The best gaming phones are more portable than a gaming laptop and almost as powerful as the best gaming console. A gaming phone has only one job - to help you win! Or you can just have fun playing games, whatever makes you happy.
A gaming phone needs more than top-notch specs. It should have software that optimizes its performance and cooling for every gaming need, whether you want to chug along for a long train ride, or tear through noobs with extreme prejudice. It should have special features, like side-button controls, that give you more options when you play.
We also love to share our gaming, so the best gaming phones need to have tools for streaming live over Twitch and other services, as well as capturing footage of our best moments.
We test all of the best gaming phones in depth, not just with benchmark software, but with real world play. We play online multiplayer games like Call of Duty Mobile and PUBG, massive role playing games like Genshin Impact, battle arena games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, casual strategy games like Marvel Snap, and we stream games from our Xbox One X gaming console.
The best premium gaming phone is the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro, but you can find serious gaming performance for less money, or without the gamer aesthetic. The RedMagic 10 Pro offers the same power for less money, with amazing battery life. And of course there's always the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, which offers the absolute top scores in benchmark tests.
Quick List
The Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro is the first Snapdragon 8 Elite phone we've reviewed and it's a powerful beast. Asus has further refined its formula for a look that is more professional than pro gamer, without sacrificing performance
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The RedMagic 10 Pro is the affordable gaming champ, with amazing benchmark scores and great real world performance, in addition to fantastic battery life.
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If you're gaming on iPhone, you want the best performance, the biggest display, and the most battery life, and that means the iPhone 16 Pro Max is the only iPhone you should consider for serious mobile gaming.
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The Galaxy S25 Ultra can do everything, and with its overclocked Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset, of course it makes a great gaming pick, especially if you want to game with a pen.
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For a phone that costs only $599 / £679 (before trade-in discounts), the OnePlus 13R gives you flagship-level performance, a huge display, and the best battery life on any smartphone. Everything gamers want, for less than you'd expect.
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The Galaxy Z Fold 6 refines Samsung's big tablet foldable with more durability and a wider front display, and this foldable makes a fantastic gaming phone with its powerful performance, huge inner screen, and S Pen support for more input options.
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The best gaming phone 2025
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The best premium gaming
The Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro is a performance beast. It's the most powerful phone we've reviewed so far. It's got a subtle design for a gaming phone, amazing battery life, and tons of handy features.
Asus streamlined its gaming phone design last year, and the ROG Phone 9 Pro continues that trend. It's still a bit chunky, but the soft-touch glass back makes it comfortable to hold. Asus even added some cool features like wireless charging and IP68 water resistance, which you don't usually see in gaming phones.
For gamers, the larger 5,800mAh battery means you can game for hours on end, and the secondary USB-C port makes it easy to charge while you play.
The camera system is decent, but not amazing. It takes solid photos in most situations, but it can't quite keep up with the top-tier camera phones from Apple, Google, and Samsung. However, it does have a cool new gimbal system for super-stable shots.
The real star of the show is the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. This new chipset flies through games and benchmarks, and the improved cooling system keeps it running smoothly even during long gaming sessions. Plus, you get a choice between a gamer-focused UI or a more traditional Android look.
Overall, the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro is a fantastic phone for gamers and everyday users alike. It's expensive, but it delivers top-notch performance, a sleek design, and a ton of useful features. If you're looking for a phone that can do it all, the ROG Phone 9 Pro is definitely worth considering.
Read our full Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro review
The best gaming for most people
The Nubia RedMagic 10 Pro delivers outstanding gaming performance at a mid-range price. It packs the same Snapdragon 8 Elite processor as the much pricier Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro, and it can handle any mobile game you throw at it with ease. Nubia also incorporated a built-in cooling fan, which helps maintain performance during long gaming sessions, giving it an edge over competitors that rely on external cooling.
Beyond raw power, the Red Magic 10 Pro is built for marathon gaming sessions. Its huge 7,050mAh battery offers incredible stamina, lasting us days with moderate use or a full day even with heavy gaming.
