Introduction
Click here for our full and extensive review of the ROG Phone 5, which the ROG Phone 5s Pro is based on.
Earning the "top-dog" title in a niche as competitive as the gaming one is no small feat. Managing to actually do that consistently across four generations of smartphones seems almost impossible. Yet, despite some turmoil along the way and a few polarizing decisions in the latest ROG Phone 5, we still believe Asus is the only one out there that can claim this monumental achievement.
The ROG Phone 5 and its accessory ecosystem, shrinking as it might be, arguably still offers the most comprehensive, feature-rich and flushed-out mobile gaming experience out there.
Maintaining these credentials naturally requires keeping up with the latest and greatest hardware. For better or worse, running the best possible chips currently out there kind of comes with the territory.
Hence, the ROG Phone 5s and 5s Pro are now arriving on the scene with the "meager" Snapdragon 888 swapped-out for the Snapdragon 888+, as well as a few other changes here and there, which we will get to in a bit.
But, why would such a change possibly be "for the worse"? Well, the Snapdragon 888 already has a bad rep for running quite hot and siphoning plenty of power. The Snapdragon 888+ takes all of that and, among other things, bumps up the maximum frequency of the Prime Kryo 680 CPU core from 2.84 GHz up to 3.0 GHz. With that, it inevitably introduces more heat and more battery drain.
And more heat and more battery drain are not exactly ideal in a system that already has a fixed battery capacity and even crucially - the same unchanged closed, passively-cooled setup.
Left to right: ROG Phone 5, ROG Phone 5 Ultimate, ROG Phone 5s Pro
The main question we are tasked with answering now is pretty clear - how much extra performance, if any does the Snapdragon 888+ offer over its vanilla sibling in this particular beefed-up Asus design and how much worse, if at all, is the thermal throttling and heat situation and potentially battery life. Since the ROG Phone 5S also claims some touch input latency improvements, we also have to test whether any other display characteristics have been altered.
What's new
Let's break this down since things with the current ROG lineup are a bit confusing. The original ROG Phone 5 lineup has three models - the vanilla comes in 8GB/128GB, 12GB/256GB, and 16GB/256GB configurations depending on the region. And the Pro and the Ultimate editions add some design changes and even more souped-up storage versions.
Enter the new vanilla ROG Phone 5s pair. Both devices swap the Snapdragon 888 for an 888+ and offer upgraded, industry-leading 360Hz touch sampling rates on their displays.
The vanilla ROG Phone 5s is based on the vanilla ROG Phone 5, so it has an RGB logo on the back and skips on the PMOLED ROG vision display and the extra rear touch inputs that the Pro and Ultimate editions used to have.
This vanilla ROG Phone 5s also comes in the same RAM and storage configurations as its predecessor, up to 16GB/256GB. Curiously, it can only be had in a Storm White color, which was previously a ROG Phone 5 Ultimate exclusive.
Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro specs at a glance:
- Body: 172.8x77.3x9.9mm, 238g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass Victus), glass back (Gorilla Glass 3), aluminum frame; Pressure sensitive zones (Gaming triggers), Touch sensor; ROG Vision monochrome PMOLED display (on the back).
- Display: 6.78" AMOLED, 1B colors, 144Hz, 360Hz touch sampling rate, HDR10+, 800 nits (typ), 1200 nits (peak), 1080x2448px resolution, 20.4:9 aspect ratio, 395ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888+ 5G (5 nm): Octa-core (1x2.99 GHz Kryo 680 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 680 & 4x1.80 GHz Kryo 680); Adreno 660.
- Memory: 512GB 18GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
- OS/Software: Android 11, ROG UI.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 64 MP, f/1.8, 26mm, 1/1.73", 0.8µm, PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 13 MP, f/2.4, 11mm, 125-degree; Macro: 5 MP, f/2.0.
- Front camera: 24 MP, f/2.5, 27mm (wide), 0.9µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 8K@30fps, 4K@30/60/120fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps, 720p@480fps; gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 6000mAh; Fast charging 65W, 70% in 30 min, 100% in 52 min (advertised), Reverse charging 10W, Power Delivery 3.0, Quick Charge 5.
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); NFC; 3.5mm jack.
