What are the best smartphones for gaming?

Question

GamingAndroidElectronicsiOS

What are the best smartphones for gaming?

9

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Considered

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Sep 29, 2022

Last
Updated

4 Options Considered

Best smartphones for gaming	Price	OS	Display Size
59 Razer Phone	$699	Android	5.6''+
50 iPhone X	$999	iOS	-
-- HTC 10	$699	Android	5.0''+
-- LG V30	$829.99	Android	6.0''+

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score 22 · Answer 1

Razer Phone

Top Pro

The battery can easily last a full day under very heavy use

The 4000mAh battery can last a full day even on full brightness, several hours of gaming, and using the screen at 120Hz. See More

Top Con

No support for VR

Doesn't have support for neither Gear VR nor Daydream. This is especially disappointing since the Razer Phone is built primarily for gaming. See More

OpinionatedHanXiangzi's Experience

its that razer,who dont know razer game peformance See More

Specs

OS:Android

Display Size:5.6''+

For gaming:Yes

Top Pro

Extremely good performance

Razer built this phone for people who want to use it primarily for gaming and great gaming performance usually translates to excellent general performance as well. The 8GB of RAM, the Snapdragon 835, and especially the 120Hz display make this phone a joy to use. See More

Top Con

Disappointing camera performance

The camera is not good enough for a $700 phone. Especially in low-lighting conditions, the camera is very disappointing. Blues and greens are too blue and green to the point that pictures seem over-saturated by an Instagram filter. The camera app itself is also very laggy and slow to respond. See More

Top Pro

Produces the highest quality audio out of any smartphone

The two loud speakers on the front produce loud and clear sound. It's widely regarded as the phone with the best audio currently in the market and even rivals most laptops as far as audio goes. See More

Top Con

A bit uncomfortable to carry around because of the large size

The front-facing speakers add a lot of bulk to the already large phone, making it one of the largest smartphones on the market with a size close to the iPhone 8+. Because of this it can be a bit annoying to keep in your pocket. See More

Top Pro

Feels smoother than any flagship phone currently on the market

The Razer Phone is equipped with a 120Hz screen, making it the first smartphone to have such a high refresh rate (most current flagships have screens with less than half of that). The high refresh rate makes the experience of actually using the phone extremely smooth; much smoother than even other phones with the same or even slightly better hardware. Scrolling, for example becomes almost an enjoyable experience since you won't be swiping down blurry text or icons but instead they will be crystal-clear. See More

Top Pro

Extremely durable

The body is made of durable anodized aluminium and can certainly take a beating. Even though it might be easier to scratch than some flagships, especially against sharp surfaces, it's extremely hard to bend this phone even when trying. See More

See All

score 11 · Answer 2

iPhone X

Top Pro

The most colorful screen on the market

The iPhone X is the first iPhone with an OLED screen. OLED is the best smartphone screen technology on the market at the moment and the jump to OLED screens was long overdue for the iPhone. The 5.8 inch screen has rich, vibrant colours and inky blacks due to the 2436 x 1125 resolution. It's quite bright as well so you won't have any issues using the phone under direct sunlight. See More

Top Con

No fingerprint scanner

The removal of the home button unfortunately also brought the removal of TouchID. Apple has planned to replace the fingerprint reader with the new FaceID but it's not really an equivalent replacement since both of these security measures are completely different even if they both serve the same purpose. It would be similar to removing password locking when TouchID was first introduced. See More

Specs

Top Pro

Performance is considerably better than on previous iPhone versions

The new 6-core, 64bit, A11 Bionic chip inside the iPhone X (and iPhone 8) does not disappoint. Performance is smooth, as is expected from an iPhone, and, according to GeekBench, the iPhone X has 25% better performance on single core and 80% better performance on multi core compared to the iPhone 7. See More

Top Con

The most expensive smartphone to date

At a release starting price of $999, its price tag is on the higher end, even for flagship phones. See More

Top Pro

The face recognition system works virtually everytime

The iPhone X's FaceID security system recognizes the user's face and uses the front-facing camera to unlock the phone. While it's true that other smartphones have had this technology for years, it's never been this secure. FaceID uses infrared technology to create a 3D map of the face, making it impossible to unlock the phone using a photography of the owner (like you can do with most other phones with a face recognition system). See More

