ASUS confirms next ROG Phone name, and it's skipping a number

We all expected the ASUS ROG Phone 4 to be launched later this year, but the first leaked pictures suggested that the Taiwanese brand might skip a number this year. Now, ASUS has confirmed on Weibo (h/t: MySmartPrice) that this is indeed the case.

The Weibo posts confirm the ROG Phone 5 name while also revealing that a Tencent-branded variant is in the works. Check out the machine-translated posts below.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a smartphone brand skip the number four, as OnePlus went from OnePlus 3 and 3T to OnePlus 5 as well. For what it’s worth, the number four is considered an unlucky number in several Asian countries. It’s unclear if this is why ASUS is skipping the number though.

This wouldn’t be the first time we see a Tencent-backed ROG Phone variant either, as we previously saw this happen with the ROG Phone 2 and 3. These variants tend to be cheaper than the standard ROG Phone models, but they’re generally restricted to China. In any event, confirmation of the ROG Phone 5 name suggests that a launch is on the horizon.

We’re expecting a Snapdragon 888 chipset, plenty of RAM, and a ton of storage in the top-end model, while leaked images point to a secondary screen on the back too. You can check out all the notable rumors and leaks in our ROG Phone 5 rumor hub.