The gaming smartphone is useless

The true, devoted gaming smartphone is useless.

Now not will we see a telephone with the highest-resolution display screen and quickest processor inside the place the major perform is to play probably the most hardcore video games for so long as attainable, on the expense of different, extra conventional telephone options. It’s the arrival of the Asus ROG Cellphone 8 Professional at CES 2024 that has cemented the gaming smartphone’s destiny, and the style now seems to have been consigned to the historical past books.

The ROG Cellphone 8 Professional is for gaming, proper?

However wait, the brand new Asus ROG Cellphone 8 Professional is a gaming smartphone, isn’t it? Sure, the ROG Cellphone 8 Professional is a telephone for gaming in that it has the most recent Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, AirTrigger buttons on its shoulders, and a side-mounted USB-C port — all of which avid players will admire. Asus works exhausting to get the software program proper, too, with its performance-enhancing X Mode, new AI instruments, and its Armory Crate app to gather and modify video games.

However not like the ROG Cellphone 7 Final, the ROG Cellphone 6D, or any of the earlier fashions, it’s additionally a smartphone that’s primed for on a regular basis use. It has wi-fi charging and an IP68 water and mud resistance ranking, smaller bezels across the display screen, a lighter weight, and a extra smart form too. It might have the acquainted and really cool RGB LED display screen on the rear panel, however it’s completely hidden when it’s not in use. Nobody would comprehend it was there.

This is the reason it’s a telephone for taking part in video games and never a gaming smartphone. The insanity of earlier ROG Cellphone fashions has been toned down in favor of helpful (and arguably, important) options we would like on the telephone we use each day. Video games are nonetheless on the prime of the checklist of its skills, however in the identical approach the digicam is on the prime of the checklist of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely’s checklist. Each are sensible telephones to make use of while you’re not taking part in video games or taking pictures. Earlier than, the ROG Cellphone was solely sensible while you had been gaming and common at nearly all different occasions. Now, it’s a way more even cut up.

Asus isn’t the primary, however it’s doing it proper

The choice to make the ROG Cellphone 8 Professional a extra regular high-performance telephone makes good enterprise sense, however we’re extra happy to see it hasn’t deserted the style completely, which is what has occurred elsewhere. Asus isn’t the one firm making gaming smartphones, with different manufacturers corresponding to Lenovo, Xiaomi, and Nubia dabbling in it, however curiosity from all of them appears to have tailed off.

Xiaomi’s gaming arm is Black Shark, and it hasn’t launched any new telephones because the Black Shark 5 collection in March 2022. Since then, the model has switched to creating gaming equipment and smartwatches. Lenovo has stopped making the Legion Cellphone collection completely. RedMagic, the gaming arm of Nubia, makes a single gaming smartphone referred to as the RedMagic 9 Professional, however has prolonged its product portfolio to incorporate displays, keyboards, mice, and extra. Admittedly, the telephone may be very gaming telephone foolish with its actual cooling fan, however there isn’t a spread of units this time round, as there was with the RedMagic 8.

Aside from these three, Razer is among the solely different main corporations that attempted to make a go of gaming smartphones, however it hasn’t revisited them because the Razer Cellphone 2 was launched in 2018. Poco has lengthy leaned into gaming to advertise its smartphones, however exterior of 2022’s F4 GT, it’s extra usually for advertising and marketing functions than the model going headfirst right into a hardcore system that competes with the ROG Cellphone collection.

Is there no demand?

The query of why Asus has dialed again the craziness and Black Shark has disappeared into the murky waters is tough to reply, however logically, it has to do with demand, the price of improvement, and the prevalence of highly effective flagship telephones that may fulfill the overwhelming majority of cell players. However it may additionally need to do with the sudden inflow of handheld gaming consoles, which offer entry to non-mobile video games on the transfer.

The Valve Steam Deck leads the cost, however it has been adopted by a number of comparable units, together with the Lenovo Legion Go, the Razer Edge, and the Asus ROG Ally — all very acquainted names. Out of the three, solely Asus continues to be truly making a smartphone the place gaming is the main target, however as already acknowledged, it’s far nearer to a standard flagship smartphone than ever earlier than. Demand for cell gaming units doesn’t appear to have waned, however the necessities and the video games the viewers needs to play are dictating the place manufacturers focus their efforts.

That is maybe the principle cause for the true gaming smartphone’s demise: Extra individuals are interested by spending time taking part in the identical video games they take pleasure in on their PC or console on the go slightly than hardcore cell video games. Cell esports continues to be extremely popular, however this may increasingly not have translated over to smartphone patrons making an effort to prioritize gaming options after they go to purchase a brand new telephone.

Goodbye, gaming telephones

Is the gaming telephone actually useless? Sadly, I do consider the gaming smartphone as we knew it is useless. The craziness of the previous few years is over, fewer producers are making devoted fashions, and the telephones which might be nonetheless right here have advanced into one thing new. It’s not that we gained’t see telephones made with the devoted cell gamer in thoughts, however the days when that was their sole function have ended.

I don’t see it as a unfavourable factor, as we’re getting extra enjoyable telephones that we will use extra usually. Common telephones just like the Nothing Cellphone 2 have put a spin on the eye-catching flashing lights related to pure gaming telephones. Gaming smartphones are adopting commonplace options like IP68 whereas conserving customizable buttons and high-level cooling, then firming down the design silliness, that means extra folks can be prepared to think about it.

Though the gaming smartphone is useless, we’ve now obtained a spread of fantastic handheld gaming consoles,a small choice of on a regular basis telephones made for cell players, and a few unbelievable mainstream flagship telephones which might be additionally sensible for informal gaming. To get there, we’ve needed to sacrifice motorized cooling vents, mad coloration schemes, and every kind of different loopy gaming smartphone gimmicks — however I’d say it’s a greater than acceptable trade-off.

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