ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro – gamers’ nirvana and now a flagship smartphone (review)

The ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro may be a gamers’ nirvana, but some very significant design changes send serious shots over the bow of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra as a premium flagship phone.

Before we get into the review, I declare that I am not a gamer, so I cannot wax lyrical about the Armory Crate, Aeroactive Cooler X (Pro only), Air Triggers, or the AniMe 341 mini-LEDs on the back cover. Look, it’s all cool stuff, but if you want a gamer’s review, go to Games Radar+ for your fix.

This review is about using it for a month as a daily drive. Its direct competitor is the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra – the ultimate Android smartphone (we will refer to that as the S24U). To ASUS’s credit, it is no longer a stretch to use this phone ‘normally’ and then push it to its limits in X Mode, which is something Sammy can’t do.

A few things to note, as all three models are essentially the same.

• ASUS ROG Phone 8 has 12/256GB for $1799.
• ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro has 16/512GB for $1999 and comes with an Aeroactive Cooler X.
• ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition 24GB/1TB for $2499 comes with Aeroactive Cooler X and has a very interesting case with some extra goodies.

Warning – do not buy grey market

The gaming community covets this phone, and direct imports and the grey market are filling much demand. ASUS reminds you that only it and JB Hi-Fi sell the Australian-certified version for Telco networks, Wi-Fi 7 bands, and an Australian warranty.

Australian Review: ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition, 24GB/1TB, dual SIM (Model 6145926 as tested)

Brand	ASUS
Model	ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro
Model Number	Phantom Black 16/512GB model AI2401-5B066WW
RAM/Storage Base	ROG Phone 8 12/256
Price base	$1799
Price 2	ROG Phone Pro 16/512GB $1999
Price 3	ROG 8 Phone Pro Edition 24GB/1TB $2499 comes with accessory pack, AeroActive cooler
Warranty months	12-month ACL (we expect that ACL will protect from manufacturer’s defects for at least five years).
Tier	Flagship and Gaming premium – all models
Website	Product page Model comparison
From	ASUS online and JB Hi-Fi (online)
Made in	Not disclosed – either China or Taiwan
Company	Asustek Computer is a Taiwanese company that produces motherboards, graphics cards, optical drives, PDAs, computer monitors, notebook computers, servers, networking products, mobile phones, computer cases, computer components, and computer cooling systems.
More	CyberShack ASUS news and reviews CyberShack smartphone news and reviews
Test date	1-30 May 2024
Ambient temp	10-20°
Release	January 2024, but later in Australia
Other models not for Australia (Don’t buy)	Only phones purchased from ASUS Online or JB Hi-Fi carry Australian certification for the phone, Wi-Fi bands, and Australian Warranty. Read Don’t buy a grey market smartphone.

We use Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. We occasionally give a Pass(able) rating that is not as good as it should be and a Pass ‘+’ rating to show it is good but does not quite make it to Exceed. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

We are also tightening up on grading. From now on, Pass, for example, means meeting expectations for the price bracket. We consider a Pass mark to be 70+/100 with extra points added for class-leading and excellence.

First Impression – WOW – Pass+

It may be basic black, but the Pro Edition comes comes in a pretty special box with a cooler, cover and more.

It is a substantial phone, a fraction smaller and lighter than the S24U, with a 3.5mm jack and a fingerprint-resistant back.

Screen – Exceed – probably the best on a premium smartphone yet!

It is the best OLED screen I have seen to date. Why? It is a full 10-bit/1.07 billion-colour screen that puts the 8-bit/16.7 million-colour S24U to shame. For starters, it has an accurate photo preview, no haloing, and superb 2512-nit screen brightness. Ironically, it uses a Samsung E6 Flexible AMOLED panel. You can read more 8-bit versus 10-bit screen colours. What is the big deal?

 While it will refresh at 165Hz for games, the LPTO AMOLED can automatically vary from 1 to 120Hz and save battery.

Our only caveat is that it does not decode Dolby Vision (nor does Samsung), which means it is displayed as HDR10, which is OK on a small screen.

