nubia Red Magic 7S Pro review

Competition

While the Red Magic 7 series from earlier this year had the advantage of being one of the first gaming smartphones for 2022, the 7S Pro will face competent competition on the global market. The 7S Pro, although largely similar to its predecessor, managed to surprise us with improved efficiency and added raw horsepower, mainly thanks to the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 upgrade. Some added gaming-related software features elevate the experience, such as the Redmagic Studio, which allows you to stream a game on your PC and play with your keyboard and mouse. It's something only Asus' ROG Phones have had in the past.

The best part is that Nubia has retained the same competitive price tag. The Red Magic 7S Pro is asking €799 for the base 12GB/256GB memory variant. The original 7 Pro had 4GB of extra RAM, but we wouldn't obsess about that because 12GB is already plenty.

Asus ROG Phone 6 • Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro • Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro

The most obvious alternative to the Red Magic 7S Pro is perhaps the Asus ROG Phone 6 or even 6 Pro. We've only reviewed the latter, but it's easy to draw some conclusions for the vanilla option as well, given their strong similarity. The standard 6 goes for €999 while the Pro is asking for a whopping €1,299. But for the extra cash (on top of Red Magic 7S Pro's €799), you get a faster and brighter display, better photography skills, longer battery life, but more importantly, better gaming support and more refined software.

Asus ROG Phones' have always had one big advantage over its direct rivals, and that's HRR gaming support. Asus is optimizing the device for the most popular games, and the list continues to grow with each passing year. On the other hand, the Red Magic 7S Pro is still stuck with just a few games that can go beyond 60fps. Sure, some of the most popular games are optimized to utilize HRR gaming on the 7S Pro, but the list is considerably shorter.

Then there's the Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro. It may not boast the ROG Phone 6 Pro's gaming support, but it does have one unique feature - the physical pop-up shoulder triggers. Try asking gamers, no matter the platform, and they will tell you that nothing beats the mechanical button's tactile feedback, responsiveness and overall experience during gaming. The ROG Phone 6 series and the Red Magic 7S series have shoulder triggers for you to map in games, but those are touch-sensitive.

The Black Shark 5 Pro also has a brighter and faster display, better cameras and faster charging, albeit shorter battery life. And if you can find one in stock, it's asking for the same €799.

Verdict

The Red Magic 7S Pro retains a competitive price point incorporating flagship-level hardware and a great gaming experience with plenty of features. It's undoubtedly one of the most accessible gaming smartphones on the market. And this year, the Red Magic 7S Pro finally improves upon battery endurance and is now comparable to other flagship devices.

Sadly, though, some issues are hard to neglect, and they keep us from giving Red Magic phones an excellent score and recommending them over the years. The most prominent issues are the display's lack of auto brightness boost, making it hard to use outdoors, the outdated camera setup and the poor selfie performance. We can see the argument for current technological constraints of under-display cameras - that's a trade-off users have to consider. But nubia's refusal to upgrade the obsolete main 64MP sensor and the unsatisfactory, to say the least, 8MP ultrawide camera just don't sit well with a flagship smartphone, even if it's a gaming one.

Pros

• Large and fast 120Hz OLED panel, the UD selfie camera is inconspicuous.
• Good battery life, fast charging.
• Plenty of gaming-oriented features, including pressure-sensitive shoulder triggers.
• Impressive thermal management during high, sustained loads; the fan helps a lot.
• Nice sounding stereo speakers (with a caveat, see Cons).
• Good price/performance ratio.

Cons

• No Auto brightness boost.
• Subpar camera performance across the board.
• Not many games can go above 60 fps.
• No ingress protection, no microSD card.
• The software is still plagued by awkward English translations.
• Noticeably unbalanced loudspeaker setup.