This Budget Flagship Might Be The Most Value For Money Gaming Smartphone Around

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Ryan Haines / Android Authority

If you’d told ten-year-old me that I’d be able to play the latest console games like Resident Evil on a device that fit in my pocket, I’d have refused to believe you. But it’s 2025, and that possibility is now reality. Except, for the longest time, that would require a top-tier flagship Android smartphone to get a rock-solid framerate or support for the latest titles. So imagine my surprise when for the last month, instead of my Pixel 9 Pro or OnePlus 13, I’ve been reaching out to Apple’s budget-minded iPhone 16e as my portable console of choice.

After a few weeks of using it as my main mobile gaming device, I honestly think this is the best value-for-money gaming phone that most people should buy. It’s high-end gaming — just without the high-end price tag. Here’s why.

Specs that don’t scream budget

Apple iPhone 16e showing iOS 18 lock screen

Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority

For someone deeply entrenched in tech, I’m the first to admit that I don’t really care about getting the most expensive, feature-loaded products on the market. I firmly believe you should get a device that ticks all the right boxes for your use case. That philosophy extends to smartphones. The iPhone 16e makes the right compromises in most places to deliver a high-powered experience without breaking the bank.

Ryan Haines / Android Authority

The processor — even though binned — is largely the same as the iPhone 16. The performance difference, while notable in benchmarks, doesn’t hamper the real-world gaming experience I’ve been enjoying. Yes, the lack of a GPU core is a notable change, but the 16e still offers enough of a performance overhead that games run smoothly just the same. It’s something that my colleague, Rob Triggs, noted in his exhaustive benchmarks and correlates with my real-world experience dual-wielding the iPhone 16e with an iPhone 16. You’re saving hundreds for a largely imperceptible drop in performance.

But most importantly, it is the consistency offered by the iPhone 16e that matters to me.

It’s all about the games

Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority

I’m a gamer, but I’m not a smartphone gamer by any stretch. Call of Duty Mobile is not my jam, and I couldn’t care less about Battlegrounds Mobile. Gacha titles, ads, incessant prompts for in-app purchases — they irk me to no end. As someone who grew up on console gaming, my preference lies in single-player titles, retro emulation, and more. And for the most part, smartphone games haven’t really scratched that itch — especially on Android.

This meant that if I wanted to enjoy titles like Assassin’s Creed on a smartphone, my only option was to get the latest iPhone. With the iPhone 16e, that option suddenly became more affordable — and more accessible.

For example, Death Stranding is one of those games that never clicked for me on console due to the sheer time commitment it requires. On the go? The title just works. I’ve been inching through Hideo Kojima’s masterpiece while waiting at the dentist’s office, on my couch, or in a cab. It might not match up to the fidelity of playing the game on my 75-inch screen, but the experience matters more — to me. At home, I’d often blow it up on the large screen over AirPlay mirroring to my Apple TV and continue my gaming session.

Having access to console-class games and a retro library in my pocket is liberating. The affordable price helps.

Similarly, I’d been putting off the recent lineup of Resident Evil games. Stretched up on my large-screen television, the games are just a bit too spooky for me. So, I picked them up on the iPhone — something I never imagined myself saying. The experience is largely the same as a console, just scaled down, especially when paired with a controller. The fact that facing off against a vampire on a 6-inch screen doesn’t scare me as much as my living room setup is just a bonus.

None of this should be surprising to users with handheld PCs like the Steam Deck, but that’s entirely the point. I can now get console- and PC-class gaming in a device that already sits in my pocket. That’s liberating.

Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority

I’ll go as far as saying that for casual gamers, the iPhone 16e ticks off many of the same checkboxes that the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck do — especially when paired with a controller. But unlike those, this is still a smartphone that does all the usual smartphone things, and it comes at a price that’s competitive with many upper mid-range Android flagships.

Combine that with Apple’s recent move to legitimize emulators, and most of my gaming needs are sorted — whether it’s PS2-era nostalgia or full-fat AAA titles. Of course, if you care about the latest smartphone titles like Call of Duty Mobile, that’s covered too. But that’s to be expected.

How’s the performance?

Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority

Unlike the latest Android phones like the OnePlus 13, the iPhone 16e doesn’t advertise an incredible cooling system or the world’s largest vapor chamber. And yet, it stays relatively cool during extended gaming sessions. Because I only play on the go and when I have a minute to kill, most of my gaming sessions top off at 30 minutes or so, and I can certainly feel the phone warm to the touch, but never uncomfortably so. Moreover, despite being warm, I’m yet to experience obvious thermal throttling outside of the occasional frame drop or two.

The compact screen makes for a pocketable smartphone, but you might be left squinting.

Rather than performance, my only minor complaints stem from gaming on such a compact display. Much as I love having a pocketable compact smartphone with a 6.1-inch screen, that screen can be an impediment towards your enjoyment of the game. Unless you’re using one of the best gaming controllers, half the display gets overlaid with a virtual controller, which makes precise aiming less than convenient.

Gaming enthusiasts will also find fault with the 60Hz refresh rate. At its price point, it’s certainly an omission. Personally, if gaming is all I cared about, I’d treat it as a trade-off for getting a powerful chipset, but in 2025, a phone that costs as much as the iPhone 16e should certainly have a screen that matches up to that price.

So, who’s this for?

Ryan Haines / Android Authority

The iPhone 16e has its limitations as a smartphone, but that’s not the point of this article. My colleague Ryan’s exhaustive review of the iPhone 16e will take you through the nitty-gritties of the hardware.

However, my takeaway from a month with the iPhone 16e has been about the balance it strikes. This isn’t just a good phone — it’s an exceptional gaming device that just so happens to be affordable. Unlike Android’s spec sheets chasing and bulky gaming phone designs, Apple’s budget iPhone delivers high-end gaming with none of the fluff.

The iPhone 16e proves that you don’t need to spend a thousand dollars for a top-tier gaming smartphone.

You don’t need to spend over a thousand dollars to get console-quality gaming on a smartphone. The iPhone 16e gives you just that — top-tier performance, access to real console games, emulator support, and long-term software updates — all for a relatively accessible price.

If you’ve been on the hunt for a phone that lets you game without compromise and without overspending — this might just be the affordable gaming smartphone to beat. As for me, I’m just astonished by the fact that console-quality games on a phone are no longer the future, but reality.

Apple iPhone 16e