Asus is an interesting company. It positions itself as an enthusiast-friendly manufacturer of gaming-focused hardware, which its pair of high-powered ROG Ally Windows portables back up; the refinement of its ROG Phone gaming lineup marches on, even as gaming handhelds outshine phones to a large degree. The Taiwan-based manufacturer introduced some of the first gaming motherboards and laptops decades ago, and to this day, it makes some of the best graphics cards money can buy, and even dabbles in compact, high-end mini PCs.
No Thanks, Keep Reading
The official pronunciation of Asus is
a long “A” followed by “Zeus”
.
Those facts make some of its recent decisions all the more perplexing. Despite impressive specs, the ROG Phone 8 shifted toward the mainstream at the expense of dual front-facing speakers and an uninterrupted display. It failed to address major motherboard issues in a timely manner, and frustrated its smartphone fans by reneging on a promised Zenfone bootloader unlocking tool.
Yet it soldiered on, producing high-performance hardware in good-looking packages, only to leave out a critical part. It still offers just two years of Android updates, even as leading competitors leave it behind. We would love to see it return to its former place of high regard — but the company needs to show its dedication.
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Neglecting a history of Asus excellence
Despite consumers’ clear and earnest desires
Competition is, admittedly, stiffer than ever, with global devices like the Iqoo 13 delivering excellent performance.
Asus hasn’t just been around for a long time. Nearly 30 years ago, it ranked among the top motherboard manufacturers in the burgeoning home PC industry, later pioneering consumer-facing physics accelerators that enabled dynamic effects before modern graphics cards evolved. We know it has a history.
Asus also clearly employs talented engineers, as the upcoming ROG Phone 9 family indicates. The company’s continued production of top-shelf PC hardware only further exemplifies its expertise. We know it has the ability.
So what’s missing? The company’s long-running hardware development success shines, and attracting skilled software engineers shouldn’t pose much difficulty. Asus has no objective reason to fail at providing demanding customers with what they want. It’s done so since before gaming was accessible and popular. But one common thread emerges when trying to parse the longtime leader’s recent inability to hit the mark.
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A culture of advancement and accountability
Delivering well-made products to well-intentioned users
If you dig deep enough, you’ll find scandals small and large in the annals of a number of storied companies — even some still operating today. Asus software delivery went through challenging issues in 2008, 2014, and 2019, when it shipped variously exploited packages — almost certainly by accident — resulting in recurring mandated FTC audits.
The point isn’t to paint Asus as a bad company. Those opportunities for growth led to a relatively clean slate since then on the software side. In other words, Asus knows how to fix problems. A 2022 manufacturing issue affected a subset of Maximus Hero gaming motherboard customers, and the company eventually agreed to replace the units for free. As long as the manufacturer makes consumers whole, everybody ends up happy, right?
Communication is key, and Asus needs it now
Gaming handhelds could dethrone gaming phones, or give Asus the market boost it needs to push through.
Asus’ more recent mistakes should provide it with the needed perspective to regain its former glory and market share. An apparently unfinished BIOS update made its way to users’ motherboards in 2023, leading to a massive scandal investigated by Steven Burke, also known as PC Jesus, founder of wildly popular independent journalism outlet Gamers Nexus.
Through a series of difficult back-and-forth interviews and powerful video exposés, Burke and Asus worked to ascribe company accountability for the issues. In an excellent example of journalists working with companies to support consumers, Asus’ reputation set out on a course for repair. Its hardware still exhibited periodic issues (and some argue still may), but the scene was set for the historic innovator’s resurgence.
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Well, almost. Alongside the Zenfone 9, Asus released a tool for unlocking its bootloader, allowing extensive device and software customization. This fell in line with the company’s long-standing image as an enthusiast-friendly manufacturer.
Only several months later, however, the tool disappeared from its online repository, with subsequent Zenfone updates rendering the tool’s previous versions ineffective. When users cooked up a workaround, Asus responded by apparently blocking the novel fix.
The end of the controversy — for now
The dramatic tale includes more twists and turns, such as Asus customer support — rather than any official corporate channel — promising a forthcoming official announcement. That never happened, which led to a frustrated user suing for a refund — and winning. The former power-user haven appeared, then, to be just another big name in Android.
Again, the point isn’t to pile on Asus. It clearly has the expertise to avoid these issues. None of these moves were necessary, and none helped it regain its image or user base. But it takes technical skill and organizational action simply to block workarounds and issue firmware updates. The skills and resources exist within Asus. So why can’t they give us more software updates?
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The RedMagic 10 Pro can run neck-and-neck with Asus’ best.
I’ve written before about how some communities tend to overstate the significance of Android security patches. In this case, the difference between an eventual Android 17 phone and an Android 19 phone means a lot. New Android versions imply moderate-to-fancy interface upgrades for the average user, but dedicated gamers have different needs and expectations.
Android is in a great place now, but further development holds the prospect of increased efficiency, novel processing methods, and expanded software compatibility. Groundbreaking graphics translation layers not yet in development may someday rely on a phone running 2027’s Android implementation. If you shell out $1,400 on the next top-of-the-line Asus phone, you probably won’t get that version.
Gamers can, sometimes, be realistic in their demands
The Zenfone 11 Ultra, a near-copy of the ROG Phone 8, was viewed by some as an unnecessary release.
Software development costs money, and even the pickiest gamers understand that we don’t get anything for free. But these devices aren’t free; Asus reported roughly $15 billion in revenue in 2023, down about 10% from each of the years prior.
As profits dwindle, the company needs to look no further than its own communication and marketing decisions. Not everyone loved the small Zenfone 10, but enough did to lament its demise. The ROG Phone 8’s holepunch camera and single front-facing speaker didn’t scream “gaming phone,” but we might see that rectified with the upcoming model. Asus still has fans, some quite dedicated, and its hardware still runs with the best.
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Asus employees, the company’s history, and its users deserve the respect of a competent, long-term software update plan. Two years simply isn’t cutting it in 2024, when similarly priced devices all point toward longer and longer lifespans.
It has the expertise, reach, and historic reputation; Asus just needs to take the initiative, slap two (or four) more years of Android updates on the end of its promise, and hopefully, reap the benefits. The mobile gaming community would benefit as a whole from increased competition among top-level gaming phones, especially as chip technology and Android emulation heat up like never before.
Asus, the ball’s in your court. Give the people what they — and your legacy — rightfully deserve.
