This makes sense, smartphones have become commoditized, even mid-range devices have been good enough since 2020 or so. Even the camera advantage that flagships used to have isn’t that big of a deal these days.
To be faaaiirr ROG phones had lots of unique features. Dual USB, shoulder buttons, active cooling, high refresh screens years before competition… but they’re also priced higher than mainstream flagships which isn’t a great spot to be.
If I had to guess, part of the problem is probably “bigger” hardware moving into their space.
Like, phones have a lot of limitations for playing “heavyweight”, PC-style games:
Small battery.
Small screen.
Limited ability to dissipate heat.
Really limited space and the hardware tradeoffs that come with that.
Touchscreen controls, even with accelerometer, aren’t ideal for a lot of games, especially PC or console ports.
For a lot of those, if you can manage to lug a laptop with you, you’re probably better off.
Then you have stuff like the Steam Deck and a bunch of similar larger-than-phone game-oriented platforms show up, and that eats even further into your market. Yeah, okay, a ROG Phone is smaller and lighter than a Steam Deck, but if you’re trying to deal with touchscreen controls by lugging along external control stuff, then you’re sacrificing some of that mobility:
I mean, I’m sure that there’s still a niche for heavyweight-game phone gaming, but it’s gonna have other parties eating away at the edges, narrowing it. You gotta want to play heavyweight games, not be willing to use larger-than-phone hardware, but spend a substantial amount of money on your phone (especially given the short EOL on the ROG phone) to have that ability. My guess is that some people who won’t use other hardware for gaming is because they have a phone and are price-sensitive enough to not want to get additional hardware platforms to just play games, so “users willing to spend a high premium on phone hardware to be able to game” may be a poor match to that market.
This makes sense, smartphones have become commoditized, even mid-range devices have been good enough since 2020 or so. Even the camera advantage that flagships used to have isn’t that big of a deal these days.
To be faaaiirr ROG phones had lots of unique features. Dual USB, shoulder buttons, active cooling, high refresh screens years before competition… but they’re also priced higher than mainstream flagships which isn’t a great spot to be.
If I had to guess, part of the problem is probably “bigger” hardware moving into their space.
Like, phones have a lot of limitations for playing “heavyweight”, PC-style games:
Small battery.
Small screen.
Limited ability to dissipate heat.
Really limited space and the hardware tradeoffs that come with that.
Touchscreen controls, even with accelerometer, aren’t ideal for a lot of games, especially PC or console ports.
For a lot of those, if you can manage to lug a laptop with you, you’re probably better off.
Then you have stuff like the Steam Deck and a bunch of similar larger-than-phone game-oriented platforms show up, and that eats even further into your market. Yeah, okay, a ROG Phone is smaller and lighter than a Steam Deck, but if you’re trying to deal with touchscreen controls by lugging along external control stuff, then you’re sacrificing some of that mobility:
https://www.androidcentral.com/phones/asus-rog-phone-9-pro-is-the-best-gaming-phone-and-its-here-in-the-us
I mean, I’m sure that there’s still a niche for heavyweight-game phone gaming, but it’s gonna have other parties eating away at the edges, narrowing it. You gotta want to play heavyweight games, not be willing to use larger-than-phone hardware, but spend a substantial amount of money on your phone (especially given the short EOL on the ROG phone) to have that ability. My guess is that some people who won’t use other hardware for gaming is because they have a phone and are price-sensitive enough to not want to get additional hardware platforms to just play games, so “users willing to spend a high premium on phone hardware to be able to game” may be a poor match to that market.
Agreed, PC handhelds have basically eaten the gamer phone market (and they arguably offer a lot more choice).
Not to mention flagships and upper-range phones will continue to get better and eat the lower end of the “gamer phone” market.