The ROG Phone 5s Pro, which we have for review, comes in the top-of-the-shelf 18GB/512GB configuration and, just like its Pro predecessor, it has both the extra full-color PMOLED panel on the back, as well as the rear touch inputs.
The 5s Pro also ships with the AeroActive Cooler 5 accessory in the box, just like its Pro predecessor. In practical terms, the ROG Phone 5s Pro sort of takes the place of the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate in terms of features and memory config in the current state of the lineup.
As far as we understand, Asus intends to keep selling the available stock of the older models, and when that is depleted, just continue offering only the 5s variants going forward.
To reiterate - there are no real design changes to note with the new ROG Phone 5s pair. You can reference our full and extensive review for info on that end, as well as the accessory ecosystem. You can also check out our hands-on review of the ROG Phone 5s Pro, for a rundown of its familiar package and design.
As for the ROG Phone 5s Pro we have in our hands, our work is pretty much cut out for us - a new chipset means new benchmarks, battery life tests and thermal throttling examination. Also, a potentially new or just upgraded panel requires a new set of display tests. So, let's dive in.
6.78", 144Hz AMOLED display with faster 360Hz touch sampling
One of the few upgrades the ROG Phone 5s Pro offers over the vanilla set of models is the 360Hz touch sampling rate on the touchscreen, up from 300Hz. As per Asus' numbers, that brings down touch latency from 24.3ms to 24ms.
Unfortunately, we have no real way of testing how that may translate to actual input latency. That being said, we have no reason to question the advertised numbers.
Our best guess is that this particular upgrade was motivated by the desire to keep up with competitors in pure numbers and PR terms. Then again, more is better is probably a valid logic too. In any case, we were compelled to test if anything else has changed with the display on the ROG Phone 5s Pro.
To our surprise, the ROG Phone 5s Pro managed to best the maximum brightness in our testing, compared to the vanilla ROG Phone 5. The difference is not major, but still big enough to not fall within the margin of error. Perhaps Asus is using a different panel, or perhaps it is down to unit-to-unit difference. Either way, we'll take the nice little bump.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0 | 1023 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 943 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 922 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 840 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 822 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 807 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 806 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 719 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 716 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 694 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 650 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 640 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 634 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 626 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 542 | ∞ | |
| 0.38 | 537 | 1413:1 | |
| 0 | 514 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 511 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 511 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 498 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 492 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 489 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 485 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 479 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 464 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 458 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 458 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 443 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 437 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 433 | ∞ | |
| 0.301 | 429 | 1425:1 | |
Color accuracy on our ROG Phone 5s Pro unit offers another hint that Asus might be using a different panel. Not necessarily for the better, this time around, though. The original promise with the release of the ROG Phone 5 was 111% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, 150.89% of sRGB and an average deltaE 2000 of less than 1. With every single unit factory calibrated for the best possible results.
Measuring the color accuracy of the ROG Phone 5s Pro leads us to believe that Asus is still definitely using great panels with additional calibration. However, we didn't manage to get deltaE value as low as the advertised value of 1.
In the Standard display mode, intended to target the sRGB color space, the ROG Phone 5s Pro did a bit worse than its vanilla sibling. Not by much, but we did end up having to use the included temperature slider to get to deltaE values that can be considered color-accurate.
Display color settings
Beyond Standard mode, the ROG Phone 5 also has a trio of other color presets - Cinema, which slightly boosts some of the main color channels, but retains a rather subdued look, Default, which is probably the best choice for daily use, since it delivers that familiar OLED "punch" all around. And then there is Natural, which seems to make everything a bit redder and hotter, but also boosts the colder blue and similar channels a bit as well, making for a particular look we don't really appreciate. But, it's there if you want it.
You can also do a Custom color profile, which allows you to adjust red, green and blue channels independently.
Just as a reminder, the ROG Phone 5s Pro has a 10-bit panel, with HDR10+ support, as well as the highest Widevine L1 certification, which makes it perfect for streaming and consuming HDR content.
The high refresh rate handling on offer here is among the most flexible in the industry. You get fixed 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz and 144Hz toggles that lock the UI and most apps to said refresh rate, as well as an Auto option, which tends to favor 120Hz for high refresh rate situations and 60Hz for the rest. You can read more about it and other neat options Asus offers, like per-app refresh rate settings in our full ROG Phone 5 review.
