Asus ROG Phone 8 unboxing

This is the ROG Phone 8, the slightly lesser member of the just announced duo. What"s different is the customizable LEDs on the back, the fact that the 8 goes up to 16 GB of RAM (vs 24 GB on the Pro), and 512 GB of storage (1 TB on the Pro), as well as the retail package.

The ROG Phone 8 ships with a 30W charger (65W on the Pro), a case, and a USB cable. There"s no AeroActive Cooler X here, whereas the Pro has it in the box.

Beyond that, the Asus ROG Phone 8 has the same impressive specs sheet as the ROG Phone 8 Pro. You get the newest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, the same 6.78-inch 1080p display with either a 1-120Hz refresh rate or a 165Hz maximum refresh rate. The battery is also the same 5,500mAh unit and, like on the Pro, the Asus ROG Phone 8 has wireless charging - a first for the series.

Another first is waterproofing, and proper one too as evidenced by the IP68 certification.

Visually, the ROG Phone 8 differs from the Pro mainly at the rear. While the Pro is a black-only affair, the vanilla comes in both black and grey. The light on the back is a simple ROG logo that you can tune to breathe or flash in different colors, whereas the Pro gets a full-on AniMe VISION with 341 customizable mini-LEDs.

Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro on the left, 8 on the right

We"ll be reviewing both the ROG Phone 8 and Phone 8 Pro simultaneously - the two are just so similar it makes no sense to produce to run each test twice - stay tuned for our findings!