Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro vs Asus ROG Phone 5: A Worthwhile Upgrade?

Asus has just launched a new top-spec gaming phone, but does it leave its predecessor in the shadows? Here is the low point of the two handsets.

Every year Asus updates its ROG Phone gaming series, and this year we were treated to the excellent ROG Phone 6 Pro, which we awarded 4.5 out of 5 stars after trying thoroughly. However, does it represent a huge change from its predecessor, the? ROG Phone 5, or is it more of a minor upgrade? You’ll find out in this article where we pit the two gaming handsets against each other to find out which one is the champion.

Design

Both devices go all out on the gamer aesthetic, so if that’s not your style you might be disappointed, but otherwise you’ll probably be pleased with the effort that’s gone into making these phones as attractive as possible to the target audience.

The two handsets both go hand in hand with some RGB lighting, attractive highlights and text. In terms of the physical spec, these phones are just as impressive, with both 6.78-inch screens, both weighing just under 240 grams, and both being 10.3mm thick. This works well when you hold the phone horizontally, as you will when playing mobile games.

With such similarities, the design is unlikely to influence your decision in one direction or the other.

Screen

The screen is another highlight of both devices, with each one packed with top-notch specs that help to claim their position as excellent gaming devices.

The ROG Phone 6 Pro has a slightly superior refresh rate, which offers more fluidity at 165 Hz instead of 144 Hz, but otherwise the two phones are quite similar again in this regard. Both are 6.78-inches AMOLED panels with 10-bit color and HDR10+ support, and made of Gorilla Glass Victus, these snappy and vibrant screens are excellent for playing games and are robust too.

However, they both have 1080p resolution which is sharp but not the highest compared to top flagships like the Sony Xperia 1 IV†

Performance

Performance is the most important of all features on a gaming phone, so it can be the deal breaker or deal maker when making your purchase decision. There is also a significant difference between the two phones.

The Asus ROG Phone 5 leverages the powerful Snapdragon 888 5G chipset, but the ROG Phone 6 Pro surpasses this by being one of the very first smartphones to hit the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1† Both devices have phenomenal benchmark scores, and they also held up extremely well against some of the most intensive mobile games out there.

In the table above, you can see how the two stack up in terms of CPU scores, with the ROG Phone 5 clearly underperforming its predecessor. As far as GPU benchmarks go, the ROG Phone 6 Pro has actually maxed out our usual ranges of scores, so it’s so far ahead that the two aren’t directly comparable.

While both are powerhouses, the 6 Pro is generally the stronger device due to its newer and higher quality silicon.

Battery

Another important specification and another match-up between the ROG Phone 5 and its Pro successor. A large battery can be very useful if you are an avid gamer as you can play longer on the go if you have a cell then it will last longer and longer.

Both handsets have a very impressive 6000 mAh battery, which comfortably exceeds the size of most others on the market. You need it, of course, because the demands of high-end gaming can be very exhausting; but we found in both cases that the devices held up admirably and lived up to the specs on paper, and lasted most of the day, even when gaming regularly.

Plus, both phones have a 65W fast charging power so it doesn’t even take much time to recharge them and get back to your games in no time.

Camera

While we’ve looked at a range of eyebrow-raising specs so far, it has to be said that gaming phones traditionally haven’t really excelled when it comes to mobile photography.

The ROG Phone 5 has a 64-megapixel main camera, which is accompanied by a 13-megapixel ultrawide and 5-megapixel macro sensor. The ROG Phone 6 Pro is not all that different and also offers a 13-megapixel ultra-wide and 5-megapixel macro, but instead a 50-megapixel main sensor.

Above is an image of the ROG Phone 5 showing how it handles the difficult lighting quite well, although the details in the fur aren’t reproduced to the same level you might get from, say, the iPhone 13†

Below is an image taken by the ROG Phone 6 Pro, which shows an improvement in sharpness, although it is still not on the same level as many flagship camera phones.

In both cases, in our testing, we found that the main cameras on these two handsets performed well enough, although certainly not on the same level as comparably priced mainstream flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultraor iPhone 13 Pro† However, the secondary sensors were actively disappointing, being significantly lower than the standard set by the wide-angle snapper and giving us poor results when we tried to take advantage of their claimed versatility.

If you’re looking for the best possible photos when you’re using your phone, you’ll need to narrow your pick to one of these two devices and check out our comprehensive list of the best camera phones†

verdict

As you can see, despite the generational leap, there are still many similarities between the ROG Phone 5 and the ROG Phone 6 Pro. Both handsets have similar screens, batteries and even designs, but there’s one substantial upgrade that could tempt competitive gamers to the latter and that’s the inclusion of the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 on the latest handset. While it offers better performance, it’s worth noting that both smartphones are a bit underwhelming when you consider their camera capabilities.

If you already own the ROG Phone 5 then the 6 Pro is just a minor upgrade that may not be worth the massive £1099 price tag, but if you’re new to the gaming phone market you’ll want the top performer to give yourself it. the best possible advantage when you compete against your competitors.