The Best Gaming Phones to Buy in 2025

Gaming demands a batch from a phone, and implicit each others, the RedMagic 10 Pro has what it takes, arsenic I recovered erstwhile I reviewed it. The beating bosom of the RedMagic 10 Pro is an actively cooled Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. I’d already seen this spot bash wonders performance-wise successful phones similar the Asus ROG Phone 9 and OnePlus 13, but the RedMagic 10 Pro turns it up a notch with a cooling instrumentality that lets the spot tally each the much efficaciously for the benignant of long-haul sessions that gaming requires. Any clip the RedMagic 10 Pro wasn’t astatine the caput of the battalion successful benchmarks, it was inactive precise adjacent the front, and it perfectly led the mode wherever prolong was concerned. All that show is lone further backed by an astoundingly ample 7,050mAh battery.

Naturally, the RedMagic 10 Pro has a fewer extras specifically for gamers. It includes 2 enarthrosis buttons, providing a mode to get your scale fingers successful connected the action. You tin simply representation these enarthrosis buttons to on-screen controls, bully for beauteous overmuch immoderate game. The show besides has a accelerated touch-sampling rate, truthful it’ll observe inputs quickly. Depending connected the game, you tin besides pat into supersampling and framework interpolation to sharpen visuals and creaseless retired the action.

RedMagic packs each of this capableness into a good-looking phone, too. It’s not gaudy, but it inactive has style. There are a fistful of looks, including wide backs, that springiness a peek astatine the layout of components. The show is besides a winner. It has tiny bezels and stretches 6.85-inches crossed – and we’re talking a due 6.85 inches, arsenic the show is rectangular without ample areas being cropped by country curves. RedMagic adjacent efficaciously hides the selfie camera beneath the show truthful that it doesn’t interrupt your presumption of games. The show is simply a superb AMOLED sheet offering a 144Hz refresh rate, precocious highest brightness, and ample sharpness.

Truly, this telephone is wonderfully geared up for gaming, and adjacent with a commanding show lead, it doesn’t outgo arsenic overmuch arsenic its competitors. The RedMagic 10 Pro starts astatine $649, which is astir absurd considering the terms of competitors similar the Asus ROG Phone 9 astatine $999.

If you’ve seen immoderate of the ostentatious designs that travel with “gamer” gear, you tin beryllium forgiven for wanting to steer wide of the emblematic gaming phones. Fortunately, you inactive person an fantabulous enactment disposable to you with the OnePlus 13. You’ll find plentifulness to emotion erstwhile it comes clip to game, but for the remainder of the time, you’ll get a overmuch much tame-looking phone.

Inside the OnePlus 13 is simply a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. This pairs a blazing accelerated CPU and potent GPU that marque for exceptional mundane show and potent gaming speeds. In benchmarks, the OnePlus 13 readily rivaled the iPhone 16 Pro Max successful CPU speeds and outstripped it successful 3DMark’s graphics tests. The telephone could adjacent connection a decent magnitude of sustain. And erstwhile enactment to the trial with Wuthering Waves astatine max settings, it didn’t conflict to support up with the action. The phone’s 6,000mAh artillery besides helps retired for those agelong gaming sessions.

OnePlus packs that velocity into an elegant chassis. There are 3 designs, and each is much than a elemental colour swap, giving you a small much enactment than you typically get from caller phones. The plan besides has awesome h2o protections against submersion and blistery h2o jets. The show connected the OnePlus 13 is besides excellent, providing a large, vibrant, and searingly agleam level for mundane use, movies, and gaming. And dissimilar astir gaming phones, the OnePlus 13 doesn’t unit you to sacrifice camera quality. You’ll find superb shooters connected the backmost and beforehand of the telephone that seizure large photos and video.

The OnePlus 13 comes successful astatine $899 for a configuration with 256GB of retention and 12GB of memory, but if you privation plentifulness of country for games, you tin bump up to 512GB of retention and get 16GB of representation for $999.

I reviewed the iPhone 16 Pro Max and tin safely accidental that it volition get the occupation done erstwhile it comes clip for gaming. The A18 Pro spot wrong has an other graphics halfway implicit the A18 spot wrong the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, and that gives it a sizeable boost successful show for graphics applications (i.e., games!). Then there’s the information that the iPhone 16 Pro Max comes with a huge, 6.9-inch show that provides a overmuch bigger aboveground for enjoying your games and utilizing controls than the smaller iPhone 16 Pro.

You’re not lone getting large gaming show from the iPhone 16 Pro Max, though. It besides has an fantabulous design, with a titanium framework and solid construction. It’s large to look astatine whether it’s connected oregon off. The camera strategy is powerful, offering stunning photos from the main sensor and zoom capabilities to get person to subjects. Plus, if you privation to instrumentality video, the processing connected the iPhone 16 Pro Max goes precocious resolution, signaling successful Dolby Vision, and capturing superior slow-mo.

Apple has besides made inroads into a much superior tier of gaming. For instance, Ubisoft released Assassin’s Creed Mirage onto iOS and a fig of Resident Evil games person travel the level arsenic well. Access to much and amended games goes a agelong mode to making a instrumentality large for gaming.

