difference is that the S24U has a better camera system with a periscope zoom. The key image difference is that they are both excellent for point-and-shoot use.
ASUS uses a Sony IMX890 sensor, and S24U uses a Samsung-made S5KHP2 200MP that bins to 12,5PM. The Sony has a slight edge in low-light photography (aided by the Qualcomm AI). I enjoyed using this sensor on the OPPO Find N3 Flip, and I cannot fault it.
Even more important is that the image preview is colour-accurate, whereas S24U is not.
Overall, it is a competent flagship camera—probably outclassed by S24U and its AI processing expertise.
Photo test
Video is excellent but OIS and EIS are only to 1080p@60fps. Stereo recording is possible.
| Rear Primary | Wide |
| MP | 50MP bins to 12.6MP (default) |
| Sensor | Sony IMX890 |
| Focus | PDAF |
| f-stop | 1.9 |
| um | 1 bins to 2 |
| FOV° (stated, actual) | 71.1 (H) x 85.6 (D) |
| Stabilisation | OIS – 6 axis gimbal and EIS video 4.2x crop factor |
| Zoom | 4-10X |
| Rear 2 | Ultra-Wide |
| MP | 13MP |
| Sensor | Omnivision OV13b |
| Focus | PDAF |
| f-stop | 2.2 |
| um | 1.12 |
| FOV (stated, actual) | 120 |
| Stabilisation | OIS |
| Zoom | 3X optical |
| Rear 3 | Telephoto |
| MP | 32MP bins to 8MP |
| Sensor | Omnivision OV32c |
| Focus | PDAF |
| f-stop | 2.2 |
| um | .7 bins to 1.4 |
| FOV (stated, actual) | Unknown |
| Stabilisation | OIS |
| Zoom | 3X Optical |
| Video max | 8K@24fps. HDR10+ for 4K@30fps OIS 1080p@60fps |
| Flash | Yes |
| Auto-HDR | Yes |
| QR code reader | Google Lens |
| Night mode | AI |
ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro front camera
It uses a 32MP binned to 8MP and a standard and wide-angle field-of-view for single and small group selfies. It does not change FOV as much as crop the larger image.
| MP | 32MP bins to 8MP |
| Sensor | Omnivision OV32C |
| Focus | Fixed |
| f-stop | 2.05 |
| um | .7 bins to 1.4 |
| FOV (stated, actual) | 90° (77.8 H to 90.5 D) |
| Stabilisation | No |
| Flash | Screen fill |
| Zoom | No |
| Video max | 1080p@30fps with EIS |
| Features | Uses 4x cropping for a single selfie |
| Comment | Natural colours and good in day or office light. |
Privacy – Pass
The 5064-word privacy policy and terms of use are benign as you do not need an ASUS account to use the phone. You are subject to Google’s policy – see Can you trust Google? Yes, but it depends on your definition.
In any case, it is a trusted Taiwanese company and data is stored in the region you purchased the phone in.
CyberShack’s view – ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro is the new king of the premium smartphone heap
First, I want to apologise to Samsung. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra – the ultimate Android smartphone was the only SD8 Gen 3 smartphone I could compare it with. This was not intended as a shootout.
There are many reasons to buy an S24U, the chief of which is its reputation and 2+7+7 warranty/OS/security patch policy, which it and the Google Pixel 8-series offer. The S24U will have a better resale value through its trade-in system and probably better service if needed.
The ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro is unlike the previous ROG phones, which were 100% focused on gaming and had an out-there design. This is refined and very well-designed, and in every area, it outperforms the S24U (on both standard and X-Mode). Geeks and power users will love this phone.
Some little things impressed me (S24U in brackets—we are yet to retest with the latest firmware).
- 10-bit/1.07b 165Hz AMOLED (8-bit/16.7m, 120Hz)
- Qualcomm SD8 Gen 3 19% throttle (Same 44% throttle and lower performance specs)
- Wi-Fi 7 reaching 5800Mbps (same reaching 2400Mbps)
- Ful implementation USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps and Alt DP 1.4 (Part implementation USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 5Gbps)
- Mountable external SSD at full USB-C 3.2 speeds (only cut and paste)
- Fastest 4 and 5G to date (won’t find 5G signal in the test area and 4G at lower signal strength)
- 5500mAh (dual 2750mAh) battery and 65W charger inbox (single cell 5000mAh and no charger – 45 watt capable)
- PC Mark gives 20 hours and 25 minutes battery life (17 hours 10 minutes)
- Separate phone amp produces significantly higher phone volumes (no)
- No pen/stylus (yes)
- Base 12/256GB $1799 (12/256 $2199 plus $69 charger)
- Pro 16/512GB $1999 (12/512GB $2399 – ditto)
- Pro Edition 24GB/1TB $2499 inc. accessories (12GB/1TB $2799 – ditto)
From a strict specification perspective, the ASUS ROG Phone 8 outperforms any other we have reviewed. Add Gaming chops; you can see why it is our top-rated Qualcomm SD8 Gen 3 smartphone.
Would I buy it?
I would buy it in a heartbeat, as it provides everything and more that I expect from a flagship smartphone.
Sadly, Samsung’s lack of competition in the flagship area has led to complacency and regurgitation of the old designs for too long. I am not saying the S24 is bad in any way – it is just outclassed in most ways by the ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro
ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro ratings – 88/100
Note that this is based on 70/100 as a pass mark. The S24U used 80/100 as a base, so it would rate at 75/100.
| Ratings | New rating system 7 is a pass mark. |
| Features | 90 |
| Latest processor, large battery, 65W charger inbox, Aero cooler inbox, 10-bit screen, ASUS gamers Armory Crate and much more. | |
| Value | 90 |
| It is $300-400 lower than the S24U but has more memory. | |
| Performance | 90 |
| It has the best and highest phone signal reception yet. Superb performance on standard and X-Modes—both significantly above the S24U. Far better thermal management, too. We now know that the S24U is intentionally throttled to keep temperatures in check—you are buying a V8 but getting a V6. |
|
| Ease of Use | 80 |
| 1+2+4 Warranty/OS/Security patch policy is way behind Samsung and Google and would be the one reason not to buy. | |
| Design | 90 |
| It is no longer a flashy gamer’s phone but a well-designed, well-made premium smartphone. | |
| Rating out of 10 | 88 |
| Final comment | Given the choice of the ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro or an S24U, I would select the ASUS. I can live with the 1+2+4 warranty/OS/update policy because this well-designed, well-thought-out premium smartphone offers far better performance and amenities than the competition. |
Pro
ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro
From $1799
Pros
- This is a superb 10-bit/1.07 million 165Hz AMOLED display. I have not seen better, and it is way ahead of the S24U.
- The battery life is excellent with a 65W charger inbox. It is way better than the S24U without a charger.
- Gamers will love the Armor Crate, Cooler and trigger sides.
- Excellent tri-camera, only lacking the S24U periscope telephoto. Excellent photo preview accuracy (S24U not).
- Much better value – more features for significantly less cost.
Cons
- It is not as refined as the S24U.
- It may not hold its second-hand value as well as S24U
- 1+2+4 WTY/OS/Security patch is sub-standard for this value device
- Samsung service will be easier to access
