A lot of companies have released gaming smartphones in the past few years, with an emphasis on features like high screen refresh rates, trigger buttons, and fancy cooling systems. But the Asus ROG Phone released in mid-2018 feels more like a piece of gaming hardware than most, thanks to all of those things plus support for optional accessories including game controllers, desktop docks, and even a case that adds a second screen to the phone.

Now Asus has announced that a ROG Phone 2 is on the way, and it could launch as soon as July.

1st-gen Asus ROG Phone

While the company hasn’t said anything about the new phone’s hardware, Asus has confirmed that it’s working with Tencent Games to offer customizations aimed at e-sports mobile games.

Tencent is the Chinese company behind popular titles including League of Legends and part-owner of Fortnite and PUBG.

And while Asus has been selling smartphones for years, the company is probably best known as a PC maker with products including the mazon.com/gp/goldbox/ref=nav_cs_gb line of premium ultraportable notebooks, the VivoBook line of mid-range laptops, and the ROG line of gaming-centric hardware.

The original Asus ROG Phone features a 6 inch, 2160 x 10890 pixel display with a 90Hz refresh rate, an overclocked Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB to 512GB of storage.

It has a list price of $899 and up, although sometimes you can find it for less than that.

via Phone Arena and NotebookCheck

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,547 other subscribers

5 replies on “Asus ROG Phone 2 gaming smartphone coming this year”

  1. ASUS will have to compete in price with other already released gamer phones, such as the Red Magic 3 and the Black Shark 2. A price beyond the $500 for the basic model would be a death knell, although considering the price of the ASUS Zenfone 6, I do think it can potentially be done.

  2. I was *this close* to getting the first one. I really wanted the suitcase bundle but they screwed up the launch in the USA by releasing the phone first without the bundle (I even contacted their sales rep and they said it wasn’t available in my region) and then they finally did release the bundle state-side during the busy thanksgiving holiday season with no pre-order option or announcement and the bundle was sold out before I even saw it as available.

    If ASUS wants to win me back as a customer they need to release the new phone with the same bundle as the original. I’m either getting the full package or I’m not going to buy it at all

  3. If they up the ante slightly by going with a QSD 855 SoC, 120Hz display, and adding the industry standard IP68…. whilst keeping everything the same (or better) then they will offer a compelling device by default.

    There’s so few phones that offer the front-firing stereo loudspeakers, and headphone jack, and microSD, and good specs, and waterproofing, and good software. This thing would basically be a Google Pixel 4XL killer (and Note10/OnePlus 7t).

    1. The original didn’t include a MicroSD slot, and honestly that was a big part of why I wound up getting a Note 9 instead. That, and the stylus comes in real handy when playing Infinity Engine games on a small screen. But yeah, the Android phone market is generally pretty disappointing at the moment, if I were after a new phone this year, the ROG2 would probably be near the top of my list again by default.

      1. Yeah, I agree.
        I was thinking of getting the Note9 but what stopped me was the already high price increased further, and me knowing that in a few months we were going to get much better SoC’s (7nm/Cortex A76). I also hate the fact that Samsung flagships have become very slippery and fragile and expensive to fix, thanks to that curved display and rear glass. Not to mention all the stupidity you have to go through for Custom Roms.

        With that said, I almost got the ASUS RoG Phone as well. And what killed it for me was that it lacked the Water Resistance Certification, and the microSD lack (I forgot it, now I remember that it couldn’t hold my emulators). Even if I could overlook these big omissions, this phone was priced insanely, to the point where no-one actually bought it, and to make matters worse its availability and warranty options were practically non-existent.

        So I ended up keeping my current phone, LG G6, which I got 2.5 years ago for very very cheap. I’m eagerly waiting for something better, but I want it for long-term use, which means decent durability, quality, features, and access to Custom Roms. I don’t want a weak and unsupported phone like the Oppo FindX, which also has bad speakers and cameras. I want something like the legendary Axon7 which was built like a tank and has heaps of support, not to mention those speakers.

        If the ASUS RoG Phone 2 wants to be successful, they need to:
        – keep the current hardware (speakers, ports, etc)
        – price it right (USD $799 or lower)
        – have proper availability (see Zenfone 6)
        – include the microSD slot (dualSIM also desirable)
        – add IP68 Water Resistance (its a minimum requirement for high-end phones)
        – include inside the box two JoyCons like the Nintendo Switch (see BlackShark 2)
        – provide the kernel source and allow bootloader unlock, use Stock-ishOS (see Zenfone 6)
        – fix the fingerprint reader (either a proper working rear, or an Ultrasonic front)
        – use a much better front and rear camera (see Nubia RedMagic 3)
        – upgrade the screen 120Hz, and maybe also add HDR10+ support (the +1080p resolution is fine)
        – upgrade the SoC (QSD 855, UFS3.0, etc etc)

Comments are closed.