nubia Red Magic 8S Pro review

Syntehtic benchmarks

The handset runs on the SM8550-AC version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. This isn't an entirely new chipset as it was exclusive to Samsung's Galaxy S23 lineup and was named Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy. Even Qualcomm hasn't listed this as a Plus version of the silicon on its website. And it makes sense because it's not even a refresh. Just a higher clocked chip.

The only real advantage of the new SoC over the standard SD8 Gen 2 is the main core's clock speed. The Cotex-X3 core is now ticking at 3.36 GHz instead of 3.2 GHz, while the rest of the cluster cores remain unchanged - 2x2.8 GHz Cortex-A715 & 2x2.8 GHz Cortex-A710 & 3x2.0 GHz Cortex-A510. Another improvement is the GPU, as the Adreno 740 is now running at 719 MHz, up from 680 MHz.

The faster clock speeds should roughly translate to a 5% gain in CPU performance and 5.7% in GPU performance.

This time around, the chip is paired with 12G/256GB of memory for the Midnight color, 16GB/512GB for the Platinum and Aurora versions. UFS 4.0 storage is used for all configurations while RAM is of the LPDDR5X variety.

Without further ado, let's take a look at the benchmarks.

As you can see, the Red Magic 8S Pro fully utilizes the overclocked Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC and, in most cases, outperforms similarly-priced flagships. The handset even outpaces the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, which sports the exact same chipset.

Keep in mind that the 8S Pro is capped at 60fps on almost all onscreen GPU-intensive benchmarks, so we suggest looking into the offscreen tests for more reliable comparison across models.

Cooling system and sustained performance

Even though this isn't a generational upgrade, nubia says the cooling system is improved over the Red Magic 8 Pro. It's now called ICE 12 cooling system as it adds an additional graphene layer positioned under the display for improved heat dissipation. This sheet is said to improve the cooling of the battery during charging too.

In addition to the graphene layer, the system incorporates 11 other layers that include a big vapor chamber, composite graphene sheet, aluminum frame in the middle, copper foil, etc. Thе cooling surface area is 2,068mm2 and is aided by the well-known cooling fan with shark fins design. It can go up to 20,000 RPM, and as we've established in previous reviews, it's not just a gimmick. It helps improve sustained performance quite a bit.

The cooling fan's effect is demonstrated. But before we get into that, take a look at how the device performs during long workloads without the fan. It's able to keep steady clock speeds at 100% CPU load for an hour. The system retains 77% of the CPU's theoretical performance, which is an excellent result considering the demanding Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

CPU throttle test w/o cooling fan: 30 min • 60 min

Swiching on the cooling fan makes the graph even smoother, and the system utilizes 88% of the CPU's capabilities in the same time frame. Exceptional result.

CPU throttle test with cooling fan: 30 min • 60 min

In both cases, however, the phone felt pretty warm, which is to be expected given the all-metal chassis.

All in all, it looks like nubia has indeed improved the cooling system of the 8S Pro, compared to the 8 Pro from earlier this year.

High refresh rate gaming performance

Historically, HRR gaming on Android is a hit or miss. Mostly a "miss". So it's no surprise that most games we've tried are capped at 60fps and can't utilize the full potential of the 120Hz display. We used Android's built-in screen refresh rate counter and Game Space's FPS counter to see which games actually reach more than 60fps.

While the phone forced some titles at 120Hz, most were stuck at 60fps, including PUBG Mobile, Genshin Impact, Mobile Legends, Asphalt 9, etc.

Some games were compliant, though. Call of Duty got up to 90fps while Air Force 1945, Sky Force: Reloaded and Real Racing 3 saturated the 120Hz display.