GoKawiilHadlee Simons / Android Authority
PC gaming on Android has made major strides since apps like Winlator were launched a few years ago. In fact, you can now play older, somewhat demanding games that you wouldn’t have dreamed of playing on your mobile back in 2021 or 2022.
We’ve also seen two major developments in recent times. The first is that GameNative has become one of the most polished, capable, and popular PC “emulators” on Android. We’ve also seen the rise of custom Turnip GPU drivers for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chips. Without these unofficial drivers, devices with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chips and earlier were considered better for PC games.
Between these developments and my prior experience with PC gaming apps, that got me wondering. Could Samsung’s last two generations of Galaxy flagship phones, powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite family, deliver a lightweight gaming PC experience when plugged into an external monitor? I’m not expecting to play the latest and greatest games, but is this a viable alternative to using my work laptop after hours?
Do you think Samsung DeX can replace your PC just yet? 60 votes Yes, I already use it as a PC replacement 22 % Not just yet, but it's getting close 42 % No, it's a long way off replacing my PC 37 %
Which PC games can I actually play?
Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
I’m using a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra hooked up to an old Jsaux dock, which is typically used for the Steam Deck and similar handheld consoles. I’m also running the GameNative app due to its integrated Steam support. My plan here is to try out various PC games, only really switching between the system GPU driver and the community-driven Turnip drivers. Does switching drivers reveal a big difference in performance and heating?
I started with some lightweight 2D games, and I was able to play games like Baba is You, Mina the Hollower, and Battleblock Theater at smooth speeds regardless of the GPU driver. Temperatures were also very reasonable here. It’s not a clean slate with every lightweight game, as Call of Duty 2 (2005) simply encountered a Steam-related error and refused to boot up regardless of the GPU driver.
I found that lightweight 2D games ran very well on the Galaxy S25 Ultra in DeX mode.
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