It’s not marketed as a gaming phone by any stretch of the imagination. However, the Huawei Mate 40 Pro is more than capable of offering you that momentary reprieve in the midst of this year’s hopelessness.

Four things in particular standout as major reasons why. Let’s dive right in.

A sweet spot display-and-size balance

It’s not evident at first glance but the Huawei Mate 40 Pro has a slightly larger display and overall device footprint than the P40 Pro. That little extra lends itself nicely to having some extra screen real estate that certainly helps in immersing you in gaming.

If you have big hands, you’ll also appreciate the larger footprint of the phone. It won’t feel awkward holding the phone when you’re playing in landscape mode.

The power to handle ANY game

This should come as no surprise since the Mate series is a flagship line after all. The Mate 40 Pro, specifically, is equipped with the Kirin 5000 5G SoC. It clocks at 3.13 GHz and has a  24-core Mali-G78 GPU.

That flew over your head? It just means it can literally handle the most graphically demanding mobile games with absolutely no problem.

We tried playing a pair of Mihoyo games — Honkai Impact and Genshin Impact — among other games and the Mate 40 Pro handled them like a champ.

5G, lag-free gaming

If you happen to be lucky enough to constantly be in areas where there’s 5G coverage, that gives you a little bit of edge.

We’ve done our fair share of speed tests in some of these locations and the speeds are unheard of especially in our ‘lil ‘ol country. With the local telcos making a strong push to expand 5G coverage, most of us could be experiencing 5G a year from now.

Game Center for a plethora of games 

Naturally, one of the primary concerns is the availability of games. While some tiles won’t work with the phone because of GMS, they are very few and far between.

Popular titles like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, PUBG, Asphalt 9 are all available for download and will work with the phone with zero problems.

Then, there’s Game Center which takes you to a massive collection of games that will seamlessly work with the phone. No matter what kind of game you’re into, you’re bound to find something you’ll like.

Huawei will sell you on the Mate 40 Pro’s other capabilities — primarily the photo and video taking. But if you use your phone as well to momentarily escape the worries of the world, know that the phone can certainly be your gaming mate.

Watch our Huawei Mate 40 Pro Unboxing and Review