Best Smartphones for Gaming in 2018

People have been playing games on mobile phones for a very long time. For as long as the ‘Snake’ was popular. But if you wanted to indulge in some serious gaming-on-the-go more than a decade ago, a certain Nokia N-Gage was the handset to own.

But technology never stops evolving, and today, we can enjoy an almost PC/console level of gaming experience on a number of handsets. Some are dedicatedly made for gaming while most high-end smartphones from popular manufacturers are generally good for some serious gaming as well.

We list down a number of phones, only the best of the best in no particular order, that you can buy if you’re someone who loves the idea of playing graphic-heavy games without the clutter of a PC or a console.

RAZER PHONE – Razor has been making PC accessories (especially for gaming) for quite some time. The Razer Phone is one of its latest efforts into enhancing the gaming experience by making it more mobile. It sports 120 Hz display, 8 GB dual channel RAM and a flagship-grade processor.

Processor & RAM: Snapdragon 835, 8 GB dual channel

Storage: 64 GB expandable up to 2 TB

Display: 5.7-inch IGZO LCD 1440p x 2560p resolution, 120 Hz, wide color gamut

Sound: Dual amplifiers, stereo speakers, audio adapter with THX certified DAC

Battery: 4,000 mAh, Qualcomm QuickCharge 4+

BLACK SHARK (XIAOMI) – Xiaomi, a manufacturer usually known for making competitive budget-oriented and mid-range phones, stepped into the gaming smartphone arena with the Black Shark. It comes with Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 845 processor and a dedicated liquid cooling kit to keep temperature under control while doing heavy-duty gaming.

Processor & RAM: Snapdragon 845, 6 GB or 8 GB RAM

Storage: 64 GB, 128 GB

Display: 5.99-inch IPS LCD, 1080p x 2160p resolution, wide color gamut

Sound: Hi-Fi sound with stereo speakers

Battery: 4,000 mAh, QuickCharge 3.0

ROG PHONE (ASUS) – Asus is a longtime maker of PC and its various hardware components like motherboards, graphic cards, displays, sound units and such. Naturally, it has directly and indirectly contributed to PC gaming at least. Now, Asus has introduced what it calls the ROG Phone which is a dedicated gaming smartphone.

Processor & RAM: Snapdragon 845, up to 8 GB RAM

Storage: 128 GB, 512 GB

Display: 6-inch AMOLED, gaming HDR/mobile HDR, wide color gamut

Sound: stereo speakers, Hi-Res 24 bit audio, DTS 7.1 surround sound

Battery: 4,000 mAh, QuickCharge 4.0

Unfortunately enough, none of the above phones are currently available in India. So we will have to wait a bit in order to enjoy their gaming prowess day by day. Still, a high-end phone from any of the major phone manufacturers, at least, can also be a pretty good gaming device. While these regular high-end smartphones have topnotch chipset and RAM, what they lack compared to dedicated gaming phones are mostly sound and speaker (hardware) related enhancements.

Have look at 2 of the most sought after smartphones that can be bought in India either through their offline stores or online retailers.

IPHONE X OR IPHONE 8 (APPLE) – One of the best performing handsets anyone can buy, the top of the line smartphones from Apple, iPhone X or 8/8 Plus, are pretty good at gaming as well.

 

Processor: A11 Bionic chip

Storage: 64 GB, 256 GB

Display: Super Retina/Retina HD display, HDR 10 compliant

Battery: 1821 mAh (iPhone 8), 2691 mAh (iPhone 8 Plus), 2716 mAh (iPhone X)

GALAXY S9/S9+ (SAMSUNG) – The top of the line Galaxy S lineup from Samsung also good gaming phones other than being some of the best performing handsets in general.

Processor & RAM: Exynos 9810, 4 GB RAM (S9), 6 GB RAM (S9+)

Storage: 64 GB

Display: 5.8/6.2-inch Super AMOLED display, 1440p x 2960p resolution

Battery: 3,000/3,500 mAh

We have only listed the phones that we believe are the best of the best in terms of gaming capability. Let us know in the comment section below which of the phones listed do you prefer for gaming and why.