ASUS launched the ROG Phone 5s series back in August, though international availability was a big question mark. The ROG Phone 5s series consists of two phones: the ROG Phone 5s and the ROG Phone 5s Pro, both of which act as replacements for the standard ROG Phone 5 and the ROG Phone 5 Pro/Ultimate, respectively. Both phones in the ROG Phone 5s series feature Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 888+ chipset, a higher binned Snapdragon 888 with the “Prime” core now clocked at up to 2.995GHz rather than 2.84GHz, and some additional performance optimizations to the Hexagon 780 DSP and Qualcomm AI engine. Now, both devices are available in Europe from the ASUS online store and selected retailers.
The ASUS ROG Phone 5s series is more or less just a refresh of the already-excellent ROG Phone 5 series. Unlike the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate that we reviewed earlier this year, the ROG Phone 5s Pro isn’t a limited-edition variant. It features the color-enabled “ROG Vision” PMOLED display on the rear like the ROG Phone 5 Pro (the Ultimate had a monochrome panel on the rear to match the rest of its aesthetics), and it also features the two extra touch sensors on the rear similar to both the Pro and Ultimate models. As for the regular ROG Phone 5s, like the regular ROG Phone 5, it doesn’t have the ROG Vision display on the rear, instead opting for ASUS’s typical ROG logo lit up by RGB LEDs. It also doesn’t have the two additional touch sensors on the back cover.
ASUS also says the touch response rate has been upgraded in the ROG Phone 5s series — from a native 300Hz to 360Hz. Both devices also have 6.78-inch, notch and hole-punch-less AMOLED displays at Full HD+ resolution and support for up to 144Hz refresh rate, LPDDR5 RAM, UFS 3.1 storage, a 3.5mm headphone jack, ultrasonic AirTrigger buttons, under-display fingerprint scanner, triple rear cameras comprised of a 64MP main + 13MP ultra wide-angle + 5MP macro, a 24MP front-facing camera, a massive 6000mAh battery with 65W fast charging support; front-facing stereo speakers, and sub-6GHz 5G support.
Finally, both phones also run the latest version of ASUS’s skin on top of Android 11, ZenUI 8/ROG UI, with the same gaming and software features we noted in our review. This includes the Armoury Crate app, the Game Genie overlay, the AudioWizard app, and more. What’s new is that a 90Hz refresh rate mode has been added on top of the existing 60, 120, and 144Hz options, but everything else is unchanged. In Europe, the ROG Phone 5s can be purchased now, while the ROG Phone 5s Pro is available for pre-order.