Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro

The ROG Phone 8 Pro is the device to buy if you want the highest-powered gaming phone in the market. However, a revamped, streamlined design and improved cameras means it’ll appeal to anyone looking for a premium Android handset.

The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition has everything you need to take your mobile gaming to the next level.

Even for gamers, the price tag is going to be a hurdle, however. The ROG Phone 8 Pro starts at $1,199, and the version we tested with 24GB of RAM runs a whopping $1,499, although it does come with a cooling fan for that price. And if you really want to push the phone, you'll want that fan. It won't make the ROG Phone 8 Pro that much faster, but it'll keep the chassis at a comfortable temperature.

Asus is trying to redefine the gaming phone with the ROG Phone 8 Pro, improving some of the rough edges associated with this kind of device. As a result, the ROG Phone 8 Pro offers the same basic abilities as other premium phones, including a telephoto lens. While it still delivers power and a long-lasting battery, the ROG Phone 8 Pro now offers a more complete premium Android experience.

That said, existing ROG fans and others who are drawn toward gaming phones will find a lot of ways to customize how they play games with the Phone 8 Pro. And its lighter redesign that helps it act more like a standard phone will make it all the more usable.

The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro packs the best hardware, from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 running the device to its FHD OLED high framerate screen. It's a powerhouse of a smartphone that's capable of chewing through the most demanding mobile games, and it comes with a price to match, with the Pro models starting at $1200 and going all the way up to $1500 if you require 24GB RAM and 1TB storage.

ROG Phone 8 generation and the ROG Phone 8 and 8 Pro are the phones with the most mainstream appeal to come out of the ROG family as of yet. This is the most compact and pocketable ROG Phone ever, now with proper IP68 ingress protection. Yet, that has not come at the expense of the excellent display, which still has a 6.78-indi diagonal, excellent upgraded 2,500 nits max brightness, HDR capabilities and 165Hz refresh rate, now with LTPO tech for adaptive refresh rate adjustment.

ASUS is doing things differently with the ROG Phone 8 Pro. The phone has an all-new design aesthetic that's much more mainstream than its predecessors, but you still get a secondary screen at the back — only this time, it's a dot matrix panel. It is the fastest phone I've ever used, and high refresh rate gaming is an absolute delight thanks to all the thoughtful extras. The screen has gotten a considerable upgrade, and it sports thinner bezels.