When the fan is installed, the cooling fins are visible.
Some ardent ROG Phone 6 Pro gamers were left wondering what had become of the “Ultimate” model after the gaming phone’s release. It turns out that ASUS held off on revealing its “one more item,” the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate, for more than two months. The “D” in “6D” stands for the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ processor; the switch to the faster LPDDR5X RAM; and the new “AeroActive Portal” design, which directs cool air into the device’s internal heat-dissipation fins. Other than these four differences, it is nearly identical to the 6 Pro. (I’ll refer to this as a heatsink from this point forward.)
When the included AeroActive Cooler 6 is connected, the AeroActive Portal, which resembles a door flap, opens, allowing some of the fan’s cold air—which is created at a speed of almost 1,000cc per second—to be directed into the heatsink while hot air exits the top slot. In order to transport heat from the components to the airflow, the heatsink is, of course, connected to the generously sized thermal layers covering the logic board and battery cells. This keeps the phone’s grip comfortable while also enabling gaming at a high frame rate for a longer amount of time.
The 6D Ultimate has the same essential components as the 6 Pro, including the same 165Hz 6.78-inch AMOLED screen, 720Hz touch sampling rate, up to 512GB of storage, 6,000mAh battery, 65W quick charging (42 minutes), ultrasonic “AirTiggers,” and a programmable “ROG Vision” colour display on the rear. The cameras are the same as well: a 50-megapixel primary camera with a Sony IMX766 sensor, a 13-megapixel ultra-wide camera, a 5-megapixel macro camera, and a 12-megapixel selfie camera with a Sony IMX663 sensor on the front.
As for the chipset, ASUS took the unexpected decision to switch to MediaTek for its Dimensity 9000+ chip, which reportedly performs marginally better than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 found in the ROG Phone 6. The company also stated that the Dimensity’s CPU is reportedly 10% more powerful than the Snapdragon flagship chipset, despite the latter’s superior GPU (albeit with the same 3.2GHz maximum clock speed). The faster LPDDR5X RAM works in conjunction with the CPU, but for the same reason that it is capped at 16GB instead of 18GB in this instance.
The ROG Phone 6D Ultimate will be available across Europe soon, with the sole model (16GB RAM with 512GB storage) priced at €1,399 (around $1,400) or £1,199. Once more, an AeroActive Cooler 6 is included with this premium model. There’s also the ROG Phone 6D launching alongside, which is basically the ROG Phone 6 (so just an RGB logo on the back) but packing MediaTek’s chipset and LPDDR5X RAM instead. This starts at €949 (about $950) or £799 for the base model with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage.
Additionally, ASUS introduced the ROG Phone 6 Batman Edition, which is essentially either the base model 6 or base model 6D (depending on region) with a special storage case, a small bat signal LED projector (you can power it with your phone via USB-C), a special Batman Aero Case, and a SIM tray pin with the Batman emblem. It also includes its own stand for display. The availability in the US or Europe is still unknown.
