When it power and performance, the best gaming phones can compete with tablets and maybe even portable platforms like the Nintendo Switch. If you enjoy gaming, you should have one of these phones on hand.
Picking a gaming smartphone is not the same as choosing a normal phone. You should look for one with a large, high-resolution screen, a fast refresh rate, and enough power.
We’re talking about phones like the Asus ROG Phone 5 and the Lenovo Legion Phone Duel, which come with features like shoulder triggers, customized gaming modes, improved vibration, and improved cooling. Reviews of the Red Magic 7 and Black Magic 4 Pro are also on the way, which may cause a reshuffling of this ranking.
What will you see here?
Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
The Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro packs a punch in terms of specs. There isn’t a quicker or more capable Android phone in the class.
For your money, you get an all-too-rare Snapdragon 888 Plus processor, 18GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and an unobstructed 6.78in FHD+ AMOLED screen with a 144Hz refresh rate.
With a decent gaming phone, speed is just half the fight, and the Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro goes out of its way to maintain quick performance throughout lengthy sessions. That means a beefy, custom cooling system, complete with a supplied external fan attachment, and a massive 6,000mAh battery.
You also receive a set of physical controllers, stereo sound, and a tiny rear-mounted display that can generate bespoke animations to take your mobile gaming to the next level.
Nubia Red Magic 6R
The first thing that everyone notices about the nubia Red Magic 6R is its easy-on-the-eyes appearance. The bright colors have been replaced with sleek silver or black paint with only the minimal necessities of ornamental features. They have removed the built-in fan, resulting in a thinner and lighter design. Let us hope that the upgraded passive cooling system is up to the task. The screen has reduced somewhat, with a diagonal of 6.67 inches, down from 6.8″. While it remains an AMOLED with 10-bit color support, its refresh rate is limited to 144Hz, down from 165Hz.
The Red Magic 6R retains the same Snapdragon 888 5G processor. However, the Red Magic 6R has no 3.5mm audio connector and has lost its own top speaker.
The 64MP primary and 8MP ultra-wide cameras remain unchanged from the Red Magic 6. However, they have been joined by a superior 5MP macro and a 2MP depth sensor. The selfie camera has also been improved; it is now 16MP, up from 8MP.
Moreover, the Red Magic 6R’s lower capacity makes for a smaller battery – a 4,200mAh cell featuring 30W charging for global devices and a 55W charge for Chinese devices.
RedMagic 7
The RedMagic 7 is currently one of the most affordable routes to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset on the market, earning it a spot on this list of the best gaming phones. For $629, you can get a smartphone with a high-end processor, up to 18GB of RAM, and a gaming-friendly 6.8-inch 165Hz AMOLED display with a flat design and narrow bezels. A fan inside also guarantees that the tablet can run demanding titles properly, which is critical if you’re gaming for extended periods of time.
Of course, if great software or camera performance is important to you, the RedMagic 7 isn’t the best choice — there are more well-rounded handsets available. However, they are all more expensive, so those who value gaming and the power required to do it but have a limited budget should think about it.
There’s also the choice to go all out with the RedMagic 7 Pro. It has even greater performance and cooling than this model, as well as an under-display selfie camera for continuous gaming, which is maybe the nicest thing it does.
Black Shark 4
Xiaomi has added gaming-specific functionality such as tactile shoulder triggers to the already standard 144Hz OLED display. It contains almost everything the Pro edition does, but the CPU is downgraded to Snapdragon 870 and the main 64MP camera is replaced with a 48MP one. This may not seem like much given that Asus and Nubia are already doing it, but they are actual, clickable buttons. When it comes to gaming, nothing surpasses them.
The phone is also outfitted with a set of strong loudspeakers and an appropriate cooling system to ensure long-term functionality. However, the camera setup only covers the bare necessities. However, if you’re already here reading a gaming phone review, that’s likely not what you’re looking for.
What bothers us the most is the battery capacity of 4,500 mAh, which is below average. Hopefully, the extra rapid 120W charging will keep charging sessions to a minimum. Xiaomi claims that a full charge takes only 17 minutes.
Poco X3 Pro
Xiaomi’s Poco X3 Pro isn’t a specialized gaming phone. It does, however, leverage the success of the well-known Poco X3 NFC to provide fast performance at a reasonable price.
The inclusion of the Snapdragon 860 is the main highlight, which is an astounding effort given its low price. It comes with 6- or 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage, and the 6.67inch LCD display has a 120Hz refresh rate and a 240Hz touch response rate.
The huge 5160mAh battery can easily fuel you over a few intense gaming sessions. While the 33W wired charging isn’t the fastest available, it’s still rather fast.
The Poco X3 Pro may not be as competent as other of the dedicated gaming alternatives in our table, but it surely provides good value when compared to comparably priced smartphones on the market today.
Black Shark 4 Pro
The Black Shark 4 Pro is a chunk at 9.9mm thick and 220g, but it’s not bulky owing to the 6.67in display’s narrow 20:9 aspect ratio. However, the trade-off is that it’s difficult to reach the top of the display while using the phone one-handed.
The display is one area where the Black Shark 4 Pro shines. The FHD+ (1080 x 2400) display is an outstanding 6.67in size, with E4 AMOLED technology giving a vibrant, bright, and realistic visual experience ideal for mobile gaming and movie viewing. There is HDR10+ compatibility, with a reported high brightness of 1300nits, which makes those Series and movies seem fantastic.
The Black Shark 4 Pro is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 and comes with either 8 or 12GB of LPDDR5 6400MHz RAM, as well as 128GB or 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage.
The Black Shark 4 Pro has a 4,500mAh battery, which, on paper, simply can not compete with the 6,000mAh battery found in gaming smartphones like the Asus ROG Phone 5S, or even non-gaming smartphones like the 5,000mAh Moto G200.
Conclusion
Because the great majority of phones, and definitely any mid-tier or flagship phone, are fully capable of playing practically all mobile games with ease.
As a result, unless you particularly want the gamer visually appealing and attributes like built-in triggers and innovative cooling systems, you’re almost certainly better off picking up a smartphone like the Apple iPhone 12 or OnePlus, powerful handsets that not only play games well but are also fantastic all-around phones.
