While just about every phone you can get your hands on nowadays will be able to play some games, several key features distinguish a fine gaming phone from a great one. Powerful processing is one piece of the puzzle. Being able to sustain high performance levels is also a must – you don’t want to deal with a phone that can only run smoothly for a few minutes before it slows down and scorches your hands. Extra memory and storage are also clutch for gaming phones, providing a means for multitasking even while you have a game running and giving you plenty of space for games. Some gaming phones, like the RedMagic 10 Pro, even offer extra upgrades for gaming, like additional shoulder buttons and enhanced touch sampling rates. (Though you could also just pick up a dedicated phone controller.)
Of course, the display is also a big piece of the puzzle. If you can’t see your games, you’re going to have a hard time playing them. A bigger, brighter display helps, as does a boost in refresh rate for smooth motion. An added benefit of a bigger phone is that your thumbs won’t cover as much of the display when you’re using touch controls. I've been testing and reviewing gaming phones for years now, so with all these details in mind, here’s a look at the best smartphones that also excel when it comes to gaming anywhere, anytime.
TL;DR – These Are the Best Gaming Phones:
1. RedMagic 10 Pro
Best Gaming Phone
Gaming demands a lot from a phone, and over all others, the RedMagic 10 Pro has what it takes, as I found when I reviewed it. The beating heart of the RedMagic 10 Pro is an actively cooled Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. I’d already seen this chip do wonders performance-wise in phones like the Asus ROG Phone 9 and OnePlus 13, but the RedMagic 10 Pro turns it up a notch with a cooling fan that lets the chip run all the more effectively for the kind of long-haul sessions that gaming requires. Any time the RedMagic 10 Pro wasn’t at the head of the pack in benchmarks, it was still very near the front, and it absolutely led the way where sustain was concerned. All that performance is only further backed by an astoundingly large 7,050mAh battery.
Naturally, the RedMagic 10 Pro has a few extras specifically for gamers. It includes two shoulder buttons, providing a way to get your index fingers in on the action. You can simply map these shoulder buttons to on-screen controls, good for pretty much any game. The display also has a fast touch-sampling rate, so it’ll detect inputs quickly. Depending on the game, you can also tap into supersampling and frame interpolation to sharpen visuals and smooth out the action.
RedMagic packs all of this capability into a good-looking phone, too. It’s not gaudy, but it still has style. There are a handful of looks, including clear backs, that give a peek at the layout of components. The display is also a winner. It has tiny bezels and stretches 6.85-inches across – and we’re talking a proper 6.85 inches, as the display is rectangular without large areas being cropped by corner curves. RedMagic even effectively hides the selfie camera beneath the display so that it doesn’t interrupt your view of games. The display is a brilliant AMOLED panel offering a 144Hz refresh rate, high peak brightness, and ample sharpness.
Truly, this phone is wonderfully geared up for gaming, and even with a commanding performance lead, it doesn’t cost as much as its competitors. The RedMagic 10 Pro starts at $649, which is almost absurd considering the price of competitors like the Asus ROG Phone 9 at $999.
2. OnePlus 13
Best Everyday Phone for Gaming
If you’ve seen some of the ostentatious designs that come with “gamer” gear, you can be forgiven for wanting to steer clear of the typical gaming phones. Fortunately, you still have an excellent option available to you with the OnePlus 13. You’ll find plenty to love when it comes time to game, but for the rest of the time, you’ll get a much more tame-looking phone.
Inside the OnePlus 13 is a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. This pairs a blazing fast CPU and potent GPU that make for exceptional everyday performance and potent gaming speeds. In benchmarks, the OnePlus 13 readily rivaled the iPhone 16 Pro Max in CPU speeds and outstripped it in 3DMark’s graphics tests. The phone could even offer a decent amount of sustain. And when put to the test with Wuthering Waves at max settings, it didn’t struggle to keep up with the action. The phone’s 6,000mAh battery also helps out for those long gaming sessions.
OnePlus packs that speed into an elegant chassis. There are three designs, and each is more than a simple color swap, giving you a little more selection than you typically get from new phones. The design also has impressive water protections against submersion and hot water jets. The display on the OnePlus 13 is also excellent, providing a large, vibrant, and searingly bright platform for everyday use, movies, and gaming. And unlike most gaming phones, the OnePlus 13 doesn’t force you to sacrifice camera quality. You’ll find brilliant shooters on the back and front of the phone that capture great photos and video.
The OnePlus 13 comes in at $899 for a configuration with 256GB of storage and 12GB of memory, but if you want plenty of room for games, you can bump up to 512GB of storage and get 16GB of memory for $999.