Top Con

Buying a cover for it is highly advisable

Since Apple decided to ditch their design with an aluminium back and return to the glass back, having a cover for the X is almost a necessity since dropping it means you risk breaking both sides of the phone (back and screen) at once. See More

Top Pro

Can be charged wirelessly

The iPhone X is the first iPhone to implement wireless charging. What's more, Apple decided to implement the Qi standard for wireless charging which, among other things, lets you monitor multiple devices charging wirelessly at the same time. See More

Top Con

All the added gestures to iOS 11 are hard to remember

With iOS 11 and the removal of the home button the iPhone relies on screen gestures much more than in the past. It may take some time to get used to the new gestures and while not extremely complicated, it adds some complexity which has not been present in old iOS versions and goes against the whole "just works" philosophy that has made the iPhone what it is today. For example: To go to the home screen you swipe up from the bottom of the display. To access the control center you swipe down from the top of the screen. To open notifications you swipe right. To open the camera you need to swipe left. See More

Top Pro

No lag or stuttering

Since both the hardware and software are designed in-house, Apple can make their software much more efficient than other phone manufacturers that have no say in OS design. As such, the iPhone X (and older versions) works flawlessly and has virtually no lag or stuttering to speak of. See More

Top Con

With the removal of the home button, opening the home screen became rather awkward

In the past, to open the home screen that listed your apps, you just needed to press the physical home button. Since the iPhone X does not have a physical home button, you have to swipe the screen from the bottom up to go there. This can be a bit awkward since you can accidentally switch screens when scrolling through a web page for example. See More

Top Pro

Excellent design

As always, Apple does not disappoint in the design department. The iPhone X is a beautiful phone with round edges that make it easy to hold in your hand. The slippery metallic back portion from the iPhone 7 has been replaced by a glass section which makes it harder for the phone to slip from your hand. But it should be mentioned that the glass part in the back is like a fingerprint magnet. See More

Top Con

The fast charger needs to be bought separately

While the iPhone X supports fast charging (50% within 30 minutes), in order to use this feature, you will need to buy a USB-C cable separately. See More

Top Pro

The display is very large, but still comfortable to use with one hand

At 5.8 inch the iPhone X has got the biggest display out of all iPhones, but due to the small bezel it managed to stay smaller than the iPhone 7 Plus and is quite easy to use with one hand. See More

See All

score 6 · Answer 3

HTC 10

Top Pro

Great multitasking performance

With 4GB of RAM, the HTC 10 can store many apps in the DDR4 RAM without needing to re-load them. This saves a bit of battery life (the processor doesn't need to work hard loading the app back up from scratch), but the more significant benefit is the speed at which users can switch between apps. See More

Top Con

Unpredictable battery life

A 90 minute full HD video on 100% brightness drained the battery by 22% - a poor result - which is much higher than the ~16% we typically see. However, while web browsing over WiFi it scored 8 hours - a very good result - beating out the Galaxy S7 (7.6 hours), iPhone 6s (7.45 hours), and the Nexus 6P (5.65 hours). This is a new phone, so perhaps a software update can stabilize the battery life. See More

Specs

OS:Android

Display Size:5.0''+

Top Pro

Adaptable SD card storage

You can install apps on the SD card, and use it the exact same as the internal storage. Other flagship phones don't allow this - their SD cards are restricted to media (music, movies, pictures). See More

Top Con

Screen brightness has limited range

In bright daylight, it can be hard to clearly see the screen. At night (or in dark rooms), the screen is a bit too bright. Other phones offer more range with their brightness than the HTC 10. See More

Top Pro

Great audio quality

HTC is using a new strategy when it comes to speakers - they are using a front facing tweeter (focuses on high frequency) in the earpiece and a speaker in the bottom (focusing on the bass). It might not be the dual-front facing stereo speakers of yesteryear, but this provides space for a larger screen without making the body of the phone larger, and also doesn't compromise on audio quality HTC is also using a DAC, as well as a dedicated amp for each speaker. The phone also supports Hi-Fi audio, putting this in the contest for best current audio experience on any phone. See More

