There’s never been a better time to turn to our phones for gaming. Their screens are bigger and brighter than ever, and more and more of them are offering fast refresh rates on the display for smoother visuals. The power inside the best gaming phones also make them as capable as ever at running popular mobile games locally while 5G connectivity and faster Wi-Fi 6 improves the experience on the ever-improving cloud gaming services, including Nvidia GeForce Now and Xbox Game Pass.
The market for gaming phones is also getting extra spicy. It’s not just brands known for making gaming gear like Asus that are churning out compelling options, so you won’t be limited to just over-the-top, sometimes gaudy gaming phones to get a smartphone capable of offering a compelling gaming experience. We’ve rounded up our top picks of high-performance gaming smartphones that will give you the best chance of getting to the top of the scoreboard whether you’re on iOS or Android.
TL;DR – These are the Best Gaming Phones:
- Asus ROG Phone 5
- ZTE Nubia RedMagic 6
- iPhone 12 Pro
- Xiaomi Black Shark 4
- OnePlus 9 Pro
- Samsung Galaxy 21
- iPhone SE (2020)
- Sony Xperia 5 II
1. Asus ROG Phone 5
Best Gaming Phone
Gaming devices take it to the next level, and that's how the Asus ROG Phone 5 (read our review) stands out from the crowd. This gaming phone packs the Snapdragon 888 chipset that's powering the very best Android phones right now, and it pairs it with a whopping 16GB of LPDDR5 memory. It's also loaded up with 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. We struggle to imagine a situation where that's not enough memory for mobile multitasking and storage for the biggest mobile game library.
All that brawn is going to driving the 6.78-inch AMOLED display at serious speeds – we're talking 144Hz. While that's plenty of screen space to let you use on-screen controls and still see your games, you don't have to. The Asus ROG Phone 5 also includes ultrasonic side buttons that can detect taps to simulate triggers or even detect swipes. And, the phone's motion sensors can be used to enable special gesture controls that will register phone movements as up to 10 different controls. Of course, there's also a bit of RGB to round out the design.
2. ZTE Nubia RedMagic 6
Best Budget Gaming Phone
The ZTE Nubia RedMagic 6 (read our review) may not have the same level of polish as some other great gaming phones, but it sure packs a lot of performance into a phone that costs shockingly little. Of note is the Snapdragon 888 chipset. This chipset is powering flagship Android phones that can cost over $1,000, and yet it's also at the heart of the $600 RedMagic 6. Heck, even the 12GB of memory and 128GB of storage at this price are a surprise to see.
That power is put to good use running the 165Hz AMOLED display. It presents a very fluid gaming experience, and there's actually active cooling built-in to help ensure clock speeds stay high. The Nubia RedMagic 6 also packs in handy shoulder triggers that can be mapped to on-screen controls, letting you activate controls you'd normally need to use your thumbs for. This comes in handy when you're trying to walk, aim, and shoot at the same time in FPS games.
3. iPhone 12 Pro
Best iPhone for Gaming
So many good games come to iOS, you can't be blamed for wanting a great iPhone to play them on. The iPhone 12 Pro is the one you'll want. It delivers a 6.1-inch display to give you plenty of room to play on, and that's a bright OLED panel for excellent visual quality. The new A14 Bionic chip inside will show you just how capable it is in gaming.
With 128GB of storage at minimum, you'll get plenty of room to keep games saved onto the iPhone 12 Pro. That'll ensure you can take full advantage of all that's on offer in Apple Arcade. And, if you're looking to get into some cloud gaming, the iPhone 12 Pro's support for 5G networking will help you do just that while you're away from Wi-Fi.
4. Xiaomi Black Shark 4
Made to Game
The Xiaomi Black Shark 4 isn't bred for excess in quite the same way as some of its competitors, but it is certainly bred for excellence among the field of $500 smartphones. The Snapdragon 870 chipset inside may not be a top performer like the Snapdragon 888, but it is no slouch and only lags a little bit behind. Since most mobile games can run on even modest chipsets, this won't likely be an issue anytime soon.
The Black Shark 4 still packs in 8GB of memory and 128GB of fast UFS 3.1 storage. And, its display is just as ready for gaming as the competitors with a sharp, AMOLED panel that can run at 144Hz. The phone also comes with something special in the form of its two magnetic, pop-up triggers. Unlike the touch controls on many competing phones, the Black Shark 4 has physical shoulder buttons that you actually get to push down. They feel great to use, and they can recess back into the phone when you're not using them. Xiaomi also gets bonus points for letting you use the shoulder buttons as camera controls in the camera app.
5. OnePlus 9 Pro
True Full Screen Mobile Gaming
If you want a great phone with a brilliant display that can still double as a gaming-ready beast, then the OnePlus 9 Pro(read our review) will be right up your alley. This phone has one of the best-looking displays you'll find on a smartphone, and it provides plenty of space for gaming along with an enhanced touch polling rate in some games. Not only that, but the AMOLED panel actually offers an adaptive refresh rate from 1Hz up to 120Hz, giving you smooth gaming when you need it and battery savings when you don't.
