Are you looking for the top performing tablets for gaming? If so, our rundown of the leading mobile devices with a large screen can undoubtedly help. They can sometimes match the performance of gaming budget laptops and desktops, yet retain the form of a smartphone with a big screen. The only downside is that tablets are usually designed for casual use. Therefore, playing video games in a high resolution at a decent frame rate requires a mid-tier to high-end device. That’s where our list of the best gaming tablets comes in.
1. ASUS ROG FLOW Z13
Although released back in 2021, ASUS ROG FLOW Z13 still reigns supreme as the most popular and powerful representative of gaming tablets. It’s a laptop in terms of hardware and performance, as it includes a choice between Intel i5-12500H, i7-12700H, and i9-12900H and an RTX 3050 Ti GPU. You also get a 1920 x 1200 pixel 13-4-inch 60 Hz screen. However, it’s a 2-in-1 device resembling Microsoft Surface Pro, only strictly for gaming and resource-intensive tasks. In other words, ASUS ROG FLOW Z13 provides laptop-level performance in a tablet format.
2. Apple iPad Pro 6th Generation (2022)
Apple unveiled its 6th generation of iPad Pro tablets in 2022 and made gamers happy with top-level gaming output. Although far from inexpensive, using incredibly powerful yet energy-efficient M2 chips with 8 cores for CPU and 10 cores for GPU makes gaming a treat. Plus, the incredibly sharp 2732 x 2048 pixel 12.9-inch Liquid Retina XDR (or an 11-inch Liquid Retina) with support for P3, True Tone, and ProMotion makes games look outstanding. You also get Wi-Fi 6E and 5G technology built-in, making superb pairing with a gaming router and phone.
3. Samsung Galaxy Tab S8
Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 brings unrivaled performance in the $550-$700 price range thanks to the Qualcomm SM8450 generation 1 4 nm chip that includes one 3.00 GHz Cortex-X2 core, two 2.50 GHz Cortex-A710 cores and four 1.80 GHz Cortex-A510 cores. Paired with an Andreno 730 GPU and an 11-inch 2560 x 1600 TFT LCD HDR-compatible screen with a 120 Hz refresh rate, it brings a smooth gaming experience. You also get to pick between 128 GB and 256 GB of ROM and 8 GB and 12 GB RAM.
4. Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021)
Not all tablet gamers have thousands of dollars to spare. A bit more expensive than Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 we’ll mention in a moment, it provides the best price-to-performance ratio if you seek leading budget gaming laptops. It has two storage capacity variants, 32 GB and 64 GB, both with 3 GB of RAM, and several color choices. The tablet ships with a common 1920 x 1200 pixels resolution IPS LCD 10.1-inch screen. Most importantly, you can rely on the Octa-core Mediatek MT8183 Helio P60T processor and a Mali-G72 MP3 graphics card to provide satisfying low-end and mid-range gaming performance.
5. Apple iPad Air (2022)
Apple released iPad Air in March 2022, providing an affordable option (in terms of Apple pricing) for getting into gaming on iPadOS 15 and later systems. Although it uses an older Apple M1 chip, you still benefit from 8 cores, 4 of which go up to 3.2 GHz, and an 8-core Apple GPU processing power. Further, Apple iPad Air (2022) ships with 64 GB or 256 GB of ROM and a fixed 8 GB RAM version. If you care about visuals, the presence of the Liquid Retina IPS LCD 10.9-inch screen with a 2360 x 1640 pixels of resolution is great news.
6. Samsung Galaxy Tab A8
We reached the example of the cheapest gaming tablets that can output great performance, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8. It comes in three memory variants, 32 GB, 64 GB, and 128 GB, which is enough for someone that remembers to delete games after playing or only enjoys a few titles. It’s cheap (compared to others we mentioned), yet brings a 10.5-inch LCD screen with a resolution of up to 1920 x 1200 pixels. You also get a 7040 mAh battery, an Octa-core Unisoc Tiger T618 (12 nm) processor, and a Mali-G52 MP2 GPU.
7. Lenovo Tab M10 Plus Gen 3
The first generation of this tablet dates to 2020, but a lot has changed. The 3rd generation of Lenovo Tab M10+ brings Android 12 with 64 GB or 128 GB of storage combined with 4 GB or 6 GB of LPDDR4X memory. It combines a 10.6″ screen with a bit higher-than-usual 2K 400 nit IPS 2000 x 1200 pixels resolution with two CPU and GPU combinations. Depending on the model (LTE or Wi-Fi only), you can get an Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G nm or a Mediatek Helio G80 12 nm CPU with Adreno 610 or Mali-G52 MC2 GPU models, respectively.
8. Apple iPad (2021)
Since we predominantly mentioned devices that support Android and Windows 11 as operating systems, we thought the 9th generation of Apple iPad from 2021 would bring some balance. An inexpensive middle ground between Air and Pro, it sports a 10.2-inch Retina IPS LCD screen boasting 2160 x 1620 pixels of resolution. Unfortunately, you only get a Hexacore Apple A13 Bionic 7 nm+ CPU and a 4-code Apple GPU. However, you may still enjoy iPadOS 15 and newer versions and 3 GB of RAM with an adjustable storage capacity of 64 GB or 256 GB.
9. ALLDOCUBE X Game Tablet
ALLDOCUBE X Game Tablet is an underrated brand, in our opinion. It would be far higher on the list if more people trusted it. The tablet sports a 10.5-inch 1920 x 1280 pixels IPS LCD screen with a 7500 mAh battery. Not only does it support Bluetooth 5.0 and comes with 128 GB of RAM and 8 GB of ROM, but it has an Octa-core MediaTek Helio P90 CPU with 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi network connectivity and speed. IMG PowerVR GM9946 GPU handles gaming.
10. TECLAST M40S
We decided to mention another underappreciated device from a brand very few people recognize. TECLAST M40S is a low-priced Android 11 gaming tablet suitable for people on an extremely low budget or those with kids or the desire for one-handed gaming. That’s because it’s an 8-inch IPS LCD 1280 x 800-pixel screen with 3 GB of RAM and 128 ROM. There’s also an even cheaper version with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB ROM. They ship with a Quad-core A133 or A53 CPU and IMG PowerVR GE8300 GPU.