Best Android gaming tablets in 2023
If you’re looking for the best Android gaming tablets, we’ve got you covered right here with our top picks.
Mobile devices are good for playing video games, but wouldn’t you like something bigger and more powerful while still being comfortable and portable? Well, you are looking for a tablet.
The best Android tablets for gaming will provide you the comfiness of a mobile phone, with a bigger screen to stop the excuses, and a bigger battery to play for as long as your thumbs can handle.
Products at a Glance
How we picked the best gaming tablets
We picked gaming tablets based on a combination of specs, like battery life, screen resolution, FPS, RAM capacity, processor power, weight, and size.
Of course, we also consider the price, and if the tab has a focused gaming environment. Some devices are developed with gaming in mind, and this can have a net benefit to using them for that activity long-term.
Best Android gaming tablets in 2023
- Ultra wide screen size
- 120 Hz refresh rate
- Quad speakers with Dolby Atmos
- Premium pricing
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra is top of our best Android tablets for gaming list. Not only a gaming tablet, it’s also one of the best tabs in the market in 2022.
It comes with a 14.6 inches super AMOLED screen and a refresh rate of 120Hz to get the most out of every game available on Android.
This Samsung device also comes with the newest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. It’s the first tab using this new processor and so has nothing to envy from any other device.
It actually feels like a laptop when it’s paired with a keyboard and mouse. If we add to that the 16GB of RAM you’ll definitely be playing more than just Android games; think of other game streaming services like Stadia or Xbox Game Pass.
While the Tab S8 Ultra doesn’t have a dedicated gaming option, that’s only because this tablet was built to supply every necessity on the market.
So it’s a device that designers, architects, editors, and content creators can use as their main workstations. Not only for the power it offers but for the battery durability: an 11.200 mAH battery is an impressive feature.
You can spend two entire days gaming with this Galaxy Tab without even thinking of looking for your charger.
- Easy to carry
- Comfortable size to play
- Long battery life
- Does not count with the 120 Hz refresh rate
The Lenovo Tab M10 PLUS is a more affordable, but still powerful tablet that is a fine choice among the best Android tablets for gaming.
If you are looking for something easier to carry, comfortable, and not that expensive, this should be your choice. It sacrifices the 120 Hz and last-gen processors, but compared to other products around this price tag this is the best option by far.
The M10 PLUS has a 10.6 inches FHD IPS display that will let you stream your video games at full 1080p HD resolution. Like the Samsung S8, it also comes with a quad-speaker system optimized for Dolby Atmos to envelop you with the sound of your favorite game.
It weighs close to 1 pound and with this dimensions of 9.9 x 6.26 x 0.29 inches, it promises a comfy and easy hand grip. So if you like playing racing games that require you to move a lot, you won’t encounter a better fit than this.
Lenovo decided to integrate a Mediatek Helio G80 chip in the Tab M10 Plus – a processor designed with gaming in mind, that offers 2GHz of power – again, something never seen before on a product with a price tag like this.
If you add this to the 6GB of RAM you’ll get decent performance on a lot of games in the Android environment.
- Dolby Atmos quad-speaker system
- Excellent battery life
- USB-C charging
- Limited processor and RAM
The Tab A7 is not the newest of the choices, but it’s, without a doubt, our all-time favorite.
The reason for this is that even though Samsung has released a newer version, the Galaxy Tab A8, the improvements aren’t too much of a market game-changer.
In fact, the A7 keeps getting the crown when it comes to favorite public picks for the best Android gaming tablets and general tablets in the market. So with that in mind, we couldn’t finish this post without talking about this device.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 comes with a 10.4-inch and 2000 x 1200 pixels resolution display that delivers a 60Hz refresh rate. The screen details, its modern look, small bezels, and quad speakers make the overall experience of this tablet an elegant one.
Samsung’s Qualcomm SM6115 processor won’t compete with today’s flagship devices but it still shows big performance compared to any other tablet.
In fact, this processor has been proven time after time as one of the best medium-level, chips in the market. You’ll be able to play almost any video game with a decent amount of frames per second.
And for that reason, we still keep it among the best tablets for Android gamers.
- Superb battery
- Excellent 10.4-inch LCD display
- Ultra compact, sturdy, and stylish design
- Gaming performance tails behind Tab S7+
In essence, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite is a paired down and more compact version of Samsung’s previously-flagship S6. And given it’s technically a last-gen device, the price point is far more attractive.
Don’t let last-gen put you off, though; the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite packs a punch. Inside, you’ll find the Exynos 9610 chipset, 4 GB or 6 GB of RAM, and up to 128 GB of storage. Though the tablet is missing the Super AMOLED display of the S7+, the 10.4-inch WUXGA+ screen performs admirably for a TFT LCD display.
