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

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

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

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. It’s also got an utterly brilliant 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 that is head and shoulders above the others on the market when it comes to its zoom capabilities.

If you’re looking for an Android device that can handle games with aplomb but offer so much more, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is an easy recommendation.

Reviewer: Max Parker
Full Review: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra review

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

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 X4 Pro 5G. Despite the sub-$300/£300 price, this screen boasts some highly advanced features, including a 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10 support, and a claimed 1200 nits peak brightness. The battery is also exceptional, lasting up to two days of conservative usage. 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: Peter Phelps
Full Review: Poco X4 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