Competition
The niche mobile gaming segment reached its peak a couple of years ago when there was competition from Asus with its ROG Phone lineup and Xiaomi with the Black Shark series, but now, only nubia’s RedMagic lineup remains. The RedMagic 11S Pro starts at €800/$850/£710, making it one of the most affordable Android flagships on the market, so even if you are not into gaming, the 11S Pro still has some compelling points.
With Asus’ ROG Phones out of the way, the RedMagic 11S Pro needs to fend off more mainstream flagship-grade phones with some gaming-oriented characteristics, like the OnePlus 15 and the Realme GT 8 Pro, for example.
OnePlus 15 • Realme GT 8 Pro
Both phones can be found for a little under €800, and they deliver a better camera experience, faster charging, longer battery life and more refined software. On the other hand, they lack all the gaming-oriented features like the shoulder triggers and all the niceties that Game Center contains.
Notably, the OnePlus stands out from both with stellar sustained performance and somewhat better support for high-refresh-rate gaming. The OnePlus seems to utilize its 165Hz display in more gaming titles than the 144Hz RedMagic 11S Pro. It’s an important aspect to consider even if nubia’s contender is feature-heavy in the gaming department and is marginally faster with a higher-clock SoC.
Verdict
The RedMagic 11S Pro remains the only gaming-oriented, flagship-level Android phone. It has a handful of unique features under the Game Space suite and the only shoulder triggers on the market. The cooling system is gimmicky, adding weight to an already bulky phone, but at least it looks cool.
The phone also does well in our battery, display and charging tests, albeit not stellar. That’s where more mainstream flagship alternatives excel, even at RedMagic 11S Pro’s current price point. Don’t get us wrong, the 11S Pro offers a great value proposition as it’s the cheapest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5-powered phone at launch. It’s just that you can find similarly priced phones with the same hardware, which are better at endurance, charging and have more feature-rich screens.
Pros
Unique premium-looking flat design, IPX8-rated.
Large and fast 144Hz OLED panel, the UD selfie camera is inconspicuous.
Extra-long battery life, quick wired and wireless charging.
Exceptional price/performance ratio.
Plenty of gaming-oriented features, including pressure-sensitive shoulder triggers.
Flexible and well-executed external display and peripherals gaming experience.
Excellent connectivity with 3.5mm jack, IR blaster and DP output over Type-C.
Cons
Basic HDR video playback support only.
The software is still plagued by awkward English translations from Chinese.
The speakers’ sound quality could still use some improvement.
Camera experience leaves more to be desired.
The cooling system feels like a gimmick, sustained performance is unimpressive.
No eSIM support.