Mobile games are big business, regardless of point of view. Games played on smartphones account for half of each and every global gaming revenue, according to Statista, outpacing traditional console games a distant second.
So, keeping in mind the enormous popularity of mobile games, why is the market for gaming phones such a niche concern? Why does the gaming phone market seem to target only a particular type of young, headstrong audience?
What I'm really trying to figure out is when someone is going to make an adult gaming phone like.
Bored with my old man
I am what many would consider a fairly typical example of a British man coming of age at the turn of the millennium. Overwhelmingly, tediously "normal", if there is such a thing.
I am fortunate to have a full time job and a home. I'm married. I choose to dedicate my free time and also income to the cinema, concerts and restaurants. I play soccer and go to the pub. I also enjoy playing games and have a great interest (both personal and professional) in smartphone technology.
You might think you'd be right in the middle of the Venn diagram marked "target audience for gaming phones." But even though I've used, reviewed, and enjoyed multiple gaming phones in my work as a freelance tech and gaming writer, I wouldn't dream of owning a device.
And I would be profoundly surprised if enough people in like-minded circumstances felt very, very different.
What do we mean when we talk about gaming phones
Let's back up a bit. If you only pay moderate interest in the larger smartphone scene, or perhaps only play games on occasion, you may not even realize there's a game “phone”. So, let's see precisely what this term means.
Gaming phones are smartphones that are particularly suited to gamers, or at least a particular subset of gamers. They tend to offer symbolic or practically symbolic specifications in a design that favors extensive, landscape-oriented media consumption over general day-to-day tasks. These are generally big and big, with tailored cooling systems that can still add physical fans.
The screen of an acceptable gaming phone will usually respond better than that of a normal flagship phone. To take an example, the Nubia Red Magic 6S Pro has a display with a 720Hz touchscreen sampling rate, which is literally twice as responsive as the OnePlus nine Pro. And believe me when I say that the latter is not even a bit slow.
Meanwhile, non-gaming items like the camera have a much lower priority on a gaming phone. The likes of the Lenovo Legion Duel Two and the Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro tend to take mediocre photos at best, even though they cost hundreds and hundreds of US dollars. and have exemplary specifications for the rest.
A common meaning of gaming phones is the provision of auxiliary physical controls, which tend to take the form of side- or rear-mounted buttons (physical or capacitive) that can be reconfigured on a game-by-game basis. This gives a remarkable advantage in the online competition. games like League of Legends: Wild Rift and CoD Mobile.
These devices run flat on Android due to the greater freedom of customization offered by the Google platform. Gaming phone manufacturers have loose flange to create tailored user interfaces and gaming overlays that provide fast access to CPU and GPU modes, no hassle for setup, cooling modes, and RGB lighting.
Which brings me to the heart of my reasoning.
Flash Player
In addition to their inherent heaviness, modern gaming phones tend to infuse a curious "gamer aesthetic" into their chunky designs. These devices are big on big sci-fi swooshes and belligerent logos, and often feature RGB lighting.
While the average phone maker has had to fight tooth and nail for every inch and ample of battery space and resources, gaming phone makers will choose to introduce a strip of plastic that can generate all of the phone's tones. Rainbow at the time.
If that sounds childish and superfluous too, well, it is. In a deep way.
Such aesthetics seem to share certain commonalities with a certain branch of computer games, and share links to electronic sports and competitive game streaming. Again, this is a corner of gaming culture with many subscribers, but it is not for everyone.
And that really brings home to me my problem with gaming phones. For someone who has not remotely invested in this particular sub-branch of gaming culture, gaming phones seem rude and impractical to me.
Beyond that, for someone of a certain seniority and sensitivity, or who has friends and colleagues who are not solely (or even primarily) hardcore gamers, releasing a device of this genre publicly can be honestly embarrassing.
Alright boom
I can hear the answer. "Really good boomer, stop whining about the flashing lights and go back to your stuffy old iPhone."
First of all: thank you, I will. My personal iPhone thirteen Pro is a great gaming device, with performance potential that surpasses any dedicated gaming phone and an App Store that's packed with great games.
But I'd also appreciate the option of a great phone that prioritizes gaming. One that doesn't shy away from the basics of smartphone design and usability, or even simple considerations of good taste. That's not to say you should give up shooting in less-than-perfect lighting if you want a set of physical game control.
Why can't I have a phone with the very stylish looks and full capabilities of a Sony Xperia 1 III, but instead of the physical camera shutter and Google Assistant buttons, it gives me a couple of shoulder buttons? to map to my preferred shooter?
Or else why can't I have a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra without a selfie notch (the nightmare of mobile games) and a slightly thicker body that packs a bigger battery and a more succulent cooling system?
Not to distinguish Sony and Samsung, you understand? The simple truth is that absolutely no one is making these phones right now, at least not on a global scale.
Reach the next level
I do not believe that such a request is unreasonable. There have been gaming phones before that offered something very similar.
Does anyone remember the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play? This so-called "PS phone" was a solid Android phone that was considered to be quite very sleek and stylish for its season. It also turned out to have a set of slider game controls and a game-focused user interface for a portable gaming experience that approximated Sony's PSP.
Or, before that, there was the Nokia N95 phone, which used its physical sliders and Nokia's dedicated N-Gage gaming rig to generate a nice low-key gaming machine.
Both devices and their associated platforms had their flaws, and neither was a resounding success as a gaming device. It's fair to say that the road to the glory game of phones is infested with chess.
But the general idea of managing a normal phone with a powerful gaming trick up its sleeve still appeals to me a lot. And, I suppose, many others as well.
The closest thing I've seen to what I'm looking for lately is the iQoo Seven Legend. This phone from a Vivo sub-brand is a very sleek and modern flagship with solid full specifications and a slim design. It also adopts an open game angle, with super-sensitive touch sampling rate, advanced cooling system, and a 2-piece pressure-sensitive display that can be mapped to existing touch controls in a game.
It's far from perfect, with a compact battery and a distracting punch-hole display, and it's not even free in the West at the time of writing. But it confirms that I am not the only one who thinks this way, and that this balance between general balance and gaming skills is possible on a single phone.
The question is, which smartphone makers (if any) are going to take over and go global with an adult gaming phone in XNUMX?