Fortnite on Android gets off to a bumpy, Samsung-only start, lags behind PUBG

Enlarge / The launch screen for Fortnite on Android, as rendered by a Samsung Galaxy S8+. (Account information has been scrubbed.) (credit: Epic Games)

Last week, Epic and Samsung took the wraps off a huge Fortnite promotion-albeit after the surprise had been ruined by leakers. Fortnite's mobile version was indeed launching on Android, as Epic had already promised, but only Samsung phone users (and only certain models) would get exclusive access, for a limited time.

Any Android handset and tablet owner can hunt for and install the game's APK, but as of press time, Samsung's exclusivity deal means the game won't boot beyond a title screen on most devices. This is notable, in part, because of Epic's choice to forgo the Google Play app store, which is likely driving users to download and install the APK without a clear answer about device compatibility. (Google has since chosen to address the game's Play workaround.)

But testing the free-to-play shooter on my own Galaxy S8+, one of the Android version's first compatible phones, has revealed another notable tidbit: that Epic's self-imposed hardware limit hasn't made the game run smoothly in the slightest.

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