Asus in its second quarter earnings call on Wednesday said that the company sold 7680 units of the ROG Phone 3 within 15 minutes of its launch in India. The company had earlier reported its second quarter financial results where it posted a net revenue of NT$85,070 million as compared to NT$64,043 million in the prior quarter. Asus said that it recorded an 33% sequential improvement in its net revenues and 19% improvement year-over-year (YoY). Further, the company said that its net profit improved 499% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) with Asus recording NT$5315 million as compared to NT$888 million in the prior quarter.
Asus Sold 7680 Units of ROG Phone 3 in India within 15 Minutes of Launch
The company in late July announced the ROG Phone 3 in India packed with the Snapdragon 865 Plus mobile platform and a 6000 mAh battery. The device features a 6.59-inch full HD+ screen with 144 Hz refresh rate and 270 Hz touch sampling rate.
“We had a separate event for India,” Nick Wu, CFO of Asus, said in the earnings call. “Post event, we sold the first batch about 7,680 units. And these units sold out within 15 minutes.”
The ROG Phone 3, a gaming focused smartphone is said to contain several elements to enhance the gaming experience including the new AirTrigger 3 with dual partition and motion sensor input. Additionally, the device is also said to pack in multi-antennas for “uninterrupted network connection while gaming.” The ROG Phone 3 is also said to feature a side mounted USB Type-C port that is said to aid gamers to top up the device battery while gaming.
The device carries a triple camera system in the rear with the primary shooter being a 64MP Sony IMX686 sensor coupled with a 13MP ultra-wide shooter and a 5MP macro lens.
Asus Addressed Supply Chain Issues with ROG Phone 3
Wu said that the company “learned lessons” from past experiences on the supply chain disruption issues that Asus experienced with its 2019 ROG Phone 2.
“With our industrial design team at the early stage of design, they actually went to our vendors to produce test batches,” Wu said. “Actually, these batches are not small. They are in thousands. But the idea was to screen out vendors that are more mature and can offer smooth production. So they tested that in the early stage.”
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Wu said that the company sent several engineers to its OEM vendors to ensure Asus does not face supply chain issues with the ROG Phone 3.
“As you all know, it's quite difficult to travel and work in China right now because you have to first quarantine two weeks as you enter China,” Wu said. “And then when you come back to Taiwan, you have to quarantine for another two weeks. So we actually have an honest talk with these engineers. When they travel on business, that business travel is going to be a long duration. They will have to stay in China for one or two months. They can only come back when we know for sure, the production is going to be smooth.”
Wu said that the company hasn’t experienced any supply chain issues in 2020.
The company also said that it has been monitoring Google trends post the ROG Phone 3 launch event with Asus highlighting that the device has “highest share of voice” among all gaming phones. Asus said that the gaming smartphone segment “is getting more crowded” with its key rival Lenovo launching its own gaming smartphone as well. However, Asus said that the crowded market “indicates that the path” the company picked is the “right one.”
It has to be noted that Asus launched the ROG Phone 3 in two variants in India with the base variant featuring 8GB RAM and 128GB storage priced at Rs 49,999. The top-tier variant with 128GB RAM and 256GB storage carries a price tag of Rs 57,999. The company also launched a range of accessories for the gaming smartphone including AeroActive Cooler 3, desktop dock and a ROG Kunai 3 gamepad. The accessories are priced in the range of Rs 699 to Rs 19,999 with the basic accessory being the screen protector while the top-tier accessory being the TwinView Dock 3.
