This isn’t the first time we’ve heard Asus won’t release new ROG Phone models in 2026, but now we’re getting the full, official confirmation and news of just how wide-ranging the halt is from the company’s chairman, along with what it’ll be doing next, instead of making phones.
No new Asus phones
Ever?
Asus chairman Jonney Shih made Asus’s position on smartphones very clear in an interview with media attending an Asus end-of-year gala at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center on January 16, saying:
Asus will no longer add new mobile phone models in the future
It’s hard to take a statement like this in any way other than this is the end of the road for Asus smartphones, whether it’s the ROG Phone gaming line or the slightly more mainstream Zenfone range.
However, the interview does say the company will observe the world of smartphones, and the halt may only be temporary. This means it has stopped short of releasing an LG style, blanket “we’re done with phones” statement. However, given Shih’s later statements, a return seems unlikely.
Goodbye ROG Phone
You’ll be missed
Asus may not have had the same, wide impact as Samsung or OnePlus with its phones, but it still managed to bring us interesting, unusual, and technically exciting devices.
The most recent versions of the ROG Phone were pushed as a little more mainstream than older models, but the phones never lost the features that made them special, and Asus led the way in several areas.
The ROG Phone’s touch sensitive, multi-function shoulder buttons are the best in the business, and for years now, the ROG Phone has had the best speakers and audio performance, making it a brilliant media device in addition to a gaming champion.
See ya Zenfone
We’ll miss you too (but not quite as much)
What else? Asus was using massive capacity batteries long before any other manufacturer. It introduced phone buyers to “binned” higher performance Qualcomm processors before Samsung came along with its “For Galaxy” chips, plus it leveraged expertise from its gaming division to ensure the features inside its gaming phones genuinely benefited hardcore gamers.
With the Zenfone range, it fully embraced the short-lived trend of motorized selfie cameras, where the rear cameras flipped around so they could also be used to take selfies. Complex mechanical gearing systems controlled the camera modules, and such research could have helped Asus make a foldable phone if it had chosen that direction.
The Zenfone was also one of the last, true compact flagship phones available to buy. Unfortunately, Asus’s phones occupied two distinct niches, and switching to a large screen on the Zenfone (which soured the line’s final models), and pushing camera development on the ROG Phone obviously didn’t give it the mainstream boost the brand needed to continue.
Less choice, higher prices
Not a good start to 2026
While Asus’s withdrawal from smartphones won’t have the same, wide impact as LG, simply because LG made a lot more phones and sold them in a lot more places, any reduction in choice is a bad thing.
Fewer manufacturers making phones means fewer phones for you to choose from when it comes time to buy, and less competition means less incentive to innovate, and more importantly, a reduced need to compete on price.
Nothing’s CEO Carl Pei said on January 14:
2026 will be an unprecedented year for consumer electronics, and the smartphone industry in particular. For fifteen years, the smartphone industry relied on a single, reliable assumption: components would inevitably get cheaper. While short-term volatility existed, the long-term downward trend in memory and display costs allowed for annual spec bumps without price hikes. In 2026, that model has finally broken, driven by a sharp and unprecedented surge in memory costs. The era of cheap silicon is over.
Put all this together, and it means we’re going to pay more for our devices, which are going to come from fewer manufacturers, which have less need to keep prices in check.
What’s Asus doing instead?
Do you really have to ask?
If Asus isn’t going to make phones for a while, or perhaps ever again, what’s it doing instead?
The gala’s theme was “AI leading the future,” so to the surprise of no-one at all, it’s taking the research and development budget away from phones and throwing it at physical AI devices and commercial PCs.
Shih also specifically mentioned AI robotics and AI glasses as avenues it’s going to explore, which may use the Qualcomm Snapdragon X and Dragonwing platforms, suggesting the devices will be aimed at businesses and not consumers.
Elsewhere, Shih was also quoted as saying Asus is “going all in with AI,” and spoke about how its server business was seeing massive growth, which now accounts for 20% of the company’s overall revenue.
What do you buy instead?
The usual suspects
If Asus is done with phones, where should you look instead?
Flagship smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, upcoming Galaxy S26 Ultra, OnePlus 15, and Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max have the necessary power to play the latest games, but lack the gaming features seen on the ROG Phone range.
It leaves gamers with RedMagic, part of the ZTE family, which still makes dedicated gaming phones, after Black Shark (a Xiaomi company) stopped making gaming phones. Ayaneo has delayed its gaming phone release. If you want to use a phone’s rear cameras for selfies, the modern equivalent is a compact folding phone like the Galaxy Z Flip 7.
Asus’s departure is not all that unexpected, but it is a huge disappointment. While there are some small, up-and-coming brands to look out for in 2026, Asus’s flair, dedication, and sense of fun will be greatly missed.
