Search Gaming Phones
Need a gaming phone? Here you'll find the most powerful phones for gaming. Do you never want lag and never again frame drops? Then these smartphones are ideal for you for gaming on the go. Read more
Gaming phones are smartphones specially designed to perform continuously at the highest level. For this purpose, they are equipped with additional cooling, sometimes even in the form of a separately available fan. Stereo sound and the smoothest screen are also standard features.
To play the occasional game such as Subway Surfers or FarmVille, almost any smartphone will suffice.
Brands of gaming phones
There are some brands that market phones specifically for gamers. One example is Asus with its ROG Phone series. Or what about Redmagic? Still others release gaming smartphones in addition to regular smartphones, such as Honor, Nubia and Xiaomi with its Black Shark.
True gamers have a love/hate relationship with gaming on phones. They prefer consoles or the PC. Dedicated smartphones for gaming therefore remain a niche market. Therefore, we also see many dropouts. Think of Razer.
History of mobile gaming
Phone manufacturers recognized early on that you can also game with a cell phone. The first example came in 1997 when the Nokia 6110 came on the market with the game Snake on it. That turned out to be a huge hit, albeit due to its enormous simplicity.
2003: Nokia N-Gage
In 2003, Nokia competed with the Nintendo Game Boy Advance with the release of the Nokia N-Gage and N-Gage QD. The separately formed phones did not enjoy much success after which Nokia stopped development.
2008: Apple App Store
After Apple released the first iPhone in 2007, it would take until 2008 for an official App Store to appear. Soon developers began creating games that could sometimes be played for free, and otherwise for a one-time fee. This set off a veritable wave of popular titles such as Angry Birds and Candy Crush.
2011: Sony Ericsson Xperia Play
Sony Ericsson surprised in 2011 with the Xperia Play. This was an Android smartphone with slide-out gamepad. Sony had had experience with mobile gaming since 2004 with the PSP, so it was somewhat unclear what this Xperia was supposed to accomplish. It therefore remained a one-time adventure; the device did not have a successor.
2017: Motorola Moto Gamepad
Now that most smartphones are powerful enough for (simple) games, the need for separately shaped gaming phones with gaming buttons disappeared. Instead, we saw accessories to make gaming easier. In 2017, for example, Motorola launched the Moto Gamepad for its Moto Z series. This separately available accessory clips onto the back of the device and features physical gaming buttons.
2018: Asus ROG
Asus released its very first ROG Phone in 2018; an otherwise regular Android phone but with the ability to add accessories. These include the AeroActive Cooler and the ROG Tessen controller. The ROG phones are optimized to deliver high-quality performance for long periods of time and are therefore considered high-end flagships.
