Asus confirms design overhaul for ROG Phone 8

Asus has confirmed two major design details for its forthcoming ROG Phone 8, both of which point to a less ‘gamey’ overhaul.

The Taiwanese manufacturer’s ROG Global Twitter/X account recently posted a little teaser for the ROG Phone 8, which is set to be revealed on January 8. Said teaser shows the front of the phone with its “edgeless frame”.

Anyone who knows the history of the ROG Phone series will be well aware that “Going edgeless” is a big deal. This is a hardcore gaming phone series that typically sets out to supersize everything in the interests of maximising gaming performance.

Check out the front of the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate, for example, and you’ll find chunky top and bottom bezels, making it easier to grip in landscape orientation, as well as facilitating dual front-firing stereo speakers. If Asus is stepping away from that, it suggests that it might be adopting a more mainstream approach.

That suggestion falls in line with a company Weibo post from earlier in the week, in which Asus confirmed that the ROG Phone 8 would be “IP68 dustproof and waterproof” (via machine translation).

Again, that might not sound like a huge deal from the perspective of a regular flagship phone. However, previous ROG phones have featured extensive cooling systems that negated the possibility of full water and dust resistance.

This culminated in the aforementioned Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate and its AeroActive Portal – a port that slid open to improve airflow whenever it detected high internal temperatures.

It would appear Asus is going with a less extreme cooling method for the ROG Phone 8, resulting in a more mainstream level of water and dust resistance, and hinting at a less gamer-centric design. We’ll know more in less than a fortnight.