Compare gaming phones

Do you need a gaming phone?

That depends on what you play and for how long. For short sessions, a standard high-end phone will do just as well; the difference only becomes apparent when the device gets hot. So for a quick game here and there, virtually any smartphone will do.

How do gaming phones really differ?

• Heat dissipation: vapour chambers, graphite layers and fans keep the chip below the temperature at which it throttles itself. You won’t notice this in the first few minutes, but after half an hour of gaming.
• Refresh rate it maintains: what matters isn’t the highest figure on paper, but whether the device can still deliver that speed at the end of a session. The refresh rate is what the screen is capable of, the frame rate is what the game delivers, and touch latency is how quickly the screen responds to your finger.
• Additional controls: pressure-sensitive areas on the edge take over the role of the buttons on a controller, so your thumbs don’t have to cover the screen.
• Power whilst gaming: some models have the charging port on the side, so the cable doesn’t get in the way, or route power directly to the hardware rather than through the battery, meaning it gets less hot.
• Size and weight: a large battery, extra cooling and speakers on both sides make the device heavy. The size allows for a secure two-handed grip, but you’ll notice the weight throughout the day.

Any gaming phone from this round-up runs popular titles smoothly, and for everyday use you won’t hit any performance limits. The difference lies in what happens after half an hour of gaming, and in how much weight and thickness you’re willing to put up with for that.

What are you willing to compromise on?

A gaming phone is in the same class as a high-end smartphone, but spends that money on cooling, the screen and the battery rather than on the camera and software.

• Camera: good enough for everyday photos, but not on a par with the flagship models in the same class. If you take a lot of photos, this is the biggest compromise.
• Software and updates: the update support period is usually shorter than with the best-known brands. When considering a model, check how many years of updates are included.
• Water resistance and wireless charging: these are more often missing than on a standard high-end phone. Check the specifications for each model.
• Sales channel: not every model is available here through official channels, and this determines where you’ll need to go for warranty and service.

Brands that make gaming phones

Redmagic, nubia’s gaming brand, focuses its entire range on gamers. Asus built its reputation with the ROG Phone series, but is no longer adding new phone models; existing devices will continue to receive updates and warranty cover. So check the update period for each model in the specifications. In addition, brands such as Honor and Xiaomi occasionally release a model tailored for gaming, without it forming their entire range.

Mobile gaming is huge, but the gaming phone itself remains a niche market from which brands are also pulling out, as Razer and Black Shark have done.

History of mobile gaming

Mobile gaming didn’t start with a gaming phone, but with a game that came pre-installed.

From Snake to the N-Gage

Mobile phone manufacturers realised early on that you could play games on a mobile phone. In 1997, the Nokia 6110 was launched with Snake pre-installed, a hit thanks to its simplicity. In 2003, Nokia took on the competition with the N-Gage, challenging the Nintendo Game Boy Advance, followed a year later by the N-Gage QD. The unusually shaped phones were not a success and Nokia halted their development.

The App Store makes mobile gaming big

Apple released the first iPhone in 2007, but it wasn’t until 2008 that an official App Store was launched. This gave developers, for the first time, a straightforward route to millions of devices, and games became the largest category on offer. The model whereby a game is free to play but in-app purchases are made proved to be the most successful.

From separate gamepads to gaming phones

As most smartphones became powerful enough for games, the need for specially designed devices with physical buttons disappeared. Sony Ericsson gave it another go in 2011 with the Xperia Play, an Android phone with a slide-out gamepad, which was not followed by a successor. This was followed by accessories, such as the Moto Gamepad that Motorola released in 2017 for the Moto Z range. In 2018, Asus introduced the first ROG Phone: a standard Android phone with ports for accessories such as the AeroActive Cooler, optimised for sustained high-performance use.