Best Gaming Phones 2023: The top smartphones for gaming on the go

Introduction

Gaming on your smartphone can be immensely fun if you’ve got the right kit – but it can also be immensely frustrating if your handset hasn’t got the chops to deal with your favourite games. That’s why we’ve assembled this list of the very best gaming phones around.

We’ve included phones that were built specifically for mobile gaming, as well as some non-specialists that still acquit themselves very well when running popular mobile games.

Every single one of these phones has been put through a series of benchmarking tests, along with real-world experience, so that we know they can deliver the optimal gaming performance for their category.

If you’re after the best all-round phones that are excellent at a range of other skills besides just gaming, then you should check out our best phones guide. If you’re on a tighter budget, then take a glance at our best mid-range phones and best cheap phones articles for a selection of more affordable handsets.

Best Gaming phones at a glance

How we test

Learn more about how we test gaming phones

Every phone we review goes through a series of uniform checks designed to gauge key things including build quality, screen accuracy, battery life, performance and camera prowess.

These include formal synthetic benchmarks and scripted tests, plus a series of real world checks, such as how much battery it loses per hour streaming video. For gaming phones, we pay particular attention as to how well they run some of the most popular mobile titles.

We also make sure to use every phone we review as our primary handset for at least 4 days to ensure our review is as accurate as possible. You can see a more detailed breakdown of our testing methodology in our how we test phones guide.

Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro

Best gaming phone

Trusted Score

Pros

• Muscular performance
• Smooth and responsive screen
• Good battery life and fast-charging

Cons

• Cameras aren’t the best
• Not for non-gamers
• Expensive

The Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro is our choice for the best gaming phone around, and if you take a glance at the specifications then it won’t take you more than a few seconds to see why.

From a screen with a 165Hz refresh rate and 720Hz touch sampling rate, to a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset that’s complemented by 18GB of RAM, this device was built from the ground up to deliver excellent gaming performance, and fortunately we can confirm that it does exactly that.

We were incredibly impressed by the speedy processing power of this device, while the super smooth and reactive screen helped us to feel more immersed than ever before in the games that were unfolding in front of us.

This handset delivered the best gaming performance we’ve seen in a phone, and its beefy 6000mAh battery ensures that your session won’t suddenly be cut short. What’s more, the 65W fast-charging saw it get fully topped up in just 40 minutes, so you’re soon ready to get up and go again.

If you’ve got a never-ending appetite for gaming, and a similarly limitless wallet, then this handset is the best we’ve tested for that purpose.

Asus has also released the Asus ROG Phone 6D Ultimate, which packs a MediaTek chipset. We’re reviewing this phone currently, so will update the list when we’ve put it through the tests.

Reviewer: Peter Phelps
Full Review: Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro review

Nubia Redmagic 7S Pro

Best mid-range gaming phone

Trusted Score

Pros

• Stellar Performance
• Responsive gaming controls
• Not the gaudiest design for a gaming phone

Cons

• Awful, buggy UI
• In-display selfie cam an odd choice
• Battery not huge for a gaming phone

Not everyone is lucky enough to have fistfuls of cash to throw at a phone, especially if it’s a secondary phone that you’re just using to satisfy your gaming needs. That’s why a device like the Redmagic 7S Pro comes in handy. It costs a lot less than the flagships on this list, but don’t let that fool you: it still delivers blistering performance.

This phone rocks the same formidable Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset as the ROG Phone 6 Pro, and this ensures that it is one of the fastest Android phones on the market. You can run Genshin Impact on its very highest settings on this device, and the processor – working in tandem with the heat dissipation system – will still maintain great performance.

The 6.8-inch display is a very good canvas for gaming, offering a 120Hz refresh rate, a dizzying 960Hz touch sampling rate, and a 1080p resolution. However, you might find that it’s not quite as bright as some of its competitors and we sometimes had to top it up to maximum brightness even when indoors. The unmistakable gaming-centric design also incorporates two 520Hz touch buttons which give you a real competitive edge.

Unfortunately, however, Nubia’s user interface is cluttered and clunky and there are even some translation mistakes to be found as well, which hardly makes for an enjoyable experience. But if you can look past this flaw (and the sub-par camera system), then you’ve got yourself a highly capable gaming phone.

Reviewer: Jon Mundy
Full Review: Nubia Red Magic 7S Pro review

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

Best Android flagship for gaming

Trusted Score

Pros

• 200MP camera delivers in both well-lit and low-light conditions
• Top-notch performance from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy
• All-day battery life
• Stunningly detailed 6.8in 120Hz display

Cons

• Very expensive
• Relatively slow 45W charging
• Difficult to use one-handed

While the previous two entries in this list are dedicated gaming phones, built expressly for that purpose and nothing else, this one is a flagship smartphone that boasts excellent gaming performance as just one of its many accomplishments. If you pick this device, you’ll be able to play the best games in style – but you’ll get more than that, too.

