The year is almost over and we've seen several smartphone releases from different companies. With big players like Apple and Samsung, some smaller companies still manage to bring us smartphones powerful enough for AAA mobile gaming experience without the cost of an arm and a leg and here's a quick list of these powerhouse handsets.

The smartphones are listed in no particular order and each has their own pros and cons;

Asus Zenfone 3

Following the success of the previous Zenfore models, Asus' latest Zenfone flagship turns out to be a huge leap in terms of gaming performance as shown in the video below. It demonstrates a clear comparison between the Zenfone 2 and the Zenfone 3 running the game "Assassin's Creed Identity."

Framerates are smooth enough to prevent stuttery experience. The frame almost stays at around 25 - 30 fps above.

Powered by a Snapdragon 625 Chipset with 2.0 GHz Cortex A53 CPU and Adreno 506 GPU, consumers looking for a budget gaming smartphone starting around $300 with varied prices depending on the storage capacity and the model, can never go wrong with Asus Zenfone 3.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3

Running on a Qualcomm MSM8956 Snapdragon 650 with Adreno 510 GPU, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is a gaming powerhouse with a very affordable price tag.

It has full HD screen resolution that is perfectly accompanied by high density 403 PPI. Game performance is very optimized, even on graphically demanding games like "Asphalt 8" or "N.O.V.A 3" as shown in the video below;

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 also doesn't suffer from multi-touch problems which can mess up controls on virtual dual-stick shooters like the one shown above. With a screen size large enough for average hand-sizes,. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is a great buy for gaming on the go with prices starting at $166.

Acer Predator 8

Not exactly a smartphone, but more like a phablet with slightly increased size at 8-inch. The Acer Predator 8 may be considered as the Android counterpart with the company's ridiculously overpowered, but not overpriced PC gaming solutions. It also has quad-speaker setup, making it the first gaming tablet with such feature.

Released almost a year ago, the Acer Predator 8 may still be a good contender for Android gaming on the go with its raw power. It uses a 10-core MediaTek processor, 4GB of RAM and custom GPU tailor-made for the phablet alone.

Only priced at around $250, the Acer Predator 8 is one serious Android gaming platform that may only need to take a bit of a notch to match Nvidia's SHIELD tablet.

The only downside is it doesn't have GSM support as it solely lies on Wi-Fi to connect to the internet.