Battery life and charging
The ROG Phone 5s Pro has the same 6,000 mAh battery capacity as its sibling. Nothing has changed in that department.
The particulars regarding the battery setup are still quite interesting, though. Asus actually decided to split the battery up in two for the ROG Phone 5 line, with 3,000 mAh and 3,000 mAh flanking the central-mounted main PCB of the phone. Each pack also uses MMT (Middle Middle Tab) technology, which has enabled the charging rate increase from 30W in the previous generation up to the 65W the ROG Phone 5 can do.
30min charging test (from 0%)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Black Shark 4
100% - Realme GT Master
100% - Realme GT Explorer Master
96% - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
89% - Oppo Reno5 5G
87% - Realme GT 5G (65W)
87% - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
71% - Asus ROG Phone 5
70% - nubia Red Magic 6
63% - nubia Red Magic 6R
62% - Realme X7 Max 5G
60% - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra (01/2021 retest)
57% - Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
55% - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
54% - Samsung Galaxy A72
54% - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
50% - Asus ROG Phone 3
43%
Time to full charge (from 0%)
Lower is better
- Xiaomi Black Shark 4
0:19h - Realme GT Master
0:30h - Realme GT Explorer Master
0:33h - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
0:37h - Realme GT 5G (65W)
0:39h - Oppo Reno5 5G
0:40h - nubia Red Magic 6R
0:58h - Realme X7 Max 5G
1:00h - nubia Red Magic 6
1:01h - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
1:03h - Asus ROG Phone 5
1:05h - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
1:11h - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra (01/2021 retest)
1:13h - Samsung Galaxy A72
1:15h - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
1:21h - Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
1:32h - Asus ROG Phone
1:40h - Asus ROG Phone 3
1:50h
You can get more battery tech and setup details in the battery section of our extensive vanilla ROG Phone 5 review.
Even though nothing has changed regarding the actual battery setup or the charging capabilities, the ROG Phone 5s pair still have a slightly different Snapdragon 888+ chipset under the hood, which necessitates a new set of battery tests.
We are happy to say that despite some minor variations and differences in numbers here and there, the ROG Phone 5s Pro basically managed an identical endurance rating to the vanilla ROG Phone 5.
Frankly, we expected about as much since the Snapdragon 888 and 888+ still share the same modem setup and manufacturing process, among other things. Even so, it is worth noting that for some reason, the ROG Phone 5s Pro and its Snapdragon 888+ seemed to consistently score slightly less in both our call and standby tests. Not by much, by any means and potentially within the margin of error. On the flip side, the newer ROG Phone 5s Pro model seemed to fare a bit better in the on-screen video and web browsing tests by just enough to bring the total endurance number back in line.
We made sure to test with the display locked at 60Hz as well and got an expected and consistent boost in both video and web numbers. Though, not a substantial one. We decided to publish the two separate scorecards instead of one combined one with 144Hz web browsing and 60Hz video playback, which we would normally do since the automatic refresh rate handling here isn't as neat and tidy for that to be applicable. You can read more about it here, but typically the algorithm tends to stick to 120Hz while interacting with the phone and then often, but not always, drops down to 60Hz for things like video playback.
Long story short - the ROG Phone 5s Pro, in practical terms, has the same solid battery endurance as its predecessor, despite the chipset swap. The actual number you can expect to get, depending on your usage, will likely sit somewhere between the 144Hz and 60Hz figures we published.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. More details can be found here.
Video test carried out in 60Hz refresh rate mode. Web browsing test done at the display's highest refresh rate whenever possible. Refer to the respective reviews for specifics. To adjust the endurance rating formula to match your own usage patterns check out our all-time battery test results chart where you can also find all phones we've tested.
Synthetic benchmarks and thermal-throttling
Let's get down to the nitty-gritty of the new Snapdragon 888+ chipset. It is essentially the same as the vanilla Snapdragon 888, with a total of eight Kryo 680 CPU cores and an Adreno 660 GPU, built on a 5nm process. That hasn't really changed at all.
Most of the cores are set up the same in the Snapdragon 888+ as well. That includes the "small" four Kryo 680 cores that go up to 1.8 GHz, as well as the three "big" ones, clocked at up to 2.42 GHz.
