Nothing gives a phone a workout like gaming. Load up a recent title and you’ll soon find out whether your mobile’s processor, display and battery are up to the challenge. If you’re getting stuttering, slow visuals, or you’re simply running out of battery, it might be time to consider an upgrade. Our best gaming phones guide will help you choose a winner.
Games really are the best test of how well a device performs – so much so that game engines are often at the heart of benchmarking programs like 3DMark Wild Life. It takes millions of calculations per second to create, maintain and display a game world, with 3D games particularly taxing.
Sadly, some phones just aren’t up to the challenge. You’ll probably already know if your phone’s any good for gaming, but if not there are telltale signs to look for. A small screen isn’t a great start – you won’t get as good a view of what’s going on, and if the resolution’s low there won’t be as much detail.
Most phones can handle simple 2D arcade games, but you might notice that the action slows down when things get hectic – during explosions or other effects, for example. 3D games are generally more taxing. Fast phones keep the action smooth and immersive, but older and slower phones can’t keep up a convincing frame rate. If you’re noticing stuttering video rather than continuous action, your phone is probably maxed out.
Out of juice
All those calculations burn through your battery’s power. Even with the biggest battery, you’ll be lucky to get more than a few hours of intensive playing between charges. If your phone already struggles to last a day on one charge, throwing in some gaming is a sure-fire way to end up out of power before bedtime.
Not surprisingly, the best gaming phones need a fast processor, a big battery, and a cracking display. Some purpose-designed gaming phones add extra memory, and very high refresh rates for the screen and touch interfaces.
Unfortunately, that means gaming phones tend to be expensive, and purpose-designed ones often sacrifice everyday practicality or good taste. With that in the mind, we’ve picked the five best everyday phones for gaming, and included a couple of cheaper options for anyone on a budget. Find the perfect mobile platform in our best gaming phones guide.
Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
Price £1,049 (from Apple)- get iPhone 13 Pro Max deals on Mozillion
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Why buy?The most powerful big gaming smartphone you can buy
The cheaper optionBuy an iPhone 13 Pro
The iPhone 13 Pro Max is probably the best overall gaming smartphone you can buy. First off, it’s powered by the most powerful version of the most powerful processor available in a phone. In the flagship iPhone 13 models, Apple’s A15 Bionic gets an extra graphics processing core, meaning it manages even higher framerates in the most demanding games.
This is one of only two current phones to score more than 3,000 in the 3DMark Wild Life extreme benchmark, one of the most demanding tests of outright gaming performance. It also beats 14,000 on the Compute test in Geekbench 5 – even the mainstream iPhone 13 can’t break 11,000.
Happily, this performance is balanced with good efficiency. Powered by a substantial 4,352mAh battery, the iPhone 13 Pro Max can comfortably last a day’s use – even once you throw some gaming into the mix.
If this phone has a weakness compared to other big gaming phones, it’s the comparatively modest 1,284×2778 resolution of its 6.7” OLED screen. There’s also the small matter of Apple’s TrueDepth front-facing camera. This black notch sits at the edge of the display where you might otherwise spot enemies earlier. In some games it can obscure menu content, too.
The notch is an unfortunate drawback, but this phone’s price tag could present a bigger obstacle. With Apple’s pricing starting at £1,049, it pays to seek out a better iPhone 13 Pro Max deal elsewhere. But if it’s still a stretch, consider a refurbished iPhone 12 Pro Max or iPhone 11 Pro Max instead.
Apple iPhone 13 Pro
Price £949 (from Apple) – get iPhone 13 Pro deals on Mozillion
Mozillion rating
Why buy?The most powerful gaming smartphone you can buy
The cheaper optionBuy an iPhone 13
The iPhone 13 Pro has all the benefits of the iPhone 13 Pro Max, but with a smaller 6.1” display. While still a decent gaming screen, this also has the limitation of Apple’s TrueDepth camera notch, which can get in the way of game content. Its 1,170×2,532 resolution also gives quite a bit away to the best gaming screens.
This limitation aside, the iPhone 13 Pro is pretty much untouchable as a gaming platform, thanks to its insane A15 Bionic processor. It scored a peak of 3,188 on 3DMark Wild Life extreme – 44% higher than we recorded from the iPhone 12 Pro, itself one of the fastest phones out there. No other phones can get close.
Although this phone has a smaller battery than the iPhone 13 Pro Max, it still looped an HD movie for a full 19 hours of playback – the longest we’ve yet recorded. With a decent screen, unbeatable processor and a battery that won’t be defeated by the odd gaming session, it’s a great choice if you can live without a huge screen.
Google Pixel 6 Pro
Price £849 (from Google) get Pixel 6 Pro deals on Mozillion
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Why buy?One of the fastest Android phones for games
The cheaper optionThe Google Pixel 6: same power, smaller screen
Look at its score in general-purpose benchmarks like Geekbench 5, and the Google Pixel 6 doesn’t look too special. While fast, it’s still beaten by several generations of iPhone, and many of today’s other high-end Android phones. It’s a different story in 3D benchmarks, however. The Pixel 6 Pro is the fastest Android phone in 3D Mark Wild Life extreme, and not far off the pace of the iPhone 11 family.
