ASUS ROG 2 Transforms Into Nintendo Switch Or 3DS With These Accessories

ASUS has finally revealed its new ROG Phone II, a gaming phone with specs way more powerful than its predecessor. This behemoth is more powerful than ever before and has some accessories that will make its users forget that it’s a smartphone first, and a gaming handheld second.

According to The Verge, the ROG Phone II has received a massive upgrade compared to its earlier brother. It now sports a 6.59-inch 1080p OLED panel with support for 10-bit HDR, a 120Hz refresh rate (comparable to the Razer phone 2), and an integrated fingerprint sensor. ASUS said the phone has a touch sampling rate of 240Hz, and the lowest touch latency of any phone at 49ms.

Under the hood, there’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus SoC. This is a gaming-focused SoC that provides up to 15% higher CPU peak clock speeds and GPU performance. This makes it more powerful than the Nintendo Switch (as per Android Authority).

With an SoC like this, the ROG Phone II needs a good cooling mechanism, and ASUS took care of that as well: the ROG Phone II’s cooling system is capable of preventing throttling of the SoC’s peak speeds, using a vapor chamber and vents.

The ROG Phone II can be configured to have up to 512 GB of internal storage and 12GB of RAM. It has a 48MP camera at the back, and a huge 6,000 mAh battery capable of running “PlayerUnknown’s Battle Grounds” or “PUBG” at 60Hz for seven straight hours.

Accessories

What sets the ROG Phone II apart from other gaming phones isn’t just the high-powered specs that make it more powerful than before. It’s the accessories that make playing on the ROG Phone II feel like playing on the Switch or the 3DS.

First, there’s a new gamepad attachment reminiscent of the Switch’s Joy-Cons (sans the drift). ASUS’ very own presenter called this “joycons,” but they’re officially called the “Kunai.” These gamepads can be attached to the sides of the phone, or onto a separate grip.

Second, there’s a tweaked version of the TwinView dock that makes the ROG Phone II look and feel reminiscent to the Nintendo 3DS. Lastly, there's the AeroActive Cooler that can be attached to cool the phone down minus the bulk.

Pricing is unknown at the moment, but ASUS said it will be priced similar to the first ROG Phone when it was released. It will be launched globally in the first week of September.