The only difference in CPU configuration is with the single "prime" core, which can go up to 3.0 GHz on the Snapdragon 888+, while it is limited to 2.84 GHz on the vanilla Snapdragon 888. Beyond that, the newer chip also gets a more performant version of the Hexagon 780 DSP, which could potentially unlock more advanced camera features, but its extra potential isn't being leveraged by Asus. And that sums up the actual differences between the chips.
Beyond that, both get the same quad-channel LPDDR5 memory controller and integrated FastConnect 6900 and X60 modems.
Not a major upgrade by any means and one that basically amounts to a slightly higher-clocked prime CPU core. However, a higher clock also means more power draw and more heat output. There is nothing different about the physical design or the cooling setup in the ROG Phone 5s Pro. That means that the existing thermal solution now has to handle even more heat. A daunting task, even for the likes of the ROG Phone 5, which is specifically tuned to deliver the best possible performance, often disregarding battery life and hand comfort in the process.
To sum up, we expect to potentially see a slight bump on single-threaded CPU performance from the Snapdragon 888+, possibly at the expense of higher heat and worse battery life and essentially the same GPU performance. Let's start with some GeekBench runs.
GeekBench 4.4 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode+ FAN)
14536 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode + FAN)
14278 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
14099 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
13935 - Asus ROG Phone 5
13917 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
13866 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
13770 - Realme X7 Max 5G
13105 - Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
13057 - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
12719
GeekBench 4.4 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode + FAN)
5248 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
5227 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
5105 - Asus ROG Phone 5
5034 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode+ FAN)
5029 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
5004 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
4961 - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
4886 - Realme X7 Max 5G
4594 - Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
4304
These paint an interesting, even if mostly expected picture. First off, one of the most important things to note here is the small, overall difference in numbers between the regular ROG Phone 5, the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate and the new ROG Phone 5s Pro in their respective performance and available modes, with and without the AeroActive cooler attachment. The RAW, maximum, theoretical, burst CPU performance variances are so small, in fact, that we can say with confidence that they will not have an actual effect on real-world performance. Sustained performance and thermal throttling will be much more important on that front.
Any passively-cooled system, like most smartphones, will eventually succumb to heat accumulation and reach a point at which heat cannot be dissipated fast enough, and the performance output of the various components needs to be lowered, usually by lowering their current clock speeds. This is the essence of thermal throttling, and it plays a big role in sustained performance.
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
4240 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode+ FAN)
3745 - Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate (X Mode+ FAN)
3729 - Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate
3728 - Asus ROG Phone 5
3710 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
3709 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode + FAN)
3672 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
3667 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
3521 - Sony Xperia 1 III
3515 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
3316 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
3244 - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
3239 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
3191 - Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
2621 - Realme X7 Max 5G
2614
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
1606 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode + FAN)
1175 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
1175 - Sony Xperia 1 III
1130 - Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate (X Mode+ FAN)
1129 - Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate
1128 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode+ FAN)
1127 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
1126 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
1121 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
1117 - Asus ROG Phone 5
1110 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
1109 - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
1095 - Realme X7 Max 5G
967 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
926 - Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
813
Before we get to examining the burst max CPU performance numbers, we can clearly see that, as expected, the Snapdragon 888+ does marginally better in single-threaded loads, thanks to its higher max prime core clock.
In a bit of a less straightforward development, however, the new ROG Phone 5s Pro tends to score a bit lower, on average, than its Snapdragon 888-equipped predecessor in multi-core scenarios.
With an all-core CPU load, the Snapdragon 888+ runs hotter, which leaves less thermal and power allotment to the rest of the CPU cores, which are in turn thermally throttled, running at lower frequencies than the vanilla Snapdragon 888, leading to lower all-core commutative performance.
Again, we are dealing with entirely synthetic and loads here since no game is feasibly going to be pinning all of your CPU cores to 100%. Still, it is a great way to illustrate the effects of thermal and power constraints on a mobile chip.
AnTuTu 8
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate (X Mode+ FAN)
745994 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode + FAN)
743021 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
734067 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode+ FAN)
718864 - Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate
708579 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
708531 - Asus ROG Phone 5
708216 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
688720 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
657273 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
656467 - Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
638584 - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
635918 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
630726 - Sony Xperia 1 III
607423 - Realme X7 Max 5G
605819 - Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
524692
AnTuTu 9
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode + FAN)
844901 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
794016 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
761334 - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
752218 - Sony Xperia 1 III
749132 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
735588 - Realme X7 Max 5G
680671
Anyway, moving on to more compound benchmarks like AnTuTu, we can get a better overall performance profile picture. Once again, the variances between the different ROG Phone 5 models and their modes and cooling configuration are small yet notable. AnTuTu takes into account things like memory speed and does also have a nice variety of tests, including GPU ones.
