Mobile gaming has come a long way since the days of Snake on the Nokia phones of the late 90s. While each generation of phones brought with it crisper visuals, brighter colors, and greater processing power, mobile gaming only really began to hit its stride in 2007.
This was when Apple changed the world with the launch of the first iPhone, the very first true touchscreen “slab” style smartphone that ushered in our current tech era. Apple’s app store now boasts over 1 million different games for their customers to explore and enjoy, with Android’s app ecosystem similarly well stocked with all the latest and greatest in the realm of mobile gaming.
Over the past decade, little has fundamentally changed with this picture. All major manufacturers have, on an annual basis, released incremental upgrades with only minor variations on the basic layout and format established by the original iPhone.
Towards the end of the 2010s though, a new type of smartphone began to emerge, one designed around a very specific task. In 2017, gaming laptop and peripheral manufacturer Razer released the original Razer Phone, the smartphone that is most often credited with beginning the gaming phone craze.
The Razer phone came with a highly competitive spec sheet and a feature-set designed to prioritize gaming and multimedia consumption. Among the novel touches, the Razer Phone ushered in were high refresh-rate displays, which contribute both to touch-response time, and higher fidelity visuals.
It also featured a larger-than-average battery, forgoing the sleek profile of its competitors in order to guarantee longer gaming sessions between charges. Since that initial device, a slew of manufacturers have sought to get in on the action, and now in 2021, the space is highly competitive.
These novel devices bring optimizations to every category of game you could wish to play on them, from graphically intensive console ports to classic online variants, mobile puzzlers, and more. Below we take a quick run-down of the best phones in this category available today. With monster spec-sheets and innovations galore, these are some of the most exciting pieces of hardware in the entire smartphone space.
What are the best gaming smartphones of 2021?
ZTE Nubia Redmagic 6 Pro
The Redmagic phones have been doing their best to go toe-to-toe with Asus’ spec powerhouses and this year is no exception. The latest iteration, the 6 Pro, bests the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate on refresh rate, with a best-in-class 165 Hz display.
The Redmagic has further tricks up its sleeve, with a built-in cooling fan, touch adaptive buttons, and expandable storage up to 256GB. If you’re looking for a more affordable gaming phone, the Redmagic line recently launched the 6R which manages to pack most of the punch of the 6 Pro into a sleeker package that won’t break the bank.
Lenovo Legion Dual 2
Gaming phones are no stranger to innovation, with creative solutions for cooling and performance enhancement leading to some genuinely out-of-the-box thinking. Lenovo’s Legion Duel phones are probably the most exciting on the market thanks to their unique split construction design.
The Duel 2 features 2 cooling fans for optimal thermal efficiency and offers users access to 2 separate charging ports. This dual fast charging means the phone can be topped up to 100% in as little as 30 minutes, maximizing playtime.
Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate
Since the launch of the first ROG phone in 2018, Asus’ gaming phones, sold under its popular Republic of Gamers sub-brand, have proven themselves time and again the ones to beat. The latest iteration, the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate builds on the ROG Phone 5 with the inclusion of an eye-catching rear display and 18GB of RAM, up from 16 – the most of any gaming phone.
All that virtual memory is there to ensure the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate performs under pressure. This year’s ROG phones all come with top-tier Snapdragon 888 processors, a 6000mAh battery and a glossy 6.78 inch HD+ display with a refresh rate of 144hz.
Last update on 2021-10-27 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