While Apple did motorboat the caller iPhone 16e successful 2025 with budget-minded consumers successful consideration, it didn’t supply arsenic affordable a caller exemplary arsenic it had with earlier iPhone SE devices. The $599 iPhone 16e has immoderate advantages though. This caller exemplary runs connected the A18 spot that powers the iPhone 16, and that’s a superior portion of hardware. Unfortunately, the iPhone 16e gets a trimmed-down GPU with 4 cores alternatively of 5. Fortunately, the A18 has show to spare, truthful I don’t spot that holding the iPhone 16e backmost from being a coagulated gaming telephone for adjacent demanding titles. Even though I haven’t had a accidental to trial the iPhone 16e yet, I deliberation it’s harmless to accidental it’ll inactive rip done mundane cognition and games alike, and my workfellow implicit astatine PCMag saw fantabulous show from the telephone successful his review.

While it's a shame the iPhone 16e couldn’t get a $429 terms tag similar the anterior iPhone SE, it doesn’t marque the aforesaid sacrifices that telephone did. The iPhone 16e gets a much modern plan successful enactment with what Apple’s been pushing since arsenic aboriginal arsenic the iPhone 12. The champion portion of this upgrade for gamers is the overmuch greater surface size. The iPhone 16e has a 6.1-inch show without the beefy bezels of the iPhone SE. That’s much existent property to spot games and usage your thumbs for controls. Plus, the show is an OLED panel, which provides amended representation prime and contrast. The iPhone 16e besides starts with much basal retention astatine 128GB, which is immense compared to the 64GB Apple provided successful the anterior iPhone SE.

All of that sets up the iPhone 16e nicely for gamers. But I’ll caveat that it whitethorn not beryllium the cleanable prime for folks who conscionable privation a value-focused iPhone. It whitethorn beryllium the cheapest Apple offers astatine the moment, but it does sacrifice rather a bit. For instance, you won’t get entree to mmWave oregon UWB 5G networking, which tends to connection the fastest speeds. That deficiency of mmWave besides means precise instrumentality tracking for items similar AirTags won’t work. The iPhone 16e besides lacks MagSafe support, truthful you’ll person to either spell without it oregon trust connected a lawsuit to alteration compatibility with MagSafe accessories. The camera strategy is besides alternatively constricted with conscionable 1 sensor. I’d urge the iPhone 14 for astir people, but the updated spot successful the iPhone 16e volition marque much consciousness for gamers who tin forgo the other mentioned here.

See our usher to the best inexpensive smartphones.

We already liked the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 for gaming, but the Galaxy Z Fold 6 improves connected a large thing. One of the champion upgrades is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 spot inside, which takes the show up a notch. In our testing, it bumped speeds up by arsenic overmuch arsenic 22%. When it comes clip to grind monsters successful Zenless Zone Zero oregon Wurthering Waves, that other show makes it that overmuch easier to support up with the enactment and spot each the item creators enactment into the games.

The Z Fold 6 keeps a akin interior screen, stretching 7.6 inches crossed and offering a 2160x1856 resolution. With the AMOLED panel, you’ll get to bask your games successful vivid colour and striking contrast. If you similar an ultra-wide facet ratio, you tin besides crippled connected the exterior screen, which sits astatine 6.2". Either way, you get to bask a smooth, responsive gaming experience.

And erstwhile you’re not gaming, you’ll person a superior portion of tech connected your hands. Open, the Z Fold 6 is simply a tiny tablet with imaginable for multi-tasking and more. Closed, the Z Fold 6 blends successful arsenic a regular smartphone. It besides gets a almighty camera strategy with each the knack Samsung offers for the technology. And though the Z Fold 6 is simply a sizeable investment, it’s backed by semipermanent bundle enactment from Samsung.

The OnePlus 12 is simply a compelling value, offering top-tier qualities astatine the terms of astir base-tier flagships (think S24 Ultra astatine the terms of an S24). But OnePlus wanted to marque an adjacent much budget-friendly enactment with the OnePlus 12R. This exemplary offers the look and consciousness of the OnePlus 12, but it comes successful astatine conscionable $499. The prima of the amusement is the 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED display, which boasts a 1264x2780 and 120Hz refresh rate. It’s a stunner and a large level for gaming. Put this adjacent to the iPhone SE, and it’s nary contention which has the amended display.

Internally, the OnePlus 12R isn’t swinging for the fences. It packs 2023’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, but for astir gaming, it inactive offers plentifulness of horsepower. With a 5,500mAh artillery inside, the OnePlus 12R is besides acceptable to agelong your gaming sessions out.

The OnePlus 12R did person to marque immoderate sacrifices, and its camera strategy is 1 country wherever it trimmed things. It doesn't person a setup that matches the OnePlus 12, but the camera strategy has small bearing connected the phone’s quality to tally games. So if you’re retired present buying for a telephone that’s suited to gaming, the iPhone 12R is simply a great, value-focused option.

Originally posted:

Mar 31, 2025 9:30 pm