Once again, we see the older ROG Phone 5 Ultimate and its vanilla Snapdragon 888 chipset outpace the newer models ever so slightly, likely due to higher, theoretical commutative CPU performance.
Before we move on to GPU tests, where we expect a lot less variance with the new Snapdragon 888+ chip, since it has the exact same GPU on board, let's talk thermal-throttling for a bit.
First, of course, you can design the thermal solution on a hardware level to handle heat dissipation better. The ROG Phone 5 is a champ on that front. It has its chipset and most other heat-generating components positioned in the middle of the phone, which means the entire metal frame of the phone can be used to dissipate heat more effectively and evenly.
Plus, the AeroActive Cooler 5 accessory can then be positioned perfectly over the main hear source on the back of the phone to cool it effectively.
And, of course, Asus has a massive 3D Vapor Chamber directly cooling the chipset passively and a large graphite sheet under the pack panel to try and dissipate heat even faster.
In practical terms, this all adds up to an incredibly hot ROG Phone 5/5s while under load. So much so that it is not only unpleasant to hold, but we were even kind of afraid to leave it on a couch, fearing damage or even fire. It is one of the hottest phones to touch, and this is entirely deliberate, the logic being that for the best possible performance for the longest possible time, the heat has to go out, no matter the user's comfort.
Just as a reminder, we were essentially torture-testing the ROG Phone 5s Pro with hour-long max CPU load sessions to get to a point where we feared for the surface underneath it. Even so, the phone can also get uncomfortably toasty with regular gaming, a bit more so, in fact, that even its vanilla ROG Phone 5 sibling, which was already a champ in this regard.
CPU Throttling Test: ROG Phone 5s Pro Dynamic mode
This is kind of the other way you can manage heat on a smartphone - by tuning its performance and thermal curve. This is a complicated process, and the behavior is typically tuned a bit differently depending on the performance "mode" you chose on your device.
This is very much the case with the ROG Phone 5s, with the default Dynamic mode implementing a more conservative curve that electively throttles down CPU performance a lot sooner than X Mode, which tries to keep clocks as high as possible for as long as possible.
CPU Throttling Test: ROG Phone 5s Pro X Mode
In order to test this vital thermal-handling and throttling behavior, we turned to the excellent CPU Throttling Test app, which again is essentially a torture test with an all-core load. We ran it for 60 minutes to really push the cooling solution to the limits of its heat absorption and dissipation. And did so with the ROG Phone 5s Pro in its Default Dynamic mode, as well as X Mode and X Mode+, which is only available with the AeroActive Cooler 5 accessory attached and running.
CPU Throttling Test: ROG Phone 5s Pro X Mode+ with AeroActive Cooler 5
The differences in behavior are evident. The thing you ideally want to see with these particular graphs are gentle and gradual slopes down, which the ROG Phone 5s Pro does manage with the help of its AeroActive Cooler 5 accessory.
Naturally, you want to see the highest possible percent of performance retained at the end of each run too, but much more important than that is the lack of jarring and sudden drops down in performance. Those get marked in red on the graph and are bad, since these typically manifest theselves as in-game stutters. Thankfully, there is not of that on the ROG Phone 5s, even with this sort of unrealistic all-core torture test, though instead of a gradual slope, we see a clear, elective drop down to a lower clock mode in both Dynamic and regular X Mode. This is a good tactic as well - know your limits and drop down preemptively to avoid potential uncontrollable, sudden drops later and keep a higher average performance for as long as possible. We expected nothing less of the ROG phone 5s.
However, we would be remiss if we didn't bring up the same set of CPU Throttling Test runs originally done on our vanilla ROG Phone 5 unit for its review, with the same settings and across all performance modes.