The display is a large 6.85-inch AMOLED with a 144Hz refresh rate. There's no notch, so gamers can see the entire screen. There are dedicated shoulder triggers that light up and can be mapped to game functions, giving a competitive advantage.
While it shines as a gaming device, the RedMagic 10 Pro is bulky and has a distinct "gamer" aesthetic, with RGB lighting and a semi-transparent back. This might not appeal to everyone. It also lacks water resistance, has only one USB-C port, and skips wireless charging.
The Nubia RedMagic 10 Pro prioritizes gaming performance and battery life above all else. It offers incredible value, making top-tier mobile gaming accessible at a lower price. However, that value comes with trade-offs in design, camera quality, and software updates.
Read our full Nubia RedMagic 10 Pro review
The best iPhone gaming
While Apple's MacOS computers may lag behind in gaming, the iPhone is an excellent game platform, and the best iPhone for gaming is easily the iPhone 16 Pro Max. It has the biggest, brightest display, the fastest performance, and the best design of any iPhone you can buy. If you can afford Apple's best, you'll be happier every time you play.
There are some things the iPhone simply does better when it comes to games. Many of the best controller accessories, like the Nomad Scuf and Sony Backbone, launched on the iPhone first. The iPhone also has access to Apple's exclusive Apple Arcade store, which gives you a heap of games for a monthly fee.
With its A18 Pro processor on board, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is the most future-proof of all the iPhone models you can buy, whether you're playing detailed games like Death Stranding or waiting for the latest Apple Intelligence features coming to iOS 18. If you don't have a Pro phone, Apple says you may get left out of the AI party.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max offers great battery life, stunning photography, and that futuristic titanium build. It's expensive, but it's also the best iPhone for gaming, and one of the best gaming phones you can buy.
Read our full iPhone 16 Pro Max review
The best gaming and more
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra represents a significant step forward for Samsung's flagship line, merging a refined design with a powerful focus on AI. While it adopts a more unified aesthetic to match the rest of the S25 series, losing some of the distinct Note-like character, the phone is now lighter and thinner than before. It retains the integrated S Pen, a standout feature that continues to offer unique productivity and even gaming possibilities.
A major highlight for gamers is the expansive 6.9-inch AMOLED display, which got bigger because Samsung shrunk the bezels. This provides a larger viewing area without increasing the phone's overall size. While the resolution and adaptive 120Hz refresh rate are carried over from the previous generation, the visual experience remains top-notch, delivering vibrant colors and smooth motion. Samsung has included ProScaler technology. The ability to upscale any lower-resolution content is powered by silicon, and might come in handy if, say, you're playing an old game on the Quad HD+ screen.
Under the hood, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is powered by the custom Qualcomm Snapdragon Gen 8 Elite for Galaxy. This chipset delivers a significant performance boost, closing the gap with Apple's A-series chips and providing ample power for demanding mobile games. Furthermore, a 40% larger vapor chamber, combined with a new Thermal Interface Material, helps manage heat effectively, ensuring sustained performance during extended gaming sessions.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra's impressive battery life is another boon for gamers. The 5,000mAh battery, combined with the efficiency of the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset, can comfortably deliver over 30 hours of mixed use, and it performed well both in our lab tests and in our real world play time. This means you can enjoy long gaming sessions without worrying about constantly needing to recharge.
In short, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is a powerhouse device that excels in areas crucial for mobile gaming. The large, immersive display, top-tier processing power, excellent heat management, and exceptional battery life combine to make it a compelling option for Android gamers who also value the versatility of the S Pen and a premium all-around smartphone experience.
Read our review: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review
The best budget gaming
The OnePlus 13R establishes itself as a strong contender in the "affordable flagship" category, prioritizing key features that enhance mobile gaming experience. Its large 6.78-inch display is a standout, offering vibrant colors, excellent brightness (even in direct sunlight), and a smooth, 120Hz refresh rate. This creates an immersive visual environment for games, and the slender bezels maximize screen real estate.