Screen tests

Size	6.78″
Type	LPTO AMOLED (Samsung E6 Flexible AMOLED)
Flat, Curve, 2D, 3D	Flat centre o-hole
Resolution	2400 x 1080
PPI	388
Ratio	20:9
Screen to Body %	88.2%
Colours bits	10-bit/1.07b Optimal Natural Cinematic – DCI-P3 Standard – sRGB Customised
Refresh Hz, adaptive.	Adaptive 1-120Hz or 60/120 and 165Hz fixed/locked. The screen also supports 90Hz.
Response 120Hz	720Hz touch rate
Nits typical, test	Auto brightness full screen (810)
Nits max, test	1600 Full Screen (1652) 2500 peak brightness HDR 5% screen (2512)
Contrast	Infinite
sRGB	100+%
DCI-P3	99.4%
Rec.2020 or other	Can be calibrated
Delta E (<4 is excellent)	1.8
HDR Level	HDR10/HDR10+/HLG – no Dolby Vision
SDR Upscale	No
Blue Light Control
PWM if known	PWM 485Hz and uses DC dimming for lower brightness. It is not a significant issue for PWM-sensitive people.
Daylight readable	Yes
Always on Display	Yes
Edge display	Yes
Accessibility	Usual Android 14 features.
DRM	L1 1080p HDR (Netflix-only SDR)
Gaming	Armory Crate control panel
Screen protection	Gorilla Glass Victus 2
Comment	It is quite an amazing 10-bit/1.07 billion colour screen, with a real 2500nits peak brightness. It puts the S24U 8-bit/16.7m colour screen to shame. It is nice to see a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh and up to 165Hz for gamers.

Processor – Exceed – the fastest and great thermal management.

This is the world’s fastest Android System on a Chip (Soc) and is the same as used in the S24U (not the S24 or S24 + Exynos SoC).

When tested, it consistently returned 15+% higher benchmarks than the S24U. To be fair to Samsung, we will retest its benchmarks soon to see if firmware updates since its release in January have made a difference.

Its thermal management is better than the S24U, with or without the AeroActive cooler.

It also has the all-important USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps side port that fully implements audio/video/charge/data and Alt DP 1.4. You can connect an external portable SSD and get gigabit speeds from a mountable drive. This is perfect for vloggers and videographers. S24U only allows OTG cut and paste at a few MBps.

Processor tests

Brand, Model	Qualcomm SD8 Gen 3
nm	4nm made by TSMC (not Samsung)
Cores	1×3.3GHz & 3×3.2GHz & 2×3.0GHz & 2×2.3GHz
Modem	X75 4×4 MIMO Sub-6Ghz
AI TOPS OR Multi-thread Integer Operations Per Second (INOPS) GINOPS = billion	The CPU TOPS is undisclosed, but the AI engine has 29+ TOPS, and NPU has 15 for over 60. 21.19 GFLOPS (S24U 18.93) 26.17 GINOPS (S24U 23.89)
Geekbench 6 Single-core	Standard 1390 X-Mode 2312 – substantially exceeds the S24U.
Geekbench 6 multi-core	Standard 6773 X-Mode 7314 – Substantially exceeds S24U.
Like	Benchmarks
GPU	Adreno 750 (1GHz)
GPU Test
Open CL	Standard 13612 X-Mode 14498 substantially exceeds the S24U.
Like	These figures are 15% or more than the same processor in the S24U.
Vulcan	Standard 13612 X-Mode 16627 – substantially exceeds S24U 15588
RAM, type	12/16/24GB LPDDR5X
Storage, free, type	256/512GB or 1TB UFS 4.0
micro-SD	No
CPDT internal seq. Read MBps sustained	2430 Jazz maximum 1802
CPDT internal seq. write MBps sustained	956 Jazz Maximum 856
CPDT microSD read, write MBps	N/A
CPDT external (mountable?) MBps	USB 2.0 bottom port 25/20 USB 3.2 Gen 2 side port 985/395
Comment	The disk tests reflect ultra-fast UFS 4.0, and an external SSD can be mounted for gigabit-speed live storage.
Throttle test
Max GIPS	398935
Average GIPS	351062
Minimum GIPS	316754
% Throttle	19%
CPU Temp	93°
Comment	These figures have X Mode off and no external cooler, which is ideal for daily use. They are excellent for this SoC, considering that S24U throttles up to 44%.