ROG Phone 5 thermal throttling: Dynamic Mode
Typically, we don't read too much into the "GIPS" measurement numbers provided by this particular app, since they are not a standard measure of performance in any way. In this particular setup, however, they allow us to compare the performance dips between the vanilla ROG Phone 5 and the new ROG Phone 5s Pro. And we aren't necessarily going to be looking at the exact value either, but rather the averages and percentage of retained performance comparatively.
We can see that even in its default and more conservative Dynamic mode, the ROG Phone 5s Pro is clearly struggling to manage the Snapdragon 888+ more than the older ROG Phone 5 is with the vanilla Snapdragon 888, resulting in lower average performance and less retained performance overall.
ROG Phone 5 thermal throttling: X Mode
However, the maximum achieved burst performance, just like with the earlier GeekBench runs, is notably higher on the Snapdragon 888+ than on the Snapdragon 888. The sustained and average performance over time is clearly better on the vanilla Snapdragon 888.
ROG Phone 5 thermal throttling: X Mode+ with AeroActive Cooler 5
This is true with X Mode, with only X Mode+ with the AeroActive Cooler 5 blasting at max speed and still a very unpleasant to hold ROG Phone 5s Pro managing to best the vanilla ROG Phone 5.
Mind you, the vanilla ROG Phone 5 is still one of the select few devices we have ever tested that has managed to pass the CPU Throttling Test with a "No CPU thermal throttling detected" score. Naturally, with its active cooling solution working. The ROG Phone 5s Pro did not manage to match that achievement and throttled even in this setup - with the fan attached.
This definitely tells us that even the ROG Phone - one of the most thermally advanced phones we have ever encountered - is struggling to keep the Snapdragon 888+ properly cooled to get the most out of its theoretical performance in a sustained test.
Whether or not that is important, however, is a whole other, viable discussion to have. Like we said, no game is feasibly going to pin all of your CPU cores to the max for multiple minutes at a time. Heat will inevitably build up over time with regular gaming, but it will take a lot longer than in these stress tests. So the benefit of the Snapdragon 888+ in daily use will be the higher burst performance.
The real question would be whether you will be okay to live with higher surface temperature on the ROG Phone 5s Pro with prolonged gaming sessions.
Just to finish the benchmark session off, we have some GPU test runs to go over as well. The Snapdragon 888 and the 888+ use the same Adreno 660 GPU, clocked at an identical 840MHz. Hence, there is no reason to expect any difference in terms of GPU performance.
GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
194 - Asus ROG Phone 5
174 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
174 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
173 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode+ FAN)
172 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode + FAN)
166 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
166 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
164 - Sony Xperia 1 III
150 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
144 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
142 - Realme X7 Max 5G
129 - Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
123 - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
100
GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5
137 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
137 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode+ FAN)
137 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode + FAN)
130 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
128 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
128 - Realme X7 Max 5G
107 - Sony Xperia 1 III
98 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
96 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
86 - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
64 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
60 - Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
60 - Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
59
That being said, we did manage to detect some theoretical differences, particularly with lower-end OpenGL 3.0 runs and especially in off-screen tests. This is likely a case in which the particular GPU test is CPU-bound, rather than GPU-bound. Either that, or the higher overall heat of the Snapdragon 888+ CPU cores forces the GPU to clock a bit lower. Then again, the observable variances could be down to something else, like poor optimization on this particular and slightly older test run for higher frame rates. In any case, the differences are not major.
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
135 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
123 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode+ FAN)
123 - Asus ROG Phone 5
122 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode + FAN)
120 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
120 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
120 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
116 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
113 - Sony Xperia 1 III
111 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
109 - Realme X7 Max 5G
86 - Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
81 - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
71
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode+ FAN)
104 - Asus ROG Phone 5
103 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
103 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
103 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode + FAN)
102 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
102 - Sony Xperia 1 III
91 - Realme X7 Max 5G
79 - Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
61 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
60 - Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
60 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
58 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
55 - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
40
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
78 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
72 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode+ FAN)
72 - Asus ROG Phone 5
71 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode + FAN)
71 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
71 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
70 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
70 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
69 - Sony Xperia 1 III
68 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
66 - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
55 - Realme X7 Max 5G
50 - Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
48
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5
59 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
59 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
59 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode+ FAN)
58 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode + FAN)
58 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
58 - Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
55 - Sony Xperia 1 III
54 - Realme X7 Max 5G
44 - Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
42 - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
38 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
34 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
33 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
33
The ROG Phone 5 and 5s Pro start scoring a lot closer as the intensity of the tests goes up, as well, which is good to see.
