Asus launches ROG Phone 5 series; 18GB of RAM on a phone anyone?
That’s right, (up to) 18GB on a phone. Considering a base MacBook Pro comes with just 8GB of RAM, that’s an awful lot of memory for a gaming phone.
But in a sector where bragging rights often usurps everything else, this is definitely going to put the ROG Phone 5 series at the top of the tree for kudos.
And along with things like Qualcomm’s top-spec Snapdragon 888 chipset, 5G, optional secondary cooling, a rear mounted OLED display that can be customised, and obligatory LED lighting effects, it ticks all the boxes for the avid mobile gamer.
There’s a 144Hz refresh rate AMOLED display (1080×2448 pixels) made by Samsung, with 300Hz touch sampling rate and ultra-low latency at just 1ms, all of which is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.
To keep the phones going, there’s a 6,000mAh battery with 65W fast charging. The phone even has two USB-C ports.
A gaming phone with awesome graphic potential wouldn’t be much good without great audio or control, but there’s no worry there as it comes with two amplified front-facing speakers powered by Dirac technologies, and an upgraded AirTrigger 5 control system with multiple ways to control the phone – including two hidden touch sensors on the rear.
Connectivity comes in the form of 5G, Wi-Fi 6E (including 6GHz support) and Bluetooth 5.2.
Pricing and Availability
The ROG Phone 5 Ultimate, with 18GB of RAM, is not destined for the UK at the current time, nor the ROG Phone 5 Pro with 512GB of storage, but the ROG Phone 5 will be released in two configurations when it goes on sale starting at the end of April:
- ROG Phone 5 – 12GB/256GB – end of April £799
- ROG Phone 5 – 16GB/256GB – end of May £899
Specifications
Supplied by Asus
| Processor | 2.84 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G Mobile Platform with 5 nm, 64-bit Octa-Core Processor |
| GPU | Qualcomm Adreno 660 |
| UI | Android 11 with new ROG UI |
| Display | 6.78″ 20.4:9 (2448 x 1080) 144 Hz / 1 ms Samsung AMOLED display 800 nits outdoor readable brightness 1,200 nits peak brightness Delta-E < 1 111.23% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage Corning Gorilla Glass Victus Supports Always-On HDR display HDR10 and HDR10+ certified Capacitive touchscreen with 10-point multitouch (supports glove touch) |
| Dimensions | 173 x 77 x 9.9 mm |
| Weight | 239 g |
| Battery | 6000 mAh typical capacity |
| Memory | ROG Phone 5 Ultimate: 18 GB LPDDR5 RAM ROG Phone 5 Pro and ROG Phone 5: Up to 16 GB LPDDR5 RAM |
| Storage | ROG Phone 5 Ultimate and Pro: 512 GB UFS 3.1 ROM ROG Phone 5: Up to 256 GB UFS 3.1 ROM |
| Sensors | In-display fingerprint sensor, face recognition, accelerometer, e-compass, gyroscope, proximity sensor, ambient-light sensor, ultrasonic sensors for AirTrigger 5 and grip press |
| Wireless Technology | Integrated WiFi 6E (802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax, 2×2 MIMO) Bluetooth® 5.2 (HFP + A2DP + AVRCP + HID + PAN + OPP), supports Qualcomm® aptX™ AdaptiveWiFi DirectNFC |
| GPS | GNSS support GPS (L1/L5), Glonass (L1), Galileo (E1/E5a), BeiDou(B1i/B1c/B2a), QZSS (L1/L5) and NavIC (L5) |
| I/O Ports | Side and bottom: USB-C |
| Front Camera | 24 MP |
| Rear Camera | 64 MP (Main camera Sony IMX686) + 13 MP (125° ultrawide-angle lens) + 5 MP (Macro) |
| Voice Wakeup | Yes |
| Speaker | Symmetrical dual front-facing speakers powered by Dirac technologies 7-magnet stereo speaker with Cirrus Logic amplifier for louder, deeper and less distorted sound effect |
| NFC | Supported |
| Color | ROG Phone 5 Ultimate: Storm White ROG Phone 5 Pro: Phantom Black ROG Phone 5: Phantom Black and Storm White |