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The best gaming phones completely revolutionize your app library. Offering up seriously powerful processors, plenty of RAM and high quality, high refresh rate displays, these devices can push your favorite thumb tappers far further. With the rise of Xbox Cloud gaming services, smaller screens are becoming even bigger business, which means there are plenty of gaming phones out there for the Play Store power-user to choose from.
That makes it difficult to work out exactly what you need from your smartphone, and how much you need to pay for a gaming-specific device. Thankfully, as gaming phones develop, we're seeing prices on the biggest and best falling slightly down the scale. That means there's now options for all budgets, and we're rounding up our favorites right here.
The quick list
With Asus out of the picture, the RedMagic 11 Pro is the best gaming phone I've tested to date.
The RedMagic 11 Air is thinner, lighter, and less feature-rich - but it still offers high-end performance benchmarks at a fantastic price point. You're dropping a few quality of life benefits from the Pro, but this is excellent value.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is a jack of all trades, offering a premium experience with all the quality of life comforts and camera features you'd expect, while still holding onto a gaming prowess.
The Samsung Galaxy A16 will see you through all the latest popular thumb tappers without breaking the bank. You're not getting blitzing performance here, but lighter games run perfectly fine without the need for expensive extras.
Today's best gaming phone deals
I longed for a Nokia N-Gage in the 00s and have been comparing the latest and greatest gaming phones ever since. That all kicked up a notch when the Razer Phone launched in 2017, renewing my love for all things mobile. I've been testing major releases from Asus, RedMagic, OnePlus, Apple and more since then.
April 9 - It's all change at gaming phone HQ this month. The Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro is pretty difficult to find now, so it's been dropped from this list in favor of the RedMagic 11 Pro. That means the RedMagic 11 Air is also now the best value gaming phone I've tested so far. Not only that, but the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra has done its time on the testing bench, entering this list as the best mainstream flagship option for gaming.
Expand update log
March 2 - The Samsung Galaxy S26 series has made it out of the notes app and into the world of pre-orders, which means the brand's latest Android juggernaut is only a couple of weeks away. While we wait, this page has been price checked and updated with new discounts and offers.
January 19 - It's not good news I'm afraid. In the last few weeks, Asus has announced that it's taking a step back from the mobile market, essentially handing its number one slot over to RedMagic as soon as ROG Phone 9 Pro stock runs out. There are still a few handsets kicking around, so ROG is still at the top of the pile, but I'm keeping a close eye on the situation.
The best gaming phone overall
The RedMagic 11 Pro has overtaken the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro to become the best gaming phone on the market right now. That's largely because it actually is on the market - Asus's competitor has been difficult to find ever since the brand announced it was pausing its mobile gaming wing.
✅ You want to use a mobile controller: A centered USB-C port makes for an easy physical connection to a wraparound gamepad.
✅ You don't want to break the bank: The RedMagic 11 Pro isn't the cheapest phone on the market but it does push its components incredibly well for a fair price.
✅ You don't want to worry about battery life: This is a sturdy battery that can see you through hours of gameplay and video without breaking a sweat.
❌ Refresh rate is everything: The RedMagic 11 Pro offers a lower refresh rate display compared to Asus.
That's not to say the RedMagic 11 Pro is a sacrifice. It's as powerful a gaming phone as you'll need right now, and its starting price is cheaper than its historic competitors.
That's enough to send it straight away, but there are more goodies under the hood. For one, that elegant liquid cooling display on the back provides a slick aesthetic addition while keeping the entire system running smoothly. That's nestled in a slightly more industrial design than we've seen from previous RedMagic entries over the last few years. It's slightly chunkier, but with an aluminum construction and a solid rear panel everything feels solid in the hands.
That display expands right to the very edges of the main face, with a gorgeously vibrant effect. While its 144Hz refresh rate drops a little speed compared to Asus's last releases, very few games will actually even manage to push those numbers. Value is on RedMagic's side here, and with colors this strong and this kind of sharpness it's still a high-end panel.
Of course, its cameras can't compete with flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra - but those searching for a dedicated device are likely already aware of that. Instead, this is the best gaming phone for Play Store, streaming, and emulation power users.
