Asus will reportedly launch the second edition of the ROG Phone in July

Asus and Tencent are gearing up to unveil the second edition of the ROG gaming phone. New reports suggest that a second ROG phone may debut as early as July.

A post spotted on Chinese social media website Weibo suggests the upcoming ROG phone will be optimised for gaming. While there is no exact release date, Asus seems to have partnered with Tencent for the release of its new gaming smartphone.

Both Asus and Tencent haven’t confirmed any details about the successor to the first ROG phone, but there are a few specs you can expect to see considering what the competition is offering.

Firstly, the next-gen ROG smartphone will run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC and can sport up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

The ROG phone was the first handset to feature a 90Hz OLED panel, and you should expect nothing less from the second edition of Asus’ gaming smartphone. Who knows, we may even get a 120Hz OLED display.

Asus will have to rework the camera and price on the new ROG phone as competition in the gaming smartphone market has heated up with stiff opposition from Vivo, Xiaomi and Nubia.

The first edition of the ROG phone debuted at $900; considering gaming smartphones from any of the competition don't exceed $500, Asus will have to strategically price its new device.

Asus also introduced several accessories with the first ROG smartphone, including an external fan to improve cooling. Asus is one of the few companies without a 5G handset, and since 5G and gaming tend to go hand-in-hand, it would make sense to see a 5G gaming phone.

The climate for gaming smartphones is definitely improving, and Vivo’s iQOO is a massive sign of that change. Asus will have to take a page out of the Chinese smartphone maker’s book if it wants to see the ROG phone succeed.