Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro review

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.