Gone are the days when you had to pay a premium price to get a good gaming experience on a smartphone. As technology has evolved over the years, smartphone makers and chipset makers have come together to offer an excellent gaming phone without having to burn your pocket.
For the mainstream gaming devices, the pack consists of formidable devices like the POCO X3 Pro. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipset series proved to be a great choice for gamers here and MediaTek also matured to be included in the list with its Dimensity SoC series. After running through multiple tests and criteria, these are the nominees for the best gaming phone of 2021 for the Indian Gadget Awards.
Best Mainstream Gaming Phone of 2021 一 Indian Gadget Awards 2021 Nominees:
- POCO X3 Pro
- iQOO Z3 5G
- Redmi Note 10 Pro Max
- Realme X7 5G
- Moto G60
POCO X3 Pro
For a phone that costs less than Rs 20,000, the POCO X3 Pro is an absolute killer gaming phone. The POCO X3 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 860 processor, which is a flagship SoC built on a 7nm manufacturing process with a prime core clocked at 2.96GHz. An Adreno 640 GPU takes care of the gaming and graphics while LiquidCool technology keeps the phone cool. Games like BGMI, CoD Mobile, Beach Buggy Racing 2, and Asphalt run smoothly on this device. The POCO X3 Pro, even after the right months of the launch, is among the best gaming phones in the segment. The icing on the cake here is the 120Hz display and long-lasting battery life. It also comes with UFS 3.1 storage.
iQOO Z3 5G
Gaming is part of iQOO’s DNA and the iQOO Z3 is one of the handful of phones with Snapdragon 768G SoC available in India. This is paired with up to 8GB LPDDR4x RAM and 256GB UFS 2.2 option. The second best chipset available in the segment after the Snapdragon 860 on POCO X3 Pro, the Snapdragon 768G did not disappoint us as it could run games like COD Mobile and BGMI at 60fps, and the sustained performance is good as well. The phone also does not heat up or lag even with extensive usage 一 which is a good sign for gaming enthusiasts.
Redmi Note 10 Pro Max
Usually, the Redmi Note series phones are known for their value for money offerings at aggressive pricing. Over the years, the camera performance and gaming, up to an extent, have been the weakest links for the series. However, that changed in 2021 with the Pro Max model in the series. Powered by a capable Snapdragon 732G processor, the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max can handle games well in most cases and games like Pokemon Go run with a 60fps frame rate and play BGMI and COD Mobile are also fun. The biggest boost comes in terms of AMOLED display + 120Hz combination, which is a rare combination at this price, even in 2021.
Realme X7 5G
The only phone on the list to feature a MediaTek processor, the Realme X7 5G is packed with the MediaTek Dimensity 800U chipset. It is an eight-core SoC with a clock speed of 2.4GHz and built on a 7nm fabrication process. While the phone comes with a 6.4-inch AMOLED display with a 60Hz refresh rate, it does offer a 180Hz touch sampling rate which is an added benefit for gamers who require a fast response time. Since this isn’t a top of the line phone or processor, games can’t run at the highest graphics, but there’s no stutter in games like CoD Mobile which can be played at medium graphics. The phone can also handle games like Genshin Impact in medium settings.
Moto G60
Similar to the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max, the Moto G60 is also powered by Snapdragon 732G with 6GB of LPDDR4x RAM and 128GB of UFCP storage. The phone can run PUBG and COD Mobile at 60fps easily. The Moto G60 comes with a huge 6.8-inch display with a 120hz refresh rate, and 240hz touch sampling rate 一 both of which help in enhancing the gaming experience. With a 6,000mAh battery that lasts long, you can play games all day long.
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