Comms – Exceed – Amazing W-Fi 7 speeds

ASUS has fully implemented the Wi-Fi 7 speeds, and on our reference TP-Link Deco BE85 Wi-Fi 7 BE22000 tri-band mesh router, it achieves an incredible 5800Mbps full-duplex speed. S24U had not implemented this and achieved 2400Mbps.

Wi-Fi Type, model	Wi-Fi 7 2.4/5/6Ghz 4K QAM, 320MHz
Test 2m -dBm, Rx/Tx Mbps	-38/5800/5800
Test 5m	-46/5800/5800
Test 10m	-58/3747/3459
BT Type	5.3
GPS single, dual	GPS (L1+L5), BDS (B1I+B1c+B2a), GALILEO (E1+E5a), QZSS (L1+L5), NavIC (L5), GLONASS, accuracy 2 metres.
USB type	Bottom USB-C 2.0 480Mbps Side USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 10Mbps
ALT DP, DeX, Ready For	The side port supports Alt DP 1.4 audio/video/data/charge and a 10Gbps data transfer rate.
NFC	Yes
Ultra-wideband	No, although SoC supports it
Sensors
Accelerometer	Yes combo
Gyro	Yes combo
e-Compass	Yes
Barometer
Gravity	SoC
Pedometer	Virtual
Ambient light	Yes
Hall sensor
Proximity	Yes
Other	Optical under-glass fingerprint sensor
Comment	Sensors not disclosed. Testing software reveals some, but not all. Wi-Fi speeds on 6GHz are spectacular – over twice as fast as the S24U.

4/5G – Exceed – the best phone reception ever

This is a dual SIM phone—no eSIM. It has recorded the strongest signal strengths yet for the primary tower and picowatt speeds for all four nearby towers. It also has a 5G signal at usable strength, whereas the S24U does not. This is more about antenna design and implementing full 5G sub-6GHz standards.

This is a city, suburbs, regional and rural use phone without peer.

SIM	Dual Sim DSDS (dual sim, dual standby). We think this is DSDA (dual sim, dual active), as the modem supports it.
Active	No eSIM nor DSDA is supported by Qualcomm SD8 Gen 3 SoC.
Ring tone single, dual	Single
VoLTE	Carrier dependent
Wi-Fi calling	Carrier dependent
4G Bands	Not disclosed. We think it is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 32, 34, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 48, 66
Comment	All Australian and most world bands
5G sub-6Ghz	Not disclosed. We think it is 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 12, 18, 20, 25, 26, 28, 38, 40, 41, 48, 66, 77, 78, 79 SA/NSA/Sub6
Comment	All sub-6Ghz and 5G low bands
mmWave	No
Test Boost Mobile, Telstra
DL/UL, ms	38.6/26.7/37ms – above average
Tower 1 -dBm, fW or pW	-77 to -89 and 1.3 to 20pW – best result to date with fantastic signal strength finding five towers (we only test to four).
Tower 2	-70 to -84 and 4 to 12.3pW
Tower 3	-83 to -86 2.5 to 5pW
Tower 4	-84 to -92 and 1 to 2.5pW
Comment	This has a superb 4G LTE reception and is among the most powerful we have seen. It also gets 5G reception at -79 to -84 at 4 to 12.6pW on the two closest towers. This is excellent for city, suburbs, regional, and rural use. Reception strength considerably exceeds that of the S24U.

Battery – Exceed and 65W charger inbox

This has a couple of unique features. First, it comes with a 65W charger inbox. More importantly, it uses a 5500mAh (2 x 2750mAh) dual battery for dual charging to cut charge times and reduce heat loads. It also uses MMT charging, which cares for the battery.

With a 1080p video loop lasting 24+ hours and a PC Mark Moden Office battery test lasting 24 hours and 20 minutes, it will easily last a full day of reasonably heavy use.

