Best Phones for Mobile Gaming in 2024
Just a couple of decades ago, we were limited to preloaded arcade-style games on an old Nokia brick phone. While simple and plain, they still gave us something to do while commuting or enjoying some downtime. Snake, a famous game that many consider the first-ever mobile app, was the precursor to the spectrum of apps on the smartphones we’ve all got in our pockets today. From the days when casual games like Fruit Ninja and Flappy Bird dominated the marketplace, we’ve come to a point where smartphones have become a sort of gaming console.
Head onto the app store today, and you’ll see massive titles like The Sims Mobile, Call of Duty Mobile, PUBG, and NBA 2K, all available to play on a mobile device. Whether you’re playing one of these blockbuster titles or logging on to a gambling site offering mobile games, you’re bound to want a high-quality, no-lag experience with crisp graphics and incredible gameplay.
If you consider yourself a big mobile gamer but are still trying to conquer levels and unlock achievements on an iPhone 4, it might be time for an upgrade. These five top phones for mobile gaming might be a good place to start.
iPhone 15 Pro Max
The sheer size and screen resolution of the iPhone 15 Pro Max makes it an ideal device for all sorts of games. Its 89.8% screen-to-body ratio and incredible battery life (we’re talking up to 29 hours of video playback time) is an instant draw, not to mention the A17 Pro chip, made to deliver next-level graphics performance like never before. Seeing as Apple has explicitly advertised that the new iPhone chip is designed to make mobile games as immersive as possible, it’s safe to say it’s tailored for gamers.
For the first time ever, the iPhone hardware has employed ray tracing, a graphics capability that provides more fluidity and lighting that reflects what humans see in real life. They’ve also added MetalFX Upscaling to bring together GPU and Neural Engine performance to produce these incredible graphics without draining your battery.
Price: From $1199
ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro
Designed by ASUS brand Republic of Gamers (ROG), you can expect a fully tailored gaming smartphone that can function as both an everyday and game-ready device. The ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro runs on a 6.78-inch Samsung AMOLED with LTPO technology, powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Mobile Platform. The 360-degree SoC Cooling System also keeps the phone cool as a cucumber and bumps up its thermal efficiency to maintain peak performance.
While the hardware sounds seductive on its own, the software features are just as powerful. For example, X Capture employs pattern recognition AI to record all your game highlights, and background mode lets your game continue running in the background so you don’t mess up your progress. Craving more innovative features? You’re in luck. Built-in AirTrigger controls provide a native console-like experience, so you get maximum control beyond the touchscreen.
Price: From $1199
OnePlus 12
The OnePlus 12 also relies on the incredible Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, providing serious improvements in GPU and CPU performance. That means playing even the most graphics-intensive games won’t be a problem on this smartphone. Rather than struggle with high frame rate games, the OnePlus 12 uses features like artificial HDR to beautify textures, frame rate interpolation to insert artificial frames to reduce motion blur, and Hyper Resolution to improve gaming visuals.
If we move away from all those fancy features and look at the core of the OnePlus, we can see that it’s made for gaming at its core. It has an immersive 6.82-inch display, a smooth refresh rate, and blinding brightness levels capping out at 4,500 nits. For context, the Apple iPhone 15 Pro has peak levels of just 2,000 nits. Day or night, outdoors or indoors, this phone can accommodate gaming in any environment.
Price: From $799.99
Samsung Galaxy A53
Do all our other picks seem like they’ll stretch your budget a little too far? If you’re on the hunt for a more affordable, no-frills gaming smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy A53 promises a fantastic blend of clear resolutions, high visual RAM, and excellent refresh rates for a reliable experience. Although it was released back in 2022, it still retains a strong reputation as a mid-range gaming-capable smartphone for even the most serious gamers.
Other smartphones do boast some mighty processors behind their shells, so the A53’s 5nm octa-core chip, Mali G68 CPU, and Cortex cores might not seem like it’s able to keep up – but that’s far from the truth. At this price point, you’ll still enjoy awesome graphics and low energy consumption, two essentials in the gaming sphere. What’s especially enticing about the A53 is its longevity. With a 5,000mAh battery, it can support up to two days of gaming and charge back up in no time with its 25W fast charging ability.
Price: Around $449
REDMAGIC 9 Pro
The REDMAGIC 9 Pro is sort of like the middle ground between the Samsung Galaxy A53 and the ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro. It comes at a lower price point than many other smartphones on the market, all while providing the gaming-specific capabilities and design that the ROG Phone 8 does. The brand REDMAGIC offers its own set of products related to PC gaming, including a gaming monitor, mechanical keyboard, and gaming mouse, so they’re definitely more than qualified to create their very own gaming smartphones.
The REDMAGIC 9 Pro boasts the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset just like some of the other devices on this list, but where it really shines is its one-of-a-kind 93.7% screen-to-body ratio, its 1115K speakers and 5 magnetic sound units, and its outrageous ICE 13.0 Magic Cooling System that can lower the temperature up to 25 degrees Celsius. While all this sounds like it might come at the cost of a quick-to-drain battery, you’ll be happy to know that its 6500 mAh battery gives you up to 56 hours on standby.
Price: From $649
