nubia Red Magic 10 Pro review

Competition

As usual, nubia is early on the newest flagship SoC from Qualcomm, which means there aren't many other options to choose from. Especially if you are in the market for gaming-oriented smartphones.

The first that comes to mind is the Asus ROG Phone 9 and 9 Pro. The vanilla 9, however, is almost twice as expensive as the Red Magic 10 Pro, asking €1,099, while nubia's solution sits at $649/€649 for the entry-level model.

Sure, the ROG Phone has more consistent raw performance, a wider range of high-quality accessories and supported HRR games. But it's hard to overlook the price difference. Moreover, the Red Magic 10 Pro sports largely the same hardware and has a slightly longer battery life too.

Asus ROG Phone 9 • vivo iQOO 13 • Realme GT 7 Pro • ZTE nubia Red Magic 9S Pro

The iQOO 13 is marketed as a semi-gaming smartphone at a reasonable price point. The 13 is slightly more expensive than its rival, offers superior sustained performance and, more importantly, adds a set of nice cameras, albeit not amazing. Still, the iQOO 13 seems a more complete package, sans the gaming-related accessories.

The Realme GT 7 Pro is another alternative worth considering, given the price point and one could make the same argument about the camera experience. However, the Red Magic 10 Pro comes at the top when it comes to strictly gaming-oriented features.

Alternatively, the Red Magic 9S Pro could be a more sensible choice if you are able to find it at third-party retailers. It will likely be even more affordable, with better cooling and largely the same set of features, but with a bit less powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC.

Verdict

Nubia was able to pull it off once again, offering a competitive gaming solution that could easily be picked up by a non-gamer as well, due to its excellent price/performance ratio. The handset also features a sleek design, exceptional battery endurance and fast charging.

And even though we didn't have any issues during actual long gaming sessions, we can't miss mentioning the deterioration in cooling capabilities. This is the first Red Magic phone in a long while that failed our stress tests, even with the fan turned on. We are also a bit disappointed in the camera quality, which is the only major drawback that keeps us from calling the Red Magic an excellent all-rounder, not just a great gaming smartphone.

Pros

• Unique premium-looking flat design.
• Large and fast 144Hz OLED panel, the UD selfie camera is inconspicuous.
• Excellent battery life, fast 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.
• Feature-rich Redmagic OS 10.

Cons

• The cooling solution severely underperforms compared to previous generations.
• Just basic HDR video playback support.
• The software is still plagued by awkward English translations from Chinese.
• Camera experience is unimpressive, even for a gaming phone.
• No eSIM support.
• Only 1 Android OS update promised.
• No IP-rated ingress protection.