Asus ROG Phone 5, 5 Pro and 5 Ultimate launched in India: World’s first with 18GB RAM

Asus ROG Phone 5 is also the first smartphone in India with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor.

Asus ROG Phone 5. (Asus)

Putting an end to all the hype around its next-gen gaming smartphone, Asus today launched its much-anticipated ROG Phone 5 series in India and other select countries. The smartphone was announced a few days ago but the company has dropped all the details on its variants, specifications and features today. This comes as a successor to last year' ROG Phone 3. Besides sporting better specs under the hood, you also get some subtle changes in the looks and a new colour variants (for the first time in the entire series) as well.

The Taiwanese tech firm has announced ROG Phone 5, ROG Phone 5 Pro and ROG Phone 5 Ultimate, all of which will be coming to India. These slightly differ in specs and some extra features. Here are the details.

Asus ROG Phone 5, 5 Pro and 5 Ultimate price and availability:

While the ROG Phone 5 is priced at ₹49,999 for  8GB + 128GB and ₹57,999 for 12GB + 256GB model, the 5 Pro comes in just variant (16GB + 512GB) at ₹69,999. The  ROG Phone 5 Ultimate is priced at ₹79,999 for the 18GB + 256GB variant. Sale begins from 15th April, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. on Flipkart.

Asus ROG Phone 5

ROG Phone 5 comes in Phantom Black and Storm White colour variants and has AnimeMatrix tech at the back. This is the same tech that we have seen in the company's ROG line of gaming laptops. It is made of small LED lights and animates the Asus logo in different patterns based on what functions are being carried on the phone. You can customise it with different colours and switch light patterns as well.

The smartphone comes in two variants 8GB+128GB and 12GB+256GB variants and is the most affordable in the trio. You get a 6.7-inch Samsung AMOLED screen with 144Hz refresh rate, 1ms response rate, Gorilla Glass Victus protection and 300Hz touch sampling rate. Also supported are the ‘Always On' feature and HDR10+. The aspect ratio has also been stretched to 20.5:5.

Powering the ROG Phone 5 is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor with Adreno 660, LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. In addition, you get a 3D Vapor Chamber to keep the temperature down.

On the camera front, the ROG Phone 5 features a Sony IMX 686 64-megapixel primary sensor at the back with f/1.8 aperture and 1.6um pixel size + 13-megapixel ultra wide sensor + Macro sensor. The handset also has the capability to shoot 8K video. At the front, you get a 24-megapixel camera.

Asus ROG Phone 5. (HT Tech)

Asus ROG Phone 5. (HT Tech)

This time, the ROG Phone 5 has a split battery design with each having 3000mAh capacity. This is said to help charge the device faster. In addition, the gaming smartphone now supports 65W fast charging. However, you will still get a 30W charger inside the box. On the software side, you get features like slow charging for long lasting battery performance besides bypass charging tech, schedule charging, setting charging limit and other features from the previous version.

Asus ROG Phone 5 Pro

The ROG Phone 5 Pro carries most of the specifications as the ROG Phone 5, except that it comes only in 16GB+512GB RAM and storage options. What also sets it apart from ROG Phone 5 is that it comes with a small OLED screen at the back in addition to AnimeMatrix tech. The screen is customisable as well and can show notifications.

Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate

This is the most powerful one that comes in signature Storm White colour and is a limited edition. You get a Monochrome display at the back instead of OLED like what is seen in ‘Pro', in addition to AnimeMatrix. It is also the first in the world to come with 18GB LPDDR5 RAM (512GB storage) and has an exclusive packaging as well.

Asus ROG Phone 5, ROG Phone 5 Pro and ROG Phone 5 Ultimate: Other features

This time gamers get new modes besides the usual X-Mode. These are X-Mode+, Dynamic Mode, Ultra Durable Mode and Advanced Mode.

The Advanced mode has the most detailed settings that are aimed for professional gamers. There are customise settings for each game via Armoury Crate. The Dynamic mode is meant for casual gamers. It auto-tunes the phone as per the game. The Ultra Durable mode lowers the clock speed of CPU and GPU, restricts background activity, network activity and lowers touch input latency to extend the battery life.

Asus ROG Phone 5 with AeroActive Cooler 5. (HT Tech)

Asus ROG Phone 5 with AeroActive Cooler 5. (HT Tech)

ROG Phone 5 series also gets 7-magnet front stereo speakers with Dirac, AptX and Hi-Res support. In addition to the 3.5mm headphone jack, the handset aims to deliver better base performance. The AudioWizard has 4 new sound profiles along with customised EQs, while the crosstalk tech has improved with soundstage widening tech.

As for the accessories, the handset supports Kunai 3 gamepad controller, ROG Clip (with support for Stadia, Xbox controllers), AeroActive Cooler 5, new AeroCase Cover (coming in-box for Indian customers), Lightning Armour case, ROG Cetra II earphones and more.