Do You Need a Flagship Smartphone to Play Casino Games?

Each year, the big-name smartphone companies go head-to-head with their latest and greatest devices, with flagship smartphones often boasting the most powerful hardware, the best cameras, and a price tag that's often in excess of £1000. One of the primary purposes for mobiles now is gaming, with performances and visuals being key components to the entertainment medium. 

As mobile casino game apps contain hundreds of live rooms and games, you'd be forgiven for thinking that, to play these games in their best form, you'd need a flagship smartphone, or a relatively modern laptop. Luckily, despite the ever-evolving nature of smartphone technology, you don't have to own the pinnacle of mobile devices to enjoy everything that mobile casino gaming has to offer. 

Pocket devices as powerful as old computers

A history of the development of mobile phones and smartphone devices.

Smartphones are now an embedded part of everyday life, being centric to work, communications, consuming information, and entertainment. Seeing how quickly smartphones increase in power year-on-year, it might come as a surprise that their origins stretch back to 1973, with the first use of the Motorola DynaTAC 8000x. In 1984, that same original mobile phone went on general sale, but for nearly $4,000. In 1992, perhaps the most recognizable name in early mobile phones, Nokia, broke onto the scene with the 1011, which brought in text messaging. 

The change from what we now deem to be a limited device to the first real smartphone came in 2007, when Steve Jobs ushered in a technological revolution with the first iPhone. Since the iPhone, smartphones have developed at an incredible rate to the point where now, we can even play the kind of games that were formerly reserved for specialized hardware (video game consoles and PCs). As smartphones have become more accessible over the last 13 years, with mobile network subscriptions and mobile infrastructure becoming cheaper but stronger, their applications have significantly increased. 

Now, due to the sheer popularity of these devices, many industries have been built on or have come to rely on the mobile platform for business. Stores can now offer easy and convenient access to their wares, while the improving nature of the hardware has opened smartphones up to video game publishers. Many seek to encourage the purchasing of the latest tech to play the best games, but while the online casinos have moved their hundreds of games to mobile, their aims are directed towards inclusivity and accessibility.

The mobile gaming arms race

With each new operating system on Android or iOS devices comes the potential for developers to enhance or stretch their games further. Now, the mobile gaming industry is worth billions worldwide. Hence, publishers from the video gaming space want their properties to stand out on mobile, for which they have to offer the highest standard of gameplay - particularly to access the wealthiest customers. These games are becoming increasingly demanding, with many smartphones being unable to play them in their optimal form. 

Take two of the most popular games, PUBG Mobile and CoD Mobile, for example, with CoD Mobile demanding that an Android device have at least 3 GB of RAM and a Snapdragon 625 chip. PUBG Mobile isn't quite as demanding but saw the need to create PUBG Mobile Lite to make the game accessible to the developing Android markets. For optimal gaming, the Snapdragon 845 chip found in 2018 flagship mobiles is recommended to play these mobile titles.

This arms race to outdo others in the increasingly competitive mobile gaming space is something that casino gaming has been able to sidestep. As the entertainment medium is distinct enough not to be classed under the same banner, casinos moving to mobile were able to focus on the primary goal of being as open and accessible to as many potential players as they can. The way that mobile casinos compete is through ease-of-use, bonuses, and the number of games, as opposed to pushing the limits of the available technology in the way that action games do. 

Since at least 2011, casino game developers have been developing games with mobile usability in mind, most now opening projects with a mobile-first mindset. The use of HTML 5 and mobile protocols allow the games on the most accessible platform in the world to uphold a high level of accessibility to all smartphone users. 

The casinos manage to bring all of their gaming options into one tight app. In contrast, the biggest mobile games prefer to compete on fronts like graphical fidelity, regardless of the demands on the device. As such, the games take up a lot more storage and tend to have newer operating system requirements, as you can see from the comparison below.
 

A table to show the demands of leading casino gaming and mobile gaming apps. For reference, iOS 9.0 was released in 2015, with Android 4.4 coming out in 2013. Some apps will have later requirements due to being released later. 

Maintaining a low-level of demand to appeal to all

While major games like PUBG Mobile and CoD Mobile also rely on having thousands of players online at once to allow the multiplayer aspects to function at their peak, mobile casinos with social games like bingo make a much more concerted effort to offer their games to even the weakest smartphones available. For mobile bingo and the slots library that often comes with the bingo on operators such as 888ladies, developers and designers have endeavored to make the app as accessible, simple, and efficient as possible, featuring convenient touchscreen controls across the whole offering.

Yet, the simplicity and compact nature of the app doesn't detract from the entertainment platform. It still runs its many live and ongoing bingo rooms or various prizes as well as hundreds of slots - including the interconnected progressive jackpots. As opposed to infusing extravagant animations or video game-style gameplay elements, slots and bingo developers have maintained their less-demanding nature by adapting themes and videos within the games and making them more interactive instead of pushing the storied entertainment mediums to reach the limits of the technology available. 

To play mobile bingo and casino games, you do need a modern smartphone. However, you don't need a top-of-the-line flagship model or even an average device from the last few years. With all of the games that you could want in one app, the developers have made sure that you don't need to worry about phone specs to place mobile casino games.