Read more: RedMagic 11 Pro review
The best value gaming phone
The RedMagic 11 Air isn't going to come for the Pro's overall performance, but it certainly holds its own at the $500 price point. This is the epitome of putting your cash in the right places, sacrificing a few nice-to-haves to get class-leading power and excellent quality of life upgrades compared to budget-minded handsets.
✅ You don't need Pro power levels: If you don't want to pay for the most powerful gaming phone on the market, the Air offers a lighter, thinner experience that can still run all your favorite games.
✅ You still don't want to skimp on the display: The RedMagic 11 Air uses the same panel as the Pro, so you can get all the good looking bits without chumping up the change.
✅ You prioritize a lower price point: You're dropping 14% performance compared to the Pro, but paying 30% less than the flagship's MSRP at the same time.
❌ You need a decent ultrawide camera: The camera system is a marked sacrifice of the 11 Air. All gaming phones will kill your shots, but sacrifices are felt here.
❌ You want as much battery as possible: While still impressive with its 7,000mAh charge, the 11 Pro has the Air beat in battery with a 7,500mAh cell.
The RedMagic 11 Air launched at a slightly lower MSRP than the RedMagic 10 Air before it. It's also about $200 cheaper than the Pro day to day. Considering I only recorded a 14% drop in performance (you're spending 30% less on the handset itself), that's a seriously impressive value proposition.
This thinner, slightly lighter, device makes some sacrifices compared to its sibling. There's no wireless charging, you drop a significant amount of detail in the ultrawide camera, and your battery is dipped to a (still considerable) 7,000mAh cell. We've also jumped back to LPDDR5X RAM rather than the faster LPDDR5T memory in the Pro version.
It's still packing that eye-bleedingly vibrant AMOLED display, though - and managed to beat the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro in my 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme and Solar Bay stress tests.
There are benefits to slimming things down as well. In the hand, the Air feels just a little more manageable, especially if you've got a smaller wingspan to reach across that screen. At 8mm thin and 207g, it's just under a millimetre slimmer than the Pro, dropping 23g from the weight as well. On paper, it doesn't look like much but in practice it's noticeably easier to carry and manoeuvre.
That's a glowing report card as far as value is concerned. If you've got $500 to spend on one of the best gaming phones, this is where you should be looking.
Read more: RedMagic 11 Air review
The best mainstream flagship for gaming
Want a gaming phone but don't want to sacrifice the creature comforts of the latest and greatest mainstream releases? The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is your best bet. It's up against the iPhone 17 Pro Max - and both have their benefits. Both flagships are going to give you a pretty even experience but Android has a better base for emulation and its overclocked Snapdragon chipset can just about edge ahead of Apple in raw power. Apple will give you better battery efficiency and optimization in its Arcade ecosystem, though.
✅ You still need high-end cameras: You won't find camera quality like this on a more traditionally dedicated gaming phone.
✅ You prioritize quality of life software features: With more AI features than typical gaming phones, Samsung is the play if you're going for a fully optimized system.
✅ You don't want to sacrifice raw power: The boosted Snapdragon 8 is going to give your games plenty of runway to rev their engines.
❌ You play for longer periods at a time: The S26 Ultra has a smaller battery than RedMagic's alternatives and isn't as efficient with it as Apple.
❌ You want to stay budget friendly: This is Samsung's top-shelf device, so it certainly doesn't come cheap.
We called this a "jack-of-all-trades" device in our review. It's going to handle your Play Store, emulated, and streamed games better than any mainstream flagship on the market, while still packing class-leading AI features, a gorgeous display, and premium camera quality. That's a compelling package, but it comes at a cost.
With a $1,300 starting price, this is one for those who want it all, but it's not without its sacrifices. Unlike RedMagic's purpose-built models, there's a trade-off in battery life that made itself quite clear in our testing. The 5,000mAh battery size is already smaller than RedMagic and Apple does a better job of keeping that charge alive in its own flagships.
Our tester was able to get along just fine on an average day of streaming, social media, and messaging, but more power intensive tasks required a top up boost.
With an abundance of extra AI features, fantastic photography features (and results), and a super crisp 6.9-inch 3120 x 1440 LTPO AMOLED 2X face up top, this is a slick and smooth flagship for 2026. It's ahead of RedMagic in its picture quality overall, and in a completely different league when it comes to photography.
