Introduction and specs
The end of 2021 is drawing near and by tradition, manufacturers release updated versions of their flagship devices with the latest available Qualcomm top-tier chipset, which happens to be the Snapdragon 888+ this time around. This is actually the first time Asus refreshing its ROG Phone lineup and we have the ROG Phone 5s Pro in the office for a quick spin.
However, as we mentioned, the ROG Phone 5s Pro is merely a refresh of the original 5 Pro released earlier this year and as such, it swaps the Snapdragon 888 for the plus variant and adds two more gigabytes to the memory configuration going up to 18GB now. There's also a small upgrade in the display department and it should feel even more responsive with an industry-leading 360Hz touch sampling rate.
Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro specs at a glance:
- Body: 172.8x77.3x9.9mm, 238g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass Victus), glass back (Gorilla Glass 3), aluminum frame; Pressure sensitive zones (Gaming triggers), Touch sensor; ROG Vision monochrome PMOLED display (on the back).
- Display: 6.78" AMOLED, 1B colors, 144Hz,, 360Hz touch sampling rate, HDR10+, 800 nits (typ), 1200 nits (peak), 1080x2448px resolution, 20.4:9 aspect ratio, 395ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888+ 5G (5 nm): Octa-core (1x2.99 GHz Kryo 680 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 680 & 4x1.80 GHz Kryo 680); Adreno 660.
- Memory: 512GB 18GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
- OS/Software: Android 11, ROG UI.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 64 MP, f/1.8, 26mm, 1/1.73", 0.8µm, PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 13 MP, f/2.4, 11mm, 125˚; Macro: 5 MP, f/2.0.
- Front camera: 24 MP, f/2.5, 27mm (wide), 0.9µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 8K@30fps, 4K@30/60/120fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps, 720p@480fps; gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 6000mAh; Fast charging 65W, 70% in 30 min, 100% in 52 min (advertised), Reverse charging 10W, Power Delivery 3.0, Quick Charge 5.
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); NFC; 3.5mm jack.
Compared to the new ROG Phone 5s, the 5s Pro has a couple of key differences. The vanilla 5s comes in several storage variants but it doesn't go all the way to 512GB. There's no touch sensor on the back, it skips the secondary display and you can find it only in the so-called Storm White color.
Even though the upgrade isn't big, the ROG Phone 5s and 5s Pro remain competitive with some standout features such as the 144Hz display, precise software tuning of the powerful hardware, handy air triggers, huge 6,000 mAh battery supporting 65W fast charging and one of the best audios we've heard on a phone.
Unboxing the Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
The device came in a generous and cool-looking box containing not just the charger and cable but also a protective case and the ROG Phone's latest cooling fan - the Aeroactive Cooler 5.
Asus also sent us the Lighting Armor Case that came out with the ROG Phone 5. Some of the older accessories such as the Kunai Gamepad II, ROG Clip, Professional Dock and Kunai 3 Gamepad are compatible with the new phone. Although, the Gamepad II gets only partial support. You can refer to our original ROG Phone 5 review.
Design and controls
The chassis design isn't any different from the already reviewed ROG Phone 5, but the 5s Pro does seem to attract a bit more attention than the vanilla version, mostly because of its secondary PMOLED display. It looks cool, it's customizable, while remaining easy on the eyes.
Aside from the themes and animations that you can set on the secondary display, it can also be used for notifications and incoming calls if you are the type to bravely keep your phone face-down on your desk. Launching the X-mode triggers the display too, and it reacts to certain events during gameplay.
Unlike the vanilla versions, the Pro models skip the off-centered, light-up RGB ROG logo on the lower half of the phone. It seems like Asus is slowly transitioning into a more everyday style instead of going all-in with the "gamer" aesthetic. There are also no accent elements or opened vents for cooling, the whole glass back lies flush. Except maybe the sharply-angled camera island, which, by the way, isn't protruding as much as you'd expect.
Built-wise - no change. We've got a Gorilla Glass 3 sheet protecting the back and Victus on the front - held together by an aluminum frame with an anodized finish. Since the phone is designed for landscape mode, there's a secondary USB-C connector, so the cable doesn't get in the way when playing while charging. The pins for the additional accessories are found right next to the secondary port.
Interestingly, the main USB-C connector is off-centered, and there's a 3.5mm audio jack keeping it company. Both the volume rocker and the power button are clicky and easy to reach. The air triggers sit subtly under the frame, and only small patterns engraved into the frame give them away. No actual buttons, indentations or touch surfaces. Pretty simplistic.
The front of the device keeps relatively thick top and bottom bezels to prevent mistouch during gaming and a little more wiggle room for your palms. The stereo loudspeakers are positioned there too, so they blast directly towards you.
There's no way around it, though. The glass back is indeed a bit slippery, the side curvatures help with the grip to some extent, but it's a pretty hefty phone. It tips the scale at 238 grams and is 9.9mm thick. On a more positive note, the weight distribution is pretty good and the reason for that is the internal design.
