Can a Cheap Smartphone run Real Money Casino Apps?

Best mobile phones for playing casino games (not the most expensive!)

If you look for this information on just about any other website, you’ll get the same old story regurgitated time and again. ‘You should buy the latest Samsung Galaxy, Apple iPhone or iPad! They’re the best!‘ They might be the best at doing anything and everything a mobile device can do, but they are ridiculously expensive, and beyond excessive in their capabilities.

If your car is totalled, I wouldn’t suggest you go drop 5 figures on a brand new car with all the bells and whistles. I would suggest you find something that runs well in your price range. The same goes for playing casino games on mobile. More often than not, a cheap smartphone can run real money casino apps just as well.

Best Mobile Phones for Playing Casino Games

There are lots of great phones on the market that won’t cost you an arm and a leg. All you need is something with adequate space (for apps), or a modern mobile browser (for in-browser play). The device specs, and the ability to access the internet, are the key components to look for.

Internal / External Storage

If you prefer to download an app, you’ll want a smartphone or tablet with at least 16GB of internal storage space. 8GB is usually too small, as it gives you only enough room for your operating system and a few important apps. 8GB internal storage will do in a pinch if you’re not an app hog, and don’t mind playing the games directly in your mobile browser.

You should also invest in a MicroSD card to give you a little extra wiggle room. You can throw all of your photos and videos on this to save precious space, since low storage will slow down your device. As for transferring programs to the SD card, you’ll only be able to put certain apps on it. And only a portion of those apps can be transferred to the external drive, so don’t bother getting an 8GB phone with a big SD card. That wont help.

Processor Speed & Graphics

You don’t need the lightning speed of the A11 Bionic SoC or Exynos 9 to play casino games on mobile. Sure, they’ll load amazingly fast, but there’s plenty of other processor chips out there that will get the job done with no noticeable delay. Anything above 1 GHz should be capable of running the games at a decent speed.

As for graphics, you don’t need ultra high definition (UHD) 4K resolution to see what’s going on. Mobile casino apps are already designed for clarity. The card prints are larger, and font sizes adjusted for easy reading. Unless you drop the phone down the stairwell and smash the screen, you should have no trouble sizing bets or viewing animations.

Do Brand Names Matter?

Yes, in most cases, brand names do matter. There are some very basic production companies out there that use cheap plastic in place of hardened plastic or metal when building their devices. They may work out of the box, but don’t tend to last long. Once the phone gets hot, cheap plastic melts, and everything goes awry.

You should look for a good name brand smartphone or tablet. Samsung is a great company, and not all of their devices are expensive. In fact, they specialize in providing low, medium and high cost products to fit any budget.

Above all else, read the reviews of any product before you buy. I’ve seen cheap Samsung phones that last for years, as well as some that get terrible reviews for being buggy or shoddily built. I owned a $100 Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime for two years that never once gave me a problem, although I wouldn’t recommend it for playing real money casino apps. For one, it’s no longer in production, and two, it’s only got 8GB internal storage. Great for browsing, but not for gaming.

The Samsung Galaxy Amp Prime, as well as the LG Harmony, are both budget priced, and do a great job performance-wise. Don’t use the built-in browser though. Upgrade to something like Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. If you love the Apple brand, get an older iPhone—even a refurbished one. They are built to last, after all.

These and similarly equipped devices (with 4-of-5 star reviews) are among the best mobile phones for playing casino games, without breaking your budget. Take a moment to do your research, and you can get a great deal, saving all that extra cash for your iGaming bankroll.