This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
We are now approaching the end of 2025, and there’s a small niche in the smartphone community that hasn’t gotten news about their next anticipated device. And the dread is building.
The Asus ROG Phone is one of the last bastions of the “gaming phone” concept. Its biggest rival — the Razer Phone gave up way too early in the game, after only two iterations. Other exotic brands like the Xiaomi Black Shark faded away, and the Lenovo Legion Y70 disappeared almost as quickly as it filled our news feeds with its announcement.
Nowadays, we only have RedMagic and the ROG Phone to look forward to for our super-powerful, fan-cooled, shoulder trigger-equipped smartphones.
And while RedMagic fans got their fix in November of 2025, the ROG Phone 10 is nowhere to be seen, heard of, or found. Even worse — rumors about it are sparse, and leaks are non-existent.
What set the ROG Phone apart
Advanced cooling, secondary screens, the works (Image credit - PhoneArena)
In an era where every flagship is competing to be the rectangliest of them all, ROG phones had so much style and pizzazz. RGB logos, Air triggers, bonkers cooling and an actual attachable sub-woofer! A silhouette that didn’t apologize for being thick because thermal physics doesn’t care about minimalism.
Despite never selling in the tens of millions, they weren’t supposed to. Niche by design, deliberately weird and unapologetically maximalist, they were made for a specific type of user — enthusiasts, mobile gamers, or just people who love to have the device that pushes the boundaries.
The fun factor was dialed up to 11 whenever they launched special edition box sets, like the ROG Phone 6 Batman Edition and ROG Phone 6 Diablo Immortal edition. And that’s something we are sorely missing in today’s rectangle-phone market — the “fun factor”.
I would hope that they were selling well enough — Asus was updating the line with some regularity. Not hard-set annual updates, but it wasn’t rare to see and hear about new ROG Phones just enough times to not forget about them.
But the writing was starting to appear on the wall
ROG Phone 8 starting to transform into something familiar (Image credit - PhoneArena)
The ROG Phone 8 launched in 2024 with a newly acquired conformist attitude. It was still trying to be the gaming phone, but in the guise of a “daily device”. A shape that was supposed to feel more like a “regular phone”, with its accents toned down. The RGB lights were gone and replaced by an LED matrix that you can turn off and “hide”. As if anyone who has an ROG Phone wants to hide it!
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The ridiculous bezels were minimized, sure, but the super-wide stereo speakers suffered. To this day, the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate has the best speakers in a phone that I’ve heard — even better when you attach its fan accessory with integrated subwoofer. Asus hasn’t been able to replicate that effect, even if the newest ROG Phone 9 revived the subwoofer compatibility.
Ergonomics also suffered — the old huge bezels made for good gripping pads when trying to actually game on the phone. The ROG Phone 8 and 9 still had the gaming shoulder triggers, but they felt more awkward and uncomfortable to use.
The gaming triggers are still here, a bit more awkward to use (Image credit - PhoneArena)
It was beginning to feel as if Asus was feeling the pressure of a market that’s focusing on camera-first, lifestyle type of device, and attempting to conform to it somewhat. Which doesn’t gel well with the philosophy of raw tech enthusiasm that it had upheld for years prior.
While I ultimately did end up using the ROG Phone 8 as a daily driver more, thanks to the aforementioned changes in ergonomics, I did note how much I miss the gaming prowess and sheer ridiculousness of the old generation.
Still a gamer phone at heart (Image credit - PhoneArena)
It’s very probable that the pivot wasn’t very successful. Gaming superfans were disappointed by it. Casual smartphone users were still not interested in a gaming beast masquerading as a camera flagship.
Of course, we don’t have sales numbers, but this uncanny delay in any ROG Phone-related news suggests that Asus may be back to the drawing board on this one. Hopefully, the ROG Phone 10 hasn’t been canceled outright (few reports say it isn’t).
Why canceling the ROG Phone would be a shame
Everybody loves the underdog, and everyone wants to see the rebel non-conformist thrive in one way or another. But this is about more than just fun or spectacle — it really is about pushing the limits of smartphones in ways that the big players just don’t want to.
Apple is set on selling lifestyle and ecosystem. Don’t fix what’s not broken, only advance when the competitors have established that a new niche or technology is worth investing into.
Samsung sells versatility, market presence and powerful features — sure, as long as they fit into a somewhat safe corporate approach.
Google sells one-look-fits-all vanilla Android and a newly-found passion for AI features. And if that’s your cup of tea, all power to you.
What the ROG Phone offered were the hardware possibilities unlocked by asking “What if we can make this overkill?”. In a market where 99% of smartphones would throttle in a 3DMark stress test, ROG Phones show that it’s possible to thrive. Big companies would love you to think that it’s normal to have thermal issues in a smartphone. Asus is like “Nah, we can do better”.
A cancellation would also signal to companies that being experimental and risqué in today’s market is just not worth it. Granted, Asus is definitely pushing its luck by always keeping the ROG Phones north of the $1,000 price threshold.
But closing the door on future ROG Phones would also be yet another pin on a spreadsheet that shows a market that’s become somewhat stale and boring. No longer relying on wild hardware experimentation, but putting all of its eggs in the software and AI basked, hoping that nothing rocks it.
Gaming phones apply pressure. They show that cooling and sustained performance has a lot of room for improvement. They show that fringe features such as ultra-high refresh rates, gaming triggers, performance modes, and external accessories have their demand in the market.
Apple is making a push into the AAA gaming space even on mobile. Maybe it should listen. And Samsung used to have exclusive deals with Fortnite, showing that even the S Pen giant is keeping an eye on the gaming space. Who better to lead the way but a company who has built a community and culture around its constant push for power and performance?
Silver lining: the ROG Phone 10 is not officially dead, yet
We need smartphones that try to be... fun! (Image credit - PhoneArena)
The last dire news that came from Asus’ camp was back in 2023 — the ZenFone 10 was rumored to be the final ZenFone from the company, as the company was going through some heavy restructuring and there were considerable layoffs in the phone division.
However, Asus did come out with a statement to confirm that both the ROG Phone and ZenFone will carry on. Sure enough, we saw two new models in 2024.
Throughout 2025, we haven’t heard anything on the matter of Asus phones and cancellations. And, for what it’s worth, the very few leaks we have on the subject state that the ROG Phone 11 is still a go — with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, more thermal improvements, and more AI features, possibly in early 2026.
Preslav, a member of the PhoneArena team since 2014, is a mobile technology enthusiast with a penchant for integrating tech into his hobbies and work. Whether it's writing articles on an iPad Pro, recording band rehearsals with multiple phones, or exploring the potential of mobile gaming through services like GeForce Now and Steam Link, Preslav's approach is hands-on and innovative. His balanced perspective allows him to appreciate both Android and iOS ecosystems, focusing on performance, camera quality, and user experience over brand loyalty.
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