BUYING GUIDE
Gaming on phones has been popular since the days of Snake, long before the likes of Candy Crush Saga took over our commutes. But these days smartphones are becoming viable gaming devices for more than simple distractions on the go, and mobile gaming is a giant industry in its own right.
Eventually cloud streaming will level the performance playing field, but until then committed mobile gamers need to pick up smartphones designed for the purpose. The best gaming phones deliver maxed out performance, great displays and audio, and often designs that incorporate extra trigger buttons or other gaming-specific features.
The big brands here aren’t the same ones you’ll see elsewhere. Asus ROG undoubtedly leads the pack – so long as you’re happy to pay a premium for the brand – while Xiaomi’s Black Shark line and ZTE’s Red Magic series provide serious competition. You may instead find that you prefer a ‘regular’ phone, albeit one with top performance, so we’ve included a few of those in this ranking too. That includes the iPhones we think are best suited to gaming, along with a few Android options that prioritise performance without going all-in on the gamer aesthetic.
WHAT IS A GAMING PHONE?
Put simply, a gaming phone is a phone designed for gaming. That usually means a focus on