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5
43 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
43 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode+ FAN)
43 - Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate (X Mode+ FAN)
43 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode + FAN)
42 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
42 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
42 - Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
42 - Realme X7 Max 5G
31 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
25 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
25 - Sony Xperia 1 III
24 - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
18
GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate (X Mode+ FAN)
41 - Asus ROG Phone 5
40 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
40 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode+ FAN)
40 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
40 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode + FAN)
39 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
39 - Sony Xperia 1 III
36 - Realme X7 Max 5G
33 - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
25 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
23 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
23
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
40 - Asus ROG Phone 5
32 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
32 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode+ FAN)
32 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode + FAN)
31 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
31 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
31 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
29 - Sony Xperia 1 III
28 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
25 - Realme X7 Max 5G
20 - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
19
GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5
28 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
28 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode+ FAN)
28 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode + FAN)
28 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
28 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
28 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
27 - Sony Xperia 1 III
27 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
25 - Realme X7 Max 5G
22 - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
20
Finally, we made sure to run 3dMark on the ROG Phone 5s Pro. The phone was too powerful and maxed out the Sling Shot Extreme runs, so we instead moved on to Wild Life. Interestingly enough, the ROG Phone 5s Pro fell slightly behind the vanilla ROG Phone 5 in this test, as well. Not by much, but consistently and measurably. We made sure to re-test and verify the numbers multiple times.
3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Sony Xperia 1 III
5807 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode+ FAN)
5763 - Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate (X Mode+ FAN)
5761 - Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate
5745 - Asus ROG Phone 5
5744 - Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
5740 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
5676 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode + FAN)
5669 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro (X Mode)
5659 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
5653 - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
5635 - Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
5556 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
5547 - Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
4236 - Realme X7 Max 5G
4216
Yet again, we can't quite explain the mechanics under the lower raw performance, but regardless of what causes it, the variances are so small that they do not translate to real world performance differences.
Final thoughts
Click here for our full and extensive review of the ROG Phone 5, which the ROG Phone 5s Pro is based on.
As far as we currently know, Asus plans for the ROG Phone 5s and 5s Pro to eventually be sold instead of the vanilla ROG 5 and 5 Pro. Presumably for the same MSRP.
With the newly bumped-up memory and storage tiers, we aren't sure an Ultimate is even necessary anymore. What we would ideally like to see is Asus simplify their lineup a bit more since, between all of the odd letter variants and now the "s" ones as well, the situation is quite confusing at the moment. But that's kind of a side note rather than a major complaint.
What Asus set out to do with the ROG Phone 5s and 5s Pro is to refresh the hardware to keep it not only relevant, but hang on to the "top dog" gaming title and status. Of course, a debatable classification, but one we still feel is well-deserved and one that the ROG Phone 5 would have probably lost if it didn't jump on the newest Snapdragon 888+ chipset.
That's just a "rat-race" reality most gaming hardware has to deal with. It's part of the reason why gaming laptops, for instance, often tend to come with the highest-tier processor available, even when paired with a mid-range GPU. Our point being - the quest for the latest and greatest hardware is not always and necessarily or solely motivated by a hunt for performance.
The reality is that the Snapdragon 888+ runs notably hotter than its vanilla sibling, so much so, in fact that even the ROG Phone 5 and its excellent, even arguably industry-leading cooling, both passive and active, struggle to keep it properly cooled while also getting the full benefit of its performance.
You do get notably better single-threaded max and burst performance in return, but not much in the way of actual, real-world extra performance where it matters - gaming.
In another reality check, the ROG Phone 5s heats up a bit quicker and gets a bit hotter than its vanilla sibling, which is already a very hot device. This, ultimately, makes it less comfortable to hold in prolonged gaming sessions. A hard truth, but one that is true once the dust settles and we look at the ROG Phone 5s and 5s Pro from a practical, real-life perspective.
All of this being said; honestly, we would probably go for the older device, given a direct choice between the vanilla ROG Phone 5 and the new ROG Phone 5s. However, we understand the justification for the switch to the Snapdragon 888+ and all things considered, we believe few could have pulled it off better than Asus.
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