3. iPhone 17 Pro Max
Best iPhone for Gaming
Mobile gaming calls for a couple of things: extreme performance and a great display. Where iPhones are concerned, the iPhone 17 Pro Max delivers the best Apple has to offer in both categories. Offering a massive (for smartphones) 6.9-inch display, the 17 Pro Max benefits from 120Hz ProMotion smoothness, ample sharpness, and a vivid OLED panel so bright that our reviewer flashbanged herself with it.
Performance is also its strong point. The A19 Pro chip in the iPhone 17 Pro Max packs six CPU cores and six GPU cores, which make for small performance upticks over the earlier iPhone 16 Pro Max but will be a much more considerable boost for anyone coming from older models. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is still lagging slightly behind some of the Android phone options running the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC in multi-core performance and 3DMark benchmarks (like the RedMagic 10 Pro and OnePlus 13 included above) and that gap is likely to widen further when the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 lands in phones in late 2025. But that’s not enough to hold the iPhone 17 Pro Max back as a great option for gaming, as plenty of developers optimize their games for iPhone, and the performance on deck here holds up well in even the most demanding games.
In our testing, heat was still an issue, as it is for most phones, but the iPhone 17 Pro Max still managed it well enough. In 3DMark’s Steel Nomad Light stress test, the phone quickly lowered its performance after one run, but then largely sustained for the remaining 19 runs. That’s fairly typical behavior from a phone that doesn’t have active cooling (a rarity) or simply throttles its performance from the start. Crucially, the phone’s extensive aluminum frame and vapor chamber do a good job of spreading heat, so even though the phone gets warm while gaming, our reviewer didn’t find it having any serious hotspots.
What helps make the iPhone 17 Pro Max more worthwhile is that on top of its credentials for gaming, it’s also a powerful device in other respects. It’s built sturdy, it has a great set of cameras, and it should get the same kind of long-term support that has been a standout feature of iPhones for many years.
4. iPhone 16e
Best Budget iPhone for Gaming
While Apple did launch the new iPhone 16e in 2025 with budget-minded consumers in consideration, it didn’t provide as affordable a new model as it had with earlier iPhone SE devices. The $599 iPhone 16e has some advantages though. This new model runs on the A18 chip that powers the iPhone 16, and that’s a serious piece of hardware. Unfortunately, the iPhone 16e gets a trimmed-down GPU with 4 cores instead of 5. Fortunately, the A18 has performance to spare, so I don’t see that holding the iPhone 16e back from being a solid gaming phone for even demanding titles. Even though I haven’t had a chance to test the iPhone 16e yet, I think it’s safe to say it’ll still rip through everyday operation and games alike, and my colleague over at PCMag saw excellent performance from the phone in his review.
While it's a shame the iPhone 16e couldn’t get a $429 price tag like the prior iPhone SE, it doesn’t make the same sacrifices that phone did. The iPhone 16e gets a more modern design in line with what Apple’s been pushing since as early as the iPhone 12. The best part of this upgrade for gamers is the much greater screen size. The iPhone 16e has a 6.1-inch display without the beefy bezels of the iPhone SE. That’s more real estate to see games and use your thumbs for controls. Plus, the display is an OLED panel, which provides better image quality and contrast. The iPhone 16e also starts with more base storage at 128GB, which is huge compared to the 64GB Apple provided in the prior iPhone SE.
All of that sets up the iPhone 16e nicely for gamers. But I’ll caveat that it may not be the perfect choice for folks who just want a value-focused iPhone. It may be the cheapest Apple offers at the moment, but it does sacrifice quite a bit. For instance, you won’t get access to mmWave or UWB 5G networking, which tends to offer the fastest speeds. That lack of mmWave also means precise device tracking for items like AirTags won’t work. The iPhone 16e also lacks MagSafe support, so you’ll have to either go without it or rely on a case to enable compatibility with MagSafe accessories. The camera system is also rather limited with just one sensor. I’d recommend the iPhone 14 for most people, but the updated chip in the iPhone 16e will make more sense for gamers who can forgo the extra mentioned here.
5. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7
Best Foldable Gaming Phone
Sometimes you just want more screen to see all the glory of your favorite games, and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 that I reviewed is just the ticket. This foldable phone has an 8-inch interior display that stretches games across it, and while that may not work for everything, you can still use its exterior display for gaming too – that one is a more normal 21:9 display. Regardless of which you use, both screens will highlight the rich contrast and bold color of an AMOLED display, not to mention the smooth visuals that come with a 120Hz refresh rate.
To power your games, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 packs in a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. This is the same hardware you’ll see in many of the best gaming devices out of 2025. Between the powerful Oryon CPU cores and the Adreno GPU, this chip offers extreme performance for smartphones and tablets alike or, in the case of the Galaxy Z Fold 7, both types of devices in one device. If you really want to go all out, you still will be better off with a tailor-made gaming device. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 has bursty performance, but under heavy sustained loads, its thin design will heat up and see performance drop off by as much as 60%. Thankfully, plenty of Android games don’t take full advantage of the hardware just yet, so there’s a good chance you’ll get to game without feeling this specific shortcoming.
