Quick answer: Bug bashes on dev machines miss low-end-only bugs. Dedicated low-end hardware in the bash setup surfaces performance and compatibility issues.
Players have low-end hardware. Test on it; the bugs are different.
Pool of low-end devices
5-year-old phones, integrated GPUs. Bash runs on this pool too.
Per-tier test plan
High-end (smooth?), mid-tier (acceptable?), low-end (playable?). Each tier has different bar.
Tag bugs by hardware tier
Bugs that only appear on low-end tagged separately. Triage focuses on tier impact.
Quarterly hardware refresh
Mid-tier from 2 years ago is now low-end. Refresh the device pool.
“Low-end testing is mandatory for retention. Players abandon games that don't run on their device.”
Build the low-end device pool. The cost is hardware; the value is player retention.