The vast majority of people now own a smartphone and not only use it for calling and messaging but for shopping and playing games, but will it ever replace handheld consoles and if not what are the issues preventing it from doing so?
The first issue is that touchscreen controls on smartphones are far from ideal for handheld gaming. A separate controller can be used but users report problems with connectivity.
As the android operating system is not really designed for gaming in many cases it is not up to the job however, there are dedicated gaming phones on the market that would be a better option.
The quality of games that are available for smartphones at the moment are inferior on the whole to their handheld console counterparts and in order to find out if a game runs well on your smartphone you will have to download it, and often pay for it, running the risk that it will not work, and you will have wasted your money.
As smartphones become more and more sophisticated and with increased public demand it could well be that they will eventually surpass the handheld gaming market, but at the moment they have a long way to go.