The Best Phones for Gaming

Many buyers may look to camera capability or a specific fruit-shaped logo when considering which phone to buy. But for those who love playing Arena of Valor or Clash Royale at all hours of the night, it's all about having the best gaming experience possible. That means greater performance, a larger screen, better battery life and enough nonscreen surface area to grip the phone.

We've compiled a list of the phones we think are best for gaming. Phones with curved displays or minimal bezels are not on this list, as those design elements hinder playability (sorry, Samsung Galaxy S9). No notches, either (sorry, iPhone XS). When you're in the grips of battle, fighting to be the best player in the world, it's practicality, not looks, that matters.

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The iPhone is a bit of an aberration compared to other smartphones. Its processor is much more powerful than those of most other phones on the market, but the amount of memory (3GB of RAM) and the screen resolution (1920 x 1080) are laughably low. Either way, Apple has optimized iOS greatly for its own hardware, and it shows in benchmark tests.

The iPhone 8 Plus scored 10,170 on the multicore-performance benchmark, destroying every phone on this list. The next-closest phone was the Sony Xperia XZ2, which notched 8,466. The 8 Plus' performance score ist's odd, given that the phone has only 3GB of RAM, which is easily the lowest amount of memory on this list. The iPhone 8 Plus outperformed every other phone in frame-rate tests as well, scoring an average of 85 fps on the GFXBench Manhattan 1080p test. The 8 Plus has the smallest battery of the phones on this list, at 2,691 mAh. That just goes to show that optimization trumps brute force.

You may be wondering, where's the iPhone XS? Well, it lacks a chin, and the notch makes it less than ideal for gaming. While the Plus looks increasingly outdated with its giant chin and forehead, it does come in handy while gaming in landscape mode, and you can get one for cheaper than ever before now that the new 2018 iPhones have hit the market.

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As the biggest device on this list with the largest display, Samsung's new Galaxy Note 9 offers arguably the most immersive experience for gamers on the go. Not only do you get a gorgeous 6.4-inch AMOLED panel, but the Note 9 is packed with Qualcomm's latest high-end mobile system-on-chip, the Snapdragon 845, which features the blistering Adreno 640 GPU to handle all those polygons.

If you want an idea of what this tandem can do, look no further than the numbers. The Note 9 delivered a 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme OpenGL ES 3.1 score of 4,639. While that's outpaced by the aforementioned A11 Bionic chipset (not to mention the Apple-designed custom GPU in the new A12 Bionic), that's still one of the highest scores among modern smartphones we've witnessed in that test.

Even better, you can expect the Note 9 to deliver those kinds of results more consistently, thanks to a water carbon cooling system developed to keep the phone running at optimal temperatures even when the internals are under load. The biggest battery ever in a Galaxy Note product, a 4,000-mAh power pack, should also keep you from reaching for a charger immediately after a spirited Fortnite session.

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The Xperia XZ2 comes with a Snapdragon 845 processor, which includes an Adreno 640 GPU that yielded a tremendous 8,449 on the Geekbench multicore benchmark in our review. That's roughly 25-percent better than phones with last year's Snapdragon 835.

The XZ2 is also equipped with 6GB of RAM, 64GB of storage and a 2160 x 1080 display. On the GFXBench Manhattan 3.0 benchmark at 1080p, Sony's phone averaged 82 fps, destroying all Android competitors but falling 3 frames short of the iPhone 8 Plus. The XZ2's battery life was also commendable, lasting 11 hours and 47 seconds on our test, which consists of constant web browsing. That's not bad considering its 3,180-mAh battery.

Depending on how you look at it, it's either unfortunate or handy that Sony has yet to seriously revamp the Xperia design, even with the changes introduced to the XZ2's look and feel. It's still blocky and has a sizable forehead and chin. But for gaming, it works out perfectly.

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Razer is a dedicated gaming hardware company that values performance above all else. That's why the company packed the Razer Phone with an industry-first 120-Hz display. You really need to hold one to see how fluid it is.

The Razer Phone also has a massive speaker on each end of the phone for Dolby Atmos stereo sound that act as great grips while gaming.

The internals are standard 2017 flagship fare, with a Snapdragon 835, 8GB of RAM, 64GB of memory, a 2560 x 1440 resolution and a massive, 4,000-mAh battery. Geekbench multicore performance, at 6,685, is also on a par with that of other phones. Performance using the GFXBench Manhattan 3.0 test at 1080p yielded 61 frames per second at 1080p, a highly respectable score — though one Razer will likely soon outdo, as the company is expected to deliver the sequel to its first handset at an Oct. 10 event.

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While the Google Pixel 2 XL is an excellent phone, critics were none too pleased by its beefier top and bottom when compared to the Samsung Galaxys of the world. Luckily, this design works wonders for gripping the phone horizontally without accidentally touching the screen.

The Pixel 2 XL's specs are comparable to those of other 2017 flagships, with a Snapdragon 835 processor, Adreno 540 GPU, 4GB of RAM and up to 128GB of storage.

The Pixel 2 XL notched 6,282 on the multicore Geekbench performance benchmark — the lowest score of any phone on this list, but not by much. However, on the GFXBench Manhattan 3.0 at 1080p test via GSMArena, Google's phone managed a solid 61 fps, the same frame rate as the Razer Phone. And per our review, the Pixel 2 XL lasted 12:09 on our battery test, which browses the web on a 4G network.

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It's unfortunate that both AT&T and Verizon have walked away from Huawei (Best Buy has also halted sales of Huawei's phones), because the Chinese phone manufacturer makes excellent devices.

Unlike many phones on the market, the Mate 10 Pro uses a proprietary Kirin 970 processor coupled with a Mali-G72 MP12 GPU. This results in slightly worse performance than you get from a Snapdragon chip, but most people won't notice the difference. The Mate 10 Pro also comes with 6GB of RAM, 120GB of storage, a 2160 x 1080 display and a 4,000-mAh battery.

On the Geekbench multicore-performance benchmark,the Mate 10 Pro yielded a score of 6,784, which isly comparable to the performance of other phones on this list. Huawei's phone also notched a solid 65 fps in the GFXBench Manhattan 3.0 1080p test. According to our review, the Mate 10 Pro lasted 14 hours and 39 minutes when browsing the web on T-Mobile's LTE network, which means this phone has longer battery life than just about every other phone on this list.

While the bezels are thin, there's still enough forehead and chin for you to grip the phone while gaming.

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