Mobile gaming has come a long way from mindless swipes on Temple Run. Now, phones are literal mini-consoles, liquid-cooled, and AI-powered.
Two rivals pushing the limits of gaming on a smartphone are Asus’s ROG Phone and Red Magic’s 11 Pro. But which one is the king? Our experts put the phones to the test in categories like design, battery life, and performance & gaming.
Design
The gaming phone is a niche breed of device that caters to mobile gamers who demand peak performance. Two names in the space — Asus’s Republic of Gamers lineup and Nubia’s Red Magic series — have both pushed the envelope for dedicated gaming phones. Unlike smartphones that cater to everyday tasks, gaming phones prioritize design and performance over anything else. They’re typically bulkier than other smartphones, and feature bright displays that can be used in well-lit environments without sacrificing gameplay visuals. They also often include features like a headphone jack and pressure-sensitive trigger buttons for in-game control.
Both the Asus ROG Phone and the Red Magic 9 Pro are designed to be as gaming-centric as possible, and they don’t disappoint in terms of build quality. Both offer a large 6.8-inch AMOLED display, with the ROG Phone edging out the Red Magic 9 Pro in peak brightness (2500 nits vs. 2100 nits). In terms of durability, the Asus phone offers superior protection with Gorilla Glass Victus 2, while the Red Magic 9 Pro has no official ingress protection rating.
In terms of aesthetics, the Asus ROG Phone is a bit more refined than its obnoxious sibling, with a more subtle design that blends into your surroundings a little better. It’s still a gamified phone at heart, however, with plenty of RGB lighting and game-themed decals.
If you’re serious about gaming, the Asus ROG Phone is the way to go. It blew away the competition in benchmarks, and hardly broke a sweat maxing out Wuthering Waves on our stress test. This high-end Snapdragon 8 Elite chip is an absolute powerhouse, but more quality phones will be packing the same chip soon, so its lead won’t last long.
The Asus phone also packs in a massive 5,800mAh battery, which is good enough for almost any gaming session. However, it’s worth noting that the company opted to place the USB-C port on one side instead of centered, which may compromise compatibility with third-party controller grips and car phone holders.
Performance
When it comes to serious gaming, you want a phone with the best hardware that can handle today’s most popular games. That’s why the Asus ROG Phone is a compelling choice. It’s loaded with the powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, has more RAM than most computers, and even has a customizable cooling attachment. It’s not cheap, but it can run most games well and should hold up for years.
The Asus ROG Phone has a few quirks, though. For one, the bottom edge of the phone is cluttered with a 3.5mm headphone port, a SIM card slot, a USB-C port, and a speaker. It’s a bit cramped and makes it less compatible with third-party accessories like controller grips and car phone holders. Asus also continues to leave the USB-C port off to one side of the phone instead of centered, which could block it when you’re playing in landscape mode.
Other than that, the Asus ROG Phone is pretty standard. It has a beautiful AMOLED display, which can hit up to 2500 nits in bright sunlight and supports fast 165Hz refresh rates for sharp visuals. It runs on Android with Asus’ gamer-oriented software tweaks, including the option to disable the system-wide X-Mode boost. In our tests, it cleaned house in 3DMark’s graphics benchmarks, topping the Pixel 9 Pro, OnePlus 12, iPhone 16 and 16 Plus Max, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, and RedMagic 9S Pro.
You can turn off X-Mode to see the phone perform closer to its normal peak, but that will diminish the battery life significantly. The Asus ROG Phone also has a few other unique features, such as a color-coded quick settings panel and a denser app icon layout than stock Android. It’s not a huge change, but it adds to the overall experience.
If you’re looking for a more affordable option, the Black Shark 5 Pro is an excellent alternative to the Asus ROG Phone. It has a similar processor, plenty of storage, and a gorgeous AMOLED display. It doesn’t have as many gimmicks, but it still has a few things that make it stand out, like physical pop-up trigger buttons for precise finger tapping.
Software
The Asus ROG Phone is the most powerful gaming smartphone on the market. Its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Mobile Platform and enhanced thermal design deliver outstanding performance for cutting-edge mobile games. Play with immersive quality on the 6.78-inch Super AMOLED with LTPO technology and up to 2500 nits peak brightness, and capture moments like a pro on the advanced 6-Axis Hybrid Gimbal Stabilizer camera with 3x telephoto zoom.
The phone is a joy to hold, and the metal finish has a premium feel. The back panel is adorned with a giant blue circle that reveals a hidden cooling system. This adds a bit of flair and is sure to impress gamers and non-gamers alike. The phone is also a breeze to use with its UI and a range of software features to improve your gaming experience.
This includes a gaming UI called Armoury Crate that serves as a hub for all your game profiles and settings, including graphical options like framerate limits and screen recording. This is a big improvement over the typical way such features are spread across several apps on other gaming phones. It also helps the phone avoid some of the software pitfalls that often plague even the best gaming smartphones. The phone is a little buggy at times, but it’s mostly a pleasure to use.
Asus also included a variety of software that makes the phone more attractive to gamers, such as Aura Sync and a Scenario Profile mode that adjusts system settings and battery consumption based on your gamer type. The company also added a feature that lets you browse and buy great new games at lower prices, while a game library gives you control over your growing collection.
Asus has managed to strike the perfect balance between high-end gaming and mainstream functionality. The Asus ROG Phone is an excellent choice for anyone who wants a mobile device that can handle the most demanding games and be used as a daily companion. However, if you’re looking for a pure gaming device, the RedMagic is an alternative that offers excellent value.
Battery Life
When it comes to gaming phones, the Asus ROG Phone is a hard act to beat. It offers the best overall performance and a few unique features to set it apart from competitors like the Nubia Redmagic 9 Pro.
For starters, the ROG Phone boasts a large 6.8-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with peak brightness of up to 2500 nits for vibrant visuals that are readable even in bright sunlight. It also has a fast 165Hz adaptive refresh rate for smoother gameplay visuals than other phones with similar specs. The only downside is the selfie camera’s punch-hole cutout, which can be distracting for some gamers when playing.
Another key feature of the Asus ROG Phone is its patented AeroCharge fast-charging technology, which uses a secondary internal battery to pump up the overall charge. This boosts the maximum charging wattage to 100W, which is enough to get the phone from zero to full in about 2.5 hours. This is a significant improvement over the 25W of the OnePlus 12R’s fast-charge tech and the 50W of the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s.
The Asus ROG Phone also has a few other gaming-oriented extras like a dedicated button that opens the Game Space app and capacitive touch shoulder buttons for games like FPS titles. It has a headphone jack on the top edge that could spell an ergonomic disaster in landscape mode, but it’s smartly placed to be easily accessible when you’re using wired headphones. There’s also a second USB-C port on the edge below it, which is useful for connecting accessories like controllers or headsets.
The Asus ROG Phone is an incredible choice for mobile gamers who want the latest processor, a massive two-day battery life and clever gaming assist features. It also looks great and is a surprisingly good value at its current price point. However, there are many other excellent options to consider, including the upcoming Nubia Redmagic 10 Pro and the Galaxy S24 Ultra, so you should weigh your priorities before making a purchase decision.
