Samsung's Galaxy S7 Edge and Galaxy S7 became the first smartphones to boast Vulkan-based graphics capabilites. With that, we mark a new era of gaming on your smartphone, one that can come very close to console quality graphics. There will of course be differences, but gaming on a smartphone is breaking boundaries each day. While it'll be some time before Vulkan-based games are available for Android, older and graphic intensive games are still available. And these are the smartphones you should buy if you're interested in playing them, in the best possible way.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3
One of the main reasons why the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is our favourite phone in the sub-15k segment, is its performance. The Snapdragon 650 doesn't heat up and delivers really top class performance. The 550MHz Adreno 510 GPU on this smartphone gives it a score of 887 points in the GFXBench Manhattan 3.0 test. That's OpenGL 3.0-based gaming.
Specs:
Display: 5.5-inch, 1080p
SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 650
RAM: 3GB
Storage: 32GB
Camera: 16MP, 5MP
Battery: 4000mAh
OS: Android 5.1
Price: Rs. 11,999
Moto G Turbo
The Moto G Turbo packs a Snapdragon 615 SoC, which doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. It doesn't match up to the Redmi Note 3, but it has been well optimised for gaming. It's lower resolution screen also helps in achieving higher frame rates. It's a good option for those looking for a well renowned brand in this price segment.
The 550MHz Adreno 405 GPU on this smartphone gives it a score of 719.9 points in the GFXBench Manhattan 3.0 test.
Specs:
Display: 5-inch, 720p
SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 615
RAM: 2GB
Storage: 16GB
Camera: 13MP, 5MP
Battery: 2470mAh
OS: Android 6.0
Price: Rs. 12,499
Nexus 5X
The new Nexus 5X might be using last year’s Snapdragon 808 SoC but combined with Android Marshmallow and other optimizations made by Google, the phone strides ahead in both graphical as well as overall performance. The 600MHz Adreno 418 GPU on this smartphone scores 1024 points on the GFXBench Manhattan 3.0 test.
Specs:
Display: 5.2-inch, 1080p
SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 808
RAM: 2GB
Storage: 32GB
Camera: 12.3MP, 5MP
Battery: 2700mAh
OS: Android 6.0
Price: Rs. 28,500 (approx)
Samsung Galaxy Note 5
The Galaxy Note 5 is the best phone Samsung had to offer in 2015 and even after six months, the phone can churn out great performance. It is still blindingly fast and large, bright, 2K display which will make your gaming experience much better, even at 1080p. The 772MHz Mali-T760 MP8 GPU on this smartphone scores 931 points on the GFXBench Manhattan 3.0 test (the scores were recorded on Android Lollipop build).
Specs:
Display: 5.7-inch, 1440p
SoC: Exynos 7420
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 32GB
Camera: 16MP, 5MP
Battery: 3000mAh
OS: Android 6.0
Price: Rs. 47,900
iPhone 6S/Plus
Apple's iPhones have been well ahead of Android when it comes to mobile gaming. The Metal APIs do make a difference and Apple even has 3D Touch-based games now. The 6-core PowerVR GT7600 GPU on this smartphone scores a whopping 3000+ points on the GFXBench Manhattan 3.0 test.
Specs:
Display: 5.5-inch, 1080p
SoC: Apple A9
RAM: 2GB
Storage: 64GB
Camera: 12MP, 5MP
Battery: 2750mAh
OS: iOS 9.3
Price: Rs. 53,000 (approx)
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge
Samsung’s latest and greatest, the Galaxy S7 Edge brings a refined design and a more powerful SoC to the table. While the Snapdragon 820 variant is yet to come to India, the Exynos 8890 powered device beats all its competitors in terms of performance and is a beast when it comes to gaming. The 650MHz Mali-T880 MP12 GPU on this smartphone scores 1717 points on the GFXBench Manhattan 3.1 test and we can't wait to see what Vulkan brings to the table.
Specs:
Display: 5.5-inch, 1440p
SoC: Exynos 8890
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 32GB
Camera: 12MP, 5MP
Battery: 3600mAh
OS: Android 6.0
Price: Rs. 56,900