Infinix GT 20 Pro review - “An impressive gaming phone for those on a budget”

• Exceptional gaming performance for the price
• Impressive battery life keeps you playing for hours
• A few minor quibbles stop this being the perfect package

Mobile gaming is only becoming more popular, meaning phones dedicated to performance are commonplace. The problem is that a lot of them - like the ASUS ROG Phone 7, which I reviewed last year – are as expensive as they are impressive. That’s where phones like the Infinix GT 20 Pro come in, promising a premium experience at a price point that won’t decimate your bank balance.

So, under the hood, you get a MediaTek Dimensity 8200 Ultimate chipset paired with a Mali-G610 MC6 GPU and a Pixelworks X5 Turbo gaming display chip. You’ll also find 12GB RAM and 256 GB of storage for all your favourite games. But what does that jumbled mass of letters and numbers translate to? A near-flawless gaming experience is the answer. Throughout my testing, I played numerous games to put the Infinix GT 20 Pro through its paces, and it didn’t falter.

PUBG Mobile ran without a hitch, and so did newer games like Supercell’s Squad Busters and Level Infinite’s Honor of Kings. It wasn’t just performance, either. In something like PUBG Mobile, Mobile Legends Bang Bang and Genshin Impact, I could crank the settings up pretty high, enjoying them at a higher frame rate with the best visual options.

The Infinix GT 20 Pro has impressive gaming chops

Aside from the dual chipset, some interesting things are happening behind the scenes to provide this impressive gaming experience. The phone boasts a Stable Frame-rate Engine that juggles power consumption, rendering efficiency, cooling, network performance and a host of other bits and bobs we rarely think about. But it’s all important, and the Infinix GT 20 Pro balances these things to give the best performance possible.

And you can tweak what it’s targeting. Using the built-in XArena, you can choose what you want to prioritise. If you’re out and about, you can tell it to focus on saving as much battery as possible or to prioritise high performance at all costs if you want the best. It all works incredibly well, leaving me impressed with how well everything ran. That’s all coupled with a stellar screen. The Infinix GT 20 Pro sports a 6.78-inch AMOLED FHD+ screen with a max refresh rate of 144hHz. Everything on it looks fantastic, with colours popping as they should and with no stuttering. It’s also almost entirely a screen, with no real border around the edges, meaning it makes the most of its size.

It’s not just the display either. The touchscreen is incredibly responsive and the sizeable surface area meant that even I - with my clumsy fingers and thumbs - rarely tapped the wrong ability in the midst of a team fight on MLBB.

Can it stand the heat?

Now, all of that sounds fantastic, but I can hear those of you out there asking the usual question when it comes to a gaming phone. Does it become a hand warmer after a few rounds of PUBG Mobile? The answer is kind of. After playing an intense game for a while, you will definitely notice the phone warming up, though not to an alarming degree.

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Of course, any amount of heat is a concern for some, and Infinix understands that hence the inclusion of a cooling fan accessory that snaps magnetically onto one of the provided cases. With it, you will see reduced temperatures on your device. However, there are a few caveats. If you power the fan using your phone, it drains the battery quickly, while the cable wrapping around the back can become annoying. To mitigate this issue, you could plug the fan into another source and power it that way, but, for me, it still feels quite cumbersome. And that’s a good time to touch on the battery life. Without the cooling fan being a burden, the Infinix GT 20 Pro lasts a while on a single charge with heavy usage. That’s a wonderful thing, particularly considering it charges very slowly compared to other phones I’ve tested. Not only that, it only has one charging port in the bottom, meaning you have the cable against your right hand if you continue to play while it charges.

While I appreciate Infinix opting for a cable with a right angle to alleviate this problem, it would have been nice to see a charging port on the side, like with the ASUS ROG line, for more convenience. It’s a minor quibble, though and probably won’t bother many people, particularly considering the performance you’re getting for a relatively low price.

A solid everyday option

So that’s how the Infinix GT 20 Pro performs as a mobile gaming device, which is to say incredibly well. But how does it fare with other everyday phone tasks? Well, it probably won’t surprise you to learn it handles everything in its stride. Whether that’s watching YouTube videos, doomscrolling through social media or jotting down ideas for the next book I won’t end up writing, using the Infinix GT 20 Pro is a joy. I had no slowdown issues switching between apps either, making it a solid multi-tasker.

The custom OS the phone uses is refreshingly free of bloatware. It’s nice to set up a phone and not spend a few minutes deleting pointless apps I’ll never use. And some of the included software, like XArena is very much welcome. The esports mode is another example, allowing you to switch off certain notifications while gaming. It’s a pretty-looking device as well. The back sports a cyber mecha design – with customisable RGB lights built-in if that's your bag - that just about tips into pleasant rather than slipping into the dreaded garish gamer aesthetic. However, while it looks nice, the surface is a fingerprint magnet, so you’ll probably want to get that into one of the provided cases as soon as possible.

And that’s worth doing for a few reasons. Alongside preventing fingerprint ickiness, it provides a grippier feel and helps the phone slot into the pleasantly weighty category. My experience with the ASUS ROG was that at 239 grams, it was slightly too heavy. The Infinix GT 20 Pro, meanwhile, weighs in at just under 200, making a world of difference over an extended gaming session.

If you're interested in the Infinix GT 20 Pro, check out the official website.