The flipside is that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is much more pocket-friendly than its predecessor. This folding phone sits at just over 4mm thick open and it folds shut to measure just 8.9mm thick. That’s the same thickness as the Asus ROG Phone 9.
While the Galaxy Z Fold 7 may not have the same gaming chops as dedicated gaming phones, it will provide a more well-rounded experience. So if you’re also looking for solid cameras and long-term software support, you can expect it here. Of course, with a $1,999 price tag, I’d still point anyone who didn’t need one device to serve as a gaming tablet and phone toward separate purchases of a OnePlus 13 and Redmagic Astra tablet, which will cost less combined.
6. OnePlus 12R
Best Budget Android for Gaming
The OnePlus 12 is a compelling value, offering top-tier qualities at the price of most base-tier flagships (think S24 Ultra at the price of an S24). But OnePlus wanted to make an even more budget-friendly option with the OnePlus 12R. This model offers the look and feel of the OnePlus 12, but it comes in at just $499. The star of the show is the 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED display, which boasts a 1264x2780 and 120Hz refresh rate. It’s a stunner and a great platform for gaming. Put this next to the iPhone SE, and it’s no contest which has the better display.
Internally, the OnePlus 12R isn’t swinging for the fences. It packs 2023’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, but for most gaming, it still offers plenty of horsepower. With a 5,500mAh battery inside, the OnePlus 12R is also ready to stretch your gaming sessions out.
The OnePlus 12R did have to make some sacrifices, and its camera system is one area where it trimmed things. It doesn't have a setup that matches the OnePlus 12, but the camera system has little bearing on the phone’s ability to run games. So if you’re out here shopping for a cheaper gaming phone, the iPhone 12R is a great, value-focused option.
What We’re Looking Forward to:
The RedMagic 10 Pro is truly an excellent gaming phone. But with all the performance it pumps out of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip inside, it got me wondering just what the kind of performance could do if it were funneled into the same kind of games we all play on PC. When I’m not testing phones, I’m often testing laptops, and I’ve tested the MSI Claw 8 AI+ for Lifehacker. What’s been interesting to see is how the divide between the PC and phone hardware has been narrowing, both because the phone chips are speeding up considerably and because Windows has made a push toward ARM (the same architecture used by phone processors) alongside the introduction of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite SoCs for Windows systems.
With that narrowing divide, I’m constantly checking to see where there’s the closest overlap. For instance, the RedMagic 10 Pro actually performed quite close to the MSI Claw 8 AI+ in Geekbench 6’s single-core and multi-core test. It falls a bit further behind in raw GPU performance, though with just 78% of the performance in Steel Nomad Light. But bear in mind that the MSI Claw 8 AI+ is a powerful handheld that outstrips the Steam Deck considerably in 3DMark, by even more than it beats the RedMagic 10 Pro in Steel Nomad Light (one of the more demanding tests). All that is to say, the RedMagic 10 Pro could make a viable handheld when paired with a phone controller.
Now, there are certainly plenty of great games for Android, but there’s a whole world of PC games that it would be wonderful to throw all of the RedMagic 10 Pro’s horsepower at. But you can’t. And that’s where the upcoming RedMagic 10S Pro gets exciting. As reported by TechSpot, the RedMagic 10S Pro may support some form of Windows emulation to run PC games. While I’d expect there to be some performance penalty as a result, I don’t think even a 25% penalty would be enough to stop the phone from offering excellent performance in games like Hades or Dead Cells – the kind of indie titles that excel on gaming handhelds. And since the new RedMagic 10S Pro is packing a Snapdragon 8 Elite Leading Version chip, it should offer a slight bump in performance over its predecessor.
While this currently remains in the realm of conjecture, as I don’t have my hands on the new phone (yet) and can’t be certain it will even offer the sort of emulation suggested, it’s still an exciting prospect. Even better would be if someone (like Valve) would adapt Steam OS to support some of this mobile hardware. Heck, it might not be long before Windows can run natively on these phone SoCs.
What to Look for in a Gaming Phone
Once you're certain you're a prime candidate for a gaming phone, here's exactly what to consider when you're on the hunt for one. While the best smartphones on the market tend to have some of what it takes to be a decent gaming phone, proper gaming phones tend to have some considerable advantages. You’ll find unseen benefits under the hood, upgrades to the screen and battery, and even extra controls to help give you the edge while gaming.
- Processors: This is a key area for gaming phones as they effectively define how well a phone can run a game. Top-tier chips like those from the Snapdragon 8 family (e.g., Elite, Gen 1/2/3) tend to be strong performers in games, and the recent Snapdragon 8 Elite has shown itself an absolute beast when it comes to gaming. Apple’s iPhones also tend to have pretty high-performance chips, with any model within the last year or two often providing more than enough speed for the latest games.
