Asus ROG Phone 5 benchmarks just leaked — and it's bad news for the Galaxy S21

Asus ROG Phone 3
(Image credit: Asus)

New benchmarks for the Asus ROG Phone 5 show that it could become the most powerful Android phone yet.

While the Samsung Galaxy S21 is already a high-performance phone, the figures that were just spotted on the Geekbench 5 benchmark tool leaderboards show that Asus stands to beat it. And all thanks to an insane amount of RAM.

This unknown Asus device scored 1,131 on the single core portion of the test, and 3,729 on the multi-core portion. Those numbers beat the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, but lose to the iPhone 12 Pro Max. While Asus does make other phones, having a device score this high points to it being the new ROG Phone.

Geekbench 5 is also able to record some device specs. It's why we know this device has a monstrous 16GBs of RAM. That's an impressive amount of memory, and rivals the amount you can optionally spec on the S21 Ultra.

We've previously seen an 8GB version of the ROG Phone 5 (via GSMArena) in Geekbench, that naturally has less impressive scores of 1,081 and 3,584. It's therefore likely that Asus is offering two versions of this phone, likely in a bid to attract users with a more modest budget.

Other key details for the ROG Phone 5 are its new programmable rear lighting system, a 64MP main rear camera and a 6,000mAh battery. Expect the phone to be unveiled around summer of this year.  A U.S. retail release is likely to follow in the fall, with a price around $1,000.

The listing confirms that the phone uses a Snapdragon 888 chipset and Android 11. These are the latest and greatest when it comes to hardware and software respectively, and what we expected Asus to use for its new phone.

The existing Asus ROG Phone 3 is already our top pick for best gaming phones. By building on this success, Asus is sure to have another winner on its hands with the Asus ROG Phone 5.

Of also, if you were wondering where the Asus ROG Phone 4 is, it's likely the company will skip that name. This is because the number four has negative connotations in Asian cultures. 

Richard Priday
Assistant Phones Editor

Richard is based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, tablets, gaming, and whatever else people need advice on. Following on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he's also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he's likely thinking about how to brew the perfect cup of specialty coffee.