On the plus side, the ROG Phone 5s Pro feels solid with no flex in the frame. We can definitely see why the phone feels hefty. Not to mention you are getting a 6.78-inch, unobstructed display.
Internal design
All of the Asus ROG 5 series come with a new internal design having not only the phone in mind but the user too. The interesting bit here is that the PCB along with the chipset are positioned in the middle of the device. This helps with the weight distribution and keeps the heat mostly in the center, away from the user's hands. Additionally, the AeroActive Cooler 5 is more efficient as it sits directly onto the heat-emitting components.
And since the PCB is in the middle, it is flanked by two 3,000 mAh batteries. This way Asus retains the high capacity and utilizes the space more efficiently.
Hardware overview and performance
Once again, the main change with the hardware is the chipset. Now employing a more powerful Snapdragon 888+ SoC, the device can take advantage of more raw horsepower. The main Kryo 680 Prime core, (a derivative of ARM's Cortex X1) has been clocked to 3.0 GHz up from 2.8 GHz on the vanilla SD 888. The other clusters remain the same - 3x 2.42 GHz Kryo 680 Gold and 4x 1.8 GHz Kryo 680 Silver cores. There's also a slightly improved Hexagon 780 DSP on board. The same Adreno 660 GPU is responsible for graphically-intensive tasks.
In any case, we expect minimal performance gains from SD888+, and that's what we found in the benchmark tests.
GeekBench 4.4 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
14099 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
13935 - Asus ROG Phone 5
13917 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
13866 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
13770 - OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
13171
GeekBench 4.4 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
5227 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
5105 - Asus ROG Phone 5
5034 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
5004 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
4961 - OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
4237
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5
3710 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
3709 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
3667 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 6
3586 - Sony Xperia 5 III
3549 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
3521 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
3518 - OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
3374 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
3244
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
1175 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 6
1124 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
1121 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
1117 - Sony Xperia 5 III
1117 - Asus ROG Phone 5
1110 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
1109 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
1107 - OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
902
And yet, we only see some marginal improvement in the single-core performance over the vanilla Snapdragon 888, while it's even posting lower results in the multi-core scenarios.
We have theories that might explain this odd behavior, but since we only had the chance to run some benchmarks and this is the first phone with Snapdragon 888+ to step into the office, we will keep an open mind until we've had a chance to do more extensive testing.
AnTuTu 8
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
734067 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 6
708853 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
708531 - Asus ROG Phone 5
708216 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
657273 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
657150 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
630726 - OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
573276
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
72 - Asus ROG Phone 5
71 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
71 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
70 - Sony Xperia 5 III
69 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
66 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
64 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 6
63 - OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
51
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5
59 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
59 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
59 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
58 - Sony Xperia 5 III
53 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 6
50 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
33 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
33 - OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
24
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5
43 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
43 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
42 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
42 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 6
40 - Sony Xperia 5 III
29 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
25 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
23 - OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
17
GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5
40 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
40 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
40 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
39 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 6
37 - Sony Xperia 5 III
37 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
24 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
23 - OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
17
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5
32 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
32 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
31 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
31 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 6
30 - Sony Xperia 5 III
29 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
28 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
25
GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5
28 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
28 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
28 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
28 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 6
28 - Sony Xperia 5 III
27 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
26 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
25
And since the GPU remains unchanged, the combined and the GPU-only tests show no difference whatsoever. Just a couple of deviating results that are within the normal margin of error.
The main appeal of the Ultimate edition from this year's ROG Phone 5 lineup has been taken away by the new Pro model. Now, the 5s Pro sports 18GB of RAM instead of 16GB, while the storage is 512GB. No other memory configurations are available for the Pro. Either way, 18GB of RAM is definitely an overkill but can be considered as future-proofing by some.
Lastly, the display has been improved in terms of responsiveness, now achieving 24 ms touch latency thanks to its 360Hz touch sampling rate. Previously, it was 300Hz. Other notable features include 144Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, HDR10+ support and up to 800 nits maximum brightness, which we found to be accurate in our ROG Phone 5 review. With Max Auto, the panel can easily go beyond 800 nits. 1200 nits should also be achievable under the right circumstances, which is usually spot brightness during HDR video playback.
Lastly, the display features a special AS coating for reducing friction when hands are sweaty during intense gaming. That's certainly a nice feature to have.
The cameras, battery and speakers remain untouched. There are also no additional software features that too.
Early verdict
Since we've already reviewed the ROG Phone 5 and its Ultimate Edition and there aren't many changes here, we have a good idea what this new phone is about. It's most definitely worthy of our recommendation.
The 5s Pro, even with its hefty price, succeeds its predecessors at the top spot among gaming phones. It's a premium offering, sure, but it's compatible with the best ecosystem of gaming accessories, and the software is probably the most polished one in town, too. That's as much as we can say before our full review is ready.
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