We won’t sugar coat it: gaming is a step down compared to the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+. This comes with the mid-range territory. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite will breeze through casual titles and more demanding games with lag-free performance but will struggle to run graphically intensive games like PUBG with the settings maxed out. Unless you lower the settings to medium, frame rates plummet too low to deliver an enjoyable experience. That said, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 handles the likes of Minecraft and Call of Duty Mobile well.
The Galaxy Tab S6 Lite should also suit gamers that are constantly on the go thanks to up to 13 hours of battery life on a single charge, a feathery weight of only 1.02 lb, and a slim yet sturdy design that both looks and feels great.
Features and considerations
You will need to consider if you want your tablet to play top specs video games, or if you like more retro, easy-to-run titles. Depending on that you can choose one option or another.
If you’re looking to play high-demanding first-person shooters and racing video games, a big and powerful tab will be the best option – it will give you the best field of view.
On the other hand, if you’re opting for more retro, casual, or even MMO games you will want to drift for a more comfortable tablet to have more maneuverability. In any case, you want to make sure to look for:
- Resolution and screen size
- Hertz capacity or frames per second
- Battery durability to play on the move
- Overall tablet size will affect how comfy you are playing
- RAM capacity
- A powerful and fast processor chip
- A good and focused gaming system
Display
You’ll want to weigh up the quality of the display and its size. Gaming is primarily a visual experience, and nothing takes away from the hard work put in by developers to bring games to life with stunning visuals than a shoddy display.
Similarly, one of the main benefits of tablets is a balance between portability and screen size. We’d suggest at least a 10-inch or possibly even 12-inch display if your budget allows it.
All our recommendations above feature at least 10-inch displays with excellent quality.
Storage and RAM
As a general rule, the more storage a tablet has, the better, as you won’t have to schedule a monthly app purge to free up space. At a minimum, we’d recommend 32 GB or 64 GB if you tend to hoard loads of apps.
Tablets with MicroSD card readers negate the need for a sizable in-built storage capacity to a certain extent. They allow you to slot in an SD card to drastically extend storage. Some tablets even support SD cards with up to 512 GB.
As for RAM, we’d urge you to settle for no less than 3 GB or 4 GB. Any less and games will begin to struggle, and you can more or less forget about playing more demanding titles like PUBG and Fortnite. The priciest tablets push the RAM count out to 8 GB and even 16 GB for hybrid 2-in-1 tablets like the Microsoft Surface.
There is a limit to how well this will improve game performance, so we’d suggest 6 GB as a happy middle ground, although 3 GB or 4 GB is more than enough to play most mobile games with decent results.
Battery Life
Aside from the larger display and better processing power, one of the main benefits of tablets over smartphones is longer battery life. As portable devices, a tablet’s battery is arguably one of the most critical points to consider, especially as gaming drains the battery faster than general use.
Apple’s iPad lineup tends to lead in this regard, but Android devices keep up relatively well. Most Android tablets worth their salt offer at least 10 hours of use on a single charge, while the better ones can push this as high as 15 hours. As a general rule, you should expect at least a day’s use without having to scramble for a plug socket. Those that intend to play the most intensive games often should consider a tablet with a beefier battery.
Charging time is also worth weighing up, especially if you’ll be pumping in juice intermittently in short spurts throughout the day rather than in one concentrated overnight burst.
What tablets can you play Fortnite on 2023?
Fortnite is available on iOS, iPadOS, Android, and Windows PC with Xbox Cloud Gaming. As long as your tablet supports one of these operating systems you should be able to play Fortnite fine.
Besides the system limitations, we recommend that your tablet has a minimum of 3GB RAM to play Fortnite, otherwise, it will begin to struggle.
What's the difference between a gaming tablet and a regular tablet?
The key difference between gaming tablets and regular tablets is that gaming tablets tend to be far more powerful, with faster processors. They have higher refresh rates and better displays.
However some ‘regular’ tablets fit these specifications too. So you don’t necessarily have to look for tablets explicitly labelled for gaming.
Which is the best Android tablet for gaming?
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra comes with a 120 Hz refresh rate and super wide screen. It’s definitely the best tablet for gaming – and generally one of the best tablets around.
Our Verdict
While there’s some good competition here, for our money top of the best Android tablets for gaming list has to be the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra.
Its 120Hz screen, quad Dolby Atmos, Snapdragon S8 Gen 1, and 16GB RAM make it a fantastic – if more expensive – option for gamers.
However, it’s also a great tablet for other uses too. So, should you want to spend a bit less, and don’t need all the power it offers, the Lenovo Tab M10 Plus is also a top pick.