10+ Best Gaming Phones in 2019 (Number 9 is the cheapest you can get right now!)

Do you use your smartphone more for gaming than for telephoning? We have compiled a list of the top and best gaming phones to buy right now.

Games are being played more and more often via the smartphone. Games look super nice nowadays and the screens become bigger and sharper with the year. An increasing trend in display size that will continue in the coming years. Boys, girls, men and women play games on their smartphones. Think of PUBG, Fortnite, Candy Crush, Asphalt 8 Airborne to the augmented reality Pokémon Go. Which smartphone is the best game phone in circulation and which devices have the best price-quality ratio?

Here you can find an overview of the top 10 gaming smartphones on Naijaknowhow.

List of Top Smartphones For Playing Games (Best Gaming Phones)

1. Asus ROG Phone II

Asus Gaming Smartphone – World’s Fastest Smartphone

The Taiwanese manufacturer Asus announced the Asus ROG Phone II gaming smartphone with Snapdragon 855 Plus, this device is deemed as the world fastest and most powerful Android smartphone.

Asus ROG Phone II is a high spec Android smartphone equipped with 6.59-inch AMOLED (2340 × 1080) display with a refresh rate of 120 Hz that enables smooth screen display, latest Snapdragon 855 Plus, an Octa-core chipset that clocks at 2.96 GHz, RAM capacity comes in two variants — 8GB / 12GB, storage capacity is 512GB UFS 3.0 and lastly it’s built with a duo camera setup of 48MP + 13MP. It is further graced with a 6000mAh battery that enables longevity when playing games for long hours without charge.

Here are the Asus ROG Phone 2 key specifications…

2. Black Shark 2 Pro

Xiaomi gaming smartphone with fast Snapdragon 855+ processor

Black Shark 2 Pro is the second smartphone to use Snapdragon 855 Plus after ASUS ROG Phone 2. Snapdragon 855 Plus is a faster version of Snapdragon 855 that is designed for smartphone gaming to increase performance.

Black Shark 2 Pro brings a number of choices of new colours such as Electric black, Ice Ash, Popular Blue, Blast Orange and Streamer Purple. While other specifications of this device are still similar to the regular version of the Black Shark 2, which includes a 6.39-inch AMOLED screen, a 48MP + 12MP dual rear camera, and a 20MP selfie camera.

Maximum clockspeed for the eight-core CPUs of the Snapdragon 855 Plus Kyro 485 increased to 2.96GHz, from the previous 2.84GHz on Snapdragon 855. Finally, you get two model options of 128GB + 12GB RAM or 256GB + 12GB RAM and both are supported with a huge 4000mAh battery with fast charging technology.

Here are the Xiaomi Black Shark 2 Pro key specifications…

3. Xiaomi Black Shark

Xiaomi gaming smartphone with fast Snapdragon 845 processor

Xiaomi has a special gaming phone that has a cool design. The 6 inch AMOLED display lies in a rugged housing with a striking Black Shark logo. The tough Xiaomi Black Shark is specially made for playing games with. The Xiaomi phone sports a fast Snapdragon 845 processor with 8GB of RAM. Enough speed to run different games smoothly. You will never suffer from lag because the processor can not handle your game. There is 128 GB of storage space and the smartphone

The cameras of the Xiaomi Black Shark are good. You shoot very sharp selfies with the 20-megapixel front camera. The duo at the back consists of a 12-megapixel camera in combination with a 20-megapixel lens. This duo takes great pictures and those beautiful bokeh portrait photos. With the 4000mAh battery, you can play a bit longer than your friends with their luxury flagships. This is a pure gaming phone with a friendly price.

Here are the Xiaomi Black Shark key specifications…

4. Xiaomi Black Shark Helo

Xiaomi gaming phone with vapour cooling chamber

Xiaomi Black Shark Helo is Xiaomi’s upgrade to its first gaming smartphone (Xiaomi Black Shark). What makes a gaming smartphone really competent is the powerful hardware. These internal features ensure that the smartphone’s graphics and the entire gaming experience incredible. Inside this smartphone, there’s the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 with octa-core 2.8GHz CPU and Adreno 630 GPU.

Still, on the SoC, there’s a vapour cooling chamber that prevents the smartphone from overheating during intensive gaming actions. This smartphone possesses a Gamer Studio App that helps to create various gaming profiles. How it works is that it can condition the processor, display, network and all to suit different games.

Appearance is another feature that makes gaming devices adorable. Similar to its predecessor, it has RGB lit surroundings and Shark logo represented by “S”. AMOLED panel is what provides the display on the smartphone. This panel, sized at 6.01 inches, sports 1080 x 2160 pixels and 18:9 Full View Display mode. It uses a 4000mAh battery for a longer gaming experience for its users.

Here are the Xiaomi Black Shark Helo key specifications…

5. Huawei Mate 20 X

Huawei gaming phone with massive 5000mAh battery

This is Huawei gaming device. Huawei Mate 20 X is not only the biggest in shape, but it’s also the largest with regards to battery life with some really nice features for gamers.

The all-new Kirin 980 with ARM Mali-G76 GPU sees to the efficient gaming on the smartphone. Even more, Huawei Supercool is aboard to limit how the heating capacity of the phone during heavy gaming activities. The Supercool advanced cooling system consists of vapour chamber cooling with a graphene film heat spreader. There is 128 GB of storage space and 6GB RAM.

Dolby Atmos stereo speakers enhance the sound surroundings of the smartphone. The display department of this phone boasts of a large 7.2-inch AMOLED panel with 1080 x 2244 pixels resolution. This device is also supported by a massive 5000mAh battery to make sure the phones last during heavy gaming.