Top Con

New charging port

Old micro USB cables will not work with this device, meaning if you lose or break your cable you will need to buy a new one instead of using an old cable you had lying around. If you need to top up your phone away from home, it will be much harder to find a suitable cable initially. See More

Top Pro

Clean, simple UI

HTC's Sense 8 UI borrows heavily from stock Android, making minor additions and revisions instead of a complete re-haul. Instead of including multiple apps (a gallery app from HTC and one from Google for example), they have mostly gone with Google's apps. Some unique features are the "Freestyle" layout, which almost acts like a personalized wallpaper/homescreen hybrid. You can add stickers that fit the wallpaper's theme, and assign them to a task then touched. These aren't restricted to an app grid either. This helps keep your home screen look clean without removing any functionality. BlinkFeed is also back, and is the best implementation of 'bite-sized' information. Samsung and others have tried copying it, however HTC continues to excel in this area. BlinkFeed is a feed of information that almost acts like a massive widget on the leftmost home screen. It can pull information from social media, news sites, and make suggestions based on contextual data (such as good places to eat near you around lunchtime). See More

Top Con

In bright light, the camera can turn colors grey

In very bright settings, the camera mutes colors, turning them grey. With any luck, this can be fixed through a future software update. See More

Top Pro

Fast charge times

The HTC 10 is Qualcomm QuickCharge 3 compliant, and comes with a QuickCharge charger in the box. This helps it charge very quickly when the battery is almost dead, however the charging speed decreases the closer it gets to full. See More

Top Con

Lack of exciting features

While the LG G5 has it's modular bottom, the Galaxy S7 Edge has that edge with software to enhance it, and the Nexus 6P has pure stock Android and will get the fastest updates. The HTC 10 lacks a single headlining feature, and even the design is a small evolution of the M7's original design 3 years ago. See More

Top Pro

Future-ready charging port

USB Type C is the new charging/data transfer standard that has just begun rolling out in 2015. It offers faster data transfer speeds, and a reversible port as well as a more durable connector. It should stick around for the next 5-10 years. See More

Top Pro

Narrow bezels

The bezels on the HTC 10 are small, which helps it achieve a screen-to-body ratio just over 71%. This helps maximize the screen space, while not increasing the physical body of the phone much. See More

Top Pro

Beautiful finish

HTC was one of the first manufacturers (other than Apple) to put effort into making their phones look great - starting 4 years ago with the HTC One M7. This trend has continued with the HTC 10. The aluminum body is only broken by 2 flat antenna lines on the back, and the whole rear edge has a massive chamfered edge which catches light and reflects it. It's a beautifully elegant looking phone. See More

Top Pro

Great build quality and materials

The aluminum uni-body design is back, this time with some improvements. The power button has distinguishing ridges, the 'HTC bar" is gone, and they removed the bottom speaker helping it achieve almost 5% higher screen-to-body ratio. On the rear is a massive chamfered edge, which catches light differently and makes holding the phone feel more comfortable. See More

Top Pro

Really good screen quality

HTC uses the newest IPS LCD 5 display, which can produce very similar saturated colors that you'd find on Amoled panels, or in the settings you can change it to be more realistic looking - like a traditional LCD panel. The screen also responds faster than any other display out there, however this has never been a problem before. See More

Top Pro

Great performance

In GFXBench 3.0 onscreen, the HTC 10 scores 52 fps on T-Rex and 29 fps on Manhattan. This is in line with the Galaxy S7, and about 50% better than the Galaxy S6 and Nexus 6P. For the offscreen GFXBench 3.0, the HTC 10 achieved 90 fps in T-Rex and 47 fps on Manhattan. This is just a hair slower than the US Galaxy S7 variant, but ahead of the international Galaxy S7, Galaxy S6, and Nexus 6P. In Geekbench 3: single-core, the HTC 10 is just a hair slower than the US Galaxy S7 and slower than the iPhone 6S Plus, but faster than the international Galaxy S7, S6, and Nexus 6P. See More

See All

Answer 4

LG V30

Top Pro

The camera is capable of capturing excellent images, especially in low-light conditions

