How We Test and Review Gaming Phones in 2025

There are many ways to play games these days. Consoles and gaming PCs are still popular options with loads of power, and gaming handhelds have surged lately, but the ability of everyday phones and specialty gaming phones to tap into all sorts of games is hard to ignore. It’s a device you likely have on you all day, every day, and that alone can make it an ideal gaming device. But how do you ensure you’re getting a phone that can game well? That’s what we set out to explore when we test phones, whether they’re mainstream options or those niche options designed specifically for gaming. Here’s an inside peek at the testing we perform to sift the wheat from the chaff.

Benchmarks

Benchmarks are a staple in hardware testing. They hit a machine hard with a heavy workload and provide a simplified score or metric (like average frames per second) at the end of the test. The results provide a key reference for directly comparing the performance from one device to another.

For all phones, I run Geekbench 6 to measure single- and multi-core CPU performance. I also run Geekbench 6’s GPU test using Vulkan on Android and Metal on iOS. Since gaming combines both CPU and GPU performance, we also run some gaming-specific benchmarks, including 3DMark’s Wildlife Extreme, Steel Nomad Light, and Solar Bay (for compatible phones) tests. These 3DMark stress tests both the CPU and GPU, but with a different balance. So, a phone with a strong CPU and modest GPU, for instance, may perform well in Wildlife Extreme but underperform in Solar Bay compared to a phone with a modest CPU and strong GPU.

I run each benchmark several times and average the results. This helps ensure consistency, but it can also help reveal inconsistency. A phone may be able to perform well in the first run of a benchmark, but if heat builds up too quickly, it’s very common to see performance drop.

Game Tests

Benchmarks are generally designed to push a device to its limit, often beyond what is practical in everyday operation, so I also test phones with actual games available today. These remain demanding, of course, but powerful phones generally won’t struggle with them. In the past, this has included games like Call of Duty Mobile, Sky: Children of the Light, and Genshin Impact. Recently, Wuthering Waves has proven a suitable challenge for the latest phones. I attempt to run the game at its highest graphics settings with a 60fps frame rate limit (the max available). I play 30 minutes, watching for any hitches in performance or inability to maintain a steady 50-60fps in both the short and long term. If a phone struggles significantly with this, I may reduce the graphics settings and resume testing, noting the settings level ultimately tested at.

At the end of this playtest, I also evaluate the external temperature of the phone, looking for hotspots and the temperature around the edges where I hold it. After all, a phone that runs games incredibly fast may not be worth much if it also burns your hands in the process.

After gaming, I also switch back and forth between apps to see how much the phone's memory retains and to check whether it’s possible to step away from a game briefly and then resume play without needing to reload the game.

Additional Testing

Beyond the benchmarks and gaming tests, each phone is evaluated on its everyday operation, the quality of its screen (clarity, brightness, color, smoothness, etc.), wireless connectivity speeds, day-to-day battery life, physical design, special features, and camera quality.

While gaming phones tend to offer quality displays and solid battery life, they can struggle when it comes to features and design. So even though my process for testing gaming phones and non-gaming phones is largely the same, I end up weighing them differently.

What Are the Best Gaming Phones Right Now?

IGN's overall top pick for the best gaming phone right now is the RedMagic 10 Pro with its excellent performance and a great display. Below are the rest of our top-reviewed options for gaming in 2025.

Mark Knapp is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything electronics and gaming hardware. He has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry with bylines at PCMag, Reviewed, CNET, and more. Find Mark on Twitter @Techn0Mark or BlueSky at @Techn0Mark.