Infinix GT 10 Pro (Hardware)
Official GBAtemp Review
Product Information:
- Official Store: https://www.infinixmobility.com/GT-10-Pro
The Android phone market is (over)loaded with options, with products ranging up to $900 like the Xiaomi 13 Ultra. Within that market are gaming smartphones that also tend to lean towards the higher end of the cost spectrum. So if you’re looking for a gaming smartphone on a budget, your options might be limited. However, the newly-released Infinix GT10 Pro targets this exact market with a retail price under $250 (exact pricing will vary according to region). Let’s take a look at what it delivers.
Contents and specs
Out of the box, you will find the following items:
Before even getting to the phone’s hardware, Infinix impressed me with the box as it doubles it as a charging cradle and audio amplifier. It features a notch where the GT 10 Pro fits in and there’s space to connect the charger. It also enables the lower speaker outlets to be free and amplify the audio through the box. It’s the best use of a phone box (or any box for that matter) that I have seen and it’s actually useful, even if only for docking the phone to charge.
As for the specs of the Infinix GT 10 Pro, you can find them below:
Hardware impressions
With a design clearly inspired by the cyberpunk genre, the Infinix GT 10 Pro is visually striking. The blue-orange colour palette and transparent back case of the Cyber Black variant especially translate this feeling well. It’s borderline edgy but I was instantly fond of its unique looks, especially the large camera array bump. That said, as a fan of clear shell tech products, I wish Infinix would show more of the innards of the device rather than have a clear back case that shows a mecha-inspired design.
When I took the phone out of the box, I was also pleasantly surprised by how lightweight it is. At 187g while still packing a 5000mAh battery, it is the lightest gaming smartphone I’ve tried and is a welcome change from what the competition has to offer.
This lightweight aspect is enabled by its chassis material: plastic. Unlike other high-end smartphones, the Infinix GT 10 Pro does not feature a fancy metal casing but its build is all plastic. That doesn’t mean that it feels or looks cheap as it is rather well made but this material does not provide a premium touch that other phones pack. This material choice also likely helps keep costs down and is a compromise that potential buyers have to bear in mind.
Somewhat making up for the plastic shell finish is the sheer value-for-money that this package delivers. It includes a number of items that top-tier and (much) pricier phones don’t come with. There’s a tempered glass screen protector (in addition to the film that’s applied at factory level that you can leave on), a clear bumper and a pair of earphones that plug into the phone’s 3.5mm jack (yes it’s present here!). So the only real compromise with the hardware is the plastic shell.
Gaming performance
The Infinix GT 10 Pro specs position it as a mid-range phone, with benchmarks on Geekbench 5 showing as much:
While it is branded as a gaming smartphone, the GT 10 Pro does not feature any physical controls. This is a feature that I will keep highlighting until we have a true successor to the Xperia Play and the Infinix GT 10 Pro is not it. It also does not feature triggers like the Black Shark phones do. So if you’re yearning for some physical input, you’ll need to pair it with a Bluetooth controller.
What it does have is XArena, a games launcher of sorts, which is similar in looks and function to the one found in Black Shark phones. It’s a handy way to browse your installed games and emulators from one location; although being able to access it with a dedicated physical key would make it more compelling. While gaming, XArena offers an overlay that provides some handy stats, such as FPS and CPU/GPU use.
With its AMOLED display with refresh rate of up to 120Hz, this phone delivers captivating visuals with colours that pop and feel vibrant. The experience is supplemented by the crisp audio that the speakers deliver.
For Android gaming, the Infinix GT 10 Pro handles titles like Dead Cells, Half Life 2 and Portal well. Those games play fluidly, with no audio or visual issues. The 360Hz touch sampling delivers responsive controls.
As for emulation, this phone offers decent performance. Dreamcast games such as Crazy Taxi and Dead or Alive 2 run at a smooth 60fps, as do GameCube titles Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (60fps) and Zelda Twilight Princess (capped at 30fps) at 2x resolution. However, upping the latter to 3x leads to some stutters and I’d recommend sticking to 2x resolution at a maximum. That’s where the Dimensity 8050 chipset on the device started to show its limits and it will struggle to emulate more powerful systems.
For instance, PS2 games such as Shadow of the Colossus and Ratchet & Clank suffer from some performance issues with visual and audio lags while running variably between 30-40fps. It’s not totally ideal and while you might be able to get better performance on some less demanding games and by tweaking the settings, I wouldn’t recommend the Infinix GT 10 Pro for primarily playing PS2 games.
This performance is representative of its mid-range specs. It’s fine for Android gaming and emulating up to GameCube titles, but it won’t out-compete phones with more beefy specs, which are also more expensive.
Daily driver-ready
Of course, the Infinix GT 10 Pro is well suited as a daily driver. The AMOLED display and quality speaker combo makes it suitable to stream videos, while the high refresh rate delivers a swift experience. The in-display fingerprint sensor is a welcome addition as it is responsive and I was also positively surprised to see it featured on a budget smartphone.
Using the phone will be familiar if you’ve used an Android device before. Its XOS is a skin of Android 13 and operates as other Android devices do. However, the OS has some bloatware which is a downside and I would have preferred a more vanilla option. But luckily some of the pre-installed apps can be uninstalled.
Its array of main cameras (108MP + 2MP + 2MP) also make it adequate to take pictures while out and about whether it’s close ups or landscapes. And the front 32 MP camera is well suited for video calls. However, the picture quality will depend on the ambient lighting conditions.
Pictures taken with the Infinix GT 10 Pro
One of its unique features is the indicator lights next to the array of cameras. You can customise them for gaming, incoming calls and notifications. That said, given the cyberpunk aesthetics of this device, a larger lighting area around the back might have been more appealing.
One downside that I found - and which might be due to keeping the price down - is that the USB-C port of the Infinix GT 10 Pro does not support video output. This means you cannot plug it to an external monitor to mirror your phone content to a bigger screen nor pair it with increasingly popular AR glasses like the XREAL Air (and its must-have add-on the XREAL Beam).
Also a potential reluctance to adopt the Infinix GT 10 Pro is its looks. It’s definitely leaning towards the more edge side of gamer aesthetics but its looks are quite unique and I am personally fond of it.
This combo is unfortunately not a possibility with the Infinix GT 10 Pro
Eye-catching look, mid-range performance
As a mid-range phone, the Infinix GT 10 Pro delivers the performance expected. It does play Android games fluidly as well as some emulators but it reaches its limit with more demanding systems such as the PS2 and when upscaling the resolution. So don’t expect it to go head-to-head against more premium phones like the Xiaomi 13 Ultra; but the Infinix GT 10 Pro costs considerably less than those competitors and offers value for money. That’s the “catch” to its sub-$250 pricing: its mid-range specs, and some hardware compromises such as a plastic shell and lack of video output via its USB-C port.
Nevertheless, for the price and overall value it offers, it is a recommended phone for mobile gamers on a budget but bear in mind that it is a mid-range device with a performance reflective of that.
Verdict
- Value-for-money package
- Cyberpunk-inspired looks
- Lightweight
- Headphone jack is back!
- No physical controls for a gaming phone
- Plastic shell
- USB-C does not support video output
- Some bloatware
