It is currently the best time ever to be gaming on your smartphone. Streaming apps like Xbox Game Pass let you play the latest AAA titles with only your phone, controller, and internet connection. At the same time, console/PC games like Civilization VI and Alien: Isolation are much cheaper on the Google Play Store without any loss in content. Things are even better on iOS, where Apple has signed exclusive deals to bring titles like Resident Evil 4 to the App Store.
Of course, mobile games are going strong too. While the Play Store is still home to a frustratingly high amount of free-to-play junk, many fantastic games like Pocket City 2 and Laya’s Horizon were released exclusively for mobile devices in 2023.
For a few years now, manufacturers have compensated for the uptick in the quality of mobile games by producing phones designed to offer unbeatable mobile gaming experiences through cooling fans, extra buttons, phenomenal quality screens, large batteries, and dedicated gaming software.
Unfortunately, this experience comes at a price. For example, Asus’ Rog Phone 8 is the most powerful and highest quality gaming phone on the market, but it costs $1100 for its minimum configuration. Flagship Android phones offer similar performance without the gaming features, but you’ll still need to spend $1300 to nab the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Of course, there are the budget-minded Nubia Redmagic phones to consider. The RedMagic 9 Pro costs $650, a fraction of the price of the Rog Phone 8, while offering identical performance. However, to hit this lower price, the RedMagic 9 Pro includes buggy software, inconsistent cameras, and abysmal software support. The Asus Zenfone 10 also offers fantastic performance for the price, but you miss out on dedicated gaming features and a screen suitable for gaming. If you don’t want to make sacrifices when gaming on your phone, you’ll need to look at phones around the $1000 mark. But do you need to?
What are your options instead of the latest Android gaming phone?
For the price of an Asus Rog Phone 8 Pro ($1200), you can buy a brilliant budget Android phone like the Google Pixel 6a ($450) for playing quirky Android games, streaming games through Game Pass, or emulating retro titles, the latest Steam Deck ($400), and a Nintendo Switch ($350). These three devices (assuming you don’t get them on sale) come to $1200, the same price as the Rog Phone 8 Pro, but with many more games at your disposal across PC, console, and Android.
You don’t need the latest Android hardware to play great games on the go. There are also quirky alternatives like the Ayaneo Pocket Air ($300), which, while designed as an emulation platform foremost, runs Android so can install games and apps from the Play Store.
Perhaps this competition is why Asus decided to appeal to mainstream Android users with the Rog Phone 8 Pro. As we noted in our review, the camera hole and pared-down speakers are frustrating from a gaming perspective. Perhaps Asus has realized that gaming phones are being made redundant by the affordability of gaming hardware offering a higher quality game selection.
Where does mobile gaming stand in 2024?
Ironically, the availability of quality games on Android has surged at a time when gaming handheld consoles have made a resurgence. Gaming phones are certainly not a joke; The Asus Rog Phone 8 is a splendid piece of hardware from top to bottom, but it is in danger of becoming completely redundant.
If you’re considering spending over $1000 on a phone to play games, go ahead; the Android phones we recommend at this price point certainly won’t disappoint you, whether you’re gaming, scrolling social media, or watching movies. There’s no denying that you can spend less for a wider variety of better-quality games, but this does come at the disadvantage of lugging around multiple pieces of hardware, but that’s a small price to pay for what you gain access to.
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