The 16MP primary camera offers an impressive f/1.6 aperture that on paper and somewhat in reality puts this phone's camera above most of the competition for pictures in low-lighting conditions. However, it does not provide the best results in low-light conditions, that title belongs to the S8 and Pixel phones. Where V30's camera truly shines though, is providing the correct balance for lighting and contrast for dim shots, like for example taking pictures at dusk. See More

Top Con

Some bloatware is loaded out of the box

The V30 comes with some pre-installed LG apps such as G Health, an FM radio application, QuickMemo+, and some other small additions. See More

Specs

OS:Android

Display Size:6.0''+

Top Pro

Excellent performance

The 4GB of RAM paired with the Snapdragon 835 offer an excellent performance. There's virtually zero lag when switching apps or when playing games or doing any other heavy activities. See More

Top Con

One of the most expensive Android smartphones on the market

At $829 it's one of the most expensive Android flagships on the market. See More

Top Pro

Battery life can easily go for more than a day on a single charge with heavy use

The 3300mAh battery performs excellently. Watching a 90-minute HD movie only makes the battery drop to 87% (other smartphones drop by at least 20%). By the end a typical day you can expect the phone to have 40%-50% battery left. See More

Top Pro

Phablet-sized display while still being small enough to be comfortable to use

LG have managed to increase the size of the screen by half an inch compared to the V20 without changing the overall size of the phone. They managed to do this by decreasing the size of the margins like so many other flagships nowadays. See More

Top Pro

Great for watching videos or looking at pictures

The V30 has a gorgeous 6-inch OLED with a 1440p resolution. It displays rich, lifelike colours and the overall contrast offers a great degree of depth to the images displayed on the screen. See More

Top Pro

Offers excellent music listening experience

The V30 comes with a great QuadDAC connected to its 3.5mm headphone jack and with some clever software to bring the most out of it. Most of the time the built-in software intelligently deciphers the kind of headphones you are using in order to deliver the best sound possible to you, but if you want to, you can manually configure the sound settings in the software yourself as well. See More

See All

score 13 · Answer 5

Samsung Galaxy S8

score 12 · Answer 6

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

score 4 · Answer 7

4 Options Considered

My Recommendation for Razer Phone

My Recommendation for Razer Phone

The battery can easily last a full day under very heavy use

No support for VR

Extremely good performance

Disappointing camera performance

Produces the highest quality audio out of any smartphone

A bit uncomfortable to carry around because of the large size

Feels smoother than any flagship phone currently on the market

Extremely durable

My Recommendation for iPhone X

My Recommendation for iPhone X

The most colorful screen on the market

No fingerprint scanner

Performance is considerably better than on previous iPhone versions

The most expensive smartphone to date

The face recognition system works virtually everytime

Buying a cover for it is highly advisable

Can be charged wirelessly

All the added gestures to iOS 11 are hard to remember

No lag or stuttering

With the removal of the home button, opening the home screen became rather awkward

Excellent design

The fast charger needs to be bought separately

The display is very large, but still comfortable to use with one hand

My Recommendation for HTC 10

My Recommendation for HTC 10

Great multitasking performance

Unpredictable battery life

Adaptable SD card storage

Screen brightness has limited range

Great audio quality

New charging port

Clean, simple UI

In bright light, the camera can turn colors grey

Fast charge times

Lack of exciting features

Future-ready charging port

Narrow bezels

Beautiful finish

Great build quality and materials

Really good screen quality

Great performance

My Recommendation for LG V30

My Recommendation for LG V30

The camera is capable of capturing excellent images, especially in low-light conditions

Some bloatware is loaded out of the box

Excellent performance

One of the most expensive Android smartphones on the market

Battery life can easily go for more than a day on a single charge with heavy use

Phablet-sized display while still being small enough to be comfortable to use

Great for watching videos or looking at pictures

Offers excellent music listening experience

Don't see your favorite option? Add it.

My Recommendation for Samsung Galaxy S8

My Recommendation for Samsung Galaxy S8

My Recommendation for Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

My Recommendation for Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

My Recommendation for Nexus 6P

My Recommendation for Nexus 6P

My Recommendation for Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus

My Recommendation for Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus

My Recommendation for OnePlus 5

My Recommendation for OnePlus 5

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