Asus ROG Phone 6D: How is it different to the ROG Phone 6?

It is very hard to distinguish the ROG Phone 6D from the ROG Phone 6 only by looking at it. A glance at the specifications will confirm that aspects such as the camera, the screen, and the speakers have remained largely unchanged.

However, the two new Asus gaming phones do have some notable differences: 

The Asus ROG Phone 6D has a smaller working memory, is missing the secondary display on the back, and features a MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ SoC. It is also more affordable than its (almost) twin, selling for just under $1000. 

Then there's the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate, which includes the optional cooling system and also has more memory and storage. This currently makes it the most expensive model of the series at a price of approximately $1300 dollars.

So the Asus ROG Phone 6D expands Asus' gaming smartphone range on both sides of the spectrum. But are the new devices any good?

Our detailed review looks at both the ROG Phone 6D and 6D Ultimate together as there really aren't that many big differences between the two models. And we're really pleased with them!

Without the optional cooler, which is only included with the Ultimate model and which you would otherwise have to purchase for $100, however, both phones heat up noticeably and cannot continuously make use of the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+'s full potential.  

And there really is quite some potential: The SoC can easily keep up with the Snapdragon 8+ Gen.1 and sometimes even outperforms it in certain scenarios.

The display isn't as bright, the Wi-Fi is a few MBit/s slower and the MediaTek models do not support aptX codecs for listening to audio via Bluetooth.

Other than that, the ROG Phone 6D and 6D Ultimate are a very good addition to the Asus range.

If you still can't decide which gaming smartphone to buy, have a look at our detailed review of the ROG Phone 6D and 6D Ultimate for benchmark results and more in-depth analysis.