ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced the all-new ROG Phone 8 series is now available in Australia and New Zealand, marking the start of a revolutionary journey that will redefine mobile gaming excellence.

In the biggest redesign in its history, the ROG Phone 8 series has evolved from a thoroughbred gaming phone into a futuristic and game-changing premium device, with a slimmer, lighter body and thinner bezels that make it the perfect lifestyle phone for gamers.

Designed as a powerful all-round powerhouse, catering to gamers, streamers, content creators and more, it stands out with gaming-friendly features combined with the ultimate AI-powered performance, premium design and everyday practicality. This reimagined smartphone series goes beyond the ordinary, offering cutting-edge technology, innovative design, and a commitment to an exceptional user experience.

Beyond gaming

The ROG Phone 8 series has been completely reimagined, maintaining its impeccable gaming credentials while widening its appeal to anyone seeking an extraordinary everyday phone to help them accomplish extraordinary things. The eye-catching new design is up to 15% thinner than the previous generation, without sacrificing performance, and the emphasis on premium design and durability ensures that these devices are not just phones; they are statements of sophistication and power.

The ROG Phone 8 series challenges assumptions in mobile gaming, offering unbridled performance, innovation, and a design that blends aesthetics with functionality. Additionally, Snapdragon Sound™ technology delivers best-in-class audio features to create fully immersive gaming worlds. Whether dedicated gamers or tech enthusiasts, the ROG Phone 8 series beckons users to elevate their mobile gaming experience.

Unbridled performance

At the core of the ROG Phone 8 series is the formidable Snapdragon® 8 Gen 3 Mobile Platform, supported by 8533 Mbps LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage for unmatched performance. Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 brings 25% better GPU performance and a 25% improvement in power efficiency when compared to the previous generation. This mobile platform also packs the full suite of Snapdragon Elite Gaming™ features to unleash desktop-level performance, elevated graphics, and lightning-fast speeds on the ROG Phone 8.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is the first mobile platform to support and showcase optimised Unreal Engine 5 Lumen running on mobile. With hardware-accelerated ray-tracing, Snapdragon Elite Gaming provides players everywhere advanced lighting capabilities on mobile, allowing multi-source lighting, shadows, and reflections to interact with objects in complex environments for stunning in-game photorealism.

To allow marathon gaming sessions without overheating, the revolutionary Rapid-Cooling Conductor design — part of the advanced GameCool 8 thermal design — conducts heat directly from the centre of the device to the back cover. Additionally, the all-new AeroActive Cooler X clip-on cooler is now 29% smaller but offers 1.2X higher thermal efficiency, reducing the back cover temperature by as much as 36°C.

In addition to offering premium design and ultimate performance, the ROG Phone 8 series is the world’s first IP68-compliant gaming smartphone, built to resist dust and water ingress so that users can enjoy worry-free operation wherever they are.

Ultra-bright display

The ROG Phone 8 Pro series features a brand-new 6.78” flexible AMOLED (Samsung E6) panel that supports adaptive refresh rates using LTPO technology. The system can adjust the refresh rate automatically from 1-120 Hz depending on the current task to reduce power consumption. Users can also choose up to a 165 Hz refresh rate for smooth gaming, and the touch sampling rate goes up to an amazing 720 Hz for instant response.

Peak brightness is now boosted to 2500 nits, so users can game or watch movies even in sunlight with no problem at all. The superb visuals are tuned in collaboration with leading visual-processing company Pixelworks® for world-beating colour accuracy. It’s a display without compare.

Pro-level AI cameras

Gamers and creators can now explore endless photographic possibilities with the ROG Phone 8 series’ advanced tri-camera system. Additionally, OZO Audio technology gives users the choice of eliminating wind noise for crystal-clear outdoor recordings or capturing immersive, high-fidelity 3D Surround spatial audio.

The main camera uses the latest 50 MP Sony image sensor for crystal-clear images. Its 24 mm wide-angle lens is perfect for dynamic street snaps, while a 2X zoom mode transforms it into a versatile 50 mm prime lens, ideal for portrait and food photography. Photography and videography can reach new heights with the 6-Axis Hybrid Gimbal c 3.0, which ensures even smoother videos and shake-free photos on the move. The advanced stabilisation now supports both standard and portrait shooting modes, making it ideal for low-light photography. Video stability is assured with hardware anti-shake OIS and an upgraded EIS software algorithm that uses gyroscopic data to detect movement. This dynamic adjustment of the field of view ensures videos remain rock-steady.

For the first time, the ROG Phone 8 series includes a 3X telephoto lens that enables the capture of distant objects. The lens, equipped with built-in OIS, delivers crisp and sharp results, even in low-light conditions with Night Photography mode. ASUS HyperClarity technology, using unprocessed (RAW) files, preserves every detail in photos, providing clearer images even at up to 30X zoom. During video shooting, the telephoto camera employs adaptive EIS to produce stable results with up to a 10X zoom.

The 13 MP ultrawide camera has a free-form lens and cutting-edge algorithms to reduce lens distortion, resulting in stunning yet natural images. The ROG Phone 8 series delivers exceptional quality and clarity in every shot and recording.

Finally, the front 32 MP ultrawide selfie camera has a field of view (FoV) that’s been increased from 73° to 90° to make it perfect for group selfies. The lens has an RGBW sensor that ensures images are clean with less noise, even in low light.

AI-enhanced features

Four gaming-friendly AI features in the ROG Phone 8 series elevate the gaming experience to a new level. Gamers can effortlessly shift a game to the background with Background Mode or capture key moments with X Capture, making these devices indispensable to discerning gamers. The intuitive AI Grabber for text capture and X Sense further elevate the gaming experience, providing tips and assistance when needed. AI Grabber can now also grab text directly from games using Machine-Learning Recognition technology, and X Capture and X Sense 2.0 now support more new top games thanks to AI Pattern Recognition technology.
Other AI-powered features include Semantic Search using natural language in the Gallery, Launcher and Settings. AI Wallpaper can create amazing-looking wallpapers using Stable Diffusion technology, and AI noise-cancelling technology supports bidirectional noise cancellation for crystal-clear sound in voice calls, video calls, and in-game communications.

AniMe Vision

The new ROG Phone 8 series includes unique customisable elements, including the Aura RGB Lighting logo (ROG Phone 8) and Anime Vision Mini-LED display (ROG Phone 8 Pro / Pro Edition), that allow owners to express their individuality and creativity. AniMe Vision is a 341-element display that can display preset or user-created animations, and users can also unlock secret animations by touching their phone back-to-back with another ROG Phone 8 Pro / Pro Edition.

AVAILABILITY & PRICING

The ASUS ROG Phone 8 series will be available from March 8 2024 in New Zealand from PB Tech, and March 13 2024 in Australia from the ASUS e-Shop and JB Hi-Fi. Please contact your local ASUS representative for further information.

• ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition – AUD 2,499  / NZD 2,749 PB Tech
  • Available at ASUS e-Shop (AU), JB Hi-Fi (AU) & PB Tech (NZ)
• ROG Phone 8 Pro – AUD 1,999 / NZD 2,199 PB Tech
  • Available at ASUS e-Shop (AU), JB Hi-Fi (ANZ), PB Tech (NZ)
• ROG Phone 8 – AUD 1,799 / NZD 1,949
  • Available at ASUS e-Shop (AU), JB Hi-Fi (AU) , PB Tech (NZ)