The best gaming phone 2026 — I tested them all to crown a winner

The best gaming phones might be a smarter pick than ever right now, as consoles and PC parts increase in price. If you're going to spend close to a thousand bucks/quid/nickname of your local currency on new tech, maybe it makes more sense to get something that can do more than just game.

A phone's battery life, power and display are the key factors that determine if it will be a good gaming phone or not. And our picks, with the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro, the Galaxy S26 Ultra, or the iPhone 17 Pro Max making our top three, all cover these bases.

Which one is right for you is going to depend on how devoted you are to your games, or what OS you prefer to use. But of course there are also other phones worth considering if you are looking for something cheaper, or with specific features like a cooling fan or a foldable screen.

I'll explain more below about what makes these phones uniquely suited to high-performance games, plus test results to back it all up. So let's check out the best gaming phones right now so you can get into the action ASAP.

The quick list

The best gaming phone overall

Once again Asus is showing the rest of the phone world just how to make a gaming phone with the ROG Phone 9 Pro. I wasn't as bowled over by it as I was by the ROG Phone 8 Pro, which lends many of its features to the newer model, but that doesn't detract from how good this phone is.

The headline feature of the ROG Phone 9 Pro is its longevity on a charge. It's one of the best-performing phones on our battery life test. But it also performs well with its Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which still offers plenty of power a year after it launched.

The 185Hz display is also a class-leading feature, but you need to find compatible games to use it. Otherwise, the returning AirTrigger controls, Armory Crate and AniMe lights all help enhance gaming. You can even play simple games using those lights, in case the AAA-grade games you can play on the phone's actual screen aren't enough for you.

For weaknesses, I would point to the dull-looking photos that the ROG Phone produces, and the fact that you get only two years of full Android updates. There are better-rounded phones on sale of course, but for pure gaming ability, Asus has you covered with the ROG Phone 9 Pro.

Read our full Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro review.

Best gaming Android flagship

Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra sets a new standard for Android gaming phones, thanks to its exclusive chip and top-tier GPU scores. This device is built for serious performance, immediately placing it among the best options for demanding gamers and power users.

The S26 Ultra isn't just about raw speed. Its 6.9-inch AMOLED display offers an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, making every swipe and frame in fast-paced games feel exceptionally smooth. During extended play sessions, the phone stays impressively cool to the touch, thanks to Samsung's enlarged vapor chamber cooling system. There was no throttling or discomfort even after an hour of Genshin Impact during testing, so you can game longer without worry.

Battery life is another headline feature. In our testing, the S26 Ultra lasted nearly two hours longer than the S25 Ultra, making it one of the longest-lasting Android flagships. Fast charging also impresses, reaching 77% in just 30 minutes, so downtime is minimal for marathon gaming or busy days.

Camera upgrades mean the S26 Ultra stands out beyond gaming. The 200MP main sensor captures crisp, detailed shots, and unlike dedicated gaming phones like the ROG Phone 9 Pro, Samsung’s camera system holds its own in every scenario. That versatility cements its role as a true flagship, not just a gaming powerhouse.

If there's a catch, it's the display brightness. While the S26 Ultra is bright enough for outdoor use, some rivals offer even higher peak brightness, and you won't find gaming-specific triggers or shoulder buttons here. Still, for Android buyers who want the best blend of gaming performance, battery endurance, and everyday versatility, the S26 Ultra remains our top pick.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra review for more.

Best gaming iPhone

Apple continues to refine its mobile gaming credentials with the iPhone 17 Pro Max. As well as offering a super powerful A19 Pro chip in the latest Pro Max, there's a vapor chamber covering it to help with cooling. This is something that Android phones have had for years, so it's excellent that Apple has finally got on board with the idea.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max also excels in all the ways that big iPhones traditionally have. The screen is big and bright, the cameras have been improved once again, and battery life has once again improved year-on-year. There's even faster charging on offer if you find the correct power brick to use with it.

The only real issue, other than this being a rather expensive phone, is its size. It's big and wide, and a touch heavier than last year's Pro Max. That heft is arguably justified by how much the iPhone 17 Pro Max offers (and I certainly think it's justified, it's my daily carry). But there are cheaper and more portable ways to get a similar level of gaming joy.

Read our full iPhone 17 Pro Max review

Best value gaming phone

OnePlus seems to have noticed that we keep recommending its R-series phones for gaming, as it's gone all-in on mobile gaming with the 15R.

A newer, more powerful chipset, combined with a 165Hz display that beats the vast majority of its rivals on smoothness, and OnePlus' usual excellent battery life and charging speeds mean the 15R can keep up with even the most demanding gamer. And all of that costs several hundred bucks less than equivalently competent phones.

It's just a shame that the 15R is more expensive than previous OnePlus R phones, and that the pursuit of gaming specs has meant that there is no longer a telephoto camera on the back of the phone. If you can cope with both of those, then there's no reason to spend more than you have to to get a brilliant gaming phone with the OnePlus 15R.

Check our full OnePlus 15R review

Best gaming phone cooling tech

RedMagic has been a pioneer in smartphone cooling for several years with its onboard cooling fan. The RedMagic 11 Pro has taken this to another level by adding genuine liquid cooling capabilities to the phone, resulting in a unique-looking and high-performing device.

Other key specs, like a 144 Hz display, the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip and even more gaming-focused AI features all help round out the experience. The battery and charging aren't to be sniffed at either.

Sadly, this is the worst phone for photography on this list, and also lacks dust resistance due to the big air intake it needs for cooling. Plus the cooling fan can be noisy, but given how the core gaming features work, you may be having too much fun playing on the RedMagic 11 Pro to notice that one.

Read our full RedMagic 11 Pro review

Best foldable gaming phone

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is a huge stride forward for Samsung, upgrading elements across the phone to catch up or even surpass the competition that's been leaving it behind. And the quality of those upgrades do wonders for the Z Fold 7's gaming chops.

Samsung's special edition of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset means there's a huge amount of power to put to use with your games. And you can do that on either the outer display or the inner display, both of which are larger and brighter than any previous Z Fold.

Despite the size and increased power, Samsung has managed to make the Z Fold 7 slightly more power efficient, and given the device a slimmer, lighter footprint. And as you'd hope from a new Samsung flagship, Galaxy AI is on full show also, with the inner display getting the option to use the features with greater flexibility.

It all sounds fantastic, but bear in mind this costs $2,000. It's way more than you need to pay for this level of performance, and if your only real care is gaming, it would be a waste of this phone's potential and your money. Plus there's also no longer S Pen support, which is not critical for gaming but is a pity for a device with a tablet-sized screen.

Check our full Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review

How to choose the best gaming phone for you

When picking out your gaming phone of choice, the first thing to look for is the chipset. All the phones on this list either use up-to-date Snapdragon 8 series chips or the Pro version of Apple's latest A-series chip, which guarantees best-in-class performance, the optimal starting point for gaming on a phone.

The next point on your list should be display quality. You can classify that in a number of ways, like overall size, resolution, refresh rate, color quality and accuracy. There's no one ultimate phone for this, so compare the specs and our test results (see below) to see which meets your needs the best.

After that, it's time to think about additional features you may want. That could include extra gaming-focused ones like capacitive triggers or cooling systems, a long battery life for the longest-possible play sessions between charges, or more general ones like excellent cameras or smart AI features. Going all-in on gaming may mean sacrificing other parts of the basic smartphone experience, so choose wisely and consider everything you use your phone for before you end up limiting yourself.

How we test gaming phones

In order for a smartphone to make any of our best phone lists — gaming phone or otherwise — it needs to excel on several tests that we run on every handset. We perform some of these tests in our labs and some in the real world.

When it comes to performance, we rely on such synthetic benchmarks as Geekbench 6 and 3DMark to measure graphics performance. These tests allow us to compare performance across iPhones and Android devices. We also run a real-world video transcoding test on each phone using the Adobe Premiere Rush app and time the result.

To measure the quality of a phone's display, we perform lab tests to determine the brightness of the panel (in nits), as well as how colorful each screen is (DCI-P3 color gamut). In these cases, higher numbers are better. We also measure color accuracy of each panel with a Delta-E rating, where lower numbers are better and score of 0 is perfect.

One of the most important tests we run is the Tom's Guide battery test. We run a web surfing test over 5G or 4G at 150 nits of screen brightness until the battery gives out. In general, a phone that lasts 10 hours or more is good, and anything above 11 hours makes our list of the best phone battery life.

Last but not least, we take the best phones out in the field to take photos outdoors, indoors and at night in low light to see how they perform versus their closest competitors. We take shots of landscapes, food, portraits and more, and also allow you to be the judge with side-by-side comparisons in our reviews.

Our look at how Tom's Guide tests and rates smartphones has more on the overall testing process.

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