In terms of its gaming capabilities, you’ll find a truly excellent performer here that is among the speediest Android phones around with an exclusive Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chipset. It’s also got an utterly brilliant 120Hz WQHD+ screen, arguably the best on any smartphone you can buy, and it makes games a joy to play.

You won’t get some purist gaming enhancements, such as shoulder trigger buttons, but you will get some advantages that other gaming phones may miss out on, including a guaranteed five years of software updates and a brilliant camera system with a suite of lenses that include a main 200MP sensor and impressive zooming capabilities that are head and shoulders above the others on the market.

If you’re looking for an Android device that can handle games with aplomb but offer so much more, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is an easy recommendation.

Reviewer: Lewis Painter
Full Review: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review

iPhone 14 Pro

Best iOS gaming phone

Trusted Score

Pros

• Great screen that gets very bright outdoors
• Versatile camera system for both photography and videography
• Always-on display and Dynamic Island are both neat tricks
• Additional safety features are always welcome

Cons

• Not the quickest to charge
• Zoom photography isn’t on the level of the competition
• Only really a day of battery life

In our tests, we found the A16 Bionic chipset at the heart of the iPhone 14 Pro to be a gaming beast, comfortably capable of playing any title we could throw at it with ease.

Pair this with the responsive ProMotion display which ramps up to 120Hz and the fantastic collection of titles available via both the App Store and Apple Arcade, and you have a true gaming champion.

You do miss out on the more gaming-specific features other phones we’ve included on this list possess. There are, of course, no built-in triggers nor the ROG Phone’s RGB lightning. It’s also a little more finicky streaming games from Game Pass on iOS than it is on Android, but it is doable.

You’re also getting an excellent phone in other areas. The three rear cameras are great, the software top-tier and the screen quality the best we’ve reviewed. 

Reviewer: Max Parker
Full review: Apple iPhone 14 Pro review

Poco X5 Pro

Best cheap phone for gaming

Trusted Score

Pros

• Fully-capable 6.7-inch OLED display
• Surprisingly well-equipped camera
• Decent performance

Cons

• Cheap rear design
• MIUI software is very cluttered
• Unfriendly amount of bloatware

If you can’t get enough of your mobile gaming but don’t have a large disposable income to spend on one of the all-singing all-dancing flagships that we’ve listed above, then don’t worry; you can still get a great gaming experience at a lower price.

For this purpose, we’d especially recommend the Poco X5 Pro 5G. Despite the sub-$400/£400 price, it boasts key gaming-focused features including a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate and 900 nits of brightness, along with support for HDR10+ for times when you aren’t gaming. That’s backed by a whopping 5,000mAh battery that can compete with most flagships for battery life, and a 108MP main snapper does a decent job too.

Of course, performance standards aren’t on the same level as flagship models, but they should be good enough to see you through your gaming sessions without too many problems.

This great value handset is well worth a look if you want to game to your heart’s content but can’t splash out on some of the bank-breaking options that excel in this area.

Reviewer: Connor Jewiss
Full Review: Poco X5 Pro 5G

Asus ROG Phone 6D Ultimate

Best alternative gaming phone

Trusted Score

Pros

• Extremely powerful
• Fantastically large and fluid display
• Useful gaming buttons

Cons

• Barely any different to the ROG Phone 6 Pro
• More expensive than before
• Somewhat cumbersome

You’ve already seen that we’ve put the Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro in pride of place as the best gaming phone on this list, but if you fancy a slightly different design or simply can’t find it to buy, then the Asus ROG Phone 6D Ultimate would also be an excellent choice. Why? Because it’s virtually the same device.

The main difference is that this handset packs the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ chipset rather than Qualcomm’s latest, and this still delivers one hell of a punch as far as performance is concerned. According to our tests, the CPU benchmarking stats were slightly better on this version, while the GPU scores were a tad weaker. Whichever handset you get, you’re guaranteed an excellent amount processing power to get you through any kind of mobile game.

The design looks very similar to its sibling, once again being rather heavy to handle on a day-to-day basis but at least the Space Grey finish is a tad more subtle than the white of the 6 Pro. It still has the same screen and camera set-up, and we noticed no substantial differences between the two in these respects during the review process, and the battery also has the same massive 6000mAh capacity.