- Cooling and heat management: While a fast processor is a good start, running games is demanding and generates heat. Gaming phones generally make a point of managing that. Paying attention to sustained performance is a key part of how we test phones’ gaming potential. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra may have great performance in a short benchmark, but it slows down considerably as it heats up. Meanwhile, a top-notch gaming phone like the RedMagic 10 can lag behind Samsung in some benchmarks, but proves itself capable of sustaining its performance for the long haul thanks to powerful heat management in the form of an active cooling phone — something most everyday phones won’t have.
- Power: Sometimes it’s not about hardware when it comes to smartly managing heat. You should be on the lookout for pass-through power when shopping for a gaming phone. This feature lets you plug in your phone and have the chipset draw power directly from the outlet, skipping the battery and avoiding the extra heat this would create while also letting you game nonstop without worrying about running out of charge. But again, this isn’t something you can count on every phone offering.
- Display: Most gaming phones will give you a solid display for gaming. This will include a high resolution and refresh rates ranging from 120Hz to 165Hz or above. Most often, these will be OLED displays, giving you rich contrast and limited motion blur. While many games have framerate caps at 60fps, not all do, and the extra frames can make a world of difference in the perceived smoothness of a game. Quite a few gaming phones also offer high touch sampling rates, ensuring your inputs are registered quickly, and with games often calling for split-second reaction times, this can make a difference.
- Gaming-specific features: Finally, good gaming phones often find ways to make themselves extra useful in games. This often comes in the form of extra software that’s not always pleasing or easy to use, or extra buttons on the phone that let you use more than just your thumbs as inputs. Even with just a pair of shoulder buttons on a gaming phone, you end up with double the input methods you’d have otherwise, and the ability to move, aim, jump and fire all with separate fingers in online FPS games, for instance, makes a big difference.
Gaming Handhelds vs. Gaming Phones
Deciding on a portable gaming device truly depends on your lifestyle, the type of games you want to play, and how you want to play them.
A gaming phone is ultra-portable and easily pocketed. However, it’s still a highly capable machine that does more than game, offering all your typical smartphone features, including quality cameras, navigation, and communication. Gaming phones also better support cloud streaming for Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox games. Many gaming phones even have cooling solutions to prevent thermal throttling and some handy triggers. If you’re not a fan of touch controls, you can always grab a phone controller and get an experience much closer to a gaming handheld.
Gaming handhelds, like the Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch, are substantially bulkier but still easy to toss in a bag and take on the go. Unlike gaming phones, they are pretty much used solely for gaming, so you get responsive joysticks, triggers, and buttons with these options.
As for actual games, there’s a considerable rift. Android and iOS get plenty of games, and it’s becoming increasingly common to find the same titles on mobile and PC, though the mobile versions are often scaled back in some ways. Gaming handhelds get access to pretty much all of the PC games out there because they are, in fact, gaming PCs (except the Nintendo Switch, of course). Some PC games won’t run well (or run at all) on the low-powered hardware of the gaming handheld, though.
Both gaming handhelds and gaming phones can tap into cloud gaming platforms like Nvidia GeForce Now and Xbox Game Pass. In these, the performance of the phone and handheld don’t matter nearly as much as the quality of their internet connection. In that sense, phones can get an advantage as they offer both Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity (though a very good 5G connection is all but essential to try game streaming).
Battery life can be a tossup. Gaming phones tend to have sizable batteries, run efficiently, and can easily last through the day even with a bit of gaming sprinkled in – otherwise, what use is it as a phone? Gaming handhelds tend to last just a few hours, with the Steam Deck offering pretty poor battery life as an example. And topping up the battery on the go will be easier for the phone, which won’t require a high-wattage charger.
Cost is a big question. The Steam Deck starts at $400 and the original Nintendo Switch is even less than that. Most gaming phones cost more. But some gaming handhelds are landing with prices closer to $1,000, and that far outpaces some of our favorite gaming phones. Plus, most of us need a phone whether we get a gaming handheld or not. The fact a gaming phone can pull double duty should weigh into its value.
The limited access to games may be the deciding factor, as even with cloud gaming as an option, some games simply won’t be available for gaming phones. If everything you want to play is available on mobile or cloud gaming, then it’s worth testing the waters of cloud gaming with your current phone and then, if you like the experience, considering a gaming phone as your next device. If you can’t play the games you want the way you want, then a handheld may fit the bill.
Mark Knapp is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything electronics and gaming hardware. He has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry with bylines at PCMag, Reviewed, CNET, and more. Find Mark on Twitter @Techn0Mark or BlueSky at @Techn0Mark.
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