Read more: Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra review
The best budget gaming phone
Picking up a cheaper gaming phone doesn't mean limiting yourself to match-three puzzlers or going with an unknown brand. The Samsung Galaxy A15 costs a small fraction of its flashier siblings like the S25 or Note series, but this is still a great phone and a stone-cold bargain if you want to spend less, but get a phone that won't let you down.
Sure, it wasn't quite as smooth or detailed as your $1000/£1000 flagship phones, but at less than a third of the price, the A15 is way better than it should be.
As a day to day phone, the Samsung Galaxy A15 has a very good camera, with only the night pictures being prone to a loss of detail if there are too many artificial light sources.
No, it's not going to take on some of the 3D Mark scores of more premium options on this list. If you're after a budget smartphone that can still keep your thumbs busy with a solid screen and enough juice, though, it's well worth investigating.
How we test gaming phones
Each handset that passes our pockets goes through a series of tests to see if it's worthy of being listed as one of the best gaming phones on the market. First and foremost, though, we live with these devices to see just how well their form factors, cameras, screens, and - crucially - battery lives hold up under every day use. That's why we adopt each model as our own throughout the testing period, putting each phone through its paces in both standard use and through heavy gaming sessions.
After that, we run each gaming phone through a series of titles to determine their performance as well as how much battery they consume. Call of Duty Mobile, PUBG, Magic The Gathering: Arena, and Fortnite (on Android) are our primary titles.
You can find out more about how we make our recommendations in our full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.
Also Tested
Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro
Possibly the last Asus gaming phone we'll see for some time now, the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro has only just been knocked off the top spot. This is still a powerful machine (with a faster refresh rate than the RedMagic 11 Pro).
OnePlus 15R
The OnePlus 15R has a fantastic battery life and still puts up a fight, but its performance without the latest Snapdragon chipset is lagging behind similarly priced options.
Poco F7 Pro
The Poco F7 Pro offers solid value in the mid-range space and packs an impressive display and battery life, but its slightly weaker processor doesn't deliver on high-end gaming performance in the same way as a more dedicated device.
RedMagic 10S Pro
The RedMagic 10S Pro was one of the most powerful devices in its day, offering that same bold panel and value-minded price point. This one didn't manage its thermals quite so well, though.
Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro
The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro was knocked off the top spot by the newer ROG Phone 9 Pro with its faster display and Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. These are very similar devices in design and additional features, though.
Honor Magic V2
A super skinny foldable phone with an older Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset may be what the big-screen folk are looking for. Strategic games are a delight on this high-end display, though its innards are a little outdated compared to the competition now.
RedMagic 9S Pro
The RedMagic 9S Pro continued that slick design vibe, while offering a far better software experience overall. A boosted Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 kept things competitive back in the day, but this one's difficult to find now.
RedMagic 8S Pro
The RedMagic 8S Pro ushered in a new, streamlined design era for the series. Gone was the bulky chassis, but the RGB fan and powerful chipset still remained. This was excellent value in its day but does run on an older Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset.
Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate
It's largely out of stock these days, but the Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate was a solid gaming phone in its day. The curved back made for excellent comfort and its internal specs held up well for the time as well.
FAQ
Which phones are best for gaming?
In our testing, the best phone for gaming is currently the RedMagic 11 Pro. However, if you're after value for money we'd recommend checking out the slightly thinner RedMagic 11 Air.
Are gaming phones worth it?
If you're invested in the wide and wonderful world of mobile gaming, sinking some cash into a device that can keep up with your pursuits will always be worth it. You'll enjoy a faster screen, more RAM and storage, a more powerful processor, and additional gaming features like fps caps and performance modes.
However, if you tinker with Apple Arcade every now and then or jump into the odd PUBG session, we'd recommend aiming for a phone that can support your mobile gameplay, but not at the sacrifice of other features. The best gaming phones often drop camera and high-end networking features, and can cost a pretty penny to boot, so it's worth working out whether you'll actually be using those additional gadgets before investing.
Now that you're kitted out, you'll find all the best iPhone games and the best Android games ranked. We're also rounding up all the best gaming earbuds available as well, and the best gaming handheld options if you crave something console-shaped.
