Review Verdict: The ASUS ROG Phone 6D Ultimate is made for hardcore gamers in the Philippines with the incredible performance the Dimensity 9000+ has to offer. However, we’re wary of its pricing and is a direct competitor to the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 version of the ROG Phone 6. 

Pros

• Well-designed internals for thermal management
• Potentially be able to perform better than its Snapdragon sibling

Cons

• Will probably be as expensive as its brother
• MediaTek chips are traditionally not great as far as battery life goes

 

ASUS ROG Phone 6D Ultimate Review Philippines Specs:

• Dimensity 9000+ processor
• 16GB LPDDR5 RAM
• 512GB UFS 3.1 storage
• 6.78-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display, 165hz refresh rate, 1ms response rate, 720hz touch sampling rate, 10-bit color
• ROG Vision rear display
• 50-megapixel f/1.8 IMX 766 main camera with PDAF, 5-megapixel f/2.4 macro camera, 13-megapixel f/2.4 ultra-wide-angle camera
• 12-megapixel IMX 663 selfie camera
• 4G, LTE, 5G
• WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2
• Stereo speakers, in-display fingerprint scanner, IPx4 Rating
• 6000mAh battery
• 65w wired charging
• Android 12, ROG UI

Following the unveiling of the ROG Phone 6 series, we were wondering why ASUS did not announce an Ultimate model of its flagship gaming phone. It turns out that ASUS has a “one more thing” announcement with the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate. As the top-end variant of the series, the ROG Phone 6D trades the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 for a Dimensity 9000+ processor and gets an updated internal design for better cooling. Today we got a review sample of the device, and while we still have a few days to go before we tell you what we think of it in our full gaming review, we can at least kick the tires and check out what’s different with it.

Unboxing and Packaging Contents

Like its Snapdragon-powered siblings, the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate comes in a space-inspired cylindrical box–though this time, the box is dressed in black. It also opens like a fighter jet cockpit, revealing the phone immediately.

Inside the box, you get the Aeroactive Cooler, a 65w charging brick, a braided USB-C cable, and a protective exoskeleton case.

Design

The ROG Phone 6D looks similar to the ROG Phone 6 Pro down to the ROG Vision display and only has one key difference with the matte plastic covering on top of the rear display. That area houses a vent–a feature unique to the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate–that opens electronically to further dissipate warm air in order to keep the phone as cool as possible under heavy loads.

Save for that one key difference (and the dark gray color of the back panel), the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate keeps its trademark gamer aesthetic. You still get two USB-C ports, along with a headphone jack at the bottom and the same placement for the power and volume rocker. Being a gaming phone, you also get Air Triggers on the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate–and you can add more buttons by attaching the Aeroactive Cooler. As far as we know, all the accessories that plug into the ROG Phone 6 will work with the 6D.

Display and speakers

The ROG Phone 6D Ultimate has the same display as its Snapdragon sibling: a 6.78-inch 165hz AMOLED with a 720Hz touch sampling rate and other goodies like 1ms response rate, Widevine L1, and support for 10-bit color.

Echoing our sentiments with the ROG Phone 6 Pro’s display, you are getting a really good display on the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate that’s great for both games and consuming content. The same can be said from its stereo speakers, as its 5-magnet, 12×16 Super Linear Speakers and Cirrus Logic CS35L45 amplifiers deliver plenty of detail regardless of what kind of audio we throw at it.

Cameras

Like the ROG Phone 6 Pro, you also get a triple rear camera setup that consists of a 50-megapixel IMX766 main camera, a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 5-megapixel macro camera. Selfies are taken care of by the same 12-megapixel IMX663 sensor.

Just like our sentiments with the display and speakers, the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate’s camera performance does not differ that much from its Snapdragon sibling. Camera performance on the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate is good, though it’s not at par with similarly-priced premium flagship phones.

After all, one buys phones like the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate primarily for gaming, and camera performance almost always is not a priority. This is also seen with its video capabilities, as the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate caps off at 4K60 due to the limitations of the Dimensity 9000+ in that department.

 

Internals and Battery Life

The main star of the show of the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate is its use of a Dimensity 9000+ processor. While its RAM tops out at “just” 16GB (the ROG Phone 6 Pro has 18GB RAM), the jury is still out if the loss of 2GB will negatively affect performance.

The Dimensity 9000+ has plenty of potential as it has a higher headroom for overclocking, and the redesigned cooling system allows the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate to perform better than its Snapdragon sibling, at least on paper.

While we can’t share specific benchmarks yet, it’s capable of playing the new MMORPG Tower of Fantasy on 90FPS mode, and from what we could see the phone handled it beautifully.

The ROG Phone 6D Ultimate also has the same 6000mAh battery as its older sibling, and it’ll be interesting to see how it fares in our battery test once we take the phone through our PCMark Battery drain test. MediaTek chips have traditionally suffered from lower battery efficiency compared to their Qualcomm-based competitors, and we’re curious to see if that’s still true with the latest chip. The phone has a 65w charger that you can also use to charge other devices like laptops.

Wrap-up and Conclusions

The ROG Phone 6D ultimate has the potential of one-upping its Snapdragon sibling, though we still have to fully review the phone’s performance and compare it to the SD-powered model.

ASUS ROG Phone 6D Ultimate Review Philippines Price

We don’t know the official price of the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate as of writing this review, but we will keep you updated once ASUS reveals it in the coming days.