Republic of Gamers (ROG), an ASUS sub-brand dedicated to creating the world’s best gaming hardware and software, offers a complete line of innovative products known for performance and quality, including motherboards, graphics cards, laptops, desktops, monitors, audio equipment, routers and peripherals. ROG participates in and sponsors major international gaming events. In an interaction with Mobility Magazine,Dinesh Sharma, Business Head, Commercial PC and Smartphone, System Business Group, at ASUS India, shares the ASUS ROG brand outlook and about the response the recently launched ASUS ROG Phone 3 received from the market.
Q1. How did you position your recently launched ROG 3 phone in the Indian market?
Ans. The target audience for ROG phone 3 in India is the gamers as well as power users. This phone with cutting-edge technology has won the admiration of gamers and also tech enthusiasts. You can understand this well if you go through the reviews of several tech gurus and media.
Q2. What additional features have you added in this device?
Ans. In ROG Phone 3, we have added the new 865+ processor, upgraded the cooling system, the LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage, 144 Hz 25 MS HDR10 AMOLED display, the upgraded 7 magnet audio system tuned by DIRAC from Sweden, superior camera setup driven by Sony IMX 686 sensor and so on. It has 3 cameras in total, including 2 rear cameras. The ROG phone 3 has got the best ever air-trigger functionality with dual partition and motion control gesture. All these upgrades make the ROG phone 3, the bet device for gamers.
Q3. What response are you getting for ROG3 smartphone from the Indian market?
Ans. The customer response to the ROG phone 3 in India has been really awesome. We saw our sales surge to new levels just in one month after the launch. The upgrades have delighted the tech gurus, the media partners and the consumers, all alike, from whom we received tremendous applause.
Q4. How do you see the Indian gaming market? What will be the impact of the recent ban on PUBG in India?
Ans. PUBG is just one genre of gaming and there are other alternatives. The PUBG Corporation announced that they are making some changes in terms of licensing and to their distribution strategy for India which hopefully should get PUBG back into the market soon. On the other hand, there are other alternative games such as Call of Duty, Free Fire, etc as substitutes for PUBG. I don’t think just banning of a particular game will bring down the enthusiasm for gaming; gaming is here to thrive in the Indian market and is expected to grow at a double digit rate. The smartphones are expected to lead the charge in the gaming industry in the coming years.
Q5. Can you throw some light on what are the main features gamers look for in a gaming phone?
Ans. Gaming phones should have high performance features and should sustain for a longer period of time. The processor speed, powerful memory, and great connectivity are some of the essential features in a good gaming phone. The ROG phone 3 has all these features with added strengths. The network fusion technology helps to switch between WI-FI or 5G or 4G and enables seamless data connectivity. The ROG phone comes with 4 WI-FI antennas to improve the gaming experience. Next, in a gaming phone display speed & clarity, high refresh rate, clear audio and high battery life are critical parameters while giving the gamers superior experience. And that’s why ROG phone 3 comes with 6000 mAh battery. We do thorough research on the essential features for an ideal gaming phone and get regular feedback from the games and try to figure out the critical needs. All these initiatives help us to bring out the best upgrades in our gaming phones from time to time.
Q6. ASUS has transformed the outlook of mobile gaming with innovative gaming phone variants. What new can we expect from ASUS in the gaming and also in the lifestyle spaces in the next 1 year?
Ans. We have a strong presence in the gaming as well as lifestyle sectors, for example, our Zenphone 7 series is doing very well in the lifestyle space. We will be launching many innovative phones in the coming times in the gaming and lifestyle segments. ASUS ROG will continue to lead the mobile gaming segment.
