Asus not only builds gaming PCs and laptops under its ROG label, but also smartphones that are optimized for gaming for a long time. I was able to try out the Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro in everyday life with various games. I’ll tell you how the smartphone fared in the test.
Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro: Done
GIGA rating: 7.8 / 10
The Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro is a really good gaming smartphone. It has a very fast and bright display, has unlimited performance, basically never overheats and can be individually expanded with optional accessories. It was really fun to use the phone in everyday life, but primarily for gaming. The large battery also meant I never had a headache about the runtime and was able to keep playing with the controller case while I powered the phone through the second USB-C port.
The high price of 1,299 euros (look at Asus) can just as little be dismissed out of hand as that weak update policy and the mediocre camera. But if you are primarily looking for a gaming smartphone that provides a lot of performance without compromise, then the Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro will meet all expectations.
Advantages:
- perfomance
- battery life
- Display
- Optional accessories
- Second USB port
Disadvantages:
Unmistakably a gaming smartphone
One thing is clear at first glance, the Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro is unmistakably a gaming smartphone. Asus has once again significantly revised the look compared to previous gaming smartphones. Especially the bright back with the eye-catching graphics and the second small display stand out. You have to like that. However, I find the matte surface very pleasant and I wouldn’t use a case to hide the design.
The display on the back is a little gimmick. Animations are displayed there, for example when accessories are connected or the smartphone is charged, someone calls or when you play. You usually don’t see that yourself, but someone else who watches you play.
The front, on the other hand, looks unspectacular. That 6.78-inch OLED display is quite bright and has FHD+ resolution. A maximum of 165 Hz is reached. The full potential cannot be exhausted in many games. A maximum of 120 Hz or rather 90 Hz is often supported. In everyday life, however, such a fast display is an advantage. I also liked the speakers, which deliver a clear and loud sound.
Two USB-C ports ensure more gaming fun
An important unique selling point of the Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro is the second USB-C port on the side. If you have connected the optional controller, you can still charge the smartphone and continue playing uninterrupted. The phone doesn’t really get that much warmer. The second USB-C port is also intended for the optional cooler.
For the first time you can Snap on the smartphone cooler even with the case with the gaming controllers attached. That was not possible with the predecessor. You had to decide what was more important to you. With the Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro, you can now play with the controllers and cool the smartphone at the same time. Unfortunately, Asus sent us the wrong accessory, so we couldn’t try this case. The optional cooler performed very well without a controller and kept the smartphone cool even in the hot summer. The controller with the old case also fit and worked well with a lot of squeezing. So we’re assuming it would all have worked fine.
performance without end
Asus relies on the revised Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 for the ROG Phone 6 Pro and, thanks to an optimized cooling system, manages that Smartphone does not get too warm even when playing for a long time and does not lose any performance. You know that in a completely different way than I did OnePlus 10 Pro (Test) had to find out for myself. Gaming works quite well there for 30 minutes, after which it becomes considerably slower because the smartphone heats up a lot. I had absolutely no problems with the Asus cell phone. Even if I charged the smartphone at the same time via the second USB port, everything ran smoothly. This is exactly how it should work with a gaming smartphone.
All features of the Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro presented in the video:
Solides Android-Smartphone
In addition to the gaming abilities, the Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro is basically a solid Android smartphone. It works very fast, you can choose an almost non-customized interface and do with it everything you can do with any other phone. You also have the advantage that the battery is very large and lasts a long time. But you have to like the look, because the mobile phone is very eye-catching with the second display on the back and the graphics.
Weak update policy
The Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro costs 1,299 euros without accessories. Despite the high price there are only two years of Android updates. So Android 14 is the end of it. The competition is now distributing updates for five years. You can actually expect more, especially in this price range. Normally you don’t buy a game console – and that’s the ROG Phone 6 Pro – every two years, but keep it for much longer. Purely in terms of performance, this smartphone should be able to handle any demanding Android game for the next four to five years. Of course, you can still use the cell phone after two years, but after a certain point in time it is no longer safe without updates. The strategy is not very sustainable.
Camera could be better
If you want to use the Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro as a normal smartphone with which you also take photos, then you have to make compromises in image quality despite the high price. The camera takes quite good pictures, but cannot compete with a Galaxy S22 Ultra or iPhone 14 Pro Max, which cost a similar amount. But it is completely sufficient for a few snapshots. Below are some pictures I took with the Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro in everyday life:
Real endurance runner
Asus installs two 3,000 mAh batteries in the ROG Phone 6 Pro, which together have a capacity of 6,000 mAh. With the supplied power adapter, you can charge the cell phone very quickly with 65 watts via cable. However, there is no wireless charging function, so you always have to charge the cell phone with a cable. While playing, I got a runtime of about five hours. In normal use it lasted over two days and I still had a small buffer left. This is where Asus shows its strength with the large battery.
ratings in detail
| Category | Rating (max. 10) |
| sustainability | 6 |
| Processing, haptics and design | 7 |
| Display | 9 |
| Cameras | 7 |
| Software | 7 |
| Performance | 9 |
| telephony and audio | 8 |
| Storage | 9 |
| Battery and everyday life | 9 |
| In total | 7.8 |
Note: The “Sustainability” category counts for 10 percent of the overall grade.