These 7 distinctive options have me hooked on gaming telephones

Common flagship smartphones are wonderful for gaming, however specialised gaming telephones like the newest Nubia RedMagic 10 Pro and Asus ROG Phone 9 go the additional mile to offer a top-tier expertise. They use the identical premium Snapdragon chips with as a lot energy as flagships like Samsung’s Galaxy S25 line , however add a number of enhancements to enhance gaming efficiency.

The best gaming phones are constructed in a different way as a result of they need to help resource-hungry titles, whereas staying cool and sustaining excessive show refresh charges over prolonged durations. In addition they want enough battery life for lengthy gaming classes and on a regular basis practicality. Let’s look at some distinctive options that make gaming telephones stand out and clarify why they’re vital to gamers.

1 Shoulder Triggers are extra helpful than you suppose

Use your telephone like a gamepad

Some gaming telephones set themselves aside from common flagships by together with shoulder triggers to enhance usability. The triggers are normally situated alongside the best facet of the telephone’s body and grow to be accessible when the machine is turned horizontally. You get several types of shoulder triggers relying on the model. Some telephones provide bodily buttons with a extra controller-like really feel, whereas others embrace discrete, low-profile, touch-sensitive triggers.

Both approach, shoulder triggers present additional configurable buttons that remodel the cell gaming expertise. In capturing video games, they are often mapped to aiming and firing, liberating your thumbs for motion. In racing video games, they will also be configured for braking and acceleration. Some telephones allow you to divide every button into two, alter their sensitivity, or configure them for swiping as a substitute of urgent.

Associated

With its flagship Magic 7 Pro, Honor flirts with Android greatness

Honor’s newest flagship smartphone, the Magic 7 Professional, is an absolute powerhouse — it is software program is the one factor holding it again from true greatness.

2 Excessive refresh-rate shows make every part really feel snappy

Smoother graphics for one of the best expertise

Present flagship telephones, just like the Galaxy S25 Ultra and Pixel 9 Pro, have variable refresh charges of as much as 120Hz to make sure clean scrolling and graphics. The excessive body charges make the telephone’s show really feel extra fluid and are nice for watching motion pictures and different each day duties. Nevertheless, demanding players favor one thing sooner to remove movement blur and acquire an edge in fast-paced aggressive titles.

The most recent gaming telephones have larger refresh charges than most flagships. Nubia’s RedMagic 10 Professional goes up 144Hz, whereas the Asus ROG 9 Professional affords a improbable 185Hz for the smoothest visuals potential. That mentioned, the one approach to profit from these excessive refresh charges is to play appropriate titles that help them, like Minecraft, Alto’s Odyssey, and Lifeless Cells, to call just a few.

Associated

Has Samsung dropped the ball by pushing back One UI 7? Kind of, but I understand the delay

One UI 7 arrives months after Android 15’s launch. Is it truthful to customers, and was it an excellent transfer for Samsung?

3 3.5mm audio stays a handy headphone choice

Headphone jacks are nonetheless alive

Apple ditched the headphone jack again in 2016 with the iPhone 7, and different manufacturers rapidly adopted swimsuit (I am taking a look at you Samsung). The choice appeared controversial then, however most customers moved on to Bluetooth, and few seemed again as a result of they had been happier with the wi-fi expertise.

Whereas Bluetooth is good for enjoying music or watching content material, it has some disadvantages for gaming. Bluetooth connections are vulnerable to latency, making a noticeable delay between what’s taking place on display and the audio output out of your earbuds. Most present gaming telephones are full of the newest tech, however retain the three.5mm port for lossless audio. Gamers can join their wired headphones for fast communication with teammates or connect audio system to get pleasure from gunshots and explosions with excellent readability.

0:56

Associated

The Galaxy S25 series is very similar to the S24 – unless you’re into AI

So far as smartphone updates go, Samsung’s Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Extremely are extremely incremental.

4 Superior cooling options hold your telephone chilled

Conserving issues working easily

Most common telephones overheat or throttle efficiency for those who play demanding video games with intense graphics and excessive body charges for prolonged durations. However, gaming telephones can simply deal with the required processing energy with out points as a result of they’ve superior cooling mechanisms for thermal effectivity.

The cooling techniques fluctuate relying on the telephone, however many have a number of graphite sheets paired with vapor chambers on the within to assist dissipate warmth. Others, just like the RedMagic lineup, embrace additional vents to soak up cool air and a built-in fan to expel heat air after it passes by way of the telephone. Most gaming telephone manufacturers additionally provide clip-on exterior cooling followers to handle the temperature as add-on equipment.

Associated

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has arrived, but there aren’t many changes

Samsung has formally revealed the Galaxy S25 Extremely, however there only some variations in comparison with final 12 months’s S24 Extremely.

5 Greater batteries imply you possibly can play for longer

Uninterrupted play for hours

Sustained gaming can suck the life out of your battery very quickly due to its excessive power necessities. Gaming telephones fight this downside by together with high-capacity batteries bigger than most flagships. This implies you possibly can get pleasure from your favourite titles and nonetheless use your telephone for each day duties like looking and checking emails.

To place issues in perspective, the Galaxy S24 Extremely has a 4,855 mAh battery, whereas the Pixel 9 Professional affords 5,060 mAh. However, the ROG Cellphone 9 Professional encompasses a bigger 5,800 mAh cell. Nubia’s RedMagic 10 Professional takes issues to a different stage with a 7,050 mAh battery that gives round two days of standby and 14 hours of gaming.

Associated

Google’s Pixel 9 Pro has one of the best smartphone cameras I’ve ever used

If you happen to’re an avid smartphone photographer, the Pixel 9 Professional is the machine you want in your life.

6 Quick charging will get you again within the recreation faster

Get again in control very quickly

Giant-capacity batteries would not be sensible in the event that they took ages to cost after you’ve got completed taking part in. That is why one of the best gaming telephones provide fast-charging capabilities, so you possibly can prime them up rapidly after they run out of juice.

Mainstream flagship telephones, like the newest Galaxy S25 Extremely, provide 45W wired charging — this is not dangerous, but it surely might be higher. The RedMagic 10s Professional blows it away with an included 80W charger and blistering 100W prime charging pace, which may prime up its huge battery in round half-hour. The Asus ROG Cellphone 9 Professional affords a formidable 65-watt quick charging pace and supplies further practicality with a second USB-C port for charging the telephone in panorama mode.

Associated

Uh-oh, someone’s Pixel 9 Pro camera bar fell off

The Pixel 9 Professional’s digital camera bar is again within the highlight once more after a consumer on Reddit reported it had indifferent.

7 Excessive reminiscence capability ensures a clean expertise

Extra RAM for demanding video games

Gaming telephones deal with the immense processing energy and graphics necessities of resource-hungry titles whereas working different apps within the background. They do that with out freezing and supply clean efficiency below heavy hundreds as a result of they’ve extra RAM than most flagship telephones.

Google’s top-of-the-range Pixel 9 Professional XL is a high-performance telephone with 16GB of RAM, whereas the Galaxy S25 Extremely tops out at 12GB. However, the usual Asus ROG Cellphone 9 begins at 16GB, and the Professional Version goes as much as 24GB of RAM. The identical goes for the RedMagic 10 Professional, which begins at 12GB for the entry-level mannequin and consists of 16 and 24GB variants in order for you extra efficiency.

Associated

Is hybrid AI the smartphone wave of the future? Samsung and Apple think so

Perhaps a one-size-fits-all strategy is not one of the best for voice assistants.