Asus ROG Phone 3: Release date, specs and price

Mobile gaming has long since stopped being the domain of the enthusiast - the new reality is that millions of people around the world game on their phones every day, with some titles like Call of Duty: Mobile offering experiences that genuinely rival console play.

That means that phones specifically designed with gaming in mind are growing in popularity all the time, and Asus has been on the scene longer than most in this area. Its ROG Phone and ROG Phone 2 have offered serious gaming specs and superb displays, all aimed at making sure that your mobile sessions are unparalleled and the ROG Phone 3 has already been confirmed.

We've gathered all the information floating around out there right here, so that you can get a proper sense for what to expect. 

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Release date and price

• June/July announcement before September release?
• No pricing announced yet

Asus is remaining tight-lipped on the next ROG Phone, meaning that we don't have a firm idea of when it might be coming, but both of the last two models were revealed in the summer before going on sale a couple of months later.

Talking about the release, it's reported that Asus confirmed that the new phone would be launched in late Q2 or early Q3, suggesting June or July 2020.

On the price front, the previous phone's RRP was £829/$899 and key to these phones is staying competitive against competitors like the Black Shark 3 or Red Magic 3. 

Design

• 171 x 78 x 9.85mm, 240g
• Similar design to ROG Phone II

Asus has been unashamed so far with the ROG Phone and ROG Phone 2 in leaning into a very specific design aesthetic - it's obvious from a glance that these are gaming phones, with the light-up logo on the real and sharp angles and vents on the phone's back to help cool it during use.

It looks like Asus will stick with this sort of design for the ROG Phone 3, and thanks to images of the phone passed through China's certification body TENNA, we've now got images of the phone - and it doesn't look too different. There's still the angular cuts around the camera and the logo on the rear of the phone - although it looks a little more subtle than the previous edition.

There's also a gloss to the rear suggesting it might be glass. On the front there's still a forehead and chin and we actually like this - it means it's easier to grip when gaming without the risk of false touches. There's still a lot of weight to this phone, but we suspect most of that comes from the battery.

Display

• 6.59in AMOLED, 2340 x 1080 pixels

Getting into the actual specifications side of things, the ROG Phone 2 set the bar high when it comes to phone screens. It had a 6.59-inch 19.5:9 aspect ratio AMOLED display that was simply stunning to use, especially given its combination of a 120Hz refresh rate with 240Hz touch responsiveness.

The display for the ROG Phone 3 appears to be similar to the previous phone, so we're assuming that there's a 120Hz refresh rate again, but we're yet to see any confirmation of that in leaked specs. 

 

Hardware specs

• Snapdragon 865 chipset confirmed
• 8/12/16GB RAM
• Google Stadia pre-installed with free 3 months

Asus will go for the 2020 stalwart Snapdragon 865, and Qualcomm itself has named the ROG Phone 3 as using the chipset. However, benchmarks and the TENNA listing suggests that it is clocked at 3.091GHz, whereas the standard 865 is 2.84GHz so this could be another variant of the 865. It was believed that there wouldn't be an 865+ in 2020 (as there was of the 855 in 2019), but something here doesn't quite add up.

The TENNA listing says that there will be 8/12/16GB versions of this phone and that storage will come in at 128/256/512GB, so there's no shortage there.

The battery is said to be 5800mAh which is pretty big by any standards.

A Google Stadia team-up was announced back in February, which will see Google's streaming platform pre-installed on the ROG Phone 3. In fact, the phone will apparently come with three free months of the service bundled in for people to use. 

Cameras

• 64MP main camera, 13MP secondary camera

We've left the camera to last mainly because it's a simple fact that it's not the main focus of a phone like the ROG Phone 3. Nonetheless, though, there is some room for improvement over the ROG Phone 2 here. 

The main camera is confirmed by TENNA to be a 64-megapixel sensor. It's also listed that there's 13-megapixel camera, which we suspect will be an ultra-wide angle. There's a third camera on the rear but we don't know what that camera will be for. There's a front camera too, but current no word on what it offers.

Asus ROG Phone 3 rumours: What's happened so far?

Here are all the rumours surrounding the Asus ROG Phone 3 so far.

16 June 2020: ROG Phone passes through TENNA and Antutu

More details have been confirmed about the forthcoming ROG Phone 3 thanks to TENNA certification and an Antutu score.

4 June 2020: Unknown Asus phone passes through Geekbench with 12GB RAM

A mystery phone has passed through Geekbench with 12GB of RAM, leading to the suggestion that this could be another version of the ROG Phone 3.

21 May 2020: Asus ROG Phone 3 gets benchmarked and certified

The unreleased ROG Phone 3 has popped up a couple more times, getting certification at the Wi-Fi Alliance, as well as appearing in Geekbench.

14 May 2020: Asus hints at June or July launch for ROG Phone 3

Asus revealed that the ROG Phone 3 would was launching in late Q2 or early Q3 when talking about its Q1 results.

8 March 2020: ROG Phone 3 set for Q3 2020 launch

Reports from China indicate that the ROG Phone 3 will be released in Q3 of 2020, with that apparently representing a slight delay due to the COVID-19 epidemic. 

19 February 2020: ROG Phone 3 will come with Google Stadia

Asus has announced a major partnership with Google to promote its Google Stadia games streaming platform, and has confirmed that next-generation ROG Phones that it launches will come with the service pre-installed, along with three free months of play for customers.

25 February 2020: Qualcomm confirms Snapdragon 865 for the ROG Phone 3

Qualcomm published a list of the phones that it's supplying the Snapdragon 865 chipset for, including the Asus ROG Phone 3, despite the phone not having been announced by Asus yet. 

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