ROG Phone II Strix Edition, what’s different?

The ROG Phone II 128GB version’s official name is ROG Phone II Strix Edition. Just like the ROG Phone II Elite Edition and ROG Phone II Ultimate Edition correspond to the 512GB and 1TB storage variants, respectively. However given that the ROG Phone II Tencent Edition was quite a bit more inferior than the ROG Phone II officially offered in Malaysia previously, is the ROG Phone II Strix Edition the same case, or is it different?

Much better package

For the ROG Phone II Tencent Edition, users sacrificed the beautiful hexagonal box for a much simpler box. The ROG Phone II Strix Edition doesn’t have that drawback, and you get the same beautiful packaging as the more premium variants of the ROG Phone II.

You also get the 30W USB-C charger in the box along with the AeroActive cooler and Aero Case. That’s a great deal for those who are looking to up their gaming experience, as the AeroActive fan and Aero Case cost quite a sum individually.

Specifications difference?

The difference between the ROG Phone II Strix Edition and ROG Phone II Elite and Ultimate Editions go deeper than just the RAM and storage. Here’s the full breakdown of the specifications:

	ROG Phone II Ultimate/Elite Edition	ROG Phone II Strix Edition
CPU:	Snapdragon 855+, octa-core up to 2.96 GHz, 7nm FinFET	Snapdragon 855+, octa-core up to 2.96 GHz, 7nm FinFET
RAM:	12GB LPDDR4x	8GB LPDDR4x
Display:	6.59″ FHD+ AMOLED display, 120 Hz refresh rate 1ms response time, 10-bit HDR	6.59″ FHD+ AMOLED display, 120 Hz refresh rate 1ms response time, 10-bit HDR
Storage:	Ultimate Edition: 1TB UFS 3.0 Elite Edition: 512GB UFS 3.0	128GB UFS 3.0
Camera:	Main Camera(s) 48MP f/1.79 Sony IMX 586 + 13MP ultra-wide camera Selfie camera 24MP f/2.0 selfie camera	Main Camera(s) 48MP f/1.79 Sony IMX 586 + 13MP ultra-wide camera Selfie camera 24MP f/2.0 selfie camera
OS:	ROG UI (based on Android 9 Pie)	ROG UI (based on Android 9 Pie)
Connectivity:	LTE Band 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/18/19/20/26/28/29/32/ 34/38/39/40/41/46 /66 CA carrier aggregation LTE Cat 18 (DL up to 1.2 Gbps), 4×4 MIMO Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ad (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 60 GHz) Dual-band GPS Bluetooth 5.0	LTE Band 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/28/34/39/39/40/41 CA carrier aggregation LTE Cat 16 (DL up to 1.0 Gbps), 2×2 MIMO Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz) Dual-band GPS Bluetooth 5.0
SIM:	Dual SIM	Dual SIM
Battery:	Li-Po 6000 mAh (non-removable) 30W USB-C charging	Li-Po 6000 mAh (non-removable) 30W USB-C charging
Dimensions:	170.99 x 77.60 x 9.78 mm	170.99 x 77.60 x 9.78 mm
Weight:	240g	240g
Ingress protection:	N/A	N/A
Price:	Ultimate Edition: RM4499 Elite Edition: RM3499	RM2499

So there are some pretty major differences in the connectivity area, with the ROG Phone II Strix Edition offering less support for LTE bands and also lesser 2×2 MIMO which means less support for carrier aggregation, and the ROG Phone II Strix Edition does have a lower speed cap, with Cat16 instead of the Cat18 support on the superior models.

Design

The ROG Phone II Strix Edition is supposed to share the design of the ROG Phone II Tencent Edition, i.e. with a metal cutout ala the first ROG Phone, but according to the official information from ASUS Malaysia, there will be no difference in design between the ROG Phone II Strix Edition and the ROG Phone II Elite Edition.

The ROG Phone II Ultimate Edition gets a beautiful matte finish, but that’s a different matter altogether.

Which one should you get?

I would fully recommend the ROG Phone II Strix Edition, simply because its the best bang for your buck. As we enter 2020, the Snapdragon 865 smartphones will definitely blow the ROG Phone II’s Snapdragon 855+ out of the water, so there really is no point in getting a huge storage variant for it for “future proofing” sake. Also, there aren’t any mobile games that can even make full use of the 8GB RAM in the ROG Phone II Strix Edition, much less the 12GB RAM in the more premium editions.