Powering the gaming experience is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. While not the absolute latest processor, it's the same chip found in the flagship phones of 2024, including the OnePlus 12. In our testing time with the OnePlus 13R we found ample power to handle demanding games with ease. Combined with 12GB of RAM, the OnePlus 13R provides smooth performance and quick loading times, although it might not be quite as instantaneous as the very latest top-tier flagships.
OnePlus further caters to gamers with its Hyperboost performance settings. These settings provide real-time data on FPS, latency, and phone temperature. Gamers can choose between "Balanced," "Low power," and "Pro Gamer" modes, the latter prioritizing maximum performance (at the cost of increased heat and battery drain).
A major advantage of the OnePlus 13R is its massive 6,000mAh battery. This translates to exceptional battery life, easily lasting us a full day even with heavy gaming, and potentially stretching to two days with more moderate usage. With fast charging as well, it replenishes the battery quickly. The main drawback here is lack of wireless charging.
The OnePlus 13R delivers a compelling gaming package at a competitive price. It makes some compromises, such as the lack of full water resistance (it's only splash-proof) and wireless charging, and its software isn't for everyone. However, its core strengths – a fantastic display, strong performance, gamer-specific features, and phenomenal battery life – make it a worthy consideration for mobile gamers on a budget.
Read our full OnePlus 13R review
The best gaming foldable
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is the best foldable gaming phone, with a huge inner display that opens up to 7.6-inches. It gives you only 10% less screen real estate than an iPad mini, even though it folds up slim and pocket-friendly like a smartphone.
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 uses a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset that has been specialized for Samsung, basically overclocking the big performance core. That makes the Galaxy Z Fold 6 the top performing foldable phone by far. The OnePlus Open uses a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and it falls to the Galaxy Z Fold 6 in all of our benchmark tests.
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 improves over previous Samsung tablet foldables with a wider front display that makes it feel more like a normal smartphone, but the star of the show is the huge inner screen, which even works with a specialized S Pen for foldable phones.
Open the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and it's a new story altogether. The interior display is huge, which makes it much more useful not just for gaming but also for drawing and productivity work. If you want to play games on the big screen, while staying mobile, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is the phone to consider.
Read the full review: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 review
Best gaming phone FAQ
What makes a phone a gaming phone?
Unlike a gaming PC, a gaming phone often does not have different hardware than a premium non-gaming phone, like a faster CPU or GPU. Gaming phones usually offer better cooling, which helps performance over a long period of gaming. Gaming phones also include specialized software that optimizes performance while playing games. Gaming phones also include screen recording software so you can share you best gaming moments on your favorite social platforms or gaming networks.
Do I need a gaming phone to play games?
Almost any good phone can play your favorite Android and Apple Arcade games. A gaming phone will let you change settings to improve graphics, sound, or gameplay response. Gaming phones are less prone to overheating if you play an intense game for a long period. Dedicated gaming phones also have virtual controller buttons on the side of the phone that mimic a game controller, but all phones can work with a standard Playstation, Xbox, or other Bluetooth gaming controller.
Do I need a controller for my gaming phone?
Gaming phones are especially good at helping you control your games, and dedicated gaming phones have software options, sensors, and even accessories that give you more control over your gaming, without an external controller. The Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro comes with a cooling fan that also includes programmable buttons for gaming.
That said, pairing your phone with an Xbox, Playstation, or other Bluetooth gaming controller is a great experience, and you may not know what you're missing. Games often run more smoothly when you have a controller and don't need to rely on finger swipes for motion and action. You Android phone and iPhone will recognize a controller and offer default controls for most games when you pair over Bluetooth.
Is the iPhone a good gaming phone?
The iPhone is an exceptionally good gaming phone, and it may arguably be Apple's best gaming platform all around (since Apple TV games are really just iPhone games). The iPhone has amazing performance, no matter which iPhone you use, because Apple's processors have long outperformed every Android phone until only recently. Apple offers Apple Arcade, a subscription service with some exclusive games. There are also now emulator apps available on the Apple App Store, though you'll need to copy your own ROMs from your old cartridges to play.
