In fact I think mobile gaming is as comparable as any other portable console. Pick DS' as an example. If you side step away from any decently brand you'll end up landing on super obscure and poorly made games that also have repetitive and poorly designed gameplay, just like most of what you can find for free in an app store. Hell, even for PC and consoles. I remember that the US Xbox 360 online store (rip my shenanigans to access it) had a space for indie publishers to put out their game, some of which were awfully bad, and those didn't diminish Xbox as a gaming potency in any way shape or form. Same for PC, you don't go around judging PC gaming based on the ****ty $2 games you find on steam, so why would you go around judging mobile gaming with the exact opposite logic?
So why did mobile gaming get the bad rep while the handheld console got a decent one? Because the bad games on most other platforms aren't free. Mobile only got the bad rep because people decide to go for the free stuff full with ads - poor developers gotta get some money somehow after all - wanting to strike gold rather than pay for the higher quality stuff, so they end up playing dozens of ****ty games and are forced through hundreds of ads, so of course they end up associating the content put there with the most toxic of garbage. Doesn't help that it's a lot easier to develop a game for mobile than it is for a console, making the amount of stuff put there a lot higher. But it really shouldn't be like this.
Most of the games people play on their phones here are candy crush and angry bird style games.
...those are pretty last decade. Like early last decade. I think you kinda have to catch up with the newest stuff.
Most of the most popular games from the last few years either were published by big companies under a big franchise's name like Pokémon, Super Mario, Sonic, Yugioh, etc.
Or do actually have a real competitive scenario.
PUBG, Pokémon Go, Mobile Legends, Free Fire, Clash Royale, LoL Wild Rift etc.
All of those are some of the top downloaded games in the US and World.
Hell, these days mobile is just another platform to put your game on at launch. Even further, some of them implement crossplay between their mobile and console/PC versions, such as Genshin Impact, Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox, Brawhalla, Smite; and card games like Duel Links, Hearthstone, Shadowverse, Runeterra. And this is not even mentioning the ones that got ported that don't have (yet) or don't need crossplay.
Mobile also has a strong single player base, with tons of gacha with limited PvP interaction. Yes, puzzle, infinite runners, and minigame styled stuff is still somewhat trendy in mobile. Magic Piano, Helix Jump, 2048, Alto's Adventure, Temple Run, Subway Surfers, Jetpack Joyride. Homescape and Candy Crush are still huge, but this does not mean they're what everyone that has mobile plays, specially the younger audience.
Hell, where do some of other games even fit? Plants vs Zombies, The Room, Shadowmatic... Hell, what even is the issue with non-repetitive non-RNG generated puzzles like Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Where's my Water? Do they not share common aspects with the flash games that instigated the passion for games of many? Why shoot down whoever enjoys playing game of such kind?
And all of those are just a few of the names that come to my mind
from the top of my head. And it's not even getting into story focused titles, a decent amount of them award winning stuff, such as Monument Valley, Sara is Missing, Mystic Messenger, Framed, Florence.
The very fact people are often running their mouth making less of a whole branch of said "gamer" culture without even knowing the very basic stuff is just straight up annoying.
.
