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

Take price out of the equation, and there’s no doubt that the Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate is the very best gaming phone you can buy. Our benchmark tests prove that it boasts one of the fastest performances you can find on an Android phone thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, and is jam-packed with lots of gaming-centric features. 

The AirTriggers are our favourite feature, acting as virtual triggers so you can use the phone like a traditional gamepad rather than relying solely on touchscreen prods. The haptic feedback is superb, and it’s customisable so you can set any function you want – for Call of Duty Mobile, we assigned the triggers to crouching and shooting. 

The Ultimate model of the ROG Phone 7 also has a rear screen panel, which can provide handy alerts for notifications, charging status and more. Asus has also installed a panel on the back that will automatically open up whenever it senses the phone overheating, allowing increased airflow to cool down the internal components. 

Booming speakers, a huge AMOLED display and a mammoth battery also combine to make the Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate the absolute best gaming phone on the market. The only major concern is the price, costing over £1000/$1000. That makes the standard Asus ROG Phone 7 a tempting alternative, but the Ultimate model remains an outstanding choice. 

Reviewer: Ryan Jones
Full Review: Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate 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 8 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.

Despite its mid-range price tag, the RedMagic 8 Pro sports Qualcomm’s top-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset with either 12- or 16GB of RAM to play with, making it a true powerhouse for gaming that can compete with plenty of expensive Android flagships – though it does fall short of the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate’s lofty heights.

Still, performance is solid even during prolonged gameplay sessions thanks to active cooling vents on the rear. The problem is that, without any mesh on the vents, dust and debris can get sucked in. Coupled with the transparent back, that’s not ideal.

Elsewhere, the 6.8-inch AMOLED display is a very good canvas for gaming, offering a 120Hz refresh rate, a dizzying 960Hz touch sampling rate, and a 1080p resolution with an improved 1,300 nits max brightness compared to its predecessor – one of our biggest complaints about the display, in fact. The unmistakable gaming-centric semi-transparent design also incorporates two 520Hz touch buttons which give you a real competitive edge.

Unfortunately, however, Nubia’s user interface continues to be cluttered and clunky with 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: Palash Volvoikar
Full Review: Nubia Red Magic 8 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 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

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

Pair this with the large, responsive 6.7-inch 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 Max review

If you want something totally different for your gaming experience, look no further than the foldable Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5. The foldable nature of the book-style smartphone means you’ve got access to a large, high-res 7.6-inch 120Hz AMOLED display when you want to play games on a big screen while still folding down to a size resembling a standard smartphone.

It’s not just the sheer size of the foldable display that makes the Z Fold 5 the best foldable for gaming either; it also boasts Qualcomm’s custom Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, just like the S23 Ultra, making it the most powerful foldable on the market right now. It’s more than capable of powering high-end AAA gaming experiences with high-level graphics enabled with consistent gameplay even over longer periods of use.

Elsewhere, a 4,400mAh battery should be enough to get you through even demanding gaming sessions, a triple rear camera setup offers more versatility than a regular gaming phone and it has four OS upgrades and five years of security patches to look forward to.

Reviewer: Lewis Painter
Full Review: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 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 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 review