The OnePlus 9 Pro has high-performance parts under the hood with a Snapdragon 888 chipset. And, though it's not packed with as much memory as some of its competitors, we've seen it do an impressive job of holding recent apps in memory for fast resumption. The big advantages the OnePlus 9 Pro has over some of the gaming-focused devices are its refined design, elegant software, and superior camera system.
6. Samsung Galaxy S21
Best Everyday Phone for Gaming
For a practical, everyday phone, the Samsung Galaxy S21 (read our review) is a strong pick. This phone costs $800, but it's just chock full of features. Naturally, as a Samsung flagship, the Galaxy S21 comes running on the latest chipset from Qualcomm, which is the Snapdragon 888 in this case. That gives it a ton of speed for everyday use and more than enough to handle whatever games are thrown at it.
Samsung's screens are also top-notch. Though the screen on the Galaxy S21 is a more compact 6.2 inches (making it a bit more pocket-friendly) it's still a sharp AMOLED display and even offers a variable refresh rate from 48Hz to 120Hz. The phone also comes with a great design that includes water resistance (not always a given on gaming phones) and packs a versatile camera system most gaming phones won't come close to matching.
7. iPhone SE
Best Budget iPhone for Gaming
You can actually get a fairly strong gaming experience without having to fork out for the most expensive iPhone. The 2020 iPhone SE (read our review) gives you all the performance of the Apple A13 Bionic chipset (the same found in the iPhone 11 Pro), but it costs substantially less than any other iPhone launched this year.
The iPhone SE will let you access the treasure trove of games available on iOS as well as the collection in Apple Arcade. The screen may be a bit on the small side by recent standards and the storage space is limited at 64GB, but there aren't too many other trade-offs otherwise. Pair it with a phone controller and you won't lose the screen space you'd normally be covering with your thumbs.
8. Sony Xperia 5 II
Best Ultrawide Gaming Phone
One problem we run into gaming on our phones is how often our thumbs get in the way of the game visuals. It makes it a bit harder to enjoy the full experience. The Sony Xperia 5 II has a solution for that thanks to its 21:9 aspect ratio, letting your thumb stay further away from the center of the action than on a 16:9 display.
On top of a phenomenal camera experience, the Sony Xperia 5 II also has some great features for gaming. The Full HD+ display can run at 120Hz for smooth action, and it has a 240Hz touch polling rate for fast response to your actions. Naturally, a premium phone like this also uses an OLED panel, so you'll get fast pixel response times and HDR to top it off. The Xperia V II also offers a special gaming feature to let a wired power connection skip past the battery and power the internals directly, so you can protect your battery and keep temperatures down.
What to Look for in a Gaming Phone
Choosing the right gaming phone is a little different than finding the best smartphone. With regular phones, you might be more interested in battery life, the cameras, and a plethora of other specs, but the best gaming phones are all about their screens and processors with everything else being less important. You also rarely need to worry about the battery on a gaming phone, as most pack in some of the biggest smartphone batteries you’ll find.
With that in mind, we’ll start with the processors. Generally, you’re going to get a better gaming experience out of the latest and greatest processor that’s on the market when you’re shopping. At the moment, Android phones will find that in the form of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 platform (or even the Snapdragon 888+) which packs in a load of powerful processing cores and has strong graphics on board. That said, if you’re on a budget, Qualcomm’s highest-tier chipsets tend to offer so much power you might not even take full advantage of it, so you shouldn’t feel too shy about seeking out a phone with an earlier chipset like the Snapdragon 865 or 855.
For iPhones, Apple makes its own chipsets, and they are extremely powerful. Again, you'll want to stick with the latest iteration for the absolute best performance, and that’ll always be found in the newest iPhone. At present, that's the A14 Bionic in all of the iPhone 12 models from the mini up to the Pro Max. This is another case where there’s still plenty of power in previous-generation chipsets, which is part of what makes Apple’s iPhone SE (2020) so compelling with its inclusion of the A13 Bionic chipset at a $400 price point.
In terms of displays, you should pick out anything that’s a step up from your average phone screen. Often, smartphones made for gaming will feature a display with a refresh rate greater than 60Hz. 90Hz is a good start for extra fluidity, but we’re seeing the top gaming phones start to go to 120Hz and beyond. Some displays are even offering variable refresh rates that can let you take advantage of power savings while you’re not gaming. Faster touch sampling rates on displays are also starting to take off, so it may be a spec to keep in mind when comparison shopping. With many gaming phones adding in shoulder buttons, it may not just be the screen you should look at when thinking about the gaming interface.
That's everything you need to know about gaming phones for now. We'll be updating this list periodically, especially as even more brands are entering the foray with phones that are especially well suited to gaming.
Kevin Lee is IGN's Hardware and Roundups Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam
Mark Knapp is a regular contributor to IGN and an irregular Tweeter on Twitter @Techn0Mark