Battery tests

mAh	5500mAh split over 2 x 2750 batteries. MMT Middle, Middle, Tab charging.
Charger, type, supplied	65W (2 x 32.5W channels) When using another charger, it tends to charge at 17V/2A/34W maximum.
PD, QC level	Standard PD 3.0 PPS Qualcomm QC 5.0
Qi, wattage	Qi 1.3 15W
Reverse Qi or cable	up to 10W
Test (60Hz or adaptive screen)	Adaptive
Charge % 30mins	Claim 80%
Charge 0-100%	Claim 39 minutes – our test was closer to 60 minutes
Charge Qi, W Using Belkin Boost Charge 15W fast wireless charge	Yes, not tested. Expect 4+ hours at 15W.
Charge 5V, 2A	over 8 hours
Video loop 50%, aeroplane	24 hours and 20 minutes
PC Mark 3 battery	20 hours and 25 minutes Accubattery 17 hours 38 minutes.
GFX Bench Manhattan battery	225.5 minutes (3.75 hours)
GFX Bench T-Rex	379.1 minutes (6.32 hours) 9261 frames
Drain 100-0% full load screen on.	Approximate time in standard mode: 4-5 hours. We could not test properly due to battery saver issues (even when off). Accubattery 4 hours 51 minutes.
mA full load	800-1100
mA Watt idle Screen on	150-200
Estimate loss at max refresh	It was tested in Adaptive and standard mode. We expect to lose up to 50% battery life in X Mode and 165Hz, but you would likely use this on power.
Estimate typical use	Typical users will get a full 24 hours. Gamers between 4-5 hours.
Comment	Some ASUS battery options affected our tests. Charging Mode, which uses Regular (system on and charge), Bypass (system on only) and Smart Bypass. It also has System Modes -X Moade for gaming, Dynamic for everyday performance and Ultra-durable for as long battery life as possible. It is hard to determine definitive battery life short of running each test three times and some with multiple settings.

Sound hardware – Exceed, including a separate 6.8W amp for the phone.

As it does not decode Dolby Vision (downmix to HDR10), it is unnecessary to support Dolby Atmos. But it does support Dirac’s spatial sound, and the effects are good. From a hardware perspective, we applaud using a separate amplifier for the phone, which gives it one of the highest decibel ratings we have encountered. This means excellent hands-free.

Because it uses the SB8 Gen 3 SoC, it has 24-bit/48000Hz sound and most aptX codecs.

Speakers	Stereo – top earpiece and bottom down-firing.
Tuning	Dirac Virtuo
AMP	Cirrus Logic CS35L45 (6.8W mono for phone) and Qualcomm Aqsitic (stereo for speakers and headphones).
Dolby Atmos decode	No, but Dirac Virtuo spatial for headphones
Hi-Res	32-bit, 384kHz for headphones only
3.5mm	Yes
BT Codecs	SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX Adaptive, aptX HD, LDAC 24-bit/48000Hz
Multipoint	Yes
Dolby Atmos (DA)	Dirac
EQ	Dirac Dynamic, Music, Cinema, Game and Custom.
Mics	Three mics with ASUS Noise Reduction
Test dB – all on EQ flat DA off	Outdoor mode disabled – it amps treble
Volume max	95
Media (music)	95
Ring	95
Alarm	95
Notifications	92
Earpiece	65
Hands-free	Good hands-free with noise cancellation.
BT headphones	Excellent left-right separation and DA makes quite a difference with DA content.

Sound quality – Pass

Sound quality is the stereo speaker’s ability to play ‘listenable’ music and produce clear voice during hands-free calls. Unfortunately, music lacks depth and vitality—as do 99% of smartphones and their tiny, tinny speakers.

I guess most will use headphones or headsets, and it has both a 3.5mm cable and a Bluetooth 5.3 low-latency games mode.

Deep Bass 20-40Hz	No
Middle Bass 40-100Hz	No – hint at 95Hz
High Bass 100-200Hz	Slow linear build to 500Hz
Low Mid 200-400Hz	Slow linear build to 500Hz
Mid 400-1000Hz	Flat
High-Mid 1-2kHz	Slight build
Low Treble 2-4kHz	Slight decline
Mid Treble 4-6kHz	Beginning steep decline to 20kHz
High Treble 6-10kHz	Steep decline to 20kHz
Dog Whistle 10-20kHz	Steep decline to 20kHz
Sound Signature type	This is an unusual signature because there is a hint of upper bass and a prolonged build to 1-4KHz for clear voice. The treble drops off a cliff, making music dull and uninteresting. Mid: (bass recessed, mid boosted, treble recessed) – for clear voice. The Dirac EQ is for headphones only.
Soundstage	2D is about as wide as the phone with no apparent bias to one speaker. There is no DA decode, but spatial content gives a slightly wider soundstage but no 3D height.
Comment	CyberShack Music tests The sound quality is disappointing for a premium handset. Bass is hard to get on micro speakers, but you expect it to have at least some 50-100Hz, where all the musically important bass comes from. It is easy to get a decent mid-high treble that gives a feeling of air and directionality, but instead, we get over the cliff treble that gives music a harshness. Still using a cabled or BT headphone fixes that.

