persuasion : The smartphone market is ordinarily a reasonably predictable one . It ’s a matured industry that has mostly settled into a routine , with most smartphones having a year in the spotlight before being exchange by fresh , shinier model .

However , every now and again we ’ll get an outlier that have the rules and rend them up like a kid excitedly unwrapping presents on Christmas Day . In 2024 , that outlier is Asus . More specifically , the Asus ROG Phone 8 andAsus ROG Phone 8 Prowhich made a surprisal entry atCES 2024earlier this calendar week .

That ’s particularly surprising as CES is n’t a show where you ’ll often see major flagship smartphone release . CES is usually more of a teaser exposition , taking situation in other January every twelvemonth to provide journalists and industry players with an idea of the kind of technical school to expect throughout the year and beyond .

Sure , you ’ll get smaller players like TCL and Nokia that tend to break US - focused smartphones at the show , but you wo n’t find boastful firebrand like Samsung , Google or Apple flaunting the latest smartphone tech .   If anything , the Barcelona - basedMWCis where you ’re more probable to see major phone releases .

With that said , it ’s even uncommon to see a CES smartphone launching with the product schedule for release weeks afterward – but that ’s precisely what Asus has done with the ROG Phone 8 appeal , which is up forpre - rescript nowahead of a 31 January release .

That ’s not the only reason it ’s so surprising to see the ROG Phone 8 serial publication at CES though ; it ’s also because of how too soon the introduction is compared to the common one - twelvemonth smartphone lifecycle .

That ’s because the ROG Phone 8 series ’ predecessor , theROG Phone 7 ingathering , only debuted in April 2023 . That have in mind that the ROG Phone 7 serial only got eight calendar month in the public eye before being usurped by newer models – that ’s almost unheard of in the current tech landscape painting .

hearken back to my earlier doctrine of analogy , that ’d be the combining weight of the kid getting present tense at Christmas and then get another clump of Christmas presents in August . That ’s great for the nipper ( or us , the consumers ) , but it ca n’t be financially viable for the parents ( in this case , Asus ) .

That ’s specially dependable as interest in the ROG Phone 7 collection will essentially cease with the release of the newer models .

Could it be a meaningful shift to the ROG Phone ’s release agenda to assure it ’s one of the first to get that year ’s new flagship chipset ? That would make sense for a gaming phone where the good execution potential is essential . Or is this turn of events because of the ROG Phone 7 gross revenue being less than Asus had hoped for ?

It ’s belike we ’ll never bed for certain , but it ’ll be interesting to see how the ROG Phone outlet docket develops with this year ’s pivot man to utilise CES .