Asus might not be on par with the sales numbers of companies like Samsung or Apple, but its ROG series of gaming phones have won over fans with over-the-top hardware specs and an equally crazy design. The company has carried over the ROG brand to mobiles after making gaming hardware for years in the PC space. Despite its outrageous price, 2021's ROG Phone 5 impressed us with its performance, dual front speakers, and a massive 6,000mAh battery. After a few teasers, the Taiwanese company has announced the ROG Phone 6 and 6 Pro to satiate the hunger of hardcore gamers out there.

The ROG Phone 6 carries forward the same design legacy as last year's model. The most notable improvement is the IPX4 rating, making the device splash-resistant. That's not a big deal considering all major Android flagships are now IP68 certified, but it is the first gaming phone to carry an IP rating. The ultrasonic AirTrigger buttons have also been upgraded to support different gestures for a better gaming experience. And of course, since it is a gaming phone, you'll find RGB lighting on the back.

Meanwhile, the ROG Phone 6 Pro adds a small 2-inch OLED secondary screen at the rear. It will show the charging status, incoming call notifications, and other animations when you enable X Mode or are playing a game. You can even create custom animations for further personalization.

At the front, the ROG Phone 6 houses a 6.78-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a blazing fast 165Hz refresh rate, 720Hz touch-sampling rate, and 1200nits of peak brightness. It is protected with Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus. For audio, Asus claims to use a 5-magnet front-facing stereo speaker setup. There's also a 3.5mm audio jack that supports Hi-Res audio playback.

Ticking inside Asus' latest gaming phone is Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip that claims to deliver 15% better CPU performance and 20% better efficiency than last year's flagship chip. The SoC is paired with 12 or 16GB RAM and 256 or 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The Pro model has a staggering 18GB of RAM in an exclusive Storm White color.

There is a new thermal system to take care of all the heat generated while gaming. Asus claims to use 330mg of Boron Nitride as a thermal compound and a large vapor chamber for better heat dissipation. The external AeroActive Cooler 6 has been redesigned with a 360-degree CPU cooling system for improved efficiency. The cooling accessory now has four physical buttons—up from the two keys found on the previous model.​​​​​​​

ASUS ROG Phone 6 Pro-3
Source: Asus

Camera performance has always been the Achilles heel of ROG Phones. Asus attempts to fix that by using a 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor for the primary shooter. There's a 13MP ultrawide and a 5MP macro camera as well. For selfies, a 12MP shooter does duty at the front. Asus says the phone can record 8K videos at 24fps and 4K at 60fps with HDR10+ support. You get dual-SIM 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and NFC for connectivity.

The battery size remains unchanged at 6,000mAh. Charging speed is also the same at 65W, which takes a claimed 42 minutes to top up the cell to 100%. The 239gms heavy phone runs on Android 12 out of the box with ROG UI on top. In Europe, the ROG Phone 6 will retail for €999, with the Pro model costing €1,299. In India, pricing for the phone will start from Rs 71,999.