Those aren’t giant leaps, but Qualcomm is betting that they’ll be ideal for gaming, where GPU performance is more important than raw number crunching. The tweaks also make the 855 Plus helpful for AR and VR experiences, AI and anything else that’s particularly taxing. This isn’t your dream chip for 5G, though. The built-in modem can’t handle more than LTE, so devices will still need a separate X50 modem (and potentially make compromises in size and battery life) to reach next-gen cellular speeds.

You won’t have to wait long to see the 855 Plus in use, at least. Qualcomm is expecting devices built around the new system-on-a-chip to ship in the second half of 2019. Unlike in the past, you won’t have to settle for a months-old Snapdragon just because you want an Android phone released in the back half of the year. There’s no mention of specific vendors using the 855 Plus as we write this. However, there’s a good chance that major phone makers will leap on this — it’s a way to keep their phone lineups fresh without waiting for the 855’s full-fledged sequel.

ASUS decided to throw in a generous 5,000mAh battery here, while most other phones tend to top out at 4,000mAh. The engineers went to great lengths to justify this decision: It was either a smaller capacity with super fast charging or a larger capacity within the same battery size, but slower charging.

ASUS went with the latter, claiming that endurance should come before convenience. There’s also the concern of faster degradation with high-power charging. According to the company’s comparison tests, both implementations eventually reach the same charging capacity at around the same time, so ASUS might as well offer more battery juice to its users. As a bonus, the battery here does reverse charging too, meaning you can share some love with others in need, so long as you have the right type of USB-C cable handy.

And now, the camera. You’ll find both a common 48-megapixel f/1.79 main camera (with laser focus), a 13-megapixel 125-degree ultra-wide camera on the flippable module plus a dual-LED flash. There’s no optical stabilization here due to limited space, but both cameras support up to 4K video recording (up to 60fps on the main camera but no electronic stabilization at this speed), and the main one also handles up to 720p 480fps slow-motion capture.

The obvious benefit of having a flip camera is that much like the other phones with a (less complicated) pop-up camera, their screens don’t have to put up with a notch. But a flip camera also provides a range of practical uses, namely free-angle shooting (0 to 180 degrees), automatic vertical or horizontal panorama photos and more. You can also use the flip camera for face unlock, but note that it’s not as safe as 3D cameras.

The whole flippable module is wrapped in what ASUS calls “liquid metal,” mainly for its improved lightness and toughness compared to, say, stainless steel. The movement is activated by a stepper motor which smoothly rotates by two degrees per step. Like the pop-up cameras on other phones, it automatically retracts when a fall is detected — just in time for a 1.25-meter drop, or at least within a safe angle if it’s just a one-meter drop, as ASUS claims. All told, the company says the mechanism has been tested to last for over 100,000 continuous flips.

I haven’t had much time to properly try the ZenFone 6’s cameras, but my selfies were some of the best I’ve seen — perhaps with too much detail, even, thanks to the super high-resolution main camera, but there’s always beautification mode to patch up my facial flaws. Indoor pictures look accurate so far, and the HDR++ mode produces even cleaner details, though I’m less impressed with my few cloudy outdoor shots. I’ve also tried the motion tracking video mode, but again, it’s still work in progress; sometimes the tracking stopped halfway through. I’ll be able to make a better assessment once I’ve spent more time with the phone with its final firmware.

Much like its predecessors and some direct competitors, the Red Magic 3 comes with customizable capacitive shoulder triggers and an RGB LED strip on the back to keep competitive gamers happy. As a bonus, the fingerprint reader above the RGB strip can also be mapped as a button for gaming. The phone has also inherited the hardware switch for toggling the “Red Magic Game Space 2.0” dashboard, where you can access your game library and related settings — including fan speeds, screen recording and notifications.

The rest of this Android 9 phone is pretty much a bog-standard flagship with a few bonuses. You get the usual Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset with up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, plus there’s a generous 5,000mAh battery with USB Power Delivery quick charge of up to 27W (compatible with QC 4.0).

As for cameras, the Red Magic 3 comes with a 48-megapixel f/1.7 main imager powered by a Sony IMX586 sensor, along with a 16-megapixel f/2.0 front camera but with an unknown sensor. Sadly, there’s no optical stabilization here, but the main camera is setting two new records in the mobile industry: it can apparently handle 8K — yes, 8K — video recording, and it also has a super slow motion mode of up to a whopping 1,920 fps (resolution not yet specified). But of course, at the end of the day it’s all about the picture quality, so we shall see how these video modes fare when we get hold of our own test device.

Things get a little more interesting on the visual and audio side: the 6.65-inch FHD+ AMOLED display handles HDR and packs a 90Hz refresh rate — the latter will be supported by titles like Vainglory, Forsaken World, Heroes of the Multiverse, Peak Tank and more. The front-facing stereo speakers work with DTS:X surround sound, and the triple-mic noise cancellation comes in handy for those who like to stream their gameplay. Speaking of, there’s still a 3.5mm headphone jack here.

So how much does the world’s first fan-cooled gaming smartphone cost? When it launches in China on May 3rd, it’ll start from 2,899 yuan or about $430 (6GB RAM and 64GB storage) and max out at 4,299 yuan or about $640 (12GB RAM and 256GB storage). It’s also set to launch in the US, Canada, UK and Europe in late May, but there’s no local pricing info just yet. The China launch today also mentioned a couple of accessories that make use of the phone’s pogo pins: the 5G radio add-on (a bit like Motorola’s 5G Moto Mod; no price yet) and the LAN connection dock (199 yuan or about $30). We’ll be keeping an eye out for these for the Western launch.