Build – Exceed

This is one well-built phone. It is solid, 225g (lighter than the S24U) and will last the distance. The key difference here is the 65W charger inbox.

However, Samsung will likely have more service options, so you must consider that.

Size (H X W x D)	163.8×76.8×8.9 mm
Weight grams	225
Front glass	Gorilla Glass Victus
Rear material	Not specified – likely Gorilla Glass
Frame	Not specified – likely Aluminium
IP rating	IP68 1.5m for 30 minutes
Colours	Black
Pen, Stylus support	AniMe Vision can display animated information via its 341 mini-LEDs (such as incoming calls, battery status, time, new notifications, etc. Use Armory Crate.
In the box
Charger	65W Charger
USB cable	3W USB-C to USB-C cable
Buds	No
Bumper cover	No
Comment	AeroCooler Cooler soft pouch

OS – Pass

The only area in which it does not score top marks is Android 14. Why? It only gets two years of OS upgrades and four security patches. S24U smashes that with 7+7 and a two-year warranty as well.

The impact is that S24U will hold its resale value better for longer.

You can select a ROG or Android skin – the latter is what we use for testing.

Android	14
Security patch date	1 April 2024
UI	ROG UI, but users can select standard Android.
OS upgrade policy	2 years
Security patch policy	4 years
Bloatware	Armory Crate ASUS Tools Google Apps Facebook Instagram
Other	Largely pure Android
Comment	The poor OS upgrade and security patch policy is not commensurate with other premium phones like the S24U (7+7) and Google Pixel 8 Pro (7+7). ASUS’s habit of not disclosing critical information on its website is annoying, if not unintentionally deceptive.
Security
Fingerprint sensor location, type	Ultrasonic Under glass (9/10)
Face ID	2D
Other	Android 14 security
Comment	Samsung Knox makes the S24U more secure.

ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro – rear camera – Pass+

The key hardware difference is that the S24U has a better camera system with a periscope zoom. The key image difference is that they are both excellent for point-and-shoot use.

ASUS uses a Sony IMX890 sensor, and S24U uses a Samsung-made S5KHP2 200MP that bins to 12,5PM. The Sony has a slight edge in low-light photography (aided by the Qualcomm AI). I enjoyed using this sensor on the OPPO Find N3 Flip, and I cannot fault it.

Even more important is that the image preview is colour-accurate, whereas S24U is not.

Overall, it is a competent flagship camera—probably outclassed by S24U and its AI processing expertise.

Photo test

Video is excellent but OIS and EIS are only to 1080p@60fps. Stereo recording is possible.

Rear Primary	Wide
MP	50MP bins to 12.6MP (default)
Sensor	Sony IMX890
Focus	PDAF
f-stop	1.9
um	1 bins to 2
FOV° (stated, actual)	71.1 (H) x 85.6 (D)
Stabilisation	OIS – 6 axis gimbal and EIS video 4.2x crop factor
Zoom	4-10X
Rear 2	Ultra-Wide
MP	13MP
Sensor	Omnivision OV13b
Focus	PDAF
f-stop	2.2
um	1.12
FOV (stated, actual)	120
Stabilisation	OIS
Zoom	3X optical
Rear 3	Telephoto
MP	32MP bins to 8MP
Sensor	Omnivision OV32c
Focus	PDAF
f-stop	2.2
um	.7 bins to 1.4
FOV (stated, actual)	Unknown
Stabilisation	OIS
Zoom	3X Optical
Video max	8K@24fps. HDR10+ for 4K@30fps OIS 1080p@60fps
Flash	Yes
Auto-HDR	Yes
QR code reader	Google Lens
Night mode	AI

ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro front camera

It uses a 32MP binned to 8MP and a standard and wide-angle field-of-view for single and small group selfies. It does not change FOV as much as crop the larger image.