Just as with the ROG Phone 6 Pro, if you love mobile gaming and want excellent performance then it’s very hard to go wrong with this handset.

Reviewer: Jon Mundy

Full review: Asus ROG Phone 6D Ultimate

FAQs

What is the best gaming phone?

Overall, we’d pick the Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro as the best gaming phone you can buy

Which iPhone should I buy if I like gaming?

We’d recommend the iPhone 14 Pro Max if you love gaming but want to stick with an iPhone

Best Gaming Phones: Specifications Comparison

‹

UK RRP

USA RRP

EU RRP

CA RRP

AUD RRP

Manufacturer

Screen Size

Storage Capacity

Rear Camera

Front Camera

Video Recording

IP rating

Battery

Wirless charging

Fast Charging

Size (Dimensions)

Weight

Operating System

Resolution

HDR

Refresh Rate

Ports

Chipset

RAM

Colours

Stated Power

Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro

£1099

–

€1299

–

–

Asus

6.78 inches

512GB

50MP+13MP

12MP

Yes

IPX4

6000 mAh

–

Yes

77 x 10.3 x 173 MM

239 G

Android 12

2488 x 1080

–

165 Hz

USB-C x2, 3.5mm headphone jack

Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1

–

White, Black

–

Nubia Redmagic 7S Pro

£669

$729

€779

Unavailable

Unavailable

ZTE Corporation

6.8 inches

256GB

64MP wide, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP macro

8MP under display

Yes

IP57

5000 mAh

–

Yes

166.3 x 77.1 x 10 MM

235 G

Redmagic 5.5

1080 x 2400

–

120 Hz

USB-C 3.5mm Headphone jack

Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1

12GB

–

–

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

£1249

$1199

–

–

–

Samsung

6.8 inches

256GB, 512GB, 1TB

200MP + 12MP + 10MP + 10MP

12MP

Yes

IP68

5000 mAh

Yes

Yes

8.9 x 163.4 x 163.4 MM

234 G

Android 13 (OneUI 5.1)

3088 x 1440

Yes

120 Hz

USB-C

Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy

12GB, 8GB

Phantom Black, Cream, Green, Lavender

–

iPhone 14 Pro

£1099

$999

€1299

CA$1399

AU$1749

Apple

6.1 inches

128GB

48MP Main, 12MP Ultrawide, 12MP 2x Telephoto, 12MP 3x Telephoto

12MP True Depth

Yes

IP68

–

Yes

Yes

71.5 x 7.85 x 147.5 MM

206 G

iOS 16

2556 x 460

Yes

120 Hz

Lightning

A16 Bionic chip

–

Space Black, Silver, Gold, Deep Purple

20 W

Poco X5 Pro

£369

Unavailable

€349

Unavailable

Unavailable

Pocophone

6.7 mm

128GB, 256GB

108MP + 8MP + 2MP

16MP

Yes

IP53

5000 mAh

–

Yes

76 x 7.9 x 162.9 MM

181 G

Android 12 (MIUI 14)

1080 x 2400

Yes

120 Hz

USB-C

Snapdragon 778G

6GB, 8GB

Black, Blue, Yellow

–

Asus ROG Phone 6D Ultimate

–

–

–

–

–

Asus

6.78 inches

512GB

50MP+13MP+5MP

12MP

Yes

IPX4

6000 mAh

–

Yes

77 x 10.4 x 173 MM

247 G

Android 12

2448 x 1080

–

165 Hz

USB-C x2, 3.5mm headphone jack

MediaTek Dimensity 9000+

16GB

Space Grey

–

›

Best Gaming Phones: Tests Comparison

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Geekbench 5 single core

Geekbench 5 multi core

Max brightness

1 hour video playback (Netflix, HDR)

30 minute gaming (intensive)

30 minute gaming (light)

1 hour music streaming (online)

1 hour music streaming (offline)

Time from 0-100% charge

Time from 0-50% charge

3D Mark – Wild Life

3D Mark – Wild Life Stress Test

Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro

1323

4204

–

6 %

6 %

–

–

–

40 min

17 Min

7070

–

Nubia Redmagic 7S Pro

1314

4124

600 nits

–

–

–

–

–

35 min

–

–

2832

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

1489

4527

–

7 %

–

5 %

–

–

91 min

28 Min

3766

3726

iPhone 14 Pro

1878

5491

–

10 %

11 %

5 %

1 %

1 %

99 min

32 Min

2809

–

Poco X5 Pro

786

2988

–

7 %

7 %

3 %

–

–

68 min

32 Min

–

–

Asus ROG Phone 6D Ultimate

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

›