Not too long ago, I reviewed the ASUS ROG Phone 6 Diablo Immortal Edition, an impressive powerhouse of a phone that targeted a niche within a niche – fans of the Blizzard series – who also wanted a gaming phone. Now, the team is back with the ASUS ROG Phone 7 Ultimate, which aims to appeal to ASUS’ usual, though still somewhat niche group – mobile gamers who want a dedicated gaming phone.
The ROG Phone 7 sports a Samsung AMOLED display that the folks at ROG have tweaked to provide better performance. The result is a 6.78” screen with a refresh rate of 165HZ, although you can choose between 144, 120, 90, or 60 or an Auto refresh rate if you want the battery to last longer. Regardless, it’s a fantastic-looking screen that particularly shines if you’re playing brightly-coloured games like Genishin Impact or Sky: Children of the Light, as the colours truly pop.
Games looking great is one thing, but for more hardcore players, performance is equally important. The ASUS ROG Phone 7 Ultimate certainly delivers on that front too. It boasts 23ms touchscreen latency, meaning each of your inputs is incredibly responsive, allowing those who regularly indulge in competitive multiplayer experiences to have an edge on their opponents, particularly in games where speedy reaction times are key to victory.
In addition to a responsive touchscreen, the ROG Phone 7 also possesses a meaty CPU and GPU setup to provide stellar performance and allow you to ramp up the graphics settings wherever possible. It uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform chipset and an overclocked Adreno 740 GPU. ASUS says these components are 15% and 20% faster than the previous ROG Phone and 20% more efficient overall.
Are you likely to notice that increased performance? If you’re upgrading from the previous ROG Phone, probably not. And, having tested the ROG Phone 6, I don’t see the improved performance as a reason to upgrade if your device is still ticking along nicely. But as someone whose daily phone is (still) a Google Pixel 3a that’s practically begging to retire, it’s a stark contrast. Games load quicker, and the framerate is higher, smoother, and, as a result, much more enjoyable.
A concern that often follows these high-performance phones is whether or not they’ll get too hot. To mitigate this, ASUS has included the GameCool 7 cooling system, an upgrade on the version used in the previous model. Apparently, its Rapid-Cycle Vapor Chamber design dissipates up to 2.1 times the heat. That’s all lovely marketing jargon, but what does it mean in reality? Well, it certainly does a great job of keeping the phone cool when playing less intensive games.
As you might imagine given the specs, it’s a hefty phone, weighing 239 grams. That places it in the iPhone 14 Max realm of bulkiness. Since most people are used to a larger phone nowadays, that might not be an issue. For me personally, though, it’s a touch heavy and always felt awkward in my pocket.
That takes nothing away from how impressive the phone is, however. But I do continue to wonder how large the audience is. At £1199.99, it’s far from cheap. The non-ultimate version comes in slightly less pricey, starting at £999, but still, how many people are willing to shell out for it when an iPhone or cheaper Android phone can play games to perfectly enjoyable standards?
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