MP	32MP bins to 8MP
Sensor	Omnivision OV32C
Focus	Fixed
f-stop	2.05
um	.7 bins to 1.4
FOV (stated, actual)	90° (77.8 H to 90.5 D)
Stabilisation	No
Flash	Screen fill
Zoom	No
Video max	1080p@30fps with EIS
Features	Uses 4x cropping for a single selfie
Comment	Natural colours and good in day or office light.

Privacy – Pass

The 5064-word privacy policy and terms of use are benign as you do not need an ASUS account to use the phone. You are subject to Google’s policy – see Can you trust Google? Yes, but it depends on your definition.

In any case, it is a trusted Taiwanese company and data is stored in the region you purchased the phone in.

CyberShack’s view – ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro is the new king of the premium smartphone heap

First, I want to apologise to Samsung. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra – the ultimate Android smartphone was the only SD8 Gen 3 smartphone I could compare it with. This was not intended as a shootout.

There are many reasons to buy an S24U, the chief of which is its reputation and 2+7+7 warranty/OS/security patch policy, which it and the Google Pixel 8-series offer. The S24U will have a better resale value through its trade-in system and probably better service if needed.

The ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro is unlike the previous ROG phones, which were 100% focused on gaming and had an out-there design. This is refined and very well-designed, and in every area, it outperforms the S24U (on both standard and X-Mode). Geeks and power users will love this phone.

Some little things impressed me (S24U in brackets—we are yet to retest with the latest firmware).

• 10-bit/1.07b 165Hz AMOLED (8-bit/16.7m, 120Hz)
• Qualcomm SD8 Gen 3 19% throttle (Same 44% throttle and lower performance specs)
• Wi-Fi 7 reaching 5800Mbps (same reaching 2400Mbps)
• Ful implementation USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps and Alt DP 1.4 (Part implementation USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 5Gbps)
• Mountable external SSD at full USB-C 3.2 speeds (only cut and paste)
• Fastest 4 and 5G to date (won’t find 5G signal in the test area and 4G at lower signal strength)
• 5500mAh (dual 2750mAh) battery and 65W charger inbox (single cell 5000mAh and no charger – 45 watt capable)
• PC Mark gives 20 hours and 25 minutes battery life (17 hours 10 minutes)
• Separate phone amp produces significantly higher phone volumes (no)
• No pen/stylus (yes)
• Base 12/256GB $1799 (12/256 $2199 plus $69 charger)
• Pro 16/512GB $1999 (12/512GB $2399 – ditto)
• Pro Edition 24GB/1TB $2499 inc. accessories (12GB/1TB $2799 – ditto)

From a strict specification perspective, the ASUS ROG Phone 8 outperforms any other we have reviewed. Add Gaming chops; you can see why it is our top-rated Qualcomm SD8 Gen 3 smartphone.

Would I buy it?

I would buy it in a heartbeat, as it provides everything and more that I expect from a flagship smartphone.

Sadly, Samsung’s lack of competition in the flagship area has led to complacency and regurgitation of the old designs for too long. I am not saying the S24 is bad in any way – it is just outclassed in most ways by the ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro

ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro ratings – 88/100

Note that this is based on 70/100 as a pass mark. The S24U used 80/100 as a base, so it would rate at 75/100.

Ratings	New rating system 7 is a pass mark.
Features	90
	Latest processor, large battery, 65W charger inbox, Aero cooler inbox, 10-bit screen, ASUS gamers Armory Crate and much more.
Value	90
	It is $300-400 lower than the S24U but has more memory.
Performance	90
	It has the best and highest phone signal reception yet. Superb performance on standard and X-Modes—both significantly above the S24U. Far better thermal management, too. We now know that the S24U is intentionally throttled to keep temperatures in check—you are buying a V8 but getting a V6.
Ease of Use	80
	1+2+4 Warranty/OS/Security patch policy is way behind Samsung and Google and would be the one reason not to buy.
Design	90
	It is no longer a flashy gamer’s phone but a well-designed, well-made premium smartphone.
Rating out of 10	88
Final comment	Given the choice of the ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro or an S24U, I would select the ASUS. I can live with the 1+2+4 warranty/OS/update policy because this well-designed, well-thought-out premium smartphone offers far better performance and amenities than the competition.

Pro