Infinix GT 30 Pro review - "Less bulk and slightly better performance than its predecessor"

• A slight performance upgrade compared to the Infinix GT 20 Pro
• Solid battery life and good heat management
• Much more pleasant to hold with a more slender design

If you've been reading Pocket Gamer for a while (thank you, if you have), you might recall that I reviewed the Infinix GT 20 Pro around this time last year. Its gaming performance truly impressed me, and it's become my daily phone ever since. Naturally, then, I was excited to test out its successor, the Infinix GT 30 Pro, and eager to see what the team came up with after a year of refinements. Ultimately, everything feels a tad flat. However, that's not entirely the phone's fault. Let me explain.

Under the hood, there's a MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Ultimate chipset, which is, as you'd expect, an upgrade over its predecessor. Likewise, it sports a Mali-G615 MC6 GPU, another improvement over the GT 20 Pro. On paper, it's undoubtedly a more powerful device, and it is in practice too. The problem is that you have to squint to notice the difference.

Familiar, if slightly better, performance from the Infinix GT 30 Pro

My GT 20 Pro did, and continues to, play anything I throw at it flawlessly on pretty high graphics settings without much bother. And, as you're probably expecting me to say, based on the flow of this review, the Infinix GT 30 Pro does, too. It's just not a monumental leap forward by any means. And I'm not entirely sure why I expected one.

Perhaps I was just pleasantly surprised by the previous phone, especially relative to its price, that I wanted to see what Infinix could achieve next. Sadly, the truth is, once you've been blown away by a budget device's capabilities, it won't happen so readily again. Not unless there's an undeniably noticeable jump. The proof is already out there. It can't shock you a second time.

Of course, that doesn't mean the Infinix GT 30 Pro is bad. Quite the contrary. For the price and the gaming performance it offers, it's a fantastic phone. I played several hours of Squad Busters, Dredge, Mobile Legends Bang Bang, Genshin Impact, and Sky: Children of the Light, which all ran flawlessly.

On top of that, the battery stood up to the task, losing about 10 per cent for every hour spent on anything incredibly demanding. Switching to something less impactful saw it hold up even better. If you mostly play games on your commute or in short bursts here and there, you can expect it to last the whole day without worry.

A cool(ish) customer

Likewise, I never feared for the internals, which was my main gripe with the Honor 400 Pro (which I otherwise loved) that I reviewed a while ago. While a phone warming up is expected when playing anything resource-intensive, it's never particularly noticeable with the GT 30 Pro. And if it does concern you, the cooling fan provided does an excellent job of eliminating any heat. Still, those things are all true with its predecessor.

So, entirely from that perspective, it's hard to recommend upgrading to the GT 30 Pro if you already have the 20. Of course, if you're in the market for a new gaming phone and you're on a tight budget, then getting the GT 30 Pro is a no-brainer. While the performance might only be marginally better, it's not always about software, and the GT 30 Pro has a few other things going for it that do impress, only in a way that probably doesn't sound too sexy. And that's the ergonomics.

Aside from being slightly wider, the GT 30 Pro is a much slimmer prospect and weighs in at 188/189 grams (depending on which colourway you go for) compared to 194. While a mere six or seven grams might not seem like much, it's a different prospect when holding it in your hand. The GT 30 Pro feels much less cumbersome, and its less angular design doesn't feel as abrasive, either. It doesn't quite have the delightful hand feel of the Honor 400 Pro, though it's close.

It has a slightly more grown-up look, too. While I liked the GT 20 Pro's cyber mecha design, it is slightly more showy than I ideally prefer.

The Dark Flare colourway on my review unit has a much moodier, understated vibe. Even the camera is a simpler affair, sitting quietly in the top left-hand corner without feeling a need to scream about its presence. It's still cyber mecha, obviously. People need to know it's a gaming phone, apparently, but it's more laid-back about it. More mature and self-assured in its nerdiness. If only I didn't have to battle with the case to get it off.