Mobile gaming has come a long way in recent years, and if you want to make the most of it, you’ll want to pick up a gaming phone.
With games like PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty Mobile and its multiplayer functionality, and iOS exclusive games like Assassin’s Creed Mirage Mobile and NBA 2K24 Arcade Edition, the possibilities of mobile gaming experience is constantly expanding, and with an expanse like this, it is important to be equipped with the capable devices for seamless gamer experience and general user satisfaction.
All lot of new phones are capable of running at least one entertaining app or two, but the ones on this list are certified powerhouses with great processors, displays and batteries — all important when you’re looking to dive into an immersive single-player or competitive multiplayer gaming experience.
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Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro
Asus is a company that making some of the best gaming hardwares ranging PC to processers and the likes and its Republic of Gamers unit (ROG) which was founded “with the goal of creating the world’s most powerful and versatile gaming laptops in the industry“.
A company with such reputation, you’ll expect the best of the best when it comes to their mobile devices, and that is exactly what Asus delivered with the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro.
It is arguably THE best gaming phone out right now, it sports the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC with Adreno 750 GPU. The new silicon benefits from higher clocks and fewer low-speed cores, boosting peak performance in more demanding titles. You can pair this with up to 1TB of internal storage and 24GB of RAM.
It has capacitive AirTriggers, plus a new LED backlighting panel dubbed AniMe Vision that can scroll through cute animations or personal messages. It retains a large 6.78-inch display like its predecessor, but now it’s thinner, lighter, and more pocketable for gaming on the go.
The phone also gains Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and an IP68 rating to bolster its durability and a battery capacity of about 5,500 mAh, it can go a full day and beyond, with three hours of intense gaming more than possible. When it’s time to top up the phone, you’ll need just over 50 minutes to go from dead to 100% thanks to its 65W maximum wired speeds.
However, be prepared to spend upwards of $1,000 to get your hands of this amazing device.
iPhone 15 Pro Max
If you want to opt for Apple’s side of things, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is the best iPhone for gaming and its new A17 Pro chip, and the best way to experience that is on the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s large 6.7-inch display.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max is a top-notch smartphone. It features a 6.7-inch 120Hz OLED panel to make your games pop, with a large battery to keep you gaming for longer. The switch to USB-C in this year’s iPhones is a welcome change, but charging speeds are still limited to 20W, which is well below many other dedicated gaming phones. The 8GB of RAM may also be a limiting factor in the future, especially as more AAA games are released.
As well as having a more spacious screen, the Pro Max comes with a fantastic battery life and a 5x telephoto camera. The new titanium frame means the phone’s lighter and less exhausting to hold for long sessions, and the Action button’s impressive flexibility means with a little fiddling you can turn it into an instant gaming shortcut, or you can simply leave it to do one of Apple’s pre-set actions.
Motorola Edge+ (2023)
When it comes to expenses, you don’t have to pay top dollar for top-of-the-line Android performance for this phone. The Motorola Edge+ (2023) features the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset found in leading Android phones like the Galaxy S23 series and the OnePlus 11, but at $799, it’s a much more affordable option than a lot of competing devices. Throw in a 6.7-inch display that can offer a 165Hz refresh rate, and you’ve got a phone that mobile gamers will certainly find appealing.
It also boasts of a 12MP portrait camera, but it’s got a 2x zoom that’ll work when you want to get closer to a subject. As for the rest of the camera hardware, Motorola has equipped the Edge+ with a 50MP main camera and a 50MP ultrawide angle lens. A 60MP camera on the front of the phone is tasked with selfie duties.
nubia REDMAGIC 8S Pro
Another budget option has to be the nubia REDMAGIC 8S Pro. Like other gaming phones, the REDMAGIC 8S Pro puts a heavy emphasis on cooling. It pairs 12 or 16GB of RAM with the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 as the ROG Phone 7 series and S23 series, with a redesigned cooling system to lower temps while gaming.
Armed with a massive 6,000mAh battery that lasts for hours of hardcore gaming. In our testing, the included 65W charger brought the phone from 0% to 50% in less than 15 minutes, and topped the phone all the way up to 100% in less than 40 minutes.
The 120Hz AMOLED screen is still plenty speedy and bright, although few games support framerates above 60Hz. The phone also features capacitive triggers, which can be customized to emulate single taps, long taps, and more on any given part of the screen.
However, so it should come as no surprise that the REDMAGIC 8S Pro isn’t a great camera phone.
OnePlus 12
Another great phone that doesn’t shout about it, the OnePlus 12’s standout feature is its price. It’s a Galaxy S24 Ultra/iPhone 15 Pro Max rival that costs the same as the entry-level versions of those phones, and boasts higher storage and/or RAM than both.
While the base model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB storage starts out at $799, there’s also a 16GB RAM model offering 512GB of storage for $899. For the price, the OnePlus 12’s 6.82-inch 2K ProXDR display has its share of delights, including OnePlus’ claim that the screen can reach an unheard of 4,500 nits peak brightness.
The OnePlus 12 consists of a main 50MP camera, 48MP ultrawide, and a 64MP periscope camera with 3x optical zoom. Packaged with a 5,400 mAh battery, it’s able to confidently get one through an entire working day without the need to recharge.
What To Look For In A Gaming Phone
- Powerful specs: Modern games can be very demanding, so a powerful SoC and a healthy helping of RAM are crucial to maintaining high framerates.
- Thermal performance: One of the biggest drawbacks of the latest generation of flagship processors is heat. Many gaming phones have improved thermals to enable much better sustained performance than traditional flagships.
- Software: Gaming features are great, but there are other things to consider as well. Chief among them are updates. If your phone will only receive updates for two years, you’ll need to upgrade much sooner than you’d like.
- Cameras: Camera performance is nearly always lacking on gaming phones, but some are still capable shooters. Likewise, many of the best camera phones, like the premium Galaxy S23 Ultra, are also excellent for gaming.