Asus ROG Phone 7 and 7 Ultimate debut as new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered flagship gaming smartphones

Asus asserts that it has unleashed the “gaming phone[s] of your dreams” in its latest line of flagship Android smartphones. In reality, under their new colorways, the 7 and 7 Ultimate are nearly refreshed 6D Ultimates – albeit ones with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage, with the unusual option of expansion via NTFS.

The 7 series has indeed been presented as versions of their 2022 counterparts with subtle, yet potentially substantial, refinements. For example, the 5 devices might have the exact same 6.78-inch display – possibly because it still leads the industry as a blazing-fast FHD+/165Hz OLED panel, with a peak brightness further enhanced to 1,500 nits in this generation.

Similarly, while the 6 and 7 series have the same rear cameras (with the aging Sony IMX766 as a main sensor), the selfie camera has been upgraded to 32MP in the newer models (possibly for mobile streaming) and the OS is now based on Android 13 out of the box.

ROG Phone fans may be glad to hear that at least as much thought has been put into smartphone audio with the Hi-Res Audio-certified 7 series as its 6 forebears. The dual front-firing speakers are back, augmented with Dirac technology – as is the all-too-rare 3.5mm jack.

The 7 series' wireless performance has not been neglected either, with Snapdragon Sound and Qualcomm aptX adaptive/Lossless Audio on top of an upgrade to Bluetooth 5.3. Furthermore, Asus claims that the new top-end smartphones can get up to 77% more bass with the new AeroActive Cooler 7.

This latest ROG Phone “thermoelectric” accessory augments the new ROG Rapid-Cycle vapor chamber, boron nitride thermal compound for the 8 Gen 2 and 16,000mm² of internal graphite that forms the new GameCool 7 system. It is taken even further with the AeroActive Portal that is the only other thing that distinguishes the 7 Ultimate from the vanilla 7.

That also does mean that the new ROG Phone flagship starts at €1,399 (~US$1,546), albeit with a Cooler 7 free with every order, as opposed to €999 (~US$1,104) for the standalone 7. Prices and availability for other regions such as the US is forthcoming.

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