ASUS ROG Phone 3 costs $1,699 in Australia and pre-orders are available now

The latest Android phone from ASUS, the ROG Phone 3, releases later this month on Monday, the 31st of August. If you like your smartphones like you like your gaming hardware, the ASUS ROG Phone 3 comes with flashy RGB lighting, a nifty 144Hz display with a 1ms response time, and even its own set of modular attachments, like a clip-on external cooling fan. The ASUS ROG Phone 3 will cost you $1,699 and pre-orders are available now through JB HI-FI and Harvey Norman.

It's the latest Android smartphone from the gaming hardware manufacturer ASUS. The ROG (Republic of Gamers) Phone 3 is the company's first 5G handset, and it boasts a suite of gaming-focused features, like air triggers that simulate the shoulder buttons of console controllers (e.g. L and R buttons), dual-front facing speakers, side-charging for wired mobile gaming, a huge 6,000mAh battery, and a flashy 6.59-inch  AMOLED display with 144Hz refresh rate with 1ms response.

On paper, the ROG Phone 3 puts other Android smartphones to shame (we're looking at you Note 20) but whether all that crammed in gaming tech makes it a worthy competitor for everyday smartphone use is yet to be seen. It's triple-lens camera array includes a Sony-manufactured 64MP wide-angle camera, a 13MP ultrawide camera, and a macro lens. We're excited to test it out and see if this Sony-ASUS partnership is strong enough to beat the smartphone giants at their own game.

Stay tuned for our ASUS ROG Phone 3 review over the coming weeks. In the meantime, here are the ROG Phone 3's technical specs for those interested.

At the time of writing, there are no telco partners offering the ASUS ROG Phone 3. This is nothing new. No ASUS handset has ever been offered by Australian telcos. Still, if you're after the ASUS ROG Phone 3, you're going to need a SIM-only plan. Here are the most popular available this month in Australia.