Fortunately, it can back up that performance with great features elsewhere. Its 6.7” screen is a cracker, featuring a 1,440×3,120 resolution and a 120Hz variable refresh rate. And inside its big, distinctive body, there’s a huge 5,003mAh battery, good for around 16 hours of video playback, according to reviewers.
The Google Pixel 6 Pro isn’t the outright fastest gaming phone, but it’s one of the quickest Android handsets you can get. With a big screen, strong features and good battery life, it’s a good Android allrounder that excels at games.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
Price £1,049 (from Samsung) – buy a Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G for less on Mozillion
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Why buy?One of the best Android gaming phones
The cheaper optionGoogle’s Pixel 6 Pro (see above)
Samsung’s Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G is a close match for the Google Pixel 6 Pro when it comes to performance and features. It’s got the edge on screen size and resolution, offering a fraction of an inch and a few pixels more, while the Pixel 6 Pro pips it on 3D benchmarks. Both share a 5,000mAh battery.
With little to choose between them when it comes to the features that make a gaming phone, it’s interesting to look at the other specs. The Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G supports Samsung’s S Pen, for fine input on the touchscreen, but the pen itself isn’t included. This phone’s quad camera system is one of the best you’ll find, and its crazy 100x hybrid zoom can produce astonishing results.
Overall it’s hard to separate the two. The Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G is certainly one of the best Android gaming phones, but it’s about £200 more than the Pixel 6 Pro. If you’re tempted, see if you can get a better Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G deal on the Mozillion marketplace.
Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
Price discontinued – buy an iPhone 12 Pro Max on Mozillion
Mozillion rating
Why buy?Fast, big, but cheaper
The cheaper optionAn iPhone 11 Pro Max
What if you want one of the best performing gaming phones you can get, but you don’t have the budget for something high-end and brand new? Allow us to recommend Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro Max. Although it’s discontinued now, you can buy a refurbished iPhone 12 Pro Max for less than two-thirds the price of a new iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Why bother? Primarily because the iPhone 12 Pro Max is powered by the A14 Bionic processor. While it’s a generation behind the A15 Bionic in the iPhone 13, it’s still one of the most powerful chips in any phone, giving the iPhone 12 Pro Max stonking performance on even the latest 3D titles. In our tests, this phone scored 2,407 on the demanding 3DMark Wild Life extreme benchmark – 32% slower than the iPhone 13 Pro Max, but only 5% behind the regular iPhone 13. More importantly, it’s still way ahead of any Android rivals.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max offers a slightly lower screen resolution than you’d find on other big flagships such as Google’s Pixel 6 Pro. It also suffers from a black ‘notch’ for the front-facing camera, which can eat into the game world or side menus. Importantly, it also has only a 60Hz screen refresh rate, so it won’t offer quite the same smooth animation as phones with a 90 or 120Hz display.
Despite these limitations, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is an impressive large phone, capable of mighty frame rates on challenging games. Throw in a powerful battery, 5G support, waterproofing, and iOS updates until around 2027, and it’s a future-proof all-rounder for people who enjoy games and media.
OnePlus 8 Pro
Price £899 (from OnePlus)- buy a refurbished OnePlus 8 Pro on Mozillion
Mozillion rating
Why buy?Cheap, but still fast enough for most games
The cheaper optionGo much cheaper and you’ll struggle with recent games
If you can’t stretch to one of the other phones on our list, you could still save money on one of several discontinued high-end phones that are still up to all but the most demanding games. The OnePlus 8 Pro is a great example, combining a large, high-res screen with the relatively high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chip. Ignore OnePlus’ own price – you can find it for much less on the Mozillion marketplace.
The OnePlus 8 Pro isn’t as fast as today’s high-end phones, but it’s not bad, ranking around 30th fastest in Geekbench 5’s multi-core CPU test. With around 1,100 points in the taxing 3DMark Wild Life Extreme benchmark, it has slightly more than half the 3D power of today’s fastest Android phones, meaning it’s still capable of smooth framerates and slick gameplay in all but the most demanding games.
And there’s more to this phone than a decent processor. Its 6.6” AMOLED screen offers 1,440×3,168 pixels, with a slick 120Hz refresh rate and an under-display fingerprint sensor. OnePlus was particularly proud of the display, claiming an Apple-beating 1,300 nit brightness, with high colour accuracy.
The OnePlus 8 Pro doesn’t disappoint if you’re into photography. Its 48-megapixel (MP) main camera is teamed with a 16MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro unit. There’s even a 16MP selfie camera. Best of all, there’s hours of power for everything, thanks to a huge 4,500mAh battery.
While the OnePlus 8 Pro can’t quite keep pace with the speed of the latest phones, it still offers loads for the money. If you can’t stretch to something newer, a refurbished OnePlus 8 Pro is still a solid gaming phone for less.