Mark this date on your calendar friends! According to a post on the Chinese social networking site Weibo, ASUS is going to unveil the ROG Phone 2 on July 23, 2019. We also heard rumors of the ROG Phone II being fully unveiled in early August so it’s not entirely clear if the July 23rd event will be a full-on unveil event or not. Judging by the poster it certainly seems to be the official unveil and perhaps the August event will be more of a hands-on affair. Conflicting reports now suggest the July 23rd event will be more about new ASUS ROG motherboards with an appearance of the ROG Phone 2. Stay tuned as that early August date may be bigger than first thought.
There is certainly growing interest in the gaming phone market. The ROG Phone 2 is generating buzz from the tech community. Few details are known at this point, but the big change will be the 120Hz refresh rate in comparison to ROG Phone 1’s 90Hz refresh rate. Games will be needed to maximize this feature but that is where partnering with Tencent Games comes in. A few big game titles should be enough especially if those involve online shooters.
The ROG Phone 2 is going to feature the Snapdragon 855 but perhaps with a twist. ASUS has established a good relationship with Qualcomm who has in the past (ZenFone AR) provided ASUS with overclocked processors. Certainly if ASUS can gain bragging rights by having a faster 855 version, that’s going to help propel the ROG Phone II above their competition. We expect something special regarding the Snapdragon 855 and you can hold us to that prediction.
It’s unclear what ASUS plans on doing with ROG Phone 2 accessories. In some ways the first generation accessories fell short but in terms of innovation and selection, the accessory suite was brilliant. Will ASUS bring back the same accessories? Improve them with a second generation? Or will they just offer the same accessories with the ROG Phone 2 release? It’s anyone’s guess at this point. The amount of units still left in inventory may play into their decision on that. It would be nice to see some new accessories because with a few tweaks their potential can be realized.
What are you most excited about with the upcoming ROG Phone 2? Pre order information is not likely coming out of this July 23rd event. ASUS tends to be tight lipped regarding prices and release dates for markets until such time as the product is being released in those markets. This is sensible given that it’s a competitive space and the ROG Phone 2 is likely a couple months from pre orders in places like North America anyways. A lot can change in terms of pricing and production of units and saying nothing seems to be the strategy that ASUS employs.