Here are the Huawei Mate 20 X key specifications…

6. Razer Phone 2

Razer gaming phone with vapour cooling technology

This smartphone is fully focused on gaming and picks up the thread of its predecessor. Razer has used the same basis for the Razer Phone 2 as for his first smartphone. A not so surprising addition is the RGB lighting in the logo on the back. It has uses a display 5.7 inches with a resolution of 2560x1440p, a 16:9 ratio and supports (only) a refresh rate of 120 Hz.

Inside we find a Snapdragon 845 SoC, with which almost all high-end smartphones are equipped. Furthermore, we see 8GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage and a powerful battery of 4,000mAh so you’re not forced to play alongside the wall socket.

Just like gaming laptops, gaming smartphones can also become physically hot in the heat of the battle. The cooling technology that Razer has also incorporated into his laptops, namely the Vapor Chamber Cooling, is now also included in this smartphone and should ensure that you can play a few hours without causing the device to overheat.

Here are the Razer Phone 2 key specifications…

7. ASUS ROG Phone

ASUS gaming smartphone using Adreno 630 GPU

The Asus ROG Phone gaming device is a premium smartphone which comes with a lot of luxury features. It is one of the best gaming phones you can buy right now.

Asus ROG Phone flaunts a 6-inch AMOLED display which exhibits a screen resolution of 1,080 x 2,160 pixels. It has a pixel density of 402 PPI and carries an aspect ratio of 18:9. The display is covered by a Corning Gorilla Glass which protects it from scratches and minor collisions. It comes with a waterproof body and at the rear, a fingerprint sensor is present which enhances the security as well as the convenience of the system.

The Asus ROG Phone houses a 128GB inbuilt storage. Moving to the performance, a 2.8GHz Kryo 385 octa-core processor controls the overall performance of the device. It is further supported by an 8GB RAM and an Adreno 630 GPU for handling the graphics section. The whole combination is built upon a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset which delivers a powerful performance while running multiple tasks and playing powerful games like PUBG. Coming to the battery front, the smartphone is powered by a 4,000mAh Li-Po battery which provides long hours of backup.

Here are the Asus ROG Phone key specifications…

8. ZTE Nubia Red Magic

ZTE gaming smartphone with dual cooling vents

ZTE has decided to introduce its own gaming smartphone – ZTE Nubia Red Magic. Design wise, the smartphone is really attractive. A well-positioned camera didn’t do anything to interfere with the configurable RGB lighting placed at the rear.

In fact, the back of this smartphone is designed in a comfortable manner reminiscent of a gamepad. As an extra, the device is packed with a cooling air vent to reduce to the barest minimum the heat tendency of the smartphone. For protection, Dinorex T2X-1 scratch/shock resistant glass gets fixed on the smartphone’s screen.

In the display region, the smartphone sports a massive 6.0 inches LTPS IPS display that works with 1080 X 2160 pixels resolution and 402PPI pixel density. With the Full View 18:9 aspect ratio in place, the display has a 78.5% screen-to-body ratio. Under the hood, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC handles the core operations of the smartphone. It envelops an octa-core 2.35GHz CPU and Adreno 540 GPU. The smartphone has either the 6GB RAM / 64GB ROM variant or the 8GB RAM / 128GB ROM variant. The phone is powered by a non-removable Li-Po 3,800mAh battery. It charges really fast as a result of Quick Charge technology present on the device.

Here are the ZTE Nubia Red Magic key specifications…

9. ZTE Nubia Red Magic Mars

ZTE gaming smartphone with 10GB RAM

Nubia Red Magic Mars is the upgrade of the Nubia Red Magic. Of course, there are several improvements offered. From the design to the interiors, this Nubia Red Magic Mars is super good. Interestingly, this smartphone with a 6-inch Full HD + IPS screen has a shoulder button on the side. When playing a game in landscape format, both buttons can be pressed with the index finger left and right.

It is jammed with more powerful hardware, the Snapdragon 845 combined with 10GB of RAM. Nubia Red Magic Mars provides an internal memory capacity of 256 GB. A combination that looks tempting especially for gamers who like to play games on smartphones.

To keep temperatures cool during gameplay, the Red Magic Mars Nubia now uses a cooling system called ICE, which has two pipes to reduce heat. There is also a dedicated eSport button which when pressed will instantly turn this smartphone into Gaming mode. To provide a more enjoyable gaming experience, Nubia also provides a special Bluetooth-based gaming controller. From the audio sector, the Nubia Red Magic Mars features stereo speakers complete with DTS 7.1 support.

The phone is powered by a non-removable Li-Po 3,800mAh battery. It charges really fast as a result of Quick Charge technology present on the device.

Here are the ZTE Nubia Red Magic Mars key specifications…

The phones above are specifically built for gamers. However, there are additional gaming phones that can handle heavy graphics games that aren’t designed for gaming. They are:

10. Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus

11. Sony Xperia XZ3

12. Apple iPhone XS Max

13. Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus

14. OnePlus 7 Pro

15. Huawei P30 Pro

16. Apple iPhone 11 Pro

Final Note:

With this top 10 of best gaming phones, I hope it helps you make a good buying decision when picking a phone for gaming. This article also revealed that the online prices of smartphones can vary greatly in Nigeria and other parts of the world. It is therefore important to do your own research on the best price before you purchase a new mobile gaming smartphone.

That said, kindly let us know using the comment box below if this is a good list… or perhaps, are there other phones you think should be listed above?

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