The Redmagic 8 Pro delivers an excellent gaming performance while doing so in a stylish rectangular slab package. You can expect to game all day on this device without seeing thermal throttling thanks to its built-in 20,000 rpm turbofan.

Although it doesn't have the best cameras and there are some glitches in its UI, these compromises are worth the power you get with its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, ultra-fast UFS 4.0 storage, and ample 12GB RAM.

Key Features
  • Shoulder triggers
  • Under-display camera
  • Gamer-centric functions
Specifications
  • Brand: Nubia
  • SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
  • Display: 6.8-inch 120Hz AMOLED
  • RAM: 12GB, 16GB
  • Storage: 256GB, 512GB
  • Battery: 6,000mAh
  • Ports: USB-C 3.1
  • Operating System: Android 13, Redmagic OS V6.0
  • Front camera: 16MP under-display camera
  • Rear camera: 50MP 25mm (wide), 8MP 13mm (ultrawide), 2MP macro
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS, NFC
  • Others: 20,000 turbofan active cooling
  • Dimensions: 164 x 76.4 x 8.9mm
  • Colors: Matte / Void
  • Weight: 228g
  • Charge speed: 65-watt fast charging
  • IP Rating: N/A
  • Micro SD card support: No
Pros
  • 6000-watt long-life battery
  • 120Hz ultra-fast refresh rate screen
  • Premium rectangular slab design
Cons
  • Some errors in the English translation of some UI elements
Buy This Product
RedMagic 8 Pro

Redmagic is known for its powerful gaming phones, and its latest iteration, the Redmagic 8 Pro, doesn't disappoint. We get a new look, the latest hardware, and the classic shoulder triggers. But are all these changes enough to merit an upgrade?

Let's check out the Redmagic 8 Pro and see how it feels to use this gaming phone for everyday life.

What's in the Box?

02 Redmagic 8 Package Contents
Image Credit: Jowi Morales

The Redmagic 8 Pro box breaks tradition by coming inside a minimalist silver box, reflecting its new design language. However, when you open it, it reveals the classic superhero comic panels inside that are reminiscent of the design from the previous three generations.

When you check out its contents, you'll find the rectangular slab, the Redmagic 8 Pro, a 65-watt fast charger, the corresponding USB-C to USB-C cable, and a hard plastic case. The Redmagic 8 Pro we're reviewing is the 12GB RAM, 256GB version with a black glass back.

You can also get the Redmagic 8 Pro with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage. This model, called Void, has a transparent glass back showing the LED-lit fan.

Redmagic 8 Pro Body and Design

03 Redmagic 8 Back
Image Credit: Jowi Morales

The design makes the Redmagic 8 Pro strikingly different from its predecessors. The curved back of the previous model is gone, replaced in favor of a flat glass back. The sides are also sharper, and the power and volume buttons are moved, giving the phone a design reminiscent of the iPhone 14.

However, the Redmagic 8 Pro features sharper 90-degree corners instead of Apple's rounded design. Although this makes the phone slightly harder to hold, it lets you see your content more clearly. After all, rounded edges sometimes cut into your view, meaning you can't see some parts of your screen.

The gaming slider is also relocated to the left of the right shoulder trigger, making it easier to activate or turn off gaming mode when holding the phone horizontally. The top part of the phone still features a 3.5mm headphone jack and a speaker, while you get another speaker, a USB-C port, and a sim card tray at the bottom.

04 Redmagic 8 Shoulder Triggers, Output Vent, Power Button, and Gaming Slider
Image Credit: Jowi Morales

When holding the phone horizontally, you might also find a hole to the right of the power button. While there's no information on this, it looks like a microphone to capture your voice clearly when you're in the heat of battle. This feature is doubly important as your palm will likely cover the mic at the bottom of the phone when gaming.

Of course, we cannot forget the two vents on either side of the phone. These serve as an intake and outlet for the 20,000 RPM turbofan that helps cool the phone during intense gaming sessions. Speaking of gaming, let's look at the Redmagic 8 Pro's performance when put through its paces.

Benchmark Performance

We tested the Redmagic 8 Pro with three benchmark apps—Geekbench 6 for general performance, PCMark for productivity, and 3Dmark for gaming. Here are our results:

Geekbench 6

Using the latest version of Geekbench, we've gotten interesting results. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip records a 1,876-point single-core and 4,786-point multi-core score. Although it sounds impressive, it's only a 4% and a 10% gain in single-core and multi-core scores over the previous-gen Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor in the Redmagic 7S Pro.

However, the phone did gain a significant advantage in the GPU department. It received a 5,031-point score on the OpenCL test, 43% higher than the Redmagic 7S Pro's 3,521 points. However, when we ran the Vulkan test, the phone returned an invalid score due to a failure in the face detection test. We ran the test a second time, and the phone just shut off completely, while a third try returned the same issue.

PCMark

Although not exactly a productivity phone, the power, form factor, and battery life of the Redmagic 8 Pro makes it excellent for online browsing, video editing, and other productivity tasks. It scored 12,830 points in PCMark's Work 3.0 performance and 51,925 points in Storage 2.0, showing how quickly it would perform.

However, the Redmagic 7S Pro seems more suited for these mundane things, as it scored over a thousand points higher in the Work 3.0 test. But despite that, the UFS 4.0 storage on the 8 Pro showed its superiority over the 7S Pro's UFS 3.1 storage, which only earned 37,198 points in the Storage 2.0 test.

3Dmark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test

Despite the minute differences in Geekbench 6, the Redmagic 8 Pro's spread its wings in the Wild Life Extreme Stress Test, where the phone ran a graphically intensive task for 20 minutes. The previous generation 7S Pro had a best / worst loop score of 2,837 and 2,826, while the new 8 Pro garnered 3,729 and 3,655 points, respectively.

Although the former had better stability at 99.6%, the latter's 98% stability is nothing to sneeze at, especially given that other phones without active cooling can only manage a little over 50% stability. Furthermore, the phone gained an average score of 3,692 in Wild Life—860 points higher than the 7S Pro's 2831.5 average.

Temperature

One thing that many reviews neglect is the phone's temperature after intense gaming. After all, you can't enjoy your extended gaming sessions if you can't hold your phone because it's too hot!

The Redmagic 7S Pro, with Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, had a maximum temperature of 48.7 degrees C after the Wild Life Extreme Stress Test. The Redmagic 8 Pro is only 0.8 degrees higher, at 49.9 degrees C. At the back, the camera module rose to 51.3 degrees C, which is still manageable and much cooler than the 57.0 degrees record we got with the Redmagic 7 Pro sporting the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC.

User Interface and Gaming

16 Redmagic 8 Pro Gaming Interface Screenshot

While benchmarks are great for comparing performance between devices, they say nothing about the experience of using the phone daily. So, is the Redmagic 8 Pro perfect for your gaming needs?

When gaming, the phone performs exceptionally well—and rightly so. Its powerful chip allows you to drive demanding games up to 120Hz in Ultra Settings with no noticeable performance lag. You also get the usual game lobby on the phone when you toggle the red gaming slider, which is now on the lower-right side.

The phone runs on Android 13 and has the Redmagic OS V6.0 skin, which offers several gamer-centric features. This includes activating and customizing the shoulder triggers per game, turning on the crosshair overlay, wirelessly connect peripherals, and more.

You can even set the CPU's and GPU's performance levels, maximizing your phone's power (but at the expense of battery life). But even at max power, you can expect the phone to last a few hours because of its 6,000 mAh battery. And when you take a break, the 65-watt fast charger will get you gaming again in as little as 45 minutes.

17 Redmagic 8 Pro Chinese Characters in the UI

One thing you'll notice with the Redmagic OS overlay on Android 13, though, is that it has several poorly-translated UI elements. Furthermore, some words and options aren't translated at all. While this isn't bad if you know how to read and speak Chinese, it makes the UI feel a bit unpolished if you're an international client.

Nevertheless, as a gaming phone, this imperfection is a small price to get a powerful smartphone that lets you game to your heart's content.

Audio and Entertainment

As a gaming phone, the Redmagic 8 Pro must deliver loud and clear sound, ensuring you're audibly aware of your surroundings. While it's not an iPhone 14 Pro Max, with the audio lacking a bit of bass, it's enough to ensure you can hear enemies approaching from behind you or running behind a wall.

However, if you're a Netflix fan, you'll run into an issue with this phone. As of the time of writing, the Netflix app isn't available on this phone, so you can't enjoy streaming movies or TV via this platform. We're hoping that Netflix or Redmagic work together to release a compatible app, as it's one issue that could hold you back from fully enjoying the phone. Thankfully, other apps like Amazon Prime Video work on the Redmagic 8 Pro.

Camera Quality

21 Redmagic 8 Pro Sample Image 01
Image Credit: Jowi Morales

Photography isn't another strong suit of the Redmagic 8 Pro. While it takes decent photos under normal conditions, like under even lighting, it struggles with challenging light and high-contrast images. Nevertheless, its low-light performance has since improved over the Redmagic 7S Pro, but it's still not up-to-par with other flagship phones like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max, and vivo X90 Pro.

22 Redmagic 8 Pro Sample Image 02
Image Credit: Jowi Morales

We also tried the phone's Portrait mode, which separated the subject from the background. However, the resulting image feels artificial, as the subject pops out too much without the focus gradient or natural bokeh you get from SLR and mirrorless cameras.

23 Redmagic 8 Pro Sample Image 03
Image Credit: Jowi Morales

However, you wouldn't want to use the macro camera on the Redmagic 8 Pro. It either oversharpens the subject in the frame, or you get a blurry image, especially when shot in low light. Furthermore, the 2MP quality of the macro camera limits its usability to sharing photos online or on social media—it's not something you'd want to print.

Finally, the selfie camera—which you won't see at all thanks to Redmagic's under-display camera (UDC) technology—is just atrocious. When shooting under bright sunlight, the image appears oversharpened and unnatural.

24 Redmagic 8 Pro Sample Image 04
Image Credit: Jowi Morales

When shooting in challenging lighting conditions, like with backlit scenes or indoors, the photos appear washed out, and you get chromatic banding from the pixels on top of the lens. However, that is the price you pay to get a clear, uninterrupted view of your game.

If you're not into selfies and don't care about the front camera's quality, the UDC is a feature you'll want to have. But you might have to rethink your options if you care about how you look during video calls.

Furthermore, if you're not into photography and only want a decent snapper for your memories, the Redmagic 8 Pro's camera would suffice for your needs. But if you care about creating art, we'd recommend bringing around a secondary phone with excellent cameras.

25 Redmagic 8 Pro Sample Imge 05
Image Credit: Jowi Morales

Nevertheless, you're not getting the Redmagic 8 Pro for photography—it's a gaming phone. So a decent primary camera should suffice.

Redmagic 8 Pro: For When You Want to Game in Style

The Redmagic 8 Pro delivers excellent gaming performance, around 30% more than the previous generation. While this is a significant number, it's not enough to outright recommend an upgrade if your current gaming phone is just a year old. The new design language and rectangular slab aesthetic is certainly unique.

Nevertheless, you must remember that this phone is, first and foremost, for gaming. It has compromises, particularly in the camera department and some UI elements. But if you overlook these issues, you're getting an excellent device that looks good and can handle hours of gaming every day.