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Looking to buy the perfect gaming phone? Here are your best options considering the most valuable factors for a gamer.
Choosing the right smartphone for gaming is increasingly becoming a more difficult choice given the number of options in 2025. We have compiled this list for all the gamers out there looking for the perfect device to rely on for long gaming sessions.
Moreover, competitive gaming on mobile phones is also widely becoming more prominent, making choosing a gaming smartphone for serious players a super important choice. With all that said, let’s have a look at the top five Android smartphones for gaming in 2025. We have ranked the phones accordingly based on many important factors such as battery life, processor, and consistency in keeping performance output high, among other things.
1. ASUS ROG Phone 9 ($999.99)
The best gaming phone to get is the ASUS ROG Phone 9. The company has had a long-standing tradition of releasing smartphones specifically designed for gaming, and they have been continuously innovating behind the scenes ever since the first ROG Phone launched. It is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which is one of the very best.
The cooling structure includes a Vapor Chamber design and an enlarged graphite sheet compared to the previous generation model. In terms of being one of the best smartphones for gamers, the ASUS ROG Phone 9 is probably the best choice to consider. These models have been coming out for a long time, and the brand knows what they’re doing.
Speaking of the display, it has a 6.78-inch 2400×1080 screen, which is an OLED panel with LTPO support. It supports a 165Hz refresh rate in the native system settings (up to 185Hz via Game Genie), and the display also has Gorilla Glass Victus 2. You can also pair this phone with accessories to keep device temperatures even lower—ROG Phone 9 features support for an external AeroActive Cooler X Pro with thermoelectric technology and AI features that make the fans work.
Regarding the phone’s battery, it has a 5,500mAh capacity with support for power delivery and Quick Charge 5.0, so you can quickly refuel when needed. The storage here is UFS 4.0, with up to 512GB capacity. By the way, RAM can be configured with 16GB LPDDR5X memory capacity, which is monstrous.
2. ZTE Nubia REDMAGIC 10 Pro ($899)
The next phone on our list will truly surprise you. Coming from ZTE, the new REDMAGIC 10 Pro is another amazing gaming phone to consider. This features the latest and greatest Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, which remains cool during intense loads thanks to the company’s touted usage of an “ICE-X Liquid Metal Cooling System” to keep temperatures down. The battery here is pretty impressive, with a “dual” structure and a 7,050mAh capacity.
The phone supports up to 100W fast charging, which is nice to have for any gamer. The most interesting part of this smartphone that any gamer or normal smartphone user will absolutely adore is the front—the display looks like it doesn’t have any bezels or punch-hole cutouts whatsoever! It’s true; the REDMAGIC 10 Pro is one of the only phones in the world with such an impressive display.
The screen is sized at 6.85 inches with a 2688×1216 resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate. If you thought there was no front camera on this gaming phone, think again. ZTE has employed the use of under-display camera technology for the front camera sensor. Of course, you also have a capable set of triple cameras on the rear with a primary 50MP sensor.
RAM can be configured up to 24GB LPDDR5X, and storage can go as high as 1TB, making it a super impressive phone in terms of specifications! The storage here is also UFS 4.1 for fast transfer speeds and quick game loading times. The variant we have linked below has 16GB RAM with 512GB storage.
3. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra ($1197.47)
The next phone on our list is a traditional flagship, Samsung’s latest Galaxy S25 Ultra. This phone has many features to accelerate productivity for smartphone users, including Galaxy AI, and S Pen support, along with features exclusive to One UI 7. Speaking of the processor, it has an enhanced version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip that the company claims has specifically been optimized for the S25 Ultra to provide tuned performance levels and optimal temperatures.
The display here is 6.9 inches with a 1440×3120 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. This phone is known to offer the best flagship Android experience and has been praised for being a premium all-rounder smartphone.
This screen has more premium specifications in terms of color, vividness, and resolution compared to the gaming-centric smartphones listed above. If you’re someone who values game graphics and clarity highly, picking the S25 Ultra over the options listed above may be a viable decision to consider deeply before making your final choice of the best smartphone for gaming.
The storage options here are juicy, with up to 1TB UFS 4.0 storage available as the highest-end option. The RAM for the S25 Ultra ranges from 12GB for most models, with 16GB reserved for the 1TB one.
4. Apple iPhone 16E ($599)
Arguably, there are many phones to consider before going ahead and listing Apple’s iPhone 16E as one of the best smartphones for gaming. But the facts are real; many people prefer an iPhone over an Android. And it’s not as if Apple’s gaming performance is lagging compared to that of the Android flagships. The iPhone 16E has all the basic bells and whistles you’d typically expect from a mid-range smartphone but is packed with the same chipset as the more expensive iPhone 16 variant.
Also, with Apple’s partnerships with game developers, many high-end experiences are available on the iPhone, which are usually only playable on fully-fledged gaming PCs and consoles like the PlayStation 5. This selection includes Resident Evil 4, Death Stranding, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Sniper Elite 4, and a few more.
Sadly, the display is 60Hz, but it is OLED with a 2532×1170 resolution and reasonably sized at 6.1 inches. Given its performance, this iPhone 16E will deliver a great gaming experience with consistently high performance. Many feel the software reliability on iPhones is higher, plus many competitive gamers even use iPhones as their primary device. Back in the iPhone X days, the XR had become a popular option among many professionals.
Just like that, the iPhone 16E is also arguably the best iPhone to consider for pure gaming since it’s affordable and packs the same powerful hardware underneath. The refresh rate is surely a major disadvantage, though, but if you’re okay with that and want an iPhone, this is a good one to get on a budget with great performance.
5. OnePlus 13 ($849)
As most of us are aware, OnePlus has great value-for-money flagship offerings, and compared to the very best, this model is well known to be a superb alternative to the S25 Ultra. It has a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, paired with up to 24GB of RAM and 1TB UFS 4.0 storage. The phone has a beautifully textured design across various color patterns, including Black Eclipse, Midnight Ocean, and Arctic Dawn.
The display here has a 3168×1440 resolution, being an OLED panel with 120Hz refresh rate support. OnePlus 13 also features Ceramic Glass for better protection. Plus, this phone has Aqua Touch 2.0, which is the brand’s display coating technology. Thanks to this, playing games even when your phone is actively hanging out in the rain is very much possible. Gamers who can’t stop will surely love this feature.
The battery and charging speed on the OnePlus 13 are going to be great, knowing the brand’s history of being one of the first movers in fast-charging technologies. Here, we get 100W charging support, fully charging the smartphone in under 40 minutes. As a more budget-oriented flagship, this phone is a great choice for gaming as well, and you are assured of good support afterward, as this is a well-known brand.
By the way, as an even more affordable option, look into the OnePlus 13R, which is essentially a more budget-oriented version of this flagship. The OnePlus 13R has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 instead, which is still pretty good in 2025! Gaming is going to be an immersive experience even if you choose the 13R instead of the OnePlus 13.
Conclusion
We hope our list of the best gaming phones in 2025 helped you make the right decision based on your preferences and demands. Whether you choose the iPhone for its flagship gaming experiences and optimized software or the ROG Phone 9 for its complete overkill hardware, you are bound to have a blast gaming on these phones.
All things considered, the top five gaming phones in 2025 listed above have been compiled with deep care for the needs of a smartphone gamer while also taking into account after-sales support, software quality, and hardware prowess.
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