ASUS today revealed the ROG Phone 5 lineup, which consists of three different phones: the standard ROG Phone 5, the ROG Phone 5 Pro, and the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate. With the standard ROG Phone 5 starting at around $1,000, there’s no denying that the phones in this line are going to be firmly on the higher end in terms of price. Then again, they also seem to be on the higher end in terms of specifications, but phones like the ROG Phone 5 Pro and Ultimate specifically make us wonder how much is too much.
Here’s what you’re getting regardless of which ROG Phone 5 variant you pick up: all three phones use a Snapdragon 888 CPU and have a 6.78 inch display that supports a max resolution of 2448 x 1080 and boasts a 144Hz refresh rate. The rear-facing camera array is comprised of a 64-megapixel main shooter, a 13-megapixel ultrawide lens, and a 5-megapixel macro lens, while the camera around the front clocks in at 24-megapixels. Each phone also comes with a 6,000mAh battery and will ship with Android 11.
So, where do these phones differ? The base model standard ROG Phone 5 is equipped with 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and while that might seem like a good amount for a phone, it’s nothing compared to the ROG Phone 5 Pro’s 16GB or the Ultimate’s whopping 18GB of RAM (though it’s worth noting that the standard ROG Phone 5 can be customized to have 12GB or 16GB of RAM as well). Storage in the base model tops out at 256GB, but goes up to 512GB in both the Pro and the Ultimate.
18GB of RAM certainly seems like more than pretty much every user needs here in 2021, but we suppose there’s nothing wrong with a little future-proofing. Another rather large difference between these phones is a new feature called ROG Vision, which puts an OLED display on the back of the phone that lets you show off whatever you want. Essentially, ROG Vision – which is only available in the Ultimate and Pro models – allows for an extra touch of personalization in a similar vein as the AniMe Matrix on the 2020 and 2021 ROG Zephyrus G14.
So, if those specs have you impressed, you’ll be able to pick up the standard ROG Phone 5 later this month for €799 ($952). The ROG Phone 5 Pro, meanwhile, will be out in April for €1,199 ($1,428), and the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate will be landing in May for €1,299 ($1,547), so these indeed are some expensive phones.
