Smartphone gaming has come a long way since the Doodle Jump days. Devices have become leaner, faster, more powerful and with better battery life. This has done wonders for opening out the range of games playable on this platform.
But if you really want to make the most of mobile gaming, there’s a specific and specialized product category you’ll want to pay attention to. These are the gaming phones – devices built from the ground up not to help you around the office, or take top-tier selfies, but to crush the competition in mobile esports or just ensure the most immersive and extensive gaming possible on Android or iOS.
The first gaming phones began to hit the market back in 2017 with the launch of the Razer Phone 1 and the earliest Asus ROG series devices. Since then, the sector has come on leaps and bounds and has always sought to stay at the very forefront of the mobile spec battle. In truth these modern devices have much more in common with gaming laptops than your iPhone.
So suppose you want to give one a spin – what are the best of the best in 2024? Let’s dive in below and find out.
Lenovo Legion Y90
Lenovo have been impressing in the gaming phone space for a number of years with their innovative approach to integrated cooling and lightweight battery integrations. Their latest model to hit the shelves is the Legion Y90 that continues the brand’s commitment to keeping pace with the best the sector has to offer.
The Chinese brand knows well that gaming on smartphones today requires a capable blend of attributes optimized to best facilitate the wide array of gameplay experiences offered on smart devices today. That’s because whereas the Xbox Series X predominantly has to power triple-A blockbusters, gamers on mobile draw from a much wider selection of popular genres. For example, among the fastest growing game-types on smart devices over the past ten years is that of online slots, the modern digital successor to the one-armed bandit titles of brick-and-mortar fame. Such games naturally do not draw on the kind of horsepower these devices are capable of delivering, but still stand to massively benefit from the low latency displays, rapid-fire touch-inputs and sensational staying power offered by the next-generation lithium ion batteries they ship with.
It comes stacked with a 6.92 inch AMOLED display clocked at an ultra-responsive 144hz and plenty of juice from a 65w fast charging 5500mAh battery though it lags behind the competition with a previous generation Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. Hugely innovative dual cooling fans and double USB-C charging ports continues the Legion series’ two-pronged approach to delivering performance that you’ll find nowhere else.
The killer app of the Y90 however is its 18GB RAM backed up by 512GB of conventional storage bolstered by a further 128GB SSD drive designed to massively boost loading times and data transfer speeds. With a total of 640GB of onboard storage, the Y90 emerges as the storage king.
ZTE nubia Red Magic 9 Pro
Always a crucial part of the gaming phone conversation, the Red Magic devices have sparred with the ROG series for the gaming spec crown through each successive generation. Now into its 9th iteration, the 9 Pro has a lot to commend it.
While it offers just 16GB of RAM to its rivals’ 18 it more than makes up for it with current Gen 3 Snapdragon silicon, a 6.8-inch AMOLED with a blisteringly bright 1600 nits peak brightness and the largest and fastest charging battery on the market clocking in at 6500mAh and 80W.
Other noteworthy features include a return of its built-in cooling fan to ensure long-term thermal performance and innovative pressure-sensitive touch inputs.
Asus ROG Phone 8
Whenever the next ROG phone drops it typically takes the field, and the ROG Phone 8 is no exception this year. Rocking a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 18GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and 6000mAH with 65W fast charging it certainly ticks all the necessary boxes.
The 8 continues Asus’ tradition of providing top quality attachable peripherals, with the new AeroActive Cooler X offering an attachable external cooling fan and additional buttons to pad out the already impressive AirTrigger touch-sensitive shoulder buttons the base device ships with.
The standout feature this year though has to be the display – a hue 6.78-inch AMOLED with a best-in-class refresh rate of 165hz.
