Best Phones for Mobile Gaming – Best mobile gaming phones for 2023

We’ve compiled some of the best gaming phones out there for you! Naturally, as with all types of gaming, having the right hardware is key – in other words, you need a good mobile gaming phone in order to be able to keep up. This is even more true for mobile esports, and just like in PC gaming, there are a LOT of options out there.

Once upon a time, ‘real’ gamers laughed at so-called ‘fake’ mobile gamers – or at least a few people with an exaggerated superiority complex liked to do so. Most gamers never cared how or where someone plays games in the first place – after all, it makes exactly no difference. Or maybe it does – after all, mobile gaming has absolutely eclipsed console or PC gaming in terms of revenue earned. This is in no small part due to microtransactions, subscriptions, and loot boxes, but nevertheless, it has happened.

Best Mobile Gaming Phones

“Best of” lists will always have a sprinkle of subjectivity in them. Our rankings are based on thorough review of all the phone specs and partial review of phones we have come in contact with. Not all of the phones from this last have been reviewed on hand by our staff. The three out of five that have and the rest (based on other reviews) have all been compiled in a top five format. We will keep updating this last as we either review all of the phones and compare, or once new entrants become available.

1. iPhone 13 Pro Max

Currently the most optimized phone that is available for gaming. While not being sold as a gaming phone exclusively, it is currently the most used device for competitive mobile gaming. Before getting into the specs, the main reason for such a good ranking is the widespread adoption for this device by gamers. Apple taking charge on both the software and hardware front, makes the 13 Pro one of the most balanced devices in terms of performance. Due to this fluidity games on the iPhones can run with ease while not needing a lot of RAM.

While having a Benchmark Score of 801691 by Antutu is simply the taste of the raw processing power the phone can produce. In the three most recent BGMI tournament hosted in India, it was visible that the majority used the iPhone while playing in the tournament. This only goes to show that mobile might not need the best specs to run with a lot of ease. A phone can have a RAM of even 6GB and run games like Genshin Impact on 120 Fps unlike no other phone currently available in the industry.

2. iQOO 11

Jumping straight into second place right at launch, iQOO 11 is the flagship phone for the new year, settings new standards across all categories. With the latest Snapdragon® 8 Gen 2 Mobile chipset and special Vapor Chamber Liquid cooling system, it aims to strike the perfect balance between heat control and performance. Your industry standard 144hz refresh rate and a minimum of Adreno 700 series graphics are all present, paired with a surprisingly solid camera for a gamer centric phone.

With adding some special gimmicks like the V2 Chip and improved sensory control, vivo attempts to adress all mobile gamer “complaints” in a single flagship device. Added perks include full game control customization and on the fly macros, paired with motion control and in-display dual touch technologies.

What makes this device unique is the price to performance unit conversion. At roughly 550$ on release, iQOO delivers premium performance at a fraction of both the top entries on the list, making it one of the best price-per-unit devices on the market heading into 2023.

3. Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro

The Asus ROG Phone series has been quite the defining trait for the proclaimed mobile gaming phones. Similar to gaming laptops, these phones have the highest specs available in the current market for phones. While the camera is the only downfall for the phone but if the phone is taken for gaming purposes, there wouldn’t be any reason for the cameras. The Asus ROG Phone 6 pro comes with a 6.78 inches 165Hz AMOLED display. While it consists of the last chipset by Snapdragon which is the Qualcomm SM8475 Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 with Adreno 730 inbuilt. The phone is one of the few phones which comes with parallel charging consisting of a Li-Po 6000 mAh battery and with two charging ports. The phones come with 512GB ROM & 18GB RAM from the get-go as well as a headphone jack.

Naturally, it also has a few cool gimmicks as any Asus device would, such as the low-res pixel screen on the back of the phone that gives it a unique appearance. One of its key strengths is the strong battery life – over 10 hours even with 144Hz. ROG Phone predecessors like Phone 3, carved a niche in the budget market but ROG 6 Pro tries to hit the high end budget and honestly come short of the vivo in the bang per buck category.

4. OnePlus 10 Pro

It has been quite a bumpy ride for Oneplus as a brand. While shifting their major operating system to ColorOS from Oxygen has left quite the bad taste. But the OnePlus 10 Pro is phone is one of the best phones available at the price currently. The phone consists of an LTPO2 Fluid AMOLED 120Hz display. As such the Oneplus Pro consists of the Qualcomm SM8450 Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 with Adreno 730. Having the flagship chipset by Snapdragon, allows the phone to complete intense tasks with ease. It doesn’t hold back in the battery section as well as it rocks a Li-Po 5000 mAh battery within.

Due to the latest LTPO display, mobiles can change the frame rate at which the display runs on. Due to this while it needs it can go to the highest of 120hz but when doing minimum tasks go as low as 50Hz. As such a lot of the battery is saved as well which could be lost on screen on time. It has a score of 886248 on Antutu which puts it in the top 15 phones currently based on the benchmarks.

5. Xiaomi Redmi K50i Gaming

The last phone on our list is the Redmi K50i. Currently, the phone is proclaimed as the true successor of the very well-received Redmi K20 Pro. While that phone had released quite a few years ago, fans have been waiting for a phone to come close to it. The Redmi K50i runs the latest version of MIUI version which is based on Android 12. It consists of a 144Hz LCD panel which also supports HDR10 for various applications. It consists of the MediaTek Dimensity 8100 which is an octa-core processor with the GPU of Mali-G610 MC6. It has a Li-Po 5080 mAh battery as well as Stereo speakers.

Currently, the base model of the phone comes with 128GB ROM and 6GB RAM. Due to the chipset and the amount of ram available the phone can run PUBG and BGMI on 90 FPS with ease. It can also run Apex Legends Mobile on the highest resolution without lagging. If you wish to get a phone on the cheap while having quite impressive processing power for the price. This is the phone for you.

Honorable Mentions

Two additional phones deserve a mention here. One